gender

“Executive Coach” Senior Associate

Kari Uman, Senior Associate of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates in Fairfax, VA, has more than twenty-five years’ experience as a coach, consultant, and trainer. Her particular experience and interest in gender issues, and their impact on relationships and performance, enables her to help individuals change behaviors that are undermining their best efforts. As a professionally certified coach, Uman’s approach and methodology has helped executives and managers enhance leadership skills, improve relationships, develop better self-management capabilities and manage conflict more masterfully. In her work coaching women executives, she helps them become aware of self-limiting behaviors and attitudes, create a more positive self-image, explore the myths and beliefs that are undermining their effectiveness and develop both behaviors and strategies that enhance their success. Ms. Uman was recently featured in an article in Kinfolk Magazine, In Conversation: Group Dynamics.

Ms. Uman also works with teams: the interplay of one-on-one coaching with members of a team while simultaneously focusing on team dynamics has helped her clients develop collaborative behaviors and increase trust among team members, improve personal and team accountability, and improve productivity by individuals and the team as a whole. Ms. Uman specializes in gender dynamics within teams, woman-managed teams, and teams where women are in the majority. She helps these teams identify the behaviors that undermine others, and develop both an attitude and behaviors that help the team members and leaders become more powerful and effective.

As a certified organizational consultant, Ms. Uman specializes in conducting organizational assessments and developing reports that illuminate the patterns and themes of organizational behavior, enabling organizations to move positively and effectively into a successful future.

As an organizational trainer, Ms. Uman designs, develops and conducts a broad array of workshops including leadership development, teambuilding, career development, running effective meetings, and managing gender differences. She has received the certification as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designated by the International Coaching Federation.

Her clients include:

Crestline Hotels
Georgetown University
Intelligence Community
National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health
JBS International
Russell Reynolds Associates
American Psychological Association
Software Engineering Institute

Ms. Uman holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, a Master’s in Education from the University of Maine, and certificates in Organization Development and Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University. Her experience includes serving as an instructor at George Mason University, Georgetown University, Northern Virginia Community College and Mt. Vernon College. She is certified in aa array of assessments, including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) EI.20 (Emotional Intelligence) and EI 360, Change Management (Prosci) and was also certified by William Bridges and Associates to conduct workshops and provide consulting services on managing organizational transitions.

ISSUE:

A strong female performer took on new responsibilities that overwhelmed her and exacerbated her tendency to alienate her direct reports and others with whom she closely worked. Communication between the executive and direct reports had so deteriorated that the direct reports (all female) took the issue to the Vice-President of the Division. None of them wanted to work for this executive. The VP confronted the executive on her behavior and recommended that she participate in individual coaching, being clear that failure to improve the situation held potential consequences for her responsibilities, status and compensation.

INDUSTRY:

Manufacturing

SIZE:

Mid-sized, about 1000 employees

CLIENT:

Senior Manager and Three-Person Team

SOLUTION:

We used two coaches, a male and female, to work with the executive and the team, as both the VP and the PR executive were concerned that gender issues could undermine the success of the intervention. The executive to be coached believed that the team had different expectations from her than they would have from a male in the same position and feared they might be unresponsive to her efforts to change. We assigned the male coach as the primary contact for the PR executive and brought in the female coach intermittently as gender issues were raised. Both coaches worked with the team, meeting with them independently from the executive to create an environment in which they felt safe to talk openly. Other staff and colleagues were interviewed to provide a full picture of the situation as well as data for use in the coaching process. Once the data were collected, the coach and executive established clear goals for the process and met bi-monthly over a six-month process. The female coach was brought in every second or third session.

RESULTS:

By the end of the six-month process the executive made significant, positive changes in her relationships with her direct reports and others in the organization. The desired goals were reached. For instance, the team felt more valued and respected. But perhaps more importantly, the team showed strong support for the executive throughout the process and expressed appreciation for her efforts to change. The team members now feel comfortable asking for what they need professionally from her. They feel confident that they can give feedback to the executive when she reverts occasionally to old behaviors. According to the VP, no one on the team is requesting to be transferred and both the executive’s peers and other VPs have commented on her positive behaviors in their interactions with her. It appears that she has avoided derailing her career and has grown in the process.