What Coaching Changes in Law Firms

What Coaching Changes in Law Firms

📝 EPISODE SUMMARY  What does it take to introduce coaching into a profession built on expertise, billable hours, and high-performance expectations?  In this episode of the Group Coaching in Organizations Podcast, Traci Mundy Jenkins, Director of Career Development at Venable, shares how coaching is being integrated into the development of legal professionals. Drawing on her background as a lawyer, legal recruiter, and career development leader, Traci explains how she discovered coaching and began applying it to conversations she was already having with associates and partners.  You’ll hear how Venable piloted a group coaching program designed to support lawyers transitioning toward partnership, why preparation and expectations are critical before the first session begins, and how group coaching creates powerful peer learning across offices.  If you’re passionate about coaching cultures, internal coaching, or expanding group coaching inside professional services organizations, this episode is a must-listen.      🧠 5 KEY TAKEAWAYS  What happens when coaching enters a profession traditionally built on expertise and advice?  Traci Mundy Jenkins, Director of Career Development at Venable, shares how coaching can complement traditional development approaches and help lawyers navigate major career transitions.  1. Coaching strengthens conversations leaders already have: coaching skills shift discussions from giving advice to helping professionals reflect and find their own solutions.  2. Group coaching supports identity transitions: lawyers preparing for partnership benefit from structured reflection on leadership expectations and career direction.  3. Preparation drives engagement in group coaching programs: orientation sessions and expectation-setting before the first session dramatically improve participation and outcomes.  4. Cross-office groups build relationships: bringing lawyers together from different locations creates learning and connections that rarely happen through daily work.  5. Peer learning is the real engine of group coaching: when participants start coaching each other, the group becomes far more powerful than any single coach.    “COACHING JUST ADDS ANOTHER LAYER TO THE CONVERSATIONS I WAS ALREADY HAVING. IT GIVES YOU TANGIBLE TOOLS TO HELP PEOPLE STEP BACK, REFLECT, AND OFTEN REALIZE THEY ALREADY HAVE THE ANSWERS.”      ↪️ WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE  04:25 - Traci’s Origin Story in Coaching: Traci discusses her journey into coaching, highlighting her enjoyment of engaging with people.   05:33 - Cultivating a Coaching Culture at Venable: Traci shares how her background informs the coaching culture at Venable, emphasizing support for associates and managers.  09:05 - The Balance of Advising and Coaching: Traci explains the difference between advising and coaching and how this impacts her program design.  11:23 - Designing Group Coaching for Counsel: Traci details why she chose to create a group coaching program for counsel on the partnership path.  16:46 - Practical Program Design and Structure: Traci outlines the practical aspects of her program design, including outreach and session structure.   22:02 - The Value of Pre-Meetings in Program Success: Traci explains why one-on-one pre-meetings are essential for participant understanding and commitment.  24:38 - Fostering Peer Coaching and Engagement: Traci discusses the challenge of ensuring participants coach each other and ideas for improving engagement.   29:00 - Flexibility in Program Delivery: The Imposter Syndrome Story: Traci recounts a session where an unexpected turn in discussion led to important learning.   32:50 - Becoming Comfortable with Silence: Traci shares her experience as a lawyer learning to tolerate and appreciate silence in coaching sessions.   36:00 - Protecting Reflection Time in Coaching Programs: Traci talks about the importance of building in dedicated time for reflection to enhance learning retention.    🗝️ KEY THEMES  * Coaching culture in professional services organizations  * Advising vs coaching in internal development roles  * Supporting lawyers transitioning toward partnership  * Designing group coaching programs inside organizations  * Preparing participants for group coaching success  * Peer learning and shared reflection in groups  * Cross-office collaboration through group coaching  * The role of silence and reflection in coaching conversations  * Building coaching cultures pragmatically    ABOUT TRACI MUNDY JENKINS  Traci Mundy Jenkins is the Director of Career Development at Venable, where she leads initiatives supporting the professional growth and career progression of approximately 300 associates across the firm.  Her work focuses on helping lawyers navigate career transitions, strengthen leadership capabilities, and build sustainable careers within a demanding profession. She integrates coaching approaches into her work with associates, partners, and firm leadership.  Prior to returning to Venable, Traci served as Assistant Dean for Career and Professional Development at American University Washington College of Law and co-founded a legal recruiting and consulting firm. She has also served as President and board member of the National Association for Law Placement.      🤝  CONNECT WITH TRACI  * Venable: https://www.venable.com/ [https://www.venable.com/]   * Email: TMJenkins@Venable.com [TMJenkins@Venable.com]   * LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/traci-mundy-jenkins-2207673 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/traci-mundy-jenkins-2207673]     📩 STAY CONNECTED WITH GROUP COACHING HQ!  Receive updates about future episodes and events:   Join our newsletter:   https://group-coaching-hq.mykajabi.com/email-preferences-updates [https://group-coaching-hq.mykajabi.com/email-preferences-updates]  🌍 Follow us for more insights on building coaching cultures in organizations:  * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/groupcoachinghq/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/groupcoachinghq/]  * Website: https://www.groupcoachinghq.com/ [https://www.groupcoachinghq.com/]  * Email: hello@groupcoachinghq.com [hello@groupcoachinghq.com]

The "2-Hours-Back" Playbook: Proving Coaching ROI with Michelle Davis

📝 EPISODE SUMMARY  How do you prove coaching works without reducing people development to a single performance score? In this episode of Coaching in Organizations, Michelle Davis (Program Manager for Executive Coaching at Wipfli) shares how her firm built an internal coaching practice, launched a group coaching pilot focused on strategic time management, and translated results into business language leaders trust. You’ll hear what she measured, what she stopped measuring (and why), and how manager involvement strengthens impact while protecting confidentiality.  If you’re passionate about coaching cultures, internal coaching, or building capacity through group coaching in organizations, this episode is a must-listen.      🧠 5 KEY TAKEAWAYS  What if your coaching ROI story started with a simple question leaders actually care about: “How many hours did we get back?”  Michelle Davis, Program Manager for Executive Coaching at Wipfli, breaks down what it really takes to measure coaching impact inside a professional services firm where “metrics are the language.”  1. Start your ROI story with a metric leaders care about: translate coaching outcomes into business language, like time saved.  2. Internal coaching changes the contract: hold the coachee’s agenda while staying aligned to organizational priorities and context.  3. Build group coaching around a clear, repeatable business need: the strategic time management pilot targeted high-potential leaders.   4. Measure what you can defend: engagement, time management satisfaction, and hours saved created a credible impact case for expansion.  5. Protect confidentiality while involving managers: use alignment up front, midpoint check-ins, and post-engagement feedback to strengthen results without exposing coaching conversations.      “THE BUSINESS PRIORITIES AND GOALS ARE THE FRAME, AND I GET TO WORK WITH MY CLIENTS WITHIN THAT FRAME.”        ↪️ WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE * 02:29 Michelle’s Coaching Origin Story: Michelle shares what led her to become a coach and her transition from an external to an internal coach. 07:49 Accountability to Business Outcomes: Michelle discusses how her role shifted when she became an internal coach and accountable for business outcomes. 09:30 Coaching Culture at Wipfli: Michelle describes the coaching culture at Wipfli, including who receives coaching and the types of programs offered. 13:17 The Group Coaching Pilot: Michelle details the group coaching pilot, its participants, and the business needs it addressed. 14:40 Measuring Impact of the Pilot: Michelle explains the three key metrics used to measure the pilot’s impact: engagement, satisfaction with time management, and time saved. 19:48 Translating Impact to ROI: Michelle discusses how they translated the pilot’s results into ROI for leadership, combining quantitative and qualitative data. 21:38 Removing Performance as a Metric: Michelle explains why the decision was made to remove overall performance as a measurement in coaching programs. 23:19 Including Managers in Impact Measurement: Michelle describes how managers are involved in measuring the impact of coaching engagements. 26:26 Personal Realizations as an Internal Coach: Michelle shares her personal insights and shifts experienced while building the coaching culture at Wipfli. 28:06 Managing the Dual Role of Internal Coach: Michelle addresses the challenge of being both a coach and an employee, and how she manages boundaries when learning sensitive information.     🗝️ KEY THEMES  * Coaching ROI that leaders trust  * Time management as a high-leverage coaching topic  * Designing group coaching programs around a clear business need  * Simple, measurable outcomes (and what they tracked)  * Scaling coaching access through multiple modalities  * Dropping “performance” as a coaching metric  * Manager involvement without breaking confidentiality  * Internal coach boundaries + ethical escalation  * How to build a coaching culture pragmatically      ABOUT MICHELLE DAVIS   Transforming people and workplaces from functioning to flourishing drives Michelle's work as an internal coaching leader. She envisions the workplace as a space where professionals can live out their values, cultivate meaning, and become their best selves.  Michelle leads the internal coaching practice at Wipfli, a professional services and advisory firm, where the practice's mission is to empower associates to realize their highest potential and live the lives they imagine. Prior to becoming a certified coach, she spent 15 years in business development at the University of Michigan.    🤝 CONNECT WITH MICHELLE  * Wipfli: https://www.Wipfli.com/ [https://www.wipfli.com/]   * Email: michelle.davis@Wipfli.com [michelle.davis@wipfli.com]   * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-bard-davis/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-bard-davis/]       📩 STAY CONNECTED WITH GROUP COACHING HQ!  Receive updates about future episodes and events!     Join our newsletter:   https://group-coaching-hq.mykajabi.com/email-preferences-updates [https://group-coaching-hq.mykajabi.com/email-preferences-updates]  🌍 Follow us for more insights on building coaching cultures in organizations:  * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/groupcoachinghq/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/groupcoachinghq/]  * Website: https://www.groupcoachinghq.com/ [https://www.groupcoachinghq.com/]  * Email: hello@groupcoachinghq.com [hello@groupcoachinghq.com]

Create Your Organization's Coaching Culture Intentionally with Katherine Lord

📝 EPISODE SUMMARY What does a coaching culture actually look like inside an organization? In this episode, Katherine Lord, Director of Organizational Member Experience, unpacks why a coaching culture is not a branded initiative or a sign that everyone has a coach. It is an environment where leaders and employees use coaching mindsets and behaviors in daily decisions, management, and collaboration, all in service of business results. Katherine shares how her background in social work shapes her systems view of organizations, why behavior matters more than optics, how leaders can assess maturity without turning it into a competition, and why pilots are often the smartest place to start. For talent leaders, L&D teams, and internal coaches, this coaching podcast offers a practical foundation for building coaching cultures and thinking about where group coaching can become a scalable lever.     🧠 5 KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. Start with the culture you want, not the coaching program you want. Coaching should support what matters most to the organization. 2. A coaching culture shows up in behavior. It is less about branding and more about how leaders and employees consistently act, manage, and collaborate. 3. Maturity is a roadmap, not a scoreboard. Ad hoc, emerging, developing, and integrated can all be useful depending on the organization’s needs. 4. You do not need a perfect formal program to begin. Community, pilot programs, and a few meaningful data points can create momentum fast. 5. Group coaching does not have to be the starting point to matter. Organizations can move their culture forward through coaching behaviors first, then scale into broader modalities over time.     “A COACHING CULTURE IS AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE LEADERS AND EMPLOYEES CONSISTENTLY USE COACHING MINDSETS AND BEHAVIORS.”       ↪️ WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE * 03:09 Katherine’s Journey: Katherine shares her path from social work to her current role at the International Coaching Federation. * 07:12 Social Work Principles in Coaching: Katherine discusses how her social work background, particularly the “person and environment” framework, influences her approach to organizational coaching. * 10:04 Defining a Coaching Culture: Katherine defines a coaching culture as an environment where leaders and employees use coaching mindsets and behaviors to drive business results. * 11:46 Intentional Coaching Culture: Katherine explains that building a coaching culture requires intentionality, starting with a desire to address organizational challenges and an openness to coaching. * 14:11 The Coaching Culture Compass Assessment: Katherine details the ICF’s assessment tool, which helps organizations evaluate their coaching culture based on exhibited behaviors. * 15:40 Four Levels of Coaching Culture Maturity: Katherine outlines the four categories of coaching culture maturity: ad hoc, emerging, developing, and integrated. * 19:45 Surprising Assessment Results: Katherine shares insights into common surprises organizations experience when seeing their assessment results, often finding they are further along than expected. * 22:27 Advice for Building a Coaching Culture: Katherine offers two key pieces of advice: connect with other organizations and “befriend the pilot” by experimenting with pilot programs. * 24:17 The Importance of ICF Core Competencies: Katherine stresses the value of rooting coaching programs in the ICF core competencies for a strong foundation. * 25:34 Personal Transformation Through Coaching: Katherine reflects on her personal growth since joining the coaching world, highlighting her belief in coaching’s power to create global impact.      🗝️ KEY THEMES * Defining coaching culture through behavior * Systems thinking in coaching and organizations * Intentionality and sponsorship * Measurement and maturity * Progress before perfection * Pilot-led program design * Access and democratization of coaching * Group coaching as part of a broader coaching culture     ABOUT KATHERINE LORD Katherine Lord is Director of Organizational Member Experience at the International Coaching Federation. She works with organizations and coaching program leaders to help them strengthen coaching cultures, share best practices, and navigate common challenges. Her background spans community engagement, association leadership, and social work, giving her a strong systems lens on how people, leadership, and organizational environments interact. Prior to this role, she held positions with the Council on Social Work Education and the Club Management Association of America.   📚 RESOURCES The Coaching Culture Compass: The ICF Coaching Culture Compass and Coaching Culture Designation showcase an organization’s commitment to building a strong, research‑based coaching culture. Grounded in ICF and Human Capital Institute field research and validated through ICF’s assessment and benchmarking process, the Designation offers a clear, credible way to demonstrate coaching culture maturity. At a time when leaders want tangible proof of value, it provides concrete insights—including a maturity matrix and detailed report—that highlight progress and strengthen the case for coaching across the organization. Download a one-pager about the Coaching Culture Compass [https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qaxtobyuojgqxhqen7x2v/Coaching-Culture-Compass-One-Sheet.pdf?rlkey=oopcjmf6xv8jo1ue230uuyvmg&dl=0]:  https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qaxtobyuojgqxhqen7x2v/Coaching-Culture-Compass-One-Sheet.pdf?rlkey=oopcjmf6xv8jo1ue230uuyvmg&dl=0     🤝 CONNECT WITH KATHERINE * Email: lord@coachingfederation.org [katherine.lord@coachingfederation.org] * LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/katherineblord [https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherineblord] * International Coaching Federation: https://coachingfederation.org/ [https://coachingfederation.org/]     📩 STAY CONNECTED WITH GROUP COACHING HQ! Receive updates about future episodes and events!   Join our newsletter:  https://group-coaching-hq.mykajabi.com/email-preferences-updates [https://group-coaching-hq.mykajabi.com/email-preferences-updates] 🌍 Follow us for more insights on building coaching cultures in organizations: * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/groupcoachinghq/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/groupcoachinghq/] * Website: https://www.groupcoachinghq.com/ [https://www.groupcoachinghq.com/] * Email: hello@groupcoachinghq.com [hello@groupcoachinghq.com]