Coaching

Higher Ground Leadership® Coaching

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

Mahatma Gandhi

Leaders are coaches. Great coaches inspire. A coach develops an ongoing partnership that inspires others towards improved performance and greater quality and fulfillment in their personal and professional lives. All great athletes have coaches – they wouldn't be great without them – and greatness in life is no different. Coaches listen, observe, and advise others based on their own experience and wisdom. They honor and support the sacredness, creativity, and resourcefulness of those they coach. Coaching is an act of love and service. Great coaches— and great leaders— identify fears, erase them with love, and therefore inspire.

From Inspire: What Great Leaders Do, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, 2004, p xxxiii

Overview

There is a saying in Executive Coaching: “No one gets to the Olympics without a coach, so why would you try to win your best life without one?"  

Higher Ground Leadership® Coaching is a rigorous approach to reflecting, changing, growing and excelling. It is a one-to-one interactive process that will develop the greatest Mastery, Chemistry and Delivery from within each client.

 

Who Should Enroll?

Higher Ground Leadership® Coaching is offered as a method of supporting leaders to discover their strengths, clarify their values, focus and direction, wrangle difficult issues, build their leadership skills, create inspiring relationships in every part of their lives, assist them in stretching and growing, discover their Destiny, Character and Calling (Why-Be-Do) and live the CASTLE Principles® in rich, meaningful and impactful lives. Our clients tend to be executives and senior leaders whose organizations support their coaching needs.

How Does The Higher Ground Leadership® Coaching Program Work?

The coaching relationship begins with a dialogue between the client and our Coach Coordinator, so that we can determine the best format, schedule and plan for the client and the Higher Ground Leadership® Coach. The client and coach then schedule the initial coaching session (called an “Intake Session”) and schedule future appointments between the client and the Higher Ground Leadership® Coach.  After entering the coaching agreement, and a relationship being established, the Intake Coaching Session is conducted, which normally takes between 1 ½ and two hours. The Higher Ground Coach and client then determine and schedule 2 sessions per month for a minimum of one year, each session lasting 1 hour. Normally, this is a non-renewable contract, although exceptions have been made.

The Benefits of Higher Ground Leadership® Coaching

The intention of Higher Ground Leadership® Coaching is to inspire the client beyond the ordinary, help enhance effectiveness and elicit the very best.  The Higher Ground Leadership® Coach does this by “being fully present”, exercising sacred listening, focusing on the client’s agenda, commitment and vision and respectfully delivering authentic feedback. The Higher Ground Leadership® Coach becomes your advocate and helps you to hear your own inner wisdom, see different perspectives and augment your dedication to the areas being addressed.  Higher Ground Leadership® Coaching helps leaders free up their thinking, envision possibilities, make wise decisions, nurture creativity and imagination, clarify paths that lead to resolution of quandaries and supports them in transferring their learning into effective behaviors and actions that lead to enhanced personal and organizational results.

Testimonials from Higher Ground Leadership® Coaching Clients

“I worked with Lance Secretan during the transition to my current CEO position. Lance is experienced, professional and brings a unique perspective from his many years as an operating CEO.  He is challenging, insightful and direct. I valued his counsel—he provided the wise ears and encouraging heart that I needed—and it worked.”

John Koster, President/CEO, Providence Health and Services

“If I could choose but one person to work with for the remainder of my professional career, it is Lance. He is an inspirational leader who brings out the best in others, no matter what their title or task. He knows how to elevate everyone around him to achieve a level of excellence that is unexpected. His knowledge of corporate culture and leadership make him a huge asset to any corporation or organization looking to move to the next level. Lance successfully helped my organization earn a place on Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For list—four years in a row.”

Scott Regan, former Executive Vice President and COO, Memorial Health, Savannah, GA.

"Lance Secretan has learned something that escapes most executives: that their employees have souls. Even better, Lance shows would-be leaders how to create organizations with soul—and the results to prove it."

John Brandt, former President and Editorial Director, CEO Magazine and Editor-in-Chief, Industry Week

"During the transition to my current leadership position, Lance Secretan offered a sounding board, solid advice and deep experience that was extraordinarily valuable. As a result of many years as an operating CEO, he is wise and deeply grounded in the experience of being a CEO. He does not hold back his truth and represents a wonderful, highly intelligent partner for sharing ideas and candor. My path towards my present position was made easier through my work with Lance. He guided me through the process of finding a new role that is more aligned with my talents and passion - I am much happier for it.

Joe Calvaruso, formerly Senior Vice President, Chief Performance Acceleration Officer
Presbyterian Health System

“Coaching with Lance was like having a lighthouse on the shore of my troubled sea. Lance cares, and he knows his stuff when it comes to leadership in turbulent times. The amazing thing about coaching with Lance was that whenever I would think: "Lance, you're crazy", it always turned out that he was right”.

Dave Buck, CEO CoachVille.com

 

Higher Ground Leadership® Coaches are on call, especially during complex corporate or social negotiations or situations.