Client Testimonials
Insulted to Impressed
When coaching was first proposed to me I was insulted. I felt like I was being punished and that this was just a PIP in disguise.
Until coaching I believed that just doing the best I could as a solo artist was the best and right way for me to move through life. What coaching helped me see was that having a 'I can do it better and faster' mentality was not actually doing me any favors. I had created an environment where people felt they couldn’t talk to me. I didn’t recognize or appreciate others’ efforts, or even acknowledge when someone supported my success.
The most valuable part of the coaching experience was understanding the real issues and then applying the tools I learned to start to change things. Sue played devil's advocate every time I would say 'this is bullshit!' She really showed me other perspectives, which were not always easy, but very much appreciated.
Now I’m focusing on listening more and talking less. I have slowed down my workflow and in doing this not only am I causing less stress on the people around me, but also MYSELF! I am teaching my brain that not everything is an urgent crisis that needs fixing right here and right now. It feels really good to just chill out a bit!
Coaching has helped me to have greater self-awareness, less stress and greater happiness. Both my professional and personal relationships are better. I’m better able to deal with difficult situations, and I can both give – and receive - feedback more effectively.
I’ve gone from insulted, to impressed – and much improved.
Until coaching I believed that just doing the best I could as a solo artist was the best and right way for me to move through life. What coaching helped me see was that having a 'I can do it better and faster' mentality was not actually doing me any favors. I had created an environment where people felt they couldn’t talk to me. I didn’t recognize or appreciate others’ efforts, or even acknowledge when someone supported my success.
The most valuable part of the coaching experience was understanding the real issues and then applying the tools I learned to start to change things. Sue played devil's advocate every time I would say 'this is bullshit!' She really showed me other perspectives, which were not always easy, but very much appreciated.
Now I’m focusing on listening more and talking less. I have slowed down my workflow and in doing this not only am I causing less stress on the people around me, but also MYSELF! I am teaching my brain that not everything is an urgent crisis that needs fixing right here and right now. It feels really good to just chill out a bit!
Coaching has helped me to have greater self-awareness, less stress and greater happiness. Both my professional and personal relationships are better. I’m better able to deal with difficult situations, and I can both give – and receive - feedback more effectively.
I’ve gone from insulted, to impressed – and much improved.
Brittany W.
Account Executive
Relationship Breakdown to Relationship Repair
Before we started, I was very apprehensive and unsure the process would work. The relationship and communication with the other person had completely broken down. I didn’t think it was repairable, but I was willing to try.
Working 1:1 with Sue before coming into the joint session with the other person…that was critical. I went from skeptical to willing. With Sue’s help I was seeing things about myself I’d never seen before.
I was still nervous for the joint session though. It was going to be the first time the other person and I were coming together again. Was it going to bring up all the old stuff? But I’d come to trust Sue and she led us through the joint session so well. It wasn’t like mediation at all. It was so constructive and positive. I came out of the joint session actually feeling good about myself. AND the relationship was repaired!
The whole process was transformative. It was the first time in my life I’ve been able to fully repair a relationship that had gone so sour. And I’ve used what I learned to help other relationships in my life as well – both personal and professional.
One thing Sue said to me that really opened the window for me to start moving forward “You don’t have to like someone to respect them.” Now, six months later, we don’t just respect each other, we’re actually friends.
Working 1:1 with Sue before coming into the joint session with the other person…that was critical. I went from skeptical to willing. With Sue’s help I was seeing things about myself I’d never seen before.
I was still nervous for the joint session though. It was going to be the first time the other person and I were coming together again. Was it going to bring up all the old stuff? But I’d come to trust Sue and she led us through the joint session so well. It wasn’t like mediation at all. It was so constructive and positive. I came out of the joint session actually feeling good about myself. AND the relationship was repaired!
The whole process was transformative. It was the first time in my life I’ve been able to fully repair a relationship that had gone so sour. And I’ve used what I learned to help other relationships in my life as well – both personal and professional.
One thing Sue said to me that really opened the window for me to start moving forward “You don’t have to like someone to respect them.” Now, six months later, we don’t just respect each other, we’re actually friends.
Jessica Steiner
Manager
A "rare combination of empathy + practical advice"
Sue is a rare combination of empathy and practical advice.
I was struggling with lack of clarity on what I wanted to do next. I was almost 2 years past my workplace trauma and after trying other coaches, realized I wanted someone like Sue who understands workplace trauma and the aftermath of recovery. Sue was the only coach I found who combined the emotional side of recovery with the practical aspects of decision-making on next career moves.
Probably the biggest "aha moment" for me was giving myself grace, to stop being so hard on myself for not having it all figured out. Sounds cliché, but life is a journey, and I am now OK with figuring things out as I go. While I do have some more clarity on where I want to head next, that is less important than the realization that beating myself up is never productive. And if I change my mind along the way, it's OK, I can always change direction again.
I've learned that I am extremely strong and resilient, and that I am enough. I don't need to prove anything to anybody. Quieting my judge has been tremendously helpful. And trusting my feelings as opposed to the messages of "must be productive." Being OK with doing NOTHING—that is such a gift.
What surprised me most was that I was allowed to show emotion. I thought emotions were for therapy. I appreciated Sue welcoming and making a safe space to be emotional.
Sue doesn't hold back, she is always honest, sometimes by holding a mirror up to make you see how your ways of thinking are not working for you. And she has very useful tools at her disposal that further the work in between sessions. If you have been through workplace trauma, it makes all the difference to be coached by someone who has been there too. Sue is kind, generous, and has a great sense of humor, which definitely comes in handy for seeing through our own BS! You won't regret working with her.
I was struggling with lack of clarity on what I wanted to do next. I was almost 2 years past my workplace trauma and after trying other coaches, realized I wanted someone like Sue who understands workplace trauma and the aftermath of recovery. Sue was the only coach I found who combined the emotional side of recovery with the practical aspects of decision-making on next career moves.
Probably the biggest "aha moment" for me was giving myself grace, to stop being so hard on myself for not having it all figured out. Sounds cliché, but life is a journey, and I am now OK with figuring things out as I go. While I do have some more clarity on where I want to head next, that is less important than the realization that beating myself up is never productive. And if I change my mind along the way, it's OK, I can always change direction again.
I've learned that I am extremely strong and resilient, and that I am enough. I don't need to prove anything to anybody. Quieting my judge has been tremendously helpful. And trusting my feelings as opposed to the messages of "must be productive." Being OK with doing NOTHING—that is such a gift.
What surprised me most was that I was allowed to show emotion. I thought emotions were for therapy. I appreciated Sue welcoming and making a safe space to be emotional.
Sue doesn't hold back, she is always honest, sometimes by holding a mirror up to make you see how your ways of thinking are not working for you. And she has very useful tools at her disposal that further the work in between sessions. If you have been through workplace trauma, it makes all the difference to be coached by someone who has been there too. Sue is kind, generous, and has a great sense of humor, which definitely comes in handy for seeing through our own BS! You won't regret working with her.
Michele Simon
Principle Attorney
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
I thought coaching is a guy in a hat with a whistle yelling at players: “Get back in there. Keep your head up and stop crying.” But that’s not what leadership coaching is about. It’s a mechanism to get insight, self-reflect, practice different things, and become a better leader.
I’ve been transformed, like a butterfly. Before I was like a caterpillar in my little cocoon. Safe, small, protected, hiding out. I had never heard about imposter syndrome before, but understanding it put a name on something I had been struggling with. Coaching lead me out of that place to becoming a butterfly, spreading my wings, and taking flight.
For example, I was just in a meeting with the most senior leaders of my company. Before I would have just tried to blend in, not be noticed, hoping no one would pay attention to me even though the workstream I head - information security – touches just about every aspect of our organization. This time I got proactively involved. By the end of the meeting, everyone was asking for my input. People were paying attention to my contributions. I finally had the confidence to just let my value show, rather than try to prove or hide anything.
I can also dare to say things now, and even if they don’t come out quite right, or land quite the way I want to, instead of panicking and making it worse, I don’t get thrown off track. I just get back up. I learn from it. My confidence increases rather than decreases.
My staff have noticed the difference in me. “You’re doing good,” they tell me – which they never had before. They’re more confident in me as a leader.
I’ve been transformed, like a butterfly. Before I was like a caterpillar in my little cocoon. Safe, small, protected, hiding out. I had never heard about imposter syndrome before, but understanding it put a name on something I had been struggling with. Coaching lead me out of that place to becoming a butterfly, spreading my wings, and taking flight.
For example, I was just in a meeting with the most senior leaders of my company. Before I would have just tried to blend in, not be noticed, hoping no one would pay attention to me even though the workstream I head - information security – touches just about every aspect of our organization. This time I got proactively involved. By the end of the meeting, everyone was asking for my input. People were paying attention to my contributions. I finally had the confidence to just let my value show, rather than try to prove or hide anything.
I can also dare to say things now, and even if they don’t come out quite right, or land quite the way I want to, instead of panicking and making it worse, I don’t get thrown off track. I just get back up. I learn from it. My confidence increases rather than decreases.
My staff have noticed the difference in me. “You’re doing good,” they tell me – which they never had before. They’re more confident in me as a leader.
Dan Shafer
IT Security
Devastation to Wiser, Stronger, Better
Devastation found me this year.
It was mid-July when I realized that my 3-decade career - replete with high achievements and almost every blessing I could want - was at an end. An end I hadn’t planned for and didn’t want.
And yet, what could have been a death knell has turned into the best gift that I did not see coming. Navigating significant personal and professional uncertainty has led me to shed my "touch-me-not" exterior, not because I was brave enough, but because I simply had to. It was hard, really, really, hard. But as I did, people, places, and purpose found their way to me - without effort.
Spending 3 weeks with CRM has helped me to (gently and with compassion) stand face to face with acknowledging the traumatic experience of a job and work environment that were both toxic and undeserving of the gifts and talents that I have to offer to this big and beautiful world.
I knew something was fundamentally different when I began, by faith, to express gratitude for being delivered from a job that was (quite literally) sucking the life from my body. Did I enjoy being laid off? Would I have desired to be? Never. But I am now so much wiser, stronger, and better for the experience; I can't help but be thankful.
I am amazed at how learning about CRM, trauma/stress, and response has allowed me to freely give grace to self as I open my arms really, really, really wide, take a long, deep, breath and get ready to embrace my "next"...
It was mid-July when I realized that my 3-decade career - replete with high achievements and almost every blessing I could want - was at an end. An end I hadn’t planned for and didn’t want.
And yet, what could have been a death knell has turned into the best gift that I did not see coming. Navigating significant personal and professional uncertainty has led me to shed my "touch-me-not" exterior, not because I was brave enough, but because I simply had to. It was hard, really, really, hard. But as I did, people, places, and purpose found their way to me - without effort.
Spending 3 weeks with CRM has helped me to (gently and with compassion) stand face to face with acknowledging the traumatic experience of a job and work environment that were both toxic and undeserving of the gifts and talents that I have to offer to this big and beautiful world.
I knew something was fundamentally different when I began, by faith, to express gratitude for being delivered from a job that was (quite literally) sucking the life from my body. Did I enjoy being laid off? Would I have desired to be? Never. But I am now so much wiser, stronger, and better for the experience; I can't help but be thankful.
I am amazed at how learning about CRM, trauma/stress, and response has allowed me to freely give grace to self as I open my arms really, really, really wide, take a long, deep, breath and get ready to embrace my "next"...
Antoinette M
Executive Director
Developing Essential Leadership Capabilities
I am delighted to write a heartfelt recommendation for Sue Mann, a phenomenal leadership coach who has made a significant impact on my personal and professional growth journey from 2020 and onward.
Sue possesses a unique combination of qualities that make her an outstanding leadership coach:
**Deep Insight and Expertise:** Sue's profound understanding of leadership dynamics and her extensive expertise in coaching have been instrumental in helping me navigate the complex challenges of the federal workplace.
**Empathetic and Supportive:** Sue's empathetic and supportive approach creates a safe and constructive space for self-discovery and growth. She has an incredible ability to listen, understand, and provide guidance that is tailored to individual needs.
**Results-Oriented:** Sue is results-driven. Her guidance is practical and actionable, and she excelled at helping me set and achieve meaningful goals.
**Effective Communication:** Sue's excellent communication skills make her an even more effective coach. Her ability to convey complex concepts in an understandable and relatable manner is a testament to her coaching prowess.
Sue has been an invaluable resource on my professional journey. Her guidance has helped me develop essential leadership skills, enhance my self-awareness, and navigate challenges with confidence.
If you're seeking a leadership coach who will not only elevate your leadership capabilities but also help you become the best version of yourself, I wholeheartedly recommend Sue Mann. She is a true asset in the realm of professional development.
Thank you, Sue, for your unwavering support and guidance. Your coaching has been a transformative force in my journey, and I'm deeply grateful for your wisdom, support, and insights.
Sue possesses a unique combination of qualities that make her an outstanding leadership coach:
**Deep Insight and Expertise:** Sue's profound understanding of leadership dynamics and her extensive expertise in coaching have been instrumental in helping me navigate the complex challenges of the federal workplace. **Empathetic and Supportive:** Sue's empathetic and supportive approach creates a safe and constructive space for self-discovery and growth. She has an incredible ability to listen, understand, and provide guidance that is tailored to individual needs. **Results-Oriented:** Sue is results-driven. Her guidance is practical and actionable, and she excelled at helping me set and achieve meaningful goals. **Effective Communication:** Sue's excellent communication skills make her an even more effective coach. Her ability to convey complex concepts in an understandable and relatable manner is a testament to her coaching prowess.Sue has been an invaluable resource on my professional journey. Her guidance has helped me develop essential leadership skills, enhance my self-awareness, and navigate challenges with confidence.
If you're seeking a leadership coach who will not only elevate your leadership capabilities but also help you become the best version of yourself, I wholeheartedly recommend Sue Mann. She is a true asset in the realm of professional development.
Thank you, Sue, for your unwavering support and guidance. Your coaching has been a transformative force in my journey, and I'm deeply grateful for your wisdom, support, and insights.
Cassandra Benge
Clinical Educator & Research Liaison