What Clients are Saying

The Vancouver Humane Society retained Debra for a three-year strategic planning session. Over the course of two days, Debra painstakingly and effortlessly guided Directors and staff through the process until all were completely satisfied with the results. We were very lucky to find her – compared to others we’d interviewed, Debra was ‘user-friendly’ – she was engaging and made the process easy to understand and as a result the plan was straight-forward to implement. I would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone needing help in any of her areas of expertise.

Debra Probert

Executive Director, Vancouver Humane Society

Deb supported the senior leadership team at Lush Cosmetics to define our purpose as a team, and to identify and develop the leadership behaviours required to become a high-performance team. Whether in program design, leading the group sessions with the team, or supporting with one-on-one coaching, Deb was creative, adaptable, and curious. She has a deep understanding of organizational development and people behaviour in the complex adaptive systems of business, and uses well considered models to support learning and behaviour change. Her thoughtful, well-researched, and intuitive approach made it possible to take the complex work we were doing, and help us craft solutions that were practical, repeatable, and impactful. Whether as an organizational development coach, or an individual leadership coach, Debra is highly skilled.

Shauna Grinke

Head of People and Culture, Lush Handmade Cosmetics, North America

I worked with Deb because she came highly recommended by an inspiring leader I know. It was one of the most enriching experiences I’ve had in my leadership journey. She was able to quickly uncover profound insights on my leadership and motivations and help me build and apply an empowering vision and action plan for growth. I also fed off of Deb’s astonishing depth of knowledge around leadership and organizational behaviour—paired with her kind, caring approach. Every conversation and article was energizing and packed with wisdom, and I loved sharing it back with my team. I highly recommend Deb for anyone who wants to get clarity on their purpose and take a quantum leap as a leader.

Ali Gardiner

Vice President Marketing, Cactus Club Café

Debra became my leadership coach in 2014.  I was the 'guinea pig' for my company - the first of a group of emerging leaders to explore how a coach could benefit our small insights, strategy and innovation company.  My initial assessment revealed some challenges to my leadership potential.  Basically I wanted everyone to like me (clients, team, bosses, suppliers) and I avoided difficult conversations as a result.  This was tough to swallow.  But Deb immediately made me feel safe.  She coached me from feeling defensive about my results to embrace a 'learner headspace' and helped me understand that the only way to be a leader and to build trust with anyone is through radical candour and difficult conversations. With that awareness, she coached me to practice and hone being able to let go of the fear of not being 'liked' in order to effectively lead project teams to deliver outstanding work.  I now lean into difficult conversations, look forward to them even, with clients, direct reports and team members.   Because I know what's on the other side. Trust. The year after my incredible growth experience (and quantifiable results in our business), our entire group of emerging leaders signed up to work with Debra too.  I would recommend her to anyone looking to learn more about themselves and lead with greater confidence.

Lindsey Boyle

Vice President/Partner at The Sound

From the beginning, Debra was instrumental in helping me understand my Leadership Circle 360 results, and really helped me peel back some layers in order to more fully understand the root of my behaviours. Like many, I've participated in multiple personality and leadership assessments, but due to Debra's tactful inquiry and coaching, this was by far the most meaningful and actionable of such assessments. Her coaching never felt invasive, pushy, or judgmental, but rather refreshing that she understood what I could be doing to improve my leadership skills better than I did. I've been able to apply this coaching in ways I never really imagined, both at home and at work.  Most recently a senior leader commented on how I showed up on a call noticeably different from how I would have in the past. Overall, the coaching experience has been a very impactful one and something I would highly suggest for developing leaders who are open and eager to address their gaps and fine tune their strengths.

Spencer Smith

Director of Channel Marketing, Metrie

Debra's coaching was instrumental in my growth as a leader. She is a fantastic, active listener who very quickly gets to the heart of what makes people tick. She comes armed with an amazing set of tools and techniques that really illuminate the ideas and practices she gives her clients. Even now, two years later, I am using what Deb taught me daily and passing it along to others. I cannot recommend her highly enough.

Jason Tally

Director of Architecture at Peer 1 Hosting

While I was nervous to begin my “leadership journey”, it quickly became a highlight for me as Deb facilitated fantastic group sessions and made me very comfortable in our one on one sessions. Deb facilitated the group in such a way that it became easy to share ideas, things that you’d like to work on personally, and truly helped everyone open up their “Creative” side. In the end our cohort became a very close knit group committed to continuing their leadership journey and helping one another along the way. I can say that this has continued after the sessions and I am confident that they will continue to do so. One on one, Deb allowed me to find my own way. Through the entire process I have become much more self-aware in both my professional and private life. I am a much more effective and patient communicator and this has allowed not only me to be more creative, but my team as well. I would recommend Debra to anyone who wants to become a better leader in business and a better communicator in their personal lives.

Mike O’Brien

Director of Sales, Metrie