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Clients and Their Results

These case studies are offered to give you a better idea of the kinds of individuals and teams Diane works with, her approach, and some of the results she has achieved with her clients.

Case Study #1 – Heightened Awareness in Dealing with Co-workers

The CEO of Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care in Colorado Springs, Colorado engaged Diane Kessel to work with her leadership team. This process included everyone in the group taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, follow-up sessions to review and discuss the findings of the assessments, and one-on-one coaching with key members of the team. Controller Valerie Herl was one of the individuals who participated in the individual coaching process.

Valerie had three main goals at the outset of the coaching process. She wanted to be proactive in bridging the gap between the operations team and the clinical team within the organization, she wanted to improve her skills as leader of the accounting team, and she wanted to have more confidence when working with the CEO.

“I was seen as the numbers person, the rules person,” says Valerie. “My goal was to be viewed as a team player, as a person who could provide useful data and help others gather information they needed to be successful in their areas.”

Weekly coaching sessions with Diane helped Valerie stay focused on the goals she’d set out to achieve. “Diane was really good at helping me clarify my goals, set timetables, and look at measurable outcomes. We documented things at each meeting and she really held me to task,” says Valerie. “She also gave me advice and feedback on how to understand and approach people in the workplace,” adds Valerie.

Valerie found significant value in the Myers-Briggs. The assessment tool helped her understand other’s work styles and adjust and adapt her own approach to achieve more positive outcomes. In one case, Valerie learned to stop “surprising” a member of the leadership team.

“I’d bring something up at a meeting and her automatic response would be ‘no’ and I’d think that her answer was always ‘no.’ That wasn’t the case at all. She just didn’t like to be surprised,” says Valerie. Valerie began giving her co-worker advance notice and time to process ideas before bringing them up at meetings. “We work way better together now,” says Valerie.

In another instance, Valerie came to understand that a member of her own team was more of a “big picture” person than she’d imagined, and adjusted her supervisory style accordingly. “I had to become more observant of personalities, learning styles, and what other people needed,” says Valerie. “Before, I thought people were rigid. Now I understand that they didn’t need to change, I just needed to change how I interacted with them,” she adds.

Through the coaching process, Valerie gained confidence and began seeing herself an influential member of the team. Just as important, she learned to better identify where others had influence over how to get things done. Her leadership skills improved as she developed an ability to coach her staff, encourage feedback, and get them more involved in decision making.

Sometime after the leadership team development work and Valerie’s coaching with Diane was complete, there was an opening at Pikes Peak for Vice-President of Operations. By this time, the organization’s CEO had begun to see Valerie in a new light. “When they first came to me I thought ‘really?’ . . . but then I realized I could do the job. I attribute at least part of that to the coaching,” says Valerie. Today, in addition to overseeing the financial side of the organization, Valerie is responsible for IT, communications, and compliance.

Case Study #2 – Polishing Professionalism and Improving People Skills

Before Karen Hill became the franchisee/owner of her own Texas Roadhouse restaurants in Wisconsin, she worked in the organization’s corporate office. In fact, she was one of the first four people hired by the company when it launched in 1993. Karen wore many hats as the company grew and eventually became Director of Field Marketing. Around the time Karen took this position, the restaurant had a new CEO who had engaged Diane Kessel to coach several employees. Karen was one of the individuals chosen for coaching.

Even before coming to Texas Roadhouse, Karen had worked her way up through the ranks in the restaurant business. Sharp, skilled, and experienced, Karen knew that she needed to work on improving her communication skills and professionalism. She had several challenging personalities to contend with in her job and she wanted to learn to approach these individuals with greater maturity and more finesse.

Karen and Diane met weekly, usually by telephone, over the course of a year. During this time they dealt with challenges as they arose and also worked on the bigger picture of developing Karen’s leadership, communication, and management skills. “Diane held my feet to the fire,” says Karen. “She often gave me assignments, which I always did. She didn’t allow me to spend time feeling sorry for myself.”

Handling conflict was one area where Karen especially wanted to improve her skills. “I’ve always been good at being able to support my position, but I didn’t always have the finesse to stand up for myself in a positive way,” she says. During the time she was being coached, Karen would work through challenging conversations and situations and then during the coaching sessions she and Diane would discuss how specific events played out, what worked well, and what could have been done differently.

“I’m a hard worker, a self-starter, and I’m motivated. I have all of that,” says Karen. “Diane helped me as a person. She helped me be a better person you’d want to know, to be a better friend, a better listener, and a better leader.”

A motivated, self-starter indeed. Karen now owns two Texas Roadhouse franchise locations in Wisconsin and is opening a third. This venture required assuming the role of leader in a bigger way. “I let the man who manages my stores do his job. I don’t want to get in his way. I’d never have been able to do that before,” laughs Karen.

The coaching Karen received with Diane has benefited her outside of her career as well. She is involved with a charitable organization that has recently experience some difficult times. “This was a time of big turnaround for the organization,” says Karen. “Without the skills I learned from Diane I wouldn’t have gotten through it.”

Case Study #3 – New Position, New Team, New Challenges

Pat Mehnert was a little surprised when the Executive Director of her organization came to her one day and offered her the opportunity to work privately with a coach. Then the Assistant Clinical Director of HospiceCare of Boulder and Broomfield Counties, Pat jumped at the chance to work with Diane Kessel on goal and career planning. Although Pat wasn’t fully aware of it at the time, the organization was investing in coaching for her because she was being groomed for a promotion.

As Pat and Diane began their work together, they explored areas that Pat needed to develop professionally to be effective at the next level. They analyzed the role of a Director, set targeted goals, and developed strategy. Pat welcomed the fact that in her role as coach Diane never told her what to do. “We brainstormed, she asked provocative questions, and offered alternative views. But in the end it always came back to what I wanted,” says Pat.