Cassandra Mitchell

What is your favorite part of your work?

Probing and asking questions that help leaders think differently about themselves, their challenges and opportunities. I love seeing the look that comes over someone’s face when things start to shift, when I get to witness a transformation. Nothing’s more rewarding than seeing someone become his or her next “best self” as a leader!

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten about being a leader?

Unless it’s life or death, don’t let the task become so important that it overshadows the relationships. Otherwise, you’ll look around only to discover that there is no one behind you to be led.

A lot of people work with ECC when a company is going through organizational change, which can be stressful for clients. What is the first thing you help clients with in order to keep them focused on managing change, and less focused on the stress?

In any change situation, first, I acknowledge that change isn’t easy and that we are probably having some feelings about “stepping into the unknown.” We also look at where they’ve been and what they’ve accomplished, and focus on the new vision. When people have a clear sense of where they’re headed and can see themselves in the new future, it’s easier to step away from the past.

When I think of “change”, I think of a Nautilus, a sea mollusk—it continuously outgrows its current shell chamber, so to survive it has to keep building another shell chamber onto it. As it moves into the new chamber, it seals the outgrown chamber behind it. So while the past is always present, it’s no longer accessible. To me, it’s like a visual metaphor of the simplicity and beauty of change. 

How does ECC work differently than others in this field?

We have an incredible introspection approach that links beautifully to behavioral feedback when partnering with leaders to uncover their needs. I’ve found that when you work with highly successful leaders, their challenges are usually not related to a skill deficit as much as it’s about how they see and think about themselves, others, and their world.

When you can help them uncover thought patterns that affect leadership effectiveness, then they have a choice about how to do things differently.

Certification

• 360 By Design®
• Benchmarks®
• Climate Improvement Accreditation
• Emotional Competence Inventory
• Executive Dimensions®
• Hogan Assessments
• Inventory of Leadership Styles
• Myers Briggs Type Indicator®
• PDI’s Profilor
• Peer Empowerment Coaching Process, the Wright Institute
• Voices® 360 Feedback

Education

• MA, Curriculum and Instruction; Bachelor of Fine Arts, Illinois State University

Affiliations

• Member of the Chicago Advisory Board to Youth About Business, which runs financial literacy camps for Chicagoland High Schools.
• Board Member for SHAREcircle, which provides aid to war-torn Angola.

Practice Areas

• Executive Coaching
• Executive On-Boarding
• 360-Degree Feedback
• Team Coaching & Facilitation
• Conflict Resolution & Team Intervention
• Instructional/Program Design
• Leadership Development
• Meeting/Program Facilitation
• Visioning & Strategic Planning