Success Stories working with Sheridan Gates
Director Expands her Horizons
Phrases and thoughts I would freely express to individuals contemplating career coaching:
- A coaching relationship is partnered trust: we both contribute to what is deemed “success”
- It is work: success is the result of researched and practiced activity
- It is intentional: bringing focus to specific career goals
- It is guided, not authoritative: coaching isn’t about “telling me what to do,” it’s about bringing awareness to what I can do/what I want to do/what I am gifted at doing
- Career coaching gives me “space” to consider what I might be and how I might get there
- Every coaching session leaves me energized and empowered: having identified specific challenges, a plan for actionable solutions and a method for measuring results
- At the risk of sounding silly…career coaching is the best gift you can give your job. Coaching gives purpose to the 40-60 hours/week we devote to our careers.
- You are amazing Sheridan. You have found your gift and I am so grateful that YOUR gift is helping people like me find MY gift.”
Jessica Moy
Director, Technology Partnerships Department of Technology, Management and Budget State of Michigan
Artist Reinvents Her Career
“I have reached the goals I set with Sheridan. Goals that I thought were unimaginable. I was so grateful for the work we did together. One aspect that was probably the most helpful was the focus on connecting to my inner wisdom and listening to my dreams from that perspective. I remember that I didn’t think it was possible to be an artist because of strange feelings about not living up to my family’s expectations. It was helpful to work with Sheridan and to be able to dream big and feel safe with speaking the barely imaginable. And to scale it down to how that would happen from shifting slowly out of my day job until I was ready to take the leap. As a professional artist, I have been supporting myself (as well as a coworker) full time for four years. And now I am where I didn’t think I would ever be and ready for my next big vision.”
Valerie Theberge
Director Innovates to Thrive
Sheridan has constructed a clear, positive space for us to build on my strengths. This has led to a set of creative tools that enable me to do my best work while challenging me to grow. The outcome has been self awareness and a renewed purpose in my job and career.
Justin M. Booth
Director RS & GIS Research and Outreach Services Michigan State University
Federal Scientist Finds Passion from Inside
Sheridan is a compassionate, intuitive coach, and I am grateful beyond words for connecting with her during this leg of my journey. I had been seeking a personal/professional coach for some time, and I wanted to be able to bring my whole self into our work together. I knew during our first conversation that Sheridan was exactly whom I was seeking, and she was able to cultivate learning and healing at cognitive, emotional, and energetic levels.
As a result of our work together, I am noticing some appreciable shifts in my inner world and the world around me. I am navigating my work, volunteering, and personal life with greater authenticity, confidence, centeredness, and self-assurance. Space is opening up all around me to engage in projects that better resonate with my core values and skills. I am shifting from feeling lost and stuck to more focused, energized, inspired, and even willing to take a leap now and then. I am honoring and trusting myself, perhaps for the first time ever.
Katie, Environmental Scientist, U.S. government
Director Clarifies Her Vision and Inspires Others
Working with Sheridan was simply amazing. Through our work together, I went from having a general idea of the leader I wanted to be to having a clear understanding of the vision I have for myself and my work, the precise value I bring and how I want to show up at meetings and with my team. She helped me develop methods for assessing how and whether I am meeting my leadership goals and provided me with practical tools to use. She helped me to integrate my professional as well as personal strengths and values and channel that energy into my work. After working with Sheridan, I feel whole, authentic, and confident. I no longer have the same doubts and fears about being seen.
Angela W., Director, University
Director Expands Gifts as She Leads
I have worked with Sheridan twice, each time for about 3 months. About a decade ago, I was feeling like I wanted some help charting my course for post-tenure in such a way to avoid the academic ‘mid-career slump’. More recently, I was looking for help navigating leadership transitions. Sheridan was so helpful in both cases! In fact, my work with Sheridan was so powerful that I wrote about it in a book chapter I recently published “…I built my understanding a variety of ways, including: Working one-on-one with a career coach to identify and align my professional mission, vision, purpose statement, goals and values. Taking the time to reflect on and be explicit about my values and my career goals in this way was invaluable for determining the range of potential paths forward.” I would add to this quote that I also gained a clear understanding of which career paths I wanted to follow, why, and how. Feeling grounded in that understanding has been extremely helpful for my whole life, including both personal and professional spheres.
Kendra Spence Cheruvelil, Professor, Michigan State University
If you’re ready to reinvent yourself or overcome a career plateau.