Our Clients
This is a set of our clients. Most of our experience is with companies or divisions of companies from $50M to $5B in revenue. Our work is industry independent - we do not advise on policy or strategies, just leadership and organizational practices, so industry expertise is not relevant to our work. We do, however, excel in business acumen since all of our people have extensive work experience in executive roles prior to joining Connie Youngblood & Associates.
Roles We Have Coached
It is important for executive coaches to have experience coaching people in a broad range of roles. As you can see, we have extensive experience with many different roles, at the CEO-level and three levels down. This enables us to both anticipate the demands and issues in any given role, and also the unique organizational dynamics the role faces in dealing with the senior executive team.
| Chief Executive Officer | President |
| Sr. Manager (professional services firm) | Principal (professional services firm) |
| Founder | Division President |
| Chief Operating Officer | Chief Financial Office |
| Chief Marketing Officer | Chief Information Officer |
| Treasurer | Corporate Controller |
| Division Controller | Entrepreneur/Small business owner |
| VP of Sales | VP of Marketing |
| VP of Human Resources | VP of Quality |
| VP of Manufacturing | General Manager |
| Plant Manager | VP of Supply Chain |
| VP of Tax | Directors in every major functional area |
Case Studies
Kennametal
When the Kennametal marketing organization looked to invest in its employees and build a stronger performing team John Jacko, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, turned to Connie Youngblood & Associates. In seeking to take his group to a higher level John sought to build a more cohesive team that could rely on each other and one that he could lead with positive intent. The results yielded benefits at both the individual and overall functional levels. Using Connie’s proven process in engaging with organizations, this group now works to solve important company issues together and has achieved both high job satisfaction and employee retention rates.
The initial engagement with Kennametal included an assessment of each individual including the Core Map of personalities. This benchmarking also investigated how the team worked individually and in groups. John and Connie worked together to develop a future state of the marketing organization that involved raising the Collective EQ and reliance on each other through increased teamwork. The final aspect of this phase involved the creation of a program that could achieve the desired results.
Connie Youngblood & Associates provided improvement for each member of Kennametal’s marketing staff. Connie made this happen by building upon their strengths as well as working with weaknesses that were "show stoppers". There was noticeable improvement in their executive presence and an openness built between John and his staff that resulted in an increased ability to work together on key business topics without personal issues getting in the way.
The Kennametal group notes that Connie differs from other coaches by focusing on the strong individuals not just on the weaker members of the staff. They find her fair and flexible in working with them and have built a true relationship along the way. They feel comfortable in reaching out to Connie any time the need arises. “The bottom line,” according to John, “is that Connie proves incredibly effective in getting results. We even use her to interview all new hires to assure their fit and to help them understand how we work.”
Flowserve
Flowserve Corporation's Flow Solutions Division hired an experienced vice president of marketing to upgrade its marketing function. Mark Fallek came with a background strong in the technical areas important to the division along with a long list of accomplishments with other companies. The initial impact on the division proved positive but Mark felt the marketing group could perform even better through improvements in his leadership abilities. Like many senior managers his career movement was based more on his functional capabilities than management ability, having received little formal coaching or training.
Shortly after engaging with Connie Youngblood he realized that leadership constituted more than strategy and deep knowledge of the various marketing roles. The areas that Connie and Mark targeted for improvement were staff development and personal leadership. The background work included both a personality test and 360 assessment to establish a baseline understanding of the current situation. This was followed up with the development of an action plan between Connie and Mark that included a number of actions for Mark to take and coaching areas for Connie to teach.
The coaching resulted in building a stronger working relationship among the marketing department and between Mark and the members of his group. The overall performance improved in tackling gnarly divisional issues because the entire staff became engaged and freely offered their thoughts without fear of criticism. The greater rapport improved morale and communication that enabled all areas of marketing to work better together in rolling out new programs and products. The responses to problem solving became more rich and deep thus making a greater difference in the overall performance of divisional growth and marketing performance. “The leadership and team building capabilities learned as a result of my work with Connie”, says Mark, “not only supported improved marketing and divisional performance but overall personal satisfaction as well.”
Mark learned that maximizing business performance goes far beyond functional capability. Insights into knowing your staff's personalities, how to effectively lead them and imparting your experience and knowledge are equally important. “The understanding and wisdom gained in working with Connie Youngblood and Associates is one I wish all managers could gain from in furthering their career aspirations”, says Mark Fallek.