Michelle Schafer is an International Coaching Federation Certified Coach and Facilitator specializing in career transition and leadership. She is the owner and founder of Michelle Schafer Coaching, empowering people to achieve career fulfillment. Michelle has personally experienced two significant career transitions through restructuring and has reinvented herself for new careers both times. She deeply understands the physical, emotional, and mental impact associated with a job search. Michelle is passionate about people and inspired by their progress, working with clients at all levels of an organization and across sectors including federal and municipal government, high tech, not-for-profit, and financial services. Michelle offers coaching 1:1 in groups and recently was certified in the foundations of team coaching with the Global Team Coaching Institute.
Michelle Schafer, Michelle Schafer Coaching
Who is Michelle Schafer? What is your career story – and what’s most important to you?
I’m a career coach specializing in career transition and leadership, a mom, a lover of the outdoors, a small business owner, and a proud resident of Ottawa, Canada.
I love learning about the career stories of my clients, and how I got into coaching is a story on its own. I've been restructured twice and reinvented myself twice in my career – first from financial services to not-for-profit, then not-for-profit to small business ownership (7 years ago!) as a coach and the owner of Michelle Schafer Coaching. I joke that at age 46, I finally knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. A good coaching friend planted the seed years ago, as I had always coached as part of my job - then, when my position was eliminated a second time, I started networking with coaches to learn more and find out about their coaching specialization and what coaching school they went to. I realized after taking my first level coaching certification that this was something I wanted to do as a career (not just off the side of my desk), so I established my own practice and, because of my own transition experience, chose to focus my coaching in the career space. The book “Answering Your Call” by John Schuster provided a lot of inspiration to me as I was contemplating this huge pivot in my career.
When I work with clients, I focus on work that gives them energy. For me, I am deeply fulfilled and truly inspired by the progress of others ‒ it's rewarding to work with someone who may be stuck when they come to me and end up developing new strategies and using new tools to help them take steps forward toward their career goal. I believe that everyone deserves to find a career that allows them to do work that gives them energy, for a company that believes what they believe in. That’s my “why.”
I am proud to hold my Professional Coaching certification with the International Coaching Federation and was named as one of Ottawa’s Top 20 Career Coaches in 2020. Last year I was honoured as a Brainz Executive Contributor and recipient of a Global 500 award.
Family is of utmost importance to me. I have a partner who is my best friend and biggest cheerleader, and two boys aged 13 and 15 who I’m watching develop into responsible, fun, adventurous, and independent young men. Carving out time for these most important relationships can be a challenge as a small business owner and yet a huge priority for me daily. Adventure is a big part of my life, with memorable trips climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and, recently, the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. (see my article here about the career lessons learned on the trail)
In the summer, I love cycling by the Ottawa River and hiking on one of the many trails in Ontario and Quebec. In the winter, I’m slightly addicted to skating the Rideau Canal – I go out every chance I can to take advantage of stellar ice conditions! Sunset admiring is a calming activity for me any time of year. I’m also a serial volunteer, having started volunteering at the age of 12. I offer pro-bono coaching with Up With Women, helping women trying to make a fresh start in life and get out of poverty, and I deliver a monthly networking workshop to the World Skills Empowering Newcomer Women program, helping newcomers to Canada find work. For fun, I volunteer at Ottawa’s annual Bluesfest music festival (a great way to give back to the community and experience a diverse range of musical performances).
I embrace the guiding principles of simplicity, authenticity, and intent. These guiding principles govern my choices in life and in business.
What coaching services do you offer?
I wear 3 hats, which makes me unique as a career coach: I offer career transition services, and leadership coaching, and I’m a workshop facilitator. My coaching services can be offered 1:1, in a group, or for a team. I can help someone who has been restructured from their job, contemplating a career change, or want to develop their leadership skills and competencies.
I love helping people who are considering a career transition or are thrust into the job market unexpectedly. I am a conversation partner for my clients, helping people clarify their goals and then market themselves. I explore with clients what work energizes them, what organizations believe what they believe, and what their “non-negotiables” are (i.e. dealbreakers ‒ things so deeply important to them that they might walk away from an opportunity if those things cannot be honoured). I work with clients to clarify their career direction (I’ve been doing a lot of that lately, as people have been thinking about their careers during the pandemic!), then develop a job search strategy and marketing materials to support that direction (e.g. building an impactful resume, preparing for interviews, networking, LinkedIn). I work with clients to help them be intentional in their job search – to create a job search strategy that will allow them to find careers – and organizations –where they can do their best work.
I believe a job search strategy should incorporate 3 pillars of activity: online job searches (job boards), reaching out to recruiters/search firms, and, most importantly, networking. Lots and lots of networking! This way, clients can intentionally “run towards” an opportunity of a good fit versus “running away” from what they have or where they are. Having a plan is key to job search success – we wouldn’t go on vacation without a plan, and the same applies when ready to start a job search.
With leadership coaching, my reward is seeing a client grow and develop – to deepen and gain experience with various competencies to help leaders be more effective in their role and help them motivate and inspire a team. I especially love working with new leaders who have transitioned from being individual contributors to leading the team. Coaching topics that I love engaging with are leading a remote or distributed work team in a way that keeps people motivated and connected, navigating the transition from individual contributor to leader, confidently having challenging conversations, delivering key messages or providing feedback clearly and constructively, getting out of the weeds and transition from “operational leader” to “strategist” and establishing healthy boundaries with the team and empowering individuals to develop and implement their own solutions.
I have experience working with clients in all sectors, including federal and municipal government, NFP, financial services, sport, tourism, high tech, retail, and hospitality.
How would clients describe you, and what do they value in your approach?
A number of my clients have shared with me that I am warm, empathetic, a good listener, a conversation partner, one who asks good questions, thought-provoking, knowledgeable, and creative (with coaching programs and practices). Clients have said they value my ability to give them hope – to help them find a way out of the fog and clarity on a path forward. They also appreciate the structure I can provide as it provides a “road map”– with the client, I establish a focus for each session and provide them with a task to complete in between our sessions. I create a safe space for people to explore – everyone has the answers within them. They just need a conversation partner to access them. I can guide them through questioning to explore new options and widen their view to consider new approaches. help people put on their curiosity hat and explore. I encourage them to pay attention to the signs around them and the seeds that are planted, be present and ready to learn from clients, and listen to what's being said and not said. I’m able to “see as” the client, putting myself in their shoes and trying to see the world from their perspective.
What outcomes are you able to achieve for clients?
So much! I’ve seen leadership coaching clients make progress through increased confidence as a leader, increased comfort level having challenging conversations (especially delivering feedback, performance chats), increased comfort level sitting with strong emotions and working through conflict, and an increased ability to carve out time for themselves to achieve more work-life harmony (so important in these times defined by burnout). I’ve also had clients strengthen their ability to set healthy boundaries with others, carve out more time for coaching conversations with staff, and empower others instead of jumping in with solutions. All of this is key as there is a crisis of leadership almost at every turn. People leave leaders (not jobs) – this has been the foundation of the Great Resignation. So leadership development is becoming even more important right now.
I’m able to restore clients’ confidence in themselves, empowering them to carve out their own path and recognize the value they bring to their next opportunity. They can find and negotiate their next opportunity from a position of strength. It's so fulfilling to see career transition clients find careers that are fulfilling for them, where they feel energized to do their work. I’ve seen clients increase their ability to talk about their achievements, especially in interviews and networking, and have a clearer idea of career direction and how to find a new job.
I’ve worked with clients who wanted to work towards their dream job – and got it! One client wanted to be a 911 operator, and she found interviewing challenging. We worked together over several sessions to prepare her for her next interview – and she’s now doing exactly what she wants to do! Another client had a dream of working for Apple – we worked together to refine his approach with search firms and developed new messaging to help him market himself. He moved from Ottawa to California about 3 years ago and has been promoted twice within Apple!
What are some of my favourite questions?
Great question! Here are some of my favourites:
how does this feel for you?
describe what this is like for you
if you could fast forward to the end of the coaching program, what would success look like? i.e., what outcomes would you like to achieve?
if you say yes to this, what do you need to say no to?
what evidence do you have to support this?
and what else?
what's coming up for you right now?
what would open up for you...or be closed down...if you did X?
What work gives you energy (since you ask that of your clients)?
I feel the most fulfilled and energized when I’m working with people 1:1. I can build a relationship founded on trust, explore new paths with them, ask thought-provoking questions, and can work closely with them to help them see their progress address challenges. The ultimate reward for me is knowing a client has found a career path that ticks their “big boxes,” or a leader feels increased comfort and confidence leading their team. I thrive on this work!
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