Elizabeth Congdon is a team and leadership coach who brings a unique blend of experiences to her practice. She empowers people to embrace innovative thinking and adaptability. With a foundation in creative consciousness coaching and a background in leading business transformation, digital transformation, and agile ways of working projects for global companies, she excels at guiding individuals, teams, and organizations toward clarity and alignment in their purpose, values, and goals. Elizabeth fosters inclusive cultures that promote courage, confidence, and creative thinking. Her holistic coaching approach ignites team engagement and collaboration, resulting in high-performing teams and individuals.
Elizabeth Congdon, Team and Leadership Coach
Tell us a bit more about yourself?
I am the mother of two wonderful human beings – two young adults, Meke and Tagen. They are my lifelong university. The wisdom and courage of my daughter have been mind-blowing and astonishing. At the young age of 10, she said to me, “Mommy, everything in life happens for a reason.” My son, on the other hand, fits absolutely no societal mold, and I have to adapt and challenge my assumptions constantly! Just being with them and guiding them, I am learning so much about life and myself – they keep me on my toes!
My friends and colleagues call me a dedicated discoverer… I need to move – physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and experience new things – it is part of my DNA. I love to explore and experience different cultures, mainly the less touristy way. I love running. I am practicing mindfulness running at the moment and preparing for a marathon; I do adventure races, and I love the adrenaline rush of an extreme sports event – there is only one I will never do again – rock climbing – it is not for the faint-hearted.
To relax my mind, I love reading fiction or reading to learn and improve my craft. I also do Pilates. The mind-body connection I experience through Pilates is just amazing, and it keeps me mentally and physically grounded! Oh, did I mention I love red wine and champagne?
What am I passionate about? I am passionate about people, especially about growing and developing people. When my son was about four or five, he asked, “Mommy, is it your job to give people confidence?”.
My core values are wisdom, elegance, kindness, passion, and lightness, and wisdom and elegance are the strongest. I will soon share my wisdom about core values in an article.
What makes me unique? I am human, just like you. Like you, I am learning about life.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you where you are today.
Two pivotal moments stand out:
First and foremost, my son. I always say, “I was reborn through my son.” He is unique in the true sense of the word—my little acronym child – ADHD with neurodiverse learning needs. Since birth, he has been what we will call a difficult baby, a difficult child. Difficult was my perception until I started gaining insights into Neuroscience, how words can affect the brain, and how thinking and feeling can engulf you… now I know that who you are is an asset to the world!
The final catalyst was when I led a global company’s organizational development and transformation project. The positive impact of how I led this project on people and the company, inspired me to sign up and become a certified consciousness life coach. I still remember the surge of energy and happiness after receiving the acceptance email. The consciousness coaching journey took me on a Train the Trainer course, and here, I had to create my own personal transformation material based on my life story. Beautiful Being, personal transformation inside-out was born. Ever since then, I have never stopped engaging with anything related to neuroscience, mindfulness, and us being human!
I need to call out the people of these pivotal moments! Can I?
Lukas Duursema, the leader who entrusted me with the transformation project;
Mark Steinberg, the founder and mastermind of Creative Consciousness, and the trainers Mark Fraser Grant and Gina Hayden; and
Savannah Steinberg – Star Leadership and Vitality and Energy.
Thank you. I am grateful.
Your journey highlights the significance of positive culture and people engagement. What are some practical steps or initiatives that leaders can take to foster such an environment within their organizations?
Beautiful question. Hmm, let me think about practical steps. There are so many, but let me give you one, okay, maybe two.
The intentional and purposeful creation of the culture is an essential step. Think of it like a greenhouse: You must create the perfect conditions for the plants to grow and flourish. The same is true for the company culture, which nurtures people’s engagement.
To create the conditions of your greenhouse, as a leader or leadership team, reflect and decide:
What do you want your people to experience?
What do you want them not to experience?
Reflect on this, ideally anchored in your company and personal values. Make these transparent, and talk with the people about why you choose them. The next step is to consciously choose the behaviors that will ensure you give people the intended experience—call it the green card behavior—and what behavior you should not display—call it the red card behavior. Assign accountability partners to keep one another mutually accountable for these behaviors.
You can apply this approach on a micro level too. Before entering the boardroom or a workshop, consider what experiences you want people to have and what you want to avoid. Design and facilitate the session with these intentions in mind. To enhance this, designate someone as the barometer holder. Their role is to regularly check if the desired experience is being maintained. If not, they should pause the session, allowing everyone to realign with the intended experience.
Second, role-model transparency and vulnerability. It is the best way to invite People Engagement and allow them to experience and see the art of being human. Okay, it might not be practical without the support of a leadership coach (laughs). Wait, there is one practical element to transparency. Be transparent with the reasons behind processes, procedures, or decisions. Unless it is transparent, people generally experience these as being micromanaged or controlled.
Let me think—maybe one more practical—either recognition, feedforward, or both. Let’s go with feedforward. With feedforward, you not only see and hear the team or individual, but you also recognize their effort or impact and develop their skills, exercising your muscle of awareness. Feedforward is a Marshall Goldsmith feedback technique that gives people constructive suggestions on improving their performance moving forward. For example, a client presentation did not go so well. The feedforward could be, “Next time, try to focus on 3 points to keep it clear and concise and use less text on the slides.”
You emphasize the importance of unlocking the heartbeat of being human and creating synergy within teams. What strategies do you use to achieve this, and how do you measure their effectiveness?
Connection. Human to human. Heart to heart. I hear you. I see you. I feel you.
I strive to deeply understand what matters most to each individual—their needs, hopes, fears, and aspirations. I seek to understand what they require to do their best work and what expectations they have of themselves, their teammates, leaders, and stakeholders.
I make a conscious effort to understand the team members’ strengths and perceived weaknesses. I focus on orchestrating a symphony of strengths within the team, cultivating collective ownership to achieve results at a sustainable pace, and encouraging learning and growth together. Another simple yet powerful strategy I use is facilitating dialogue around clarity of roles and responsibilities within the team and with other teams they depend on.
How do I measure the effectiveness? Various ways. Team dynamics; measured by the number of times the team members speak up, the number of times team members contribute ideas and the number of times the team organically forms to solve problems proactively. Team atmosphere; the frequency of laughter and positive bantering. And, of course, the traditional metrics of achieving goals and objectives sustainably (without excessive overtime), people satisfaction scores, customer satisfaction scores, and stakeholder satisfaction scores.
In my experience, systemic factors such as relationships with stakeholders, leadership support, organizational learning culture, and external processes significantly influence team performance, necessitating more than just team synergy. Relationships with stakeholders ensure alignment, while effective leadership provides clear vision and direction, empowers team members, and allocates necessary resources. A robust learning culture promotes continuous improvement, encourages innovation, and enhances adaptability to changing circumstances. So, achieving synergy within the ecosystem, led by leadership, is crucial for creating an environment where teams can thrive.
How do you integrate the wisdom of Martin Luther King, Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, and Coco Chanel into your coaching and consulting practices? Can you provide specific examples?
I have a dream.” —a current and compelling vision that goes beyond the company goal, grounded in purpose and intent.
“Yes, we can” – commit 100% to creating the circumstances needed to achieve the vision and outcomes.
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Madiba’s vision was the rainbow nation. Stay focused on the outcome, keep moving, and be gentle, kind, and flexible. Lean into the vision and practice the moment-to-moment discipline of commitment. Keep going and keep trying different avenues till you get there.
“A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.” — what a beautiful attitude! What is your attitude? Own it!
Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.
My greatest achievements have been in what I call non-surgical face-lift moments. When the client reaches a breakthrough moment, an aha moment, their faces lift up, and you can see and feel the shift in energy and thinking.
And, of course, I was selected as an executive contributor for the Brainz magazine.
Thank you for having me!
Follow me on LinkedIn for more info!
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