Coaching

Introduced by caring colleagues I was encouraged to talk to Cynthia as the ‘go to person’ – a critical stopover – before leaping over a career cliff. Working in a small organization and juggling lot’s of balls and ready to lambaste my Board, I paused to seek a coach’s advice. Cynthia’s proactive approach and counsel to stop, look and mostly listen enabled me to sort the right from wrong and discover an exact mix of remedies. I was able to trust both her experience and judgment to guide my plan to a satisfactory result. I’ve found a wonderful resource and a would-be friend.

Cynthia’s leadership expertise, in combination with her coaching style, has assisted me to enhance my executive leadership skills. She has a great perspective on leadership challenges and is able to provide great insight and strategies on tough issues. She has helped me to identify opportunities for growth, as well as build on my areas of strength.

It is rare to find someone who is so perfectly suited for her role as Cynthia is. She has a seemingly ideal set of experiences and skills to identify her clients’ priority issues, provide relevant feedback, and recommend actionable tactics. During my first coaching session, Cynthia impressed me with her ability to ask a few, strategic questions to draw out insights about my personal and professional goals that I hadn’t even previously fully developed to myself. She used those insights to help me understand the path to reaching these goals and provided clear, easily digestible next steps. I came away from the session with less anxiety and more enthusiasm for the short- and long-term future.

“You are always a student, never a master. You have to keep moving forward.” Conrad Hall. Some of you know that I am always working at a few projects at once. To tie it all together and make something out of it requires help. After hearing Cynthia Mills speak at the NJ Tree Conference, I knew I had to ask her to coach me! Ever since then, I have been and still am continually grateful for her guidance, love, and support as the journey continues. She has a wealth of knowledge but what I love best is her genuine desire to see others succeed. Thank you, Cynthia!

I had an awesome time with you! You were an amazing facilitator and a huge part of the reason I passed (the CAE exam.) I’m so glad to have earned this credential and am very grateful for your help!

Working with Cynthia allowed me to think through where I stood in my career, and, even more importantly, where I may be capable of going. She raised the right questions and provided me with very useful insights into my potential. If you are thinking about assessing your career direction, I very highly recommend Cynthia as the executive coach for you.

Cynthia’s ability to define the real issues and coach others to create breakthroughs is truly remarkable. Through leadership, coaching and mentoring she calls forth the best in executives and associates to realize a future that they truly want!

It’s rare to find a professional who combines individual coaching skills, organizational leadership experience, vision, and integrity. Cynthia brings that rare combination. I recommend her without reservation; she will bring her passion and practicality to lead your coaching or other initiative to successful outcomes beyond your expectations.

No sports team succeeds without a coach. It took me awhile to transfer and embrace this truth for my business. I have known Cynthia for over 20 years and have been a coaching client of hers for the past two.  Cynthia is exactly what I was looking for in a career/life/business Sherpa: founded in her faith, having excelled in business, been recognized for excellence by her peers, an insightful listener, quick to see and address what is not being said as well as what is, challenges assumptions, is able to ferret out and provide clarity of direction and purpose, and somehow tie all that up with a bow in just a few 60 minute sessions with practical suggestions for homework in between. I recommend her highly to any business owner who wants to move themselves and their businesses to the next level.

She has proven to be an extremely valuable mentor with her broad business perspective and knack for coaching. Her energy and enthusiasm for her work is contagious; I always leave our conversations feeling re-inspired and ready to take on new challenges at work. I’m very thankful to have met Cynthia and to have the opportunity to learn from her successful career.

Cynthia is a seasoned association executive whose wise counsel and thoughtful insights have proven vital to my own professional development. As a coach, peer and mentor she has had a profound impact on my growth as a leader. She creates a comfortable, safe, nurturing environment for candid dialogue, problem solving and thought-provoking discussion. She is a trustworthy confidante, sounding board and solutions provider who really knows her stuff!

Cynthia is an amazing executive coach. She is extremely intuitive; tells you what you need to hear vs. want to hear; helps you discover your blind zones; focuses on actionable goals and steps to overcome short and long-term challenges and capitalize on opportunities; and supports you in both your professional and personal life.I have worked with life coaches for 20 years and didn’t know that an executive coach would be what I needed to deal with during a period of my life where my challenges were both professional and personal in nature. But Cynthia deals with the whole person and all the variables professionals deal with, recognizing that professionals are people with families and lives outside of their career.

Cynthia coached me during one of the most challenging periods of my professional and personal life and created a safe place for me to deal with both. I am very rarely in awe, but Cynthia continues to inspire and stretch me. I will continue to use her as my coach. Even after 17+ years as an association executive, I know that there is so much more to learn from her. I personally would recommend Cynthia to any executive who is looking to grow, dealing with challenges, in need of a tune-up, planning their next steps or is looking to really stretch and leap professionally. She has proven to be one of the best investments I have made in my entire career.

Cynthia’s questions and insights have helped me to more fully discern my values and intentions for my personal and professional lives. I feel like a truer, more confident version of myself than I was before I began working with her.I feel like I’ve found my voice – the ability to clarify my thoughts and emotions and to confidently assert my position on important issues for our company. I’m using more questions more often with my team, modeling some of Cynthia’s approach and trying to be a better coach for our organization. I’m thrilled with the results, especially as I transition to the executive level within our company and in our state trade association.What sets Cynthia apart is her apparently sincere interest in self-development and in the person behind the position. She takes a whole-life approach that I think is important because we either live whole-heartedly or not at all.  She is warm, intelligent, and very encouraging.  She also is comfortable asking challenging questions and providing the space for me to develop my answers.  And she supports “I don’t know right now” as sometimes being the best answer to a given question.

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Over the years I have come to rely on Cynthia’s counsel and judgment as I have wrestled with various decisions and situations. She is wise and discerning and always asks penetrating questions that get to the heart of an issue. I would recommend her without hesitation or equivocation.

Cynthia’s brainstorming, mentoring and counsel have proven invaluable in seeing me through an anxious transition period and helping me prepare myself for my next opportunity. She’s great at asking simple questions to help frame and focus on issues, as well as at providing great feedback and encouragement. I’ll continue to enjoy – and benefit from – our coaching relationship moving forward.

Cynthia approaches coaching with a thirst for knowledge. She wants to truly learn while she is coaching you. There are not many days that go by that I don’t hear her voice sharing some sage advice or a helpful tip to get me through a tough decision or discussion with Board, staff or volunteers. I didn’t know I was being coached at the time and honestly feel like Cynthia’s approach is so warm and inviting that you never will. She’s that good.

As a CEO, I strive to create an effective, outcomes oriented organization, and the opportunity to brainstorm potential issues with an impartial, knowledgeable expert is invaluable. For me, Cynthia is this strategic partner that I count on to help me talk through issues and identify the optional approaches.

Cynthia provides that personal sense of optimism that I can succeed, that the current challenge is going to be met and the outcome will bring a result that builds positively on the past and creates more opportunity for the future – even when it is clear that there will be temporary setbacks or even major disappointments. To have Cynthia on your side is to have a force of nature favoring your chances of success; she leaves an inner voice that continually tells you to “push onward and forward” but with self awareness and knowledge.

I want to specifically thank you for including the Career Coaching session in the Leadership Program. I had an exceptional conversation with Cynthia today… it helped me, even after only a few days, re-kindle the flame as I’m back to the chaotic “real world.” She has a remarkable ability to provide some thought-provoking and extremely practical ideas to help me stay focused and realize my ambitions and aspirations.

My story is long, and perhaps boring to most, so I’ll keep it to the point. Cynthia has been coaching me for the past several months, as I contemplated making a career change and then after accepting the opportunity. We met through BOMA Georgia’s Masters Leadership program, where she was the developer and instructional leader for this 6-month program. Cynthia has been instrumental in helping me discover my potential as a leader and encourages me to reach beyond any barrier that restricts my personal and professional growth. Her professional, yet compassionate and extensive expertise, has given me the motivation and confidence I’ve needed. I’m a “work in progress” and cannot wait to share how much I’ve grown a year from now. I have the utmost trust in Cynthia and would recommend her to anyone seeking a professional coach or leadership instructor.

I had the pleasure of meeting Cynthia at the ASAE 2015 national meeting. She along with a couple of other industry notables was running a very interesting session related to CEOs and governance. I was impressed. I was also delighted to be so warmly received when I introduced myself after the session. As a senior executive working to join the non-profit world in a CEO role, I need help. After a short time with Cynthia I realized she was the right person to coach me. The intelligence and experience I noted in her session, as well as the sensitivity I experienced on meeting her, carry through to her work with me. Cynthia draws on her experience, intelligence, and emotional IQ to help with the strategic and tactical issues. She is professional, responsive, and able to deliver observations and advice…both the easy to take and the tough to hear, directly and diplomatically. I am happy to have her as a coach…

When I hear people struggling to find direction in their careers, clamoring to be better leaders, I am delighted to share my personal experiences and successes with Cynthia Mills. Cynthia listens then always seems have just the right question or summary or insight that gets to the heart of the issue. I look forward to our monthly phone calls. And even though our scheduled calls always seem to land in the thick of stress and deadlines, she is always able to put me on course, renew my ability focus, and help me see the big picture. The insight Cynthia has been able to bring to my life, both personally and professionally, has enabled me to grow in my marriage, grow in leadership, and pour into my employees and co-workers. She has the ability to help you see your “wins” and successes that are often hard to do in our non-stop world. Her simple approaches to life and home provide the tools to create successful environments. I find myself periodically reviewing my notes from our calls together to gain insight, review leadership processes, and sometimes just remembering the enjoyment of our conversations. My co-workers and family have never met Cynthia in person but they know her well because I speak of her and our times together so often.

Wow! The highlight of my trip was spending time with you during my coaching session. You gave me such great advice and several tactics that I believe will help me on my path to CIO. I left feeling like I can really do this! Thank you so much Cynthia for your guidance and encouragement…and for sharing your own experiences and insights. I truly appreciate having this opportunity, and I’m confident this will have a significant impact towards my career.

We recently developed a new Leadership Program at the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA). A key component is preparing the “next gen” of our members to guide the association in the future, while at the same time giving them useful skills to use back in their own businesses. We saw this as a key benefit in order to get a company to commit to the $2,500 registration fee, plus travel expenses. We wanted to add a coaching component as a way to continue an individual’s leadership growth following the conclusion of the formal program. Cynthia was a natural choice. She connects well with people and her experience as a CEO enables her to quickly understand where we are going from an association perspective. I recommend her to any of my association colleagues without hesitation.

I first met Cynthia through a job search where I was a candidate for an executive director position. Cynthia had been retained to help with the hiring and on-boarding processes as well as to advise the Board. That was the most organized and efficient interview and screening process I have ever participated in. I did not get that job, but, due to Cynthia’s work, it was a wonderful experience.

I was so impressed I retained her to evaluate and update my job search materials. She helped with redoing my resume and other materials and I was successful very shortly after the implementation of my new resume and letter formats.

Cynthia has an incredible ability to read people.She can see blind spots and reveal them in a kind, non-threatening way. She’s helped me create a clear vision for my future that was only nebulous before I started working with her. I can’t imagine attempting this journey without her.

It’s rare to find a professional who combines individual coaching skills, organizational leadership experience, vision, and integrity. Cynthia brings that rare combination. I recommend her without reservation; she will bring her passion and practicality to lead your coaching or other initiative to successful outcomes beyond your expectations.

As a Past President and current board member of the national Association of Water Technologies, I had the opportunity to participate in a board retreat facilitated by Cynthia Mills of The Leaders’ Haven.  It was my experience that she is truly exceptional at what she does.

Thank you for everything that you’ve provided to BOMA Georgia over the last couple of years but most importantly, thank you for your dedication, enthusiasm and care of those people most important to me within the association.  They are so fortunate to partner with you.

I consider Cynthia to be one of the best executives I have ever had the privilege with whom to work. During our many years together, I’ve observed first hand her professional interactions with volunteer leaders, staff and peers—always focusing on their shared commitments. Her organizational vision and communication skills set her apart from the pack. Working with her has always been a pleasure. I highly recommend her.

Cynthia came as CEO of the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) at a time when the association needed a transformation. She provided excellent leadership to our board, staff of the association and membership in general. Her standards of excellence caused us all to take it up a notch and she demanded this of everyone around her. Cynthia helped chart a course for TCIA that created breakthroughs and a level of professionalism that made us all very proud. Her integrity and credibility builds a very high level of trust with others. She left TCIA better than when she arrived and helped our industry reach new levels.

Cynthia was a huge hit at our board retreat. She was well prepared even though she was asked to fill in for another facilitator at the last minute. Her knowledge of association dynamics and boards made her effective at keeping us on track. She had a process for moving us forward but it was not rigid. Cynthia absolutely delivered on the stated objective of the retreat and we did it with fun and laughter. I can recommend Cynthia to you without hesitation.

Her role as the CEO of our organization was well respected. This is a person that can take most any organization to the next level. With her special abilities to work with others that instills trust and high expectation from her staff, she can move thoughts and ideas into reality very quickly. Cynthia is a high level person that can work well with people from all types of backgrounds. Cynthia would be one of my highest recommendations to any organization.

She is a true role model, teacher, and guide and coaches many to excel. I have had the opportunity to watch Cynthia inspire others to do better while consistently striving for excellence.

Cynthia is the consummate professional. Her knowledge of organizational development and expertise in leading organizational growth is stellar. Her understanding of the complexities of directing an organization makes her a great resource for her peers and those that aspire to lead through stewardship and service. Cynthia’s strategic planning abilities and her use of the strategic initiatives of the plan has garnered her great success. She is a great teacher, life-long learner and admired colleague.

Cynthia’s ability to define the real issues and coach others to create breakthroughs is truly remarkable. Through leadership, coaching and mentoring she calls forth the best in executives and associates to realize a future that they truly want!

Our meeting was so incredibly helpful to me…you provided timely and wise counsel at a time when I truly needed to receive it. I’ve tried to create what you suggested, which was to show myself “in motion and future oriented”. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet you. The experience was an extremely worthwhile investment. I keep your card handy where I can easily read it because your tagline was and is so helpful to remember – “Find your passion, know your values, pray for guidance and live your dream.” You helped me to remember my value.

I have worked with life coaches for 20 years and didn’t know that an executive coach would be what I needed to deal with during a period of my life where my challenges were both professional and personal in nature. But Cynthia deals with the whole person and all the variables professionals deal with, recognizing that professionals are people with families and lives outside of their career. Cynthia coached me during one of the most challenging periods of my professional and personal life and created a safe place for me to deal with both. I am very rarely in awe, but Cynthia continues to inspire and stretch me. I will continue to use her as my coach.

What sets Cynthia apart is her apparently sincere interest in self-development and in the person behind the position. She takes a whole-life approach that I think is important because we either live whole-heartedly or not at all. She is warm, intelligent, and very encouraging.  She also is comfortable asking challenging questions and providing the space for me to develop my answers.  And she supports “I don’t know right now” as sometimes being the best answer to a given question.