Executive and Leadership Coaching
I love combining my business and leadership experience with my mindfulness training to provide coaching to managers and executives. I have special expertise in working with physician leaders.
What experience do you draw on to coach executives and leaders?
I have fifteen years of experience in operational management and human resource positions. I have worked as an early hire (employee #11) in a healthcare startup that grew to over 1,500 employees in just five years, so I am familiar with startup environments and rapidly scaling organizations. I served as a vice president overseeing a profit and loss statement of close to $50 million in annual revenue, with responsibility for key performance indicators over a variety of financial, sales, and quality goals. I have had as many as 70 direct reports at one time and overseen a team of managers and directors with a team of 150 reporting up to them. I have extensive experience with hiring and firing, giving feedback, performance management, and training. My particular strengths as a leader are interpersonal communication, change management, building trust, managing emotions at work, problem solving, process improvement, and having difficult conversations. I have a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s in health administration from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
How do sessions work?
Executive and Leadership coaching sessions are typically scheduled for an hour per week, although the cadence is flexible. Depending on availability and pricing, sessions can either be live or via Zoom video conferencing.
At the onset of working together, we will align on goals and areas for development. My clients drive the focus and content of the session, based on what is most valuable to them that week. I serve as a sounding board, a source of support and accountability, and advice and guidance. I find that the higher someone rises in an organization the more isolated they can sometimes feel and the more vulnerable it can be to ask for help or talk through challenges. I work with leaders on things like: practical and logistical problems, organizational structure questions, equity issues, training plans, change management and communication, role playing and preparing for difficult conversations, bringing awareness to personal patterns, reducing reactivity, and building emotional resilience in the workplace. Our sessions are a supportive and judgment-free space to talk through the unavoidable concerns, challenges, and emotions that can arise for all people in leadership positions.
What do clients say about my work?
“I am the CEO of a rapidly growing healthcare business and board member of several other medium sized growth companies. Jessica has been instrumental for me in thinking through how to lead a growing company. She has helped me with everything from preparing for hard conversations with team members to thinking through how best to communicate with the organization to reviewing space plans for a new office. In addition to being an incredible listener, she has the highest EQ of anyone I’ve ever worked with: she is incredibly insightful about organizations, people and the soft side of management. She is quick to understand the things that drive my business and more importantly has been instrumental in helping me recognize and play to my strengths and weaknesses, bringing an outside perspective that has already created tremendous value for the company and me.”
Do I need to be a C-level executive to receive leadership coaching?
No. I love coaching CEOs and CFOs, but I also love problem-solving and working with front-line managers or rising leaders who might not be in a management position yet.
How do I learn more and schedule?
Please reach out to me at jessicadixonmindfulness@gmail.com for more information. References are available by request.