Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the key qualities for a successful relationship:

Openness to Change: As a leader, you will need an openness to change and be comfortable with new ideas. One of the most valuable things about engaging with an ‘outside’ perspective like CadencePace Partners is the exposure of blind spots and suggestions for new ways forward you may not have already seen. While we will nottell you what to do or how to lead your organization, we do want to partner with you to co-create a positive future for you and your organization.

Team Buy-In: You and your senior team’s (Board, senior staff, others?) buy-in, commitment, and participation will lead to optimal use of CadencePace Partners expertise and resources. A willingness to reflect, learn, and participate will benefit our relationship and help you move forward. CadencePace Partners will not, for example, work with your middle managers if the senior leadership team is unwilling to be engaged in coaching or other form of professional development.

Time to invest in the work at hand: In our experience, clients underestimate the amount of time needed to do organizational or individual development effectively. We understand the multiple demands and pressures in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, but to make the most of the consulting or coaching relationship, both parties need to commit the time needed. You can depend on CadencePace Partners to live up to our agreement and allocate time for you and/or your team.

The CadencePace Partners team has extensive experience working with the philanthropic sector. Grantmaker experience includes private, family, corporate, and community foundations as well as employee giving groups.

Philanthropic organizations served include:

• The Clark Foundation
• The New York Community Trust
• The Prudential Foundation
• Philanthropy New York
• The H.E. Butt Family Foundation

Our partners have worked directly with these groups in two ways – (1) to help them build their own effectiveness and impact, and (2) to help them build the capacity and impact of their nonprofit grantees.

Yes, you can. While our coaching supports the individual, we coach with an eye toward both effectiveness of the leader and the organization. As such, coaching works most effectively when supported both in concept and financially by the organization.

Yes, you can. Once we have completed an exploratory conversation with you and we are mutually clear on goals and thatwe would like to work together, we are happy to have you speak to our past or current clients.

No, we do not. Each agreement is custom designed based on our initial exploratory conversations and shared agreement about the goals and outcomes expected through the engagement. The one element of each agreement that is consistent across organizations is the element of “partnership.” Our agreements outline a relationship of close cooperation between us and our clients, highlighting our mutual and joint commitments and responsibilities. The relationship we strive for is transformational, not transactional.

The word “coach” has many meanings today, so it is important that we clarify our definition. First, our coaching is not “life” coaching nor “personal” coaching. CadencePace includes coaching, mentoring, and resource sharing as components of the coaching experience. Our coaches are professionals who have ‘walked the walk’ of being a nonprofit or philanthropic leader (e.g., as a nonprofit or philanthropic executive director, or as a Board Chairperson), and they support their clients with active listening, thoughtful questions for reflection, and offer resources and mentoring.

“Organizational leadership coaching” focuses on strategies to identify optimal methods for leading, building, and guiding your organization forward. Coaches collaborate with their clients to enhance personal leadership style and consider, identify, and harness strengths, and appreciate the subtle but essential nuances of an organization that can support or derail positive change.

“Organizational leadership coaching” begins by assessing your strengths and the set of mental models you are using to make decisions and helps you to make sense of what is working for you and what is not working. It makes the unconscious conscious so that you can decide how to adjust your leadership actions and behaviors to achieve good outcomes for you and the organization. Coaching is about getting better outcomes with less effort. The main ROI of coaching is to help you be less confused, stuck, or afraid to move forward.

Since the pandemic began, CadencePace partners has continued to provide its services via phone and zoom. The safety of our clients and our Partners is of the highest concern. As the pandemic changes over time, we will adjust how we do business.