CLIENT Results

Have you ever thought you wanted to go in one direction and then realized you were off course?

I experienced that over a year and a half coaching journey with Kris. As a result of her coaching and my hard work, I transformed and continue to grow. I let go, I am following my life’s purpose, and I am living a fulfilled authentic life! As a result I am happier than I have ever been because I am present.”

L.C.

I started working with Kris a few months ago when I knew I was ready to make a shift in my career, but felt lost trying to figure out what direction to go in next.

From the start, I appreciated how Kris helped me to identify my core values and what was important to me, not just in my career but also in my life overall. As I figured out my path forward, Kris’ support was invaluable in navigating networking, applications, and ultimately, the decision to enroll in a PhD program.

After just a few months of working with Kris, I couldn’t be more excited to embark on this next chapter of my career. I am incredibly grateful to have had Kris’ guidance through this transition, and I feel very confident that my next step is the right one for me, both professionally and personally. Kris is thoughtful, insightful, and a highly skilled coach, and I truly can’t recommend her coaching services enough.”

L.R.

The most important takeaway from my time working with Kris Risley is fully seeing myself as a leader, and embracing authentic leadership.

Her work with me on identifying and appreciating my strengths has been transformative and allowed me to move forward in my career, but also apply my strengths more fully to my whole life. Kris is a skilled facilitator, empathetic listener, and incredibly strategic in providing the tools needed to grow and mature as a leader. I wanted my work to feel more integrated with my values and long-term goals – Kris has been invaluable in helping me do that and giving me practical tools to move forward.”

J.M.R.

I reached out to Kris initially for support with achieving neatly defined career goals.

I was admittedly skeptical about the life coaching aspect of the coaching process, but took the leap based on recommendations from friends and former classmates who had nothing but outstanding things to say about Kris. My experience exceeded my expectations by leaps and bounds. My short-term career goals were achieved and more importantly, I gained clarity on how to create a life full of joy and purpose.

Perhaps my favorite, and most unexpected, part of coaching was that every activity had a dual purpose – pushing me to look inward (uncovering the ‘why’) while at the same time serving a tangible, real-life application. Through the coaching process I have become more in tune with myself and more trusting of my instincts. I gained a deeper awareness of my strengths and my potential as a leader. I now feel more capable of professional leadership and confident in decision-making overall. I am only at the beginning of my leadership journey and I know that I will often refer back to the work I completed with Kris.”

S.G.

If you’re looking for an accountability partner who will gracefully inspire you to new heights, Kris is the coach for you.

I sought out coaching from Kris to help me focus on developing my leadership skills as a public health professional. I walked away from the coaching experience having achieved that aim and so much more. Kris adapted her coaching approach to my priorities. She brought a balanced blend of structured exercises and open-ended dialogue, all of which helped me better understand my strengths and how I show up with my strengths as a leader. The tailored homework assignments between sessions helped me stay on track and increased my confidence in my abilities as a leader. I would absolutely recommend working with Kris—she is supportive, encouraging, and wise.”

T.S.

My life coaching experience with Kris has been an absolutely amazing and transformative experience.

In the beginning, I struggled to articulate what it was I was unsatisfied with in terms of my professional and personal life and immediately Kris was able to detangle my web of thoughts and help me narrow down the aspects I felt unsatisfied with and create a roadmap for me over the next few months. Since then, she has immensely helped me work towards my goals, hold me accountable, and help me discover new things about myself that I had no idea about. It has been such a holistic and fulfilling experience and I plan on carrying the many lessons and advice I’ve learned from her and this experience with me in the future.”

R.D.

Kris is an outstanding coach who has helped me tremendously prepare for an upcoming career transition. Kris is a true professional who fully invests in her clients and brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and emotional intelligence to each interaction.

From our very first session, Kris put me at ease and created a safe space to explore my career aspirations and concerns. She asked insightful questions that helped me clarify my goals and identify the obstacles holding me back. Kris was also very skilled at guiding me through developing a concrete action plan and helped navigate turning the plan into reality. Without Kris’s help, I would not have reached the clarity and certainty of my goals and life vision.

Throughout our coaching relationship, Kris was always available for guidance and support. She responded quickly to my questions and concerns and always had many resources and advice to share. Kris also had a gift for recognizing my unique strengths and helping me to leverage them in applications and interviews. However, what I found most impressive about Kris was her genuine desire to see me succeed and her joy in celebrating my successes.

Overall, I cannot recommend Kris Risley enough as a career coach. Her mentorship has been invaluable to me, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had her guidance and wisdom on my career journey. I recommend Kris to anyone looking for help navigating a career transition or finding more fulfillment in work and life.”

C.E.

My first experience with leadership coaching was through my doctoral program where Kris was my course faculty.

The experience was life changing and opened a completely new set of skills for me to apply to my professional career. Nearly ten years later, as my professional ambitions shifted and my personal life presented unprecedented changes, I immediately sought out Kris as I recognized that her coaching approach would help me to clarify my goals and create a new and fulfilling path forward.

Through my work with Kris, I have been empowered to achieve value alignment professionally and personally. Her sessions are transformative and her ability to create a safe space for vulnerability and awareness is unmatched. She is a masterful coach, skillful listener, and compassionate guide. I highly recommend her to professionals who find themselves at a cross-road in their career, and to those seeking values clarification and values alignment. I also highly recommend her to other executive coaches seeking to enhance their personal leadership and self-management skills.”

L.F.

I found Kris when I was at a crossroads in my career, feeling unhappy about the work I was doing, but not confident I could find the right next step on my own.

I was looking for perspective and guidance, and Kris provided both — we identified my strengths, what I was missing in my current position, and the deep-down values I need to embody in order to feel fulfilled in my life and work. Even more invaluable was having her as my cheerleader during the unexpected ups and downs of the six months we worked together. She bolstered my confidence and resolve as I took a leap into the unknown, and was always able to ask the right questions to uncover the answers I didn’t even know I was carrying inside. I’m so grateful for our time together.”

A.P.

Kris is a thoughtful and compassionate career coach dedicated to helping you reach your goals.

She takes the time to work with you to create a clear vision for what your career goals are and actionable steps on how to get there by asking thought provoking questions and facilitating useful exercises. Although our sessions focused on career, Kris’ holistic approach accounted for and incorporated other aspects of my life. Over the course of about six months, she helped me navigate two career moves that have drastically accelerated my career journey and created more harmony in my life. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with her as a client. I highly recommend Kris as a career coach and look forward to working with her throughout my career.”

S.S.

I benefited greatly from my from my coaching with Kris on a personal as well as professional level.

I had completed a few leadership trainings before, but Kris’ approach to personal leadership was different. She diffused my initial incredulity by showing much understanding and almost palpable care. I opened up and she gently channeled me to look deep inside, find myself and lead from my strengths.

As a result of her coaching I took the b old step of applying for a job that was better aligned with my passion (women and children’s health) even though it was a big risk. Because of the coaching I have a clearer view of who I am and where my values really lie. Thank you, Kris.”

F.L.

I work in a highly bureaucratic organization and frequently interact with diverse groups. My ability to effectively communicate and interact with these groups is critical to the success of my work.

Over the course of one academic semester I participated in several coaching sessions with Kris and over that time I began to develop an understanding of how my unspoken perceptions and attitudes were affecting my interactions with members of theses groups.

During our sessions, she provided me with very useful feedback and recommended several strategies to help me improve my personal communication skills. She also assisted me in the identification of my personal and professional strengths and encouraged me to utilize these strengths, as they are critical to my success.

My interactions with others are now much more thoughtful and I am beginning to see the benefits of emphasizing my strengths (as opposed to dwelling on my short-comings). I’m grateful for the time I spent with Kris and I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for assistance with personal and professional development.”

L.F.

Kris is the most influential mentor I have had throughout my academic and professional career.

She instilled in me the confidence and clarity to achieve my professional goals and “step into” my leadership shoes. Kris’ ability to disentangle the carious challenges that we all face and provide simple solutions in order to find the most fulfilling path is truly remarkable. I am forever grateful for her honest and life-changing advice.”

N.M.S.

Your sessions were extremely helpful to me. I can’t say enough about them and have not yet stopped singing your praises.

You helped me get my groove back, and I thank you for all your assistance. My renewed confidence in my ability to affect change is a direct reflection of our regular sessions during last Summer’s course. I am expecting great things to occur in my life in 2013. Thanks again for the push!”

R.B.

The work Dr. Kris Risley and I did together in the summer of 2012 was integral in helping me move my professional career forward.

Often as leaders, we get caught up in the frenetic activity that is urgent and sacrifice two tenets in the process: Putting the critical first and marrying our heart and brain in our interactions with team members. People work for the “why”, they understand that “what” or we wouldn’t have fired them and you can always train the “how”. Kris helped me refocus and place the “why” front and center. M”

R.M.

After 7 months of twice-monthly coaching calls with Kris. I have gained: Greater clarity and focus and I’ve de-cluttered my office space, email inbox, and mind.

These are interrelated and powerful aspects of my life. This de-cluttering has resulted in my being able to make better decisions more quickly. I am able to model my coaching experience (and how Kris interacts with ) to more respectfully interact with other – staff, students, family and friends. This has led to better supervision of staff and greater productivity, and happier interactions with family and friends.

Keys to my success: Kris has coached me to be able to better articulate my values and recognize where and when my life conflicts with or reflects those values. From that place she helps me brainstorm solutions and try them out. Paying attention to how things are working (or not) is a key to my success. Focusing on one thing at a time is also another key. Until I was well into my coaching experience with Kris. I did not realize how important my “view”/immediate physical environment was to my well being. A de-cluttered office space with flowers and pictures of family and friends creates a more peaceful and productive environment for me.”

L.C.S.