COACH TAKES PRIDE IN HER WORK WITH EXECUTIVES 

On the cover carolyn Moore

To her clients, Carolyn Moore describes herself as a “trusted partner-inexploration who is part genie, part worrisome gnat, part honest and candid mirror, part drill sergeant, part warm blankie and your special confidant.”

As the principal owner of her own executive coaching business, Moore looks at training executives as an opportunity to give back.

Moore’s background stems from more than 35 years in the healthcare industry and a position as chief operating officer for CHRISTUS Schumpert Health System.

“CHRISTUS Health, which is based in Dallas, had a talent management program and if you were selected as a high performer with potential, you would be in their talent management program and have a coach for a year,” Moore said.

Moore was selected to work with an executive coach from the program.

“I heard of mentoring, but it is a whole different step than mentoring,” she said. “It is true one-on-one, and you take batteries of tests like Myers- Briggs and the Bergman, and all of these tests show where you have strong competencies and where you might have competencies that you can develop more to be successful.”

Following a death in the family, Moore considered it was time to change her focus. After serving about five years in her role as COO, in 2010 Moore retired from the healthcare industry and started her own company, CAM Consulting Group.

“By the end of the year, I attended Hudson Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif., to become a certified coach and then became credentialed by the International Coaching Federation, which is the credentialing body, then to start my coaching practice,” she said.

At this point in Moore’s life, she refers to her favorite quote, “I was ready to move from a life of success to a life of significance.”

“In this phase of my life, I want to be doing something that gives back,” Moore said. “Coaching changes people’s lives.”

Coaching is essentially guiding executives, or decisionmakers in a leadership role, to come to their own conclusions on how to problem solve, manage a team and become an effective manager.

“With mentoring, you do a lot of giving advice,” Moore said. “With coaching, we do a lot of what’s called leading from behind.”

Moore’s clients are mostly word of mouth. Sessions are usually one-onone, occurring every two weeks.

“In the coaching profession, we believe that people are – unlike in therapy – people are not sick, they are a wonderful full individual who wants to be a slightly better version of themselves. And [coaches] believe that they hold those answers, and we have seen that to be true,” Moore said.

Coaching sessions begin with a interview where both Moore and the client would both ask questions to make sure a connection is met with each other. If a connection is not there, she would recommend the client meet with another coach.

“What I do in coaching and what is different from mentoring is that I’m not giving advice, I’m not saying do it this way. I might be sitting there knowing what might be best, but I ask questions called ‘powerful questions’ to help them think about it. And then hold a space for them to have the courage to say it.”

Moore said coaches seek out the socalled “red hot thread.”

“If someone were working with you and you started talking about things that are important, before long there would be something that would surface, and when that surfaces, there’s usually emotion around it because it is often from our nuclear family,” Moore said. “We call that the ‘red hot thread,’ and so you try to follow that thread by having them tell you about it, and then they will really get to the place where they can make a change.”

Moore works with both men and women, some with years of experience as an executive and some new to the leadership role.

“For a lot of the women, it’s how do I learn to get the monkey off my back.” Moore said. “As women, we are wired to make others feel good and bring them along. CEOs are very lonely people in a board room, which is why Vistage is so good. They have to look like they know the answer.”

Vistage is a new service Moore offers.

Vistage sought Moore out to be a part of the model. With this service, Moore will assemble a team of 16 CEOs to form an advisory board to meet twice a month. During the meetings, the CEOs will handle two issues.

“[This is] a think tank of CEOs that have no agenda other than to help each other succeed as CEOs,” Moore said. “[The group is] confidential and a great problem-solving module.”

Moore said the thing that drives people to coaching is that both men and women want to make better decisions.

“The thing that makes a good executive is the ability to understand your leadership impact and how to make your team move forward and the articulation of a vision that will move people forward,” she said. “The best executives have high emotional intelligence, which means they understand themselves, so they are able to manage their strengths and weaknesses.”

“In thIs phase of my lIfe, I want to be doIng somethIng

that gIves back.

coachIng changes people’s lIves.” – Carolyn Moore

Moore has developed special techniques for clients who are at a stand still and aren’t reaching a quick result in sessions. Short Turn-Around Time coaching and the bucket list are some of her latest techniques.

Moore developed STAT by talking to her son, who was in need of quick results. STAT is often unscheduled, delivering results for any problem that arises supporting periods of change and a nurture resilience to change.

The bucket list was developed for clients who wish to accomplish a number of goals at once. She uses this technique mostly with the millennial generation that she coaches. The categories are buckets allowing the client to prioritize what is needed to accomplish completing a task.

“The one universal thing [as an executive] is to be self-aware,” Moore said. “It’s lonely. You’ve got a hard job. You have to acknowledge that. And as a coach, you have to let them acknowledge that.”

Moore works with a variety of industries such as healthcare, marketing and public relations, education, legal and financial.

One lesson that transcends through industries is the work/life balance. Moore helps individuals with balancing both roles.

“If you give and give and give and at the end of the day, there is nothing left for you, you have to let that go,” she said. “[The best leaders have a] high emotional intelligence, a keen understanding of what it takes to lead their employees and to be kind and they have to understand the real meaning of life is about our families.”

Moore said the client-coach relationship is personal and confidential. In working with a client using the bucket list technique, Moore coached a client to run a marathon.

“She texted me when she crossed the finish line,” she said. “And I just lost it. I was blubbering.”

Moore said coaching has been her most rewarding job.

“I want my life to be measured by my positive impact on the world,” she said. •