ABOUT ME
I am a working mom, leadership coach and internal consultant specializing in organizational and leadership development from Nashville, TN.
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Currently, I manage leadership development programming for a large organization (+10,000) in the construction/mining industry. I am responsible for organizational succession planning, leadership development programming (development, design, delivery) for our corporate university, early career programs and our executive coaching program.
I am fortunate to be able to serve as an internal executive leadership coach for my organization as well as work with local leaders in Nashville as my schedule allows. Coaching is my true passion, where I have the most fun and highest impact.
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In past lives, I have operated in various HR, organization development and training roles. The depth and breadth of these experiences help me understand the holistic picture of what makes a strong leader, a strong team and a strong organization. I've seen what works and what doesn't- first hand- and built programs and processes to support healthy organizational cultures, in all stages of the employee life cycle.
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I am happiest in the mountains, love a good brown ale (Jackalope's Bear Walker Brown is my favorite), and believe dogs are better people than most humans. When I’m not working, you can generally find me outside- hiking and running with my husband, kids and pup, Ellie.
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MY STORY
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My path into the field of leadership and organization development began at the University of Alabama. (Roll Tide!)
The UA Greek system has a tradition of posting hand-painted signs on the sides of the sorority houses, congratulating their members for various achievements. They say things like "Congratulations, Elle! Harvard Law Class of 2001!" or "Congratulations, Elle and Emmett on your engagement!".
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This got me curious. I wondered how the way a social group viewed success impacted the way their members viewed individual success and achievement.
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So for instance, if my sorority viewed getting engaged as the highest of accomplishments, and celebrated that, would I be more likely to value engagement? Conversely, if my sorority valued career achievement (Congrats on your acceptance to Law School!), would I similarly place more importance in the pursuit of a successful career?
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This curiosity led to my conducting research (Classmates, Sisters and Friends: The Effects of Social Microsystems on Women’s Future Life Goals) focusing on the social support systems and factors that lead to women in male-dominated job fields staying in those fields despite the discomfort of going against typical gender norms.
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That study led to my continued interest in the way that people impact and interact with each other at work- a discipline formally labelled Industrial-Organizational Psychology (I-O psych for short).
I chose to continue my education in this field and earned a Masters in I-O at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga while working as a consultant at a management consulting firm based out of Birmingham, AL. Since then, I've transitioned into an internal consulting role, where I work in-house to develop leaders, manage culture, and plan for the future using the concepts of workplace psychology.
Like the signs on the sorority houses at Alabama, much of what I write about or am interested by is sparked by a curiosity about everyday habits and behaviors we take for granted. I want to know why we do the things that we do, the assumptions and rules behind what is 'normal', how they control our behavior and what happens when we become aware of, disobey or re-write those rules.