About Phyllis Beck Kritek
Am I the Right Coach for You?
Here is some information to help you in evaluating our potential partnership as coach and client. Our coaching relationship will be shaped in part through my training at the Hudson Institute of Coaching, the second formal training process in coaching for me. The Hudson training concluded with my International Coaching Certification and an emerging career as a coach serving people who are moving through significant shifts in their life trajectory. As is obvious, my decision to pursue this program of study is a significant shift for me too, and I am excited about adding this new dimension to a rich and fulfilling career.
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I am a registered nurse and have spent most of my career working with health care communities. After early years of clinical work in psychiatric nursing, I joined the ranks of nurse educators where I believed I could make a more long-lasting contribution to my profession. I earned both my Master’s and PhD degrees in nursing, and held a number of positions in nursing schools and colleges. My primary contribution involved creating and leading new programs, including two PhD programs in nursing, and directing a nursing research center. I also served as a dean of a college of nursing and more recently spearheaded the creation of a DNP program of study. Early in my career in nursing education, I also maintained a small private practice as a nurse therapist.
Concurrent with my work as a nurse educator, I completed training in conflict resolution during a Kellogg Leadership Fellowship, and provided both training and consultation services, primarily in health care systems and colleges of nursing, for what is now about 35 years. I left academe for 13 years and created a sole proprietorship where I did conflict engagement work full time, primarily in the United States. Also called “courage”, this endeavor is “courage” 2.0!
All of these career experiences involved a degree of informal coaching in a variety of roles however at this point in my career I want to provide coaching full time, primarily with people seeking to expand their personal potential and explore the transitions in their personal journeys.
I have two successful adult daughters with their own careers and life partners, and four obviously perfect and superb grandchildren, so my life has been enriched with the many lessons of both parenthood and grandparenthood. These eight very special people have taught me an array of life lessons in the value of love, affection, and honest feedback.
I think the range and scope of my life experiences equip me to be a coach who supports both compassion and courage, creativity and resilience, laughter and tears, and the celebration of goals achieved.
My Core Values
Some essential core values shape my work as a professional coach:
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Integrity: for me this involves not only personal honesty and knowing right from wrong, but also showing a consistency in thought and action.
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Curiosity: I think staying curious about everything we do not understand, which is nearly everything, shifts us from judging to discovery, imagination, and creative possibility.
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Compassion: for me this involves empathic and humane responses to the challenges others experience in their life journey.
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Trustworthiness: I think every client needs to know that the relationship they enter into with a coach is grounded in trust and confidentiality.
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Humor: for me, this involves seeing the dissonances and contradictions of life and responding with laughter; I believe laughter is the most healing resource we humans have readily available and easily accessed.
My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.
Maya Angelou
I am not what happened to me; I am what I choose to become.
C.G. Jung
My Blog
If you are considering working with me as your coach, and you would like a bit more information about me, you can use the link below to visit my blog. There you can find a more detailed biography and some postings that tell you how I think and what I think is important.
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I started the blog in January 2022 to encourage personal reflection and respectful, meaningful conversations about issues important to all humans. I also wanted it to be a fun experience, evoking thoughtful laughter. There I share my thoughts to elicit reflection, start a conversation, or create moments of humor…. or all three things. You may want to subscribe to it or share it with others. I hope so.
And you may notice, the “courage” theme emerges there too.
Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
e.e. cummings
