"I didn’t know what or how to think about executive coaching when the notion was first introduced. I didn’t see how someone who had no history with the company or characters within could provide valuable insights that weren’t already obvious to me. My performance was clearly solid and my team was delivering at unprecedented levels, so why this? And why now? Here and now, with the benefit of hindsight, I consider myself eternally blessed to have had the opportunity to work with Milt. I may have arrived at my first session with a healthy amount of skepticism, but that quickly dissolved within my first few sessions. In fact, I have continued to leverage Milt's talents over the past years to challenge my own perspective and re-frame obstacles into opportunities. I have learned to practice the art of "in spite of" to overcome my own mental hurdles and find paths that lead me - and my team - forward. I have learned to define success - and redefine it, if need be - in a way that enables every stakeholder the opportunity to claim it. I have learned to listen closely to the story I am telling myself, and to find a different one to tell if the current one isn't working for me. Best of all, I have learned how to spot these opportunities for growth within my team and to enable their growth through my own. When the landscape evolved with changes in companies, roles, and teams, I knew where to look for assistance to regain my footing and re-orient my compass. Let me be clear… The coaching process doesn't fix everything or everyone. It offers no silver bullets or easy buttons. Like anything worth doing, this involves a struggle against a worthy opponent (who might sometimes be yourself), and the extent to which you benefit is limited by what you invest. Most importantly, it requires a co-creative and committed partnership with someone who can be trusted to not only really hear you, but also to have the courage to press the re-play button so that you can hear you in a way you never did before. It can be an amazing journey with the right coach, and I'm grateful to have found mine in Milt."
“The timing of my work with Milt could not have been better in my development as a leader to the extent it was in conjunction with my promotion to Vice President of a Fortune 500 company. Early on, Milt helped me to recognize that everything I did from this position sent a message which has increased my sensitivity to be certain that the messages I send are aligned with my values, the organizational objectives, and with our efforts to support cultural change. And, my work with Milt greatly contributed to the fact that I exceeded performance of our key performance indicators agreed to by my leaders during my first year on the new job! I have also grown significantly in my awareness of executive presence and the impact in the workplace and beyond. Milt has also supported me in the overall development of my executive team through his observations and recommendations of how we work together. Additionally, Milt has supported me to appropriately interpret the impact of culture on my leadership challenges and how to modify my style for maximum impact.”
“I first became a client of Great Minds Coaching when I was an engineering manager with a global manufacturing company. As a direct result of our work together, I moved from that position to a VP position with a major aerospace corporation. Milt’s extensive Human Resource background with a Fortune 500 company afforded him a larger toolbox of experiences, resources, and knowledge to work with than most. Milt is an exceptional coach! He listens well and is not opinionated. He adjusts to “the moment” – actively listening to me so I always get what I need, but he is also willing to test my reasoning, challenge my motivation and inspire me to go further. I have grown in my appreciation and understanding of the impact of culture in an organization, and my ability to manage cultural challenges has increased significantly. My work with Milt expertly positioned me to excel in my new role.”
“Milt Fletcher has served as my Executive Coach for the past several years and has supported my growth through several levels of leadership. Through my work with Milt I have better come to appreciate the quote that “What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There!” As a result, my leadership abilities have increased commensurate with the increase in the level of the positions to which I have been assigned. In my former position, Milt worked directly with my team to support them to identify their “why,” which significantly increased the teams’ morale and their focus on organizational objectives. Most recently Milt worked with me and my current team to help us determine who we needed to be and what we needed to do to provide the overall support the leaders of our organization require in their efforts to lead both organizational and cultural change. Through my work with Milt my ability to lead my team to provide the development required by our leaders to not only transform the organization from its 1st century of growth, but to sustain the organization in its 2nd century of existence has been greatly enhanced. As a result of being coached by Milt, I definitely have an increased appreciation for coaching and am inspired to be a true servant leader.”
“I engaged Milt to work as part of a coaching team on a leadership development project for community leaders in Louisiana. I’ve found Milt to be a coach who is bold, insightful, passionate, flexible, and humble. As a result, Milt establishes trusting, forthright relationships with his clients and consistently helps them to achieve significant growth, both as people and as leaders.”
“I highly recommend the services of Great Minds Coaching. I have had the pleasure of working with Milt since 2012. I can honestly say that I have evolved both professionally and personally as a result of being coached by Milt. His method is organic. He does not hold my hand but supports me to develop my own solutions: solutions that develop my leadership skills and consistently challenges me just beyond the edge of my comfort zone which has been a key element of my becoming a truly effective leader. My coaching sessions with Milt involve issues ranging from personal development, workplace challenges, navigating sensitive issues and negotiating better opportunities for myself. Over the course of time, I have been coached by Milt, my salary has increased 23% which has been the result of Milt consistently coaching me on navigating challenges, continuing my education beyond the workplace and developing my perseverance. All these traits were recognized by past and current employers which have led to better opportunities for me and my career.”
I was fortunate to become a client of Milt Fletcher at a particularly turbulent time in my professional journey. Despite being a serial entrepreneur and having experienced some of the soon to come challenges before, nothing quite prepared me for the highs and lows involved with creating a new business. Milt in many ways became my rock, he served as an objective guide that helped me track ways forward when I couldn't see or think as clearly, because I was too deeply involved to think unbiasedly. This involved him helping me frame things correctly in an environment of tremendous uncertainty to not make up stories, jump to conclusions, etc., but to operate on what I knew, and what could be known at that given point in time, (this has been a game-changer for me). He also pushed me to get systematic and to build systems around my typical processes in a way that would allow me to measure progress, or shortfalls. Finally, he helped me think critically about the way I was showing up and the impact of what I do or don't do and the messages I send, (as a leader you are always sending a message whether you're conscious of it or not). In many ways, I consider entrepreneurs to be parallel to athletes, the most elite athletes have a team of coaches and personal trainers, the most successful entrepreneurs have coaches - I have Milt and it has made all the difference.
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