Getting Results with Coach Maggie

By Mavian Arocha-Rowe on Jan, 30 2012

With over 30 years experience serving in a variety of leadership roles in the global marketplace, President and Founder of Called To Action, a division of Mainspring Consultants, Inc., Maggie Sabatier-Smith, who goes by the name Coach Maggie, partners with leaders, entrepreneurs, HR professionals, and organizations who want to grow and challenge their leaders to greater levels of influence. Her personal mission is to communicate divine significance and inspire a Call to Action; hence, her company’s name.

“My passion becomes my client’s purpose,” she says firmly. But what comes first? “I’m not sure I can separate one from the other. My passion or mission statement is to communicate Divine significance and inspire a call to action. Said simply: You Matter! Now, do something about it. My passion is therefore synonymous with my client taking steps to discover and live out their purpose.”

“In the words of Laurie Beth Jones in her book, “Jesus, Entrepreneur,” I joined a new breed of business people; I am a Spiritreneur. As a Spiritreneur I work at what I love and I do this work as unto the Lord. I partner with those that choose to fast-track their goals—they are called to action,” says Coach Maggie.

“I attract clients that are compelled to live a life that matters. On a quest for significance, my clients instinctively know they were created for a purpose and are motivated to seek that purpose out. They are actionable, and because of this, I am able to bring them a wealth of experience and education in the areas of leadership and personal development. As a speaker, coach, consultant, and trainer I am able to communicate the message of purpose and the power of teambuilding to individuals and transversely to organizational boundaries,” she continues.

What about multi-cultural communications? Is it a struggle to build a company’s team with the amount of cultures fusing our nation and overseas business deals? “We operate in a global economy. I can’t imagine anyone succeeding without considering the impact on multi-cultural communications. As a Cuban-American and also with over 10 years as an international consultant, I have a wealth of stories to share. My stories make it personal. I invite them to communicate with others the way they would like to be communicated with.”

Coach Maggie is a graduate of Southeastern University and a Certified Coach with Coach Training Alliance. As a licensed Trainer & Reseller with Laurie Beth Jones Inc., she provides the following tools to support her clients: The PATH™ Workshop Creating your Mission Statement for Work & for Life; PEP™ (The Four Elements of Success: Path Elements Profile™), an online Personality Assessment; PEP™ Team Communications Training Designed to ignite teams and increase results.

STRATEGY: What is a life coach versus a psychologist?

COACH MAGGIE: Great question! I’m asked this often and I include this information in my Client Coaching Agreement. Coaching is for people who are basically well-adjusted, emotionally healthy, functioning effectively, and desire to make changes in their lives. Coaching is designed to address issues the person being coached would like to consider. These could include (but are not limited to) conflict resolution, career development, relationship enhancement, spiritual growth, lifestyle management, life balance, decision making, and achieving short-term or long-term goals. Coaching can involve brainstorming, values clarification, the completion of written assignments, education, goal-setting, identifying plans of action, accountability, making requests, agreements to change behavior, examining lifestyles, and questioning.

Coaching is not therapy, counseling, advice-giving, mental health care or treatment for substance abuse. The coach is not functioning as a licensed mental health professional, and coaching is not intended as a replacement for counseling, psychiatric interventions, treatment for mental illness, recovery from past abuse, professional medical advice, financial assistance, legal counsel, or other professional services.

STRATEGY: What makes Coach Maggie different from her competition?

COACH MAGGIE: My heart says, I have no competition. I often say, “Coaching is not for everyone and as a coach, neither am I.” I am convinced that if each of us focuses on our individual mission, we will attract the clients we are meant to serve. I am a spirit-driven coach. I coach out of a sense of mission; it’s a calling. I focus on leaders and my passion is that every leader not only find their personal mission, but take action toward it. As catalyst in their lives, I challenge them to step out of their comfort zone, taking them from reactive to strategic levels of influence. My most unique tool: an uncanny ability to ask those breakthrough questions. At the very core of what I do is the fact that I work at what I love and I honor God in the process.

STRATEGY: Who is your target audience?

COACH MAGGIE: I partner with Leaders/Entrepreneurs, HR Professionals, and Small Business Leaders who are intentional about their individual and/or team’s personal development.

STRATEGY: Can you tell us about one of your most difficult challenges as a life coach?

COACH MAGGIE: I think the most difficult challenge as a life coach is “letting go” of the outcome. Life changes happen only if the client is willing to do the work. Fear loves to rob individuals of their future. In integrity, I have stepped away from those who choose to stay in their comfort zone despite knowing there is something else they are meant to do.

STRATEGY: Can you tell us about one of your most rewarding experiences as a life coach?

COACH MAGGIE: I confess to being addicted to client breakthroughs. It’s that moment in time when suddenly that last question I asked unleashed a series of ah-ha’s for my client. When asked what’s going on with them the words I hear back are: hope, freedom, and vision. But one client in particular came to me because she was getting ready to quit her job. Totally discouraged, she embraced coaching in the hope of gaining the strength to job hunt. After a couple of months of coaching she called me one day and said “I feel as if I have a new job and I’m the only one that changed!” A year later she was promoted to Vice-President in the same company. I still smile when I think of her.

STRATEGY: When you are in a room filled with your clients and your job is to build them as a team, yet they are not open to connecting, how do you solve the situation? What approaches do you take to build and establish them as a team?

COACH MAGGIE: I begin every team development project with each person gaining an understanding of their personality strengths and weaknesses. I then explain what the rest of the world looks like; other personalities. This is done through a Personality Assessment Tool.

With that as a given, two approaches come to mind. In the first scenario, I present case studies of other organizations. It is always easier to critique someone else. As they begin to observe the makeup of these other teams and the challenges they face, they also draw analogies to their own team. Another approach is to have them observe their own team. At the whiteboard I begin to track the answers to these two questions: What are your team’s strengths? What are your team’s challenges? This typically opens the door to considerable discussion. I have a gift for humor; that helps cool off any unexpected conflict that may come up.

Getting Results with Coach Maggie

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