Coaching & Consulting
Key types of consulting
- Coaching leaders and businesses to do great things in ways that align with their values
- Coaching individual creators to reach their creative potential
Competencies in my backpack
Process engineering, creativity, change management, conflict management, writing & communications, project management, team building, event planning, product development, risk management, publishing
Valutivity LLC's Certifications
- State Corp Comm. LLC-ID: #S305631-6 since 10/06/2009
- Dun & Bradstreet (DUNS): #832359561 since 2009
- Vendor # with e-VA: VS0000054574 since 2009
- Small, Women & Minorities (SWaM) Certification: #682920 since 2009
- Details
- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Category: Coaching & Consulting
Not everybody sees the same things. Perhaps more importantly, not everybody shares the same things they see. This can cause challenges in businesses or in societal interactions. Understanding the underlying existence of the loyalty/transparency continuum is critical to parse out this conundrum.
Read more: Leadership: The Loyalty/Transparency Continuum in Communications
- Details
- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Category: Coaching & Consulting
When was the last time you thanked your employees for the use of their home? Many companies are now acquiring work & conference space rent-free from employees who never intended to work from home. You might argue that the benefits for the employees outweigh the challenges. This would not be the best time to verbalize that view.- Details
- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Category: Coaching & Consulting
A deca
de or more ago, a peer gave me some difficult feedback about one of the members of my team. Observation and some discreet questioning validated his thoughts. My next steps took me down the halls of some new—and very difficult—experiences as a manager. The actions I took needed to happen. However, my response did NOT need to impact me physically and emotionally the way it did.
Read more: Leadership: Fear, Unconscious Motivator of Leaders
- Details
- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Category: Coaching & Consulting
For the past 40 days, my family has taken care of 3 crabs. Managing Eco-Earth and sand habitats, supporting fresh- and saltwater environments, and monitoring eating habits takes research, time and even expense. (We even try to give our crabs a little ocean-spray “tide” in the evenings.) As the first pets we’ve had in years, these critters have reminded us what it means to nurture. Nurturing just might be one of the most undervalued concepts in leadership. And that could be a problem, because nurturing is a critical component to the DNA of servant leadership.
- Details
- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Category: Coaching & Consulting
On Friday, September 9, 2011, my 12-year-old son and I attended President Barack Obama’s speech at my alma mater, University of Richmond in Virginia. He discussed his Jobs Plan, as a follow-up to his similar pitch to both houses of Congress the previous night. President Obama demonstrated a change management technique I call acquiring “emotional change agents,” individuals who will respond to an emotional appeal and voluntarily become ambassadors for change.
Read more: Leadership: Recruiting Emotional Change Agents: President Obama’s Jobs Plan