by Barbara Barron | Posted April 16th, 2025 | Subscribe to this newsletter
Since starting my consulting business over eight years ago, some of my favorite client experiences have been coaching advancement professionals.
There are the folks who are newbies to the profession. Heads wisely hire me to support and “train” them at the start of their journey. These are fun because people tend to be eager to learn and want to get it right from the start. Developing good habits is much simpler and faster than unlearning bad ones.
I’m able to help them create good systems and calendars, help ask smarter questions of their leaders, and focus on the activities that are important rather than all the stuff that isn’t.
But just as often, I’ve been retained by highly experienced professionals themselves. People at great schools who were running effective, even envy-worthy programs. Managing good-sized teams.
But what they decided they needed was an objective thought partner. They know their stuff but know their stuff enough to know they might not be seeing everything clearly or dispassionately. That’s hard to do, especially after several years in the position. It’s like the adage about how fish don’t know they’re in water; it’s all they’ve ever known.
As I work to become their trusted advisor, here are some of the ways I can be helpful:
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How can I be helpful?
1. I can listen for the question under the question – or the challenge at hand.
What were they simply not seeing or hearing? Like most things in life, the work is about other people and our relationship with them.
Many of us who get into these roles don’t bring management acumen. Or any experience supervising. I can offer a structure for individual and team meetings to make them more productive. I can co-create smart and helpful evaluation systems.
Together, we can restructure roles and responsibilities to try to get the people on the bus into the right seats. And I can support compassionate leaders when they have to do the hardest of things: counsel out a member of their team.
2. I can point out the things that you have come to accept as “normal” that are not.
Sometimes this is the behavior of other team members. Or a function of how and when you report to – and get input from – your Head.
I can offer advice about how you can improve your role as liaison to an important Board committee like Governance or Development. We can talk through how to make vital changes, often in small steps.
3. I can edit.
Even best-selling authors benefit from editors. I happen to be a good and quick editor, so it is easy (and often fun!) for me to reorganize – or just put a bit of polish on – a piece of writing by my client.
I’ve done this for annual funds, website language, major gifts appeals, job descriptions, and Board reports.
4. I can assist with your preparation and your practice.
I can help you get ready and fluent with asking for gifts. Often, this is done with a volunteer or a Head before an important solicitation meeting. We can run through it. You’ll get tighter and clearer.
Then we can do some debriefing afterward so you can honestly assess how you did as you continue to improve and sharpen these important skills. I confess I am on tenterhooks when I know the meeting is taking place and am eager to hear how it went.
It’s so exciting when you can report that you secured a significant gift! (But it’s also important to determine the best next steps when it didn’t go as you’d hoped…)
5. I can say the things you can’t say.
This may be the most valuable gift a coach can bring to the client.
My role is the objective expert. So, while my client may have just as many years in the work as I, by dint of my role, I am heard. I have the ear of the Heads, the trustees, and the other members of the team. There is no world in which a DoD can tell a Board member that their latest and greatest idea is not a good one. It just sounds like they aren’t up for the challenge. I can say it. And they (usually!) listen.
It’s not a power trip and I take this seriously. We are talking about highly sensitive and very important messages I am delivering. Messages vital to the school’s ability to execute the strategies and goals set. My honest counsel that may help the school hang onto a great leader who is starting to feel burned out. That is a costly risk I might be able to help the school avoid.
So how’s it work?
Sometimes my coaching work is a short-term, problem-solving project. A few sessions and we’ve nailed the issue and have a new way forward. Other times it is an ongoing relationship. Maybe a once a week or twice a month scheduled call. Plus, any stuff that pops up in between. I love those arrangements. They allow me the opportunity to get to know the school and its people in a granular way so I can offer advice steeped in knowledge. One beloved client told me that she kept a journal of things I told her for future reference. Another had a post-it note on her laptop that read: “What would Barbara do?”
So flattering. I get it. I still have the journal from my work during COVID with a life coach. Similar. Pearls.
But what moves me most about this work is the ability to help the people carrying such heavy loads at our schools. The people who often feel a little lonely in their roles. Being that sounding board, that truth-teller is deeply gratifying. So, too, is seeing them succeed in the work. I believe I am helping them do what only they can do: lead a program that really does advance the mission of their school.
How about you? Could you use some support or targeted problem-solving? Send me a quick email and I’d be happy to help.
And thank you for all you’re doing.
Barbara Barron
[email protected]
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BARBARA BARRON is one of the most respected and highly sought-after independent advancement professionals in the country, having worked with dozens of schools in every corner of the United States.
She has raised over $20 million for schools where she served as the Director of Development. Barbara is a New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and presenter who currently advises dozens of schools in various capacities. She is considered a thought leader in the world of advancement, with her writing widely shared by professionals in development offices worldwide.
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