Prairie Sky Executive Coaching

About Me

My name is Gail Stephens and I live under the beautiful prairie sky in northern Montana with my husband Dave and our dog Taki and cat Tisu. I moved here from a city of about a million people so am still getting adjusted and loving the opportunities to continue my work through telephone coaching. I am a mother and grandmother so have all of the love and life experience that comes along with family.

I am both passionate and practical and while a little disorganized, I have managed to have a wonderful career supporting the more vulnerable of our society.

I have many years of experience in leading roles as a CEO/Executive Director and as a Board member/Chair/President. As the CEO of an umbrella association for nonprofits, I have over twenty years of experience working directly with Executive Directors as colleagues and friends.

I have the appropriate education background: A Masters degree in Rehabilitation Administration from the University of San Francisco and under graduate degrees in Psychology and Education from the University of Calgary and now certification as a life coach with the Coach Training Alliance. I am a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and adhere to their Code of Ethics.

The areas of my work history are: Developmental Disability, Mental Health, Criminal Justice, Sexual abuse, assault and Violence against women. I have also worked front line, managed group homes, counseled abused women and rape survivors, run crisis programs and supervised staff. I have lobbied, met with government officials, developed budgets, worked for boards, along with the myriad of other duties that come with working in and leading a nonprofit agency serving people.

Prior to working in the non profit world I worked in banking administration and was a teacher for a short time.

My volunteer roles include sitting on many boards and also Chairing some. I have experienced the role of having an Executive Director being ccountable to me as well as being an Executive Director/CEO working for a board.

Women who are in the executive roles as Executive Directors, CEO's or Board Chairs are busy professional people who face a myriad of issues on a daily basis. They are competent and committed. They often could use a good listening ear and someone by their side as they solve the problems facing them.

I know that many women who come into executive roles have little experience in one or more of the areas of leadership and management of an organization. They are capable of being good leaders however, they do not have the appropriate support as they develop in their leadership roles. I am also aware that executive leaders of non profits have few people they can confide in as they face numerous issues on a daily basis.

I believe that as an outside objective person with the right experience I could be the right person to coach those passionate community leaders as they strengthen their organizations and their capacity to lead.

The Benefits of Being
Coached By Gail

You will move quickly from problem or idea to action. The process of coaching means you have a good sounding board with someone who has an understanding of your situation and can ask probing questions and make suggestions leading you to come to see possibilities for action much more quickly than you would if you were to think it through alone.
Phone coaching is a cost effective way to move through decision making to action using your wisdom rather than looking for outside expertise.
If you so choose I can hold you accountable for acting on your decisions as agreed. This can be a strong motivator. I will e-mail you after the call and remind you of your agreement two days prior to the next coaching session.
As I am bound by professional ethics you can be sure that your conversations are held in confidence.