Coaching

Welcome to Sherri Spelic Coaching!

If you are here, that means you must be ready for something.
Ready, perhaps, for something new, something different, something unknown. Working with me as your coach, we will identify just what or who you are ready for and go from there. While I could list the ways in which we might do that, the key to the whole venture is YOU. You: your plans, desires, and needs are at the center of our collaboration. I provide process expertise, structure for your explorations, a container for your collected discoveries  which enable you to move successfully toward your destination.  The integrity of our relationship rests on three simple principles: 1) Your agenda informs and guides our work at all times, 2) You are assured complete confidentiality, and 3) we agree in writing on the parameters and conditions of our collaboration.

I have three areas of special expertise, one or more of which may fit your needs:

Education Leadership: Advanced graduate studies in Independent School Leadership at the Klingenstein Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, have equipped me well to understand the challenges facing leaders in schools at all levels. Experience as a teacher, workshop presenter, accreditation team member and athletic coach have also offered me ample opportunities to observe various schools in action and to have conversations with educators in a variety of contexts. In my coaching practice this context familiarity has proven helpful and empowering in my work with individual clients. Our coaching relationship provides the forum for you to focus on the  foundational elements  of your leadership: values, vision, purpose, and priorities, to name a few. We use these as a basis for determining where and how your energy and creativity can be most effectively applied to achieve the best results within the context of your specific organization.

I am also the founder of the Educator’s Executive Roundtable to which members subscribe and are entitled to attend up to six group sessions spaced over the course of 9 months in which each moderated  1 hour discussion focuses on a specific topic.  Participants practice active listening, inquiry, and design thinking in addressing topics of concern and share insights gained from each other’s contributions.  Each meeting becomes a forum for laser-focused professional and personal learning.

Finding the Fitness Your Body Needs and Your Mind Can Deliver
Most of my professional years have been spent wearing sweats to work and engaging  children and young adults in a variety of movements topics.  As a Physical Education Specialist, Track and Field Coach, former competitive runner with a Master’s in Sport Psychology, I’ve acquired a significant degree of know-how and practice in topics of physical and mental training. Working with adults, however, I have found that many, myself included, are rarely lacking in understanding or resources with regards to fitness. Rather, the struggles we face are typically internal and tend to defy rationality. This is where coaching can be helpful: in providing a supportive, non-judgmental partner who can help you match up the logic of what the desired goal requires with the mental and emotional resources available to achieves manageable, sustainable steps forward. No magic formulas here; just effective framing, reflective practice and steady encouragement. You’ll be amazed at how much more you can achieve by joining forces with a knowledgeable and committed coach.

Reality Parenting:
One of my favorite parenting books has the title The Biggest Job We’ll Ever Have by Laura and Malcolm Gauld (2002). I like the title because it puts the notion right out there: Parenting is big; huge, in fact.  In my coaching practice I value conversations with client in which the full range of parenting realities can be expressed honestly and safely. Coaching in the parenting context is not about fixing problems. Rather the focus is on developing alternative avenues for being able to see what is, accurately and without judgment, in order to create a new basis for further decision-making.  School-Home partnership, changing family dynamics, bolstering your parenting confidence – these are some possible topics for exploration in our work together.

If any of these ares of my coaching interests you, please contact me. I work through telephone/online conferencing and in-person meetings.
Please e-mail me at: sherspelic@gmail.com