STAFFORD, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES, May 30, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Kathleen Mills enjoyed a 31-year career with the FBI, 17 years of which were in senior or executive leadership roles. Her path to the FBI was atypical. She earned her undergraduate degree in photo processing but her early work experience in the field was not very satisfying. When she moved to Washington, DC she placed a cold call to the FBI to see what they could offer her. She was given 15 minutes in a face-to-face meeting, which turned into a couple of hours, and left with a job offer. Four months later, she started her new job with the FBI. As a member of the FBI in various leadership and development roles for the majority of her tenure there, Kathleen learned that popular perceptions of leadership do not truly make for an effective, trusted leader.
‘I thought being a leader meant being the one in control; the one with all the power. I thought I knew what was right and I wanted to direct better outcomes. In the beginning, I did too much talking and not enough listening. Thankfully, people were courageous and gave me honest feedback, and I realized I wasn’t a good leader. But that didn’t derail me.”
Thus, Kathleen began researching, studying, and exploring new leadership styles, eventually going back to earn her master’s degree in Public Administration. She stopped doing the work and started leading people. It made all the difference for her and today, she helps other people lead in better ways–with more empathy and compassion, more authenticity, and a clear sense of intention.
When she retired from the FBI she had a lot of insights and energy to share and so Kathleen launched a coaching practice that helps others evolve to be the best version of themselves. From leadership training to women empowering women, to supportive coaching for life The Coaching Experience offers various services that help people to be more effective, learn their true power, and become respected members of their teams and communities.
“A lot of it centers on learning how to understand our emotional reactions and better manage the situations that occur.” Kathleen brings a bit of neuroscience and other research about emotions and better living into her sessions with clients. She values researchers such as Brene Brown, Susan David, and Lisa Feldman Barrett who explain emotions and emotional management in simple terms. She tells her clients Quiet the Noise, Slow the Thinking, and Take Yourself off Autopilot. In coaching engagements, she employs many strategies that offer clients more control over their outcomes, such as the “what if” exercise and explores scenarios where how you can look at an issue and act on it differently (perspective taking). Anxiety comes from a strong need to control the future. We can only try to predict future outcomes, she notes, and often our predictions are not accurate. We can only look at the present and say what if this were to happen, would you be prepared to deal with it or what would your actions I respond? Kathleen is now developing the framework for instructional courses and is outlining a book that outlines her philosophies and approaches. Her Balanced Leadership Model explores the actions needed to bring managing work and leading people into balance. Leaders must have to ability to get things done AND connect with their team in a meaningful, compassionate way. When those are in balance, high performers and team cohesion are in abundance! Beloved leaders can strike a balance between achieving results and having meaningful relationships. It takes a lot of confidence and courage to focus on the balance.
As leaders, it is important to keep elevating both your consciousness and skills. “There were parts of leadership that brought me boundless joy. Helping people discover what they want to do, where they want to be, and how to get there contributed to that joy, as did building high-functioning teams and opening doors for others. I brought all of that into my coaching business.”
Kathleen terms a part of her foundational teaching, The Experience Cycle. It’s a way of changing perspectives to change how we think, which changes our emotions, and ultimately shapes our behaviors. Examining how we take in information, process it, and act upon it is critical to making change stick. “I can’t think of a situation where our perspective didn’t affect the outcome – positive perspective, positive outcome.” That, she stresses, impacts how the team will respond to you, and how they will accomplish a planned activity.
Kathleen learned many lessons from her 17 years of leadership and then studied Executive Leadership Coaching at Georgetown University. She has become an in-demand coach who gets most new clients by recommendation and is also a gifted speaker. She has so much insight to share. Be sure to listen to the upcoming radio show.
Close Up Radio will feature Kathleen Mills in an interview with Jim Masters on Monday, June 3 at 12:00 noon EDT
Listen to the show on BlogTalkRadio
If you have questions for our guest, please call 347-996-3389
For more information about Kathleen and her work, please visit www.thecoachingxp.com
Lou Ceparano
Close-Up Television & Radio
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