People-centered work has been the heart of my work for the last twenty years, collaborating with people as an artist, college instructor, communications director, leader, pastor, design facilitator, director of learning & development, and coach.

My work has included: lean start-up, organizational leadership, HR, teaching and speaking, facilitation, change management, leadership development, conflict and mediation, spiritual formation, community development, curriculum creation, event planning, communication strategy, and likely over 1000 cups of coffee and conversations with people.

The through-line in all of this varied work is simply this: I’m a people enthusiast.

I hold an MA in Theology from Regent College and I’m a certified coach with the International Coaching Federation (PCC).

One of my favourite definitions for coaching is having a creative and strategic thinking partner. You can use coaching for anything that you want to get better at.

The areas I tend to coach people in are: leadership development, transition, and creativity.

My approach to non-directive coaching integrates systems thinking, appreciative inquiry, and a deep delight in the particularity of people—your unique vision, strengths, and offerings becoming visible in the world. I work well with people who are ready to show up with authenticity and an appetite for growth.

Coaching is for everyone.

Though I come alongside people with all kinds of interesting problems to grapple with, I tend to work with 3 kinds of people: those who are moving through TRANSITION, those who are wanting to unlock their CREATIVITY, and those who are seeking to level up their LEADERSHIP.

I’ve had the privilege of partnering with founders and entrepreneurs, artists and creatives, managers and C-suite leaders. I have experience working with clients in a wide spectrum of industries and settings, including tech, design, law, entrepreneurship, social enterprise, sports, and those transitioning and somewhere inbetween.

People describe me as transparent, non-anxious, playful, thoughtful, and empathetic. But, best to ask my clients.

”I really value Lance's own curiosity and feedback. It's so incredible to hear my words reflected back to me with Lance's observations. I would say I'm in a season of life where anxiety is a major influence, and Lance's gentlenss in particular was so beneficial, in helping me to feel safe enough to take in the feedback or questions he presented.” (coaching client)

I love words because, as Abraham Heschel said, “Words create worlds”. As a poet, I’m especially attuned to words and the worlds they create. Most people don’t know what poetry is good for (if anything), but poetry is simply distilled attentiveness.

To write or read a poem, you need to slow things down so you can be present to what’s actually going on here, now.

The same is needed to live and lead well. All of our creating, communicating, imagining, relating, and meaning-making is bound up in how we use words.

By attending to the words we’re always living in, we can both see and say a way forward. Because Maya Angelou is right: there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

That’s why I shape words in public as a poet. But before this, as a listener. I listen in on the text, subtext, and context of people’s stories, in order to help them tell better stories.