SeattleCoach! "Connection. Curiosity. Challenge."

Building the Coaching Mindset  at Microsoft
"Coaching for Leaders"

"Undoubtedly, the most valuable experience that any company ever invested  in."              A coaching leader at Microsoft
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled."          Plutarch
"This program has reconnected me to my mission with both my team and my customers." A Microsoft Coaching Leader
"Management is about coping with complexity. Leadership is about coping with change."   Jon Kotter
"I'm beginning to recognize the signal through the noise."  A coaching leader at Microsoft
“Coaching is the pro-biotic in the belly of the beast."       Jennifer           Winick          

We have plan for developing more Microsoft Coaching Leaders in 2018.
Below is  the "CFL2" Cohort. Click on our image to hear our "keepers."

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First, of course, over fifty Microsoft SeattleCoaches who are already part of the story will keep being contagious (each of them will tell you that, as professionally trained coaching leaders, they are both better managers and better people). A handful of these coaches have been selected to be "triad coaches" for the second (2018) "Coaching for Leaders" (CFL) Cohort. These coaches will become the newest members of the SeattleCoach Faculty Team.

On March 26, 2018, this second CFL cohort launched with 31 more veteran leaders, each of whom are committed to developing the essentials of coaching leadership. (If you recognize anyone in the pic above, expect them to testing and learning--and inviting you to join them!)


These are our areas of focus:

  • Developing a coaching culture in which employees become people of greater substance, capacity, engagement and confidence.
  • The neuroscience of how human brains organize to engage with others and to metabolize change,
  • The personal presence and subsequent influence of each coaching leader (no blaming, shaming or reactivity required),
  • The ability to recognize "coaching moments" with individuals, groups and teams and then,
  • Partnering on actionable experiments each time we meet, and always,
  • Some fun.

My name is Patricia Burgin and I'm a leadership and communication coach for talented people and their teams. And I develop some of them to be uniquely skilled coaching leaders.

Microsoft leaders have been a part of our internationally credentialed coach training and development program since our very beginning in 2008 (we'd be happy to regale you with the whole story, just ask). And as we've grown, I've watched you guys grow too, as you've figured out ways to invest in the human and social assets--the growth mindset--required of great companies. And with the introduction of your Leadership Principles, I believe this might be a special moment in the life of your company.

Two extra events . . .

On January 16, I made a return appearance as the featured coach in the "Real Coaching Sessions Unplugged" Series. You can listen to this hour of coaching demonstration and conversation here.

On April 28, the whole SeattleCoach Tribe will meet at the College Club for our Annual Summit. This year we  will celebrate the  10th Anniversary of SeattleCoach with special guest, John Medina, the NYT best-selling author of Brain Rules.


 Our off-sites are hosted at the College Club of Seattle:

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Our usual off-site schedule:
8:30a  Breakfast
9:00a-4:30p   In Session
4:30-5:30p   Social Hour


Park in the College Club lot or on the street.


Click on that stack of books to review the SeattleCoach bibliography.

A few favorites:

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Carol Dweck.
An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization. Robert Kegan
Immunity to Change. Robert Kegan.
Brain Rules. John Medina.
Read more about the SeattleCoach approach to developing coaching leaders here.




Scenes from our very first "Coaching for Leaders" (CFL) offsites
(June 2017-February 2018)
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Patty, to participants in the Pilot Microsoft-SeattleCoach Cohort: "Do you think Microsoft will make more money, have more fun and do more good because you all have invested this time in becoming coaching leaders?"

Their (vigorous) responses: "We'll listen better and take better risks. We'll ask better questions and be more innovative. We'll course-correct faster. We'll argue about the right things, but more kindly. We'll probably stay around longer."

"Coaching has a proven impact: add coaching to an initiative and people will focus on that initiative more. Add coaching to training and people learn more, up to 6 times as much in some cases. Coaches are like midwives for change: they know when change is coming, when it’s here, when it needs a nudge, and when it’s happening too fast. As change catalysts, coaches assist with managing the speed of change and smooth transition through change. With our understanding of how the brain works - there is an inbuilt resistance to change, and minimising the stress response, and error detection of the amygdala through actions like naming and normalising – we can make this process less painful. Change can be deeply challenging and emotional change required in organizational transition requires hardwiring of new learning through insight and action. Coaches are the perfect people to have around to facilitate this process."  David Rock, Driving Organizational Change with Internal Coaching Programs
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