What Clients are Saying About Her Coaching:
"Michelle’s candor and insight are powerful tools for removing impediments to effective management and uncovering hidden strengths. Her coaching style gets straight to the point and provides strong motivation for positive change. She is outstanding!"
Rick F., U.S. Government Agency, Regional Executive Staff
"My coach led me throughout the sessions and ignited very important skills that are helping me be a better person and leader both personally and professionally. As a result of coaching sessions, I learned that in order to succeed as a leader, I need to recognize strengths, address and tackle weaknesses head on, be professionally direct, hold myself and others accountable, and deal with conflict in an appropriate timeframe. My coach was easy to talk to, stayed focused on what was important and gave me constructive criticism and helped me grow. Coaching was by far the best thing I have done in my professional career."
Kari Sutton, Environmental, Houston, Leadership 2007
"Talking to Michelle is like opening up to a friend that is a very good listener. The coaching experience helped me in dealing with problem areas and made me realize there were things I could do to effect change."
Jeff G., Intel Corporation, Technical Writer
"My coaching sessions with Michelle Rios developed into a valuable relationship based on trust and respect. I was able to express my thoughts and concerns without once feeling uncomfortable. Michelle has the ability to make you realize with more clarity the strengths you possess as a leader, and guide you towards a self-revelation of those areas of weakness we need to focus more on. I value so much the time we've spent conversing and truly believe it has allowed me to transition into a role of true leadership!"
Myrna P., U.S. Government Agency, Executive Leader
"Working with Michelle has been a solidly reaffirming experience about the skills I offer and my best career fit. With a keen intuition and solid training, she guides you to discover, identify and capitalize on your talents and personality strengths to chart a course to achieve your life's calling. She provides objective feedback to see yourself as others see you and shows you new ways of thinking about your choices. It has been enlightening and a pleasure to work with Michelle – I would highly recommend her and the coaching experience."
Maria M., Wilson-Miller Engineering Firm, Marketing Project Mgr
"Having the opportunity to confide in someone with complete confidence in a safe and non-threatening environment helped me to wrestle with some of the more complex issues I was facing. Michelle helped me to recognize that I was avoiding certain types of situations, and that the accumulative effect was starting to take its toll, not just on me, but on the productivity of my team. With her assistance, I soon realized opportunities to regain full control of the work environment and become a more confident and effective team leader. The opportunity to brainstorm and receive feedback on ideas or situations was immensely helpful, and I always looked forward to our coaching sessions. They were time well spent!"
Dennis C., National Government Agency, Executive Leader
"Initially, I wasn’t sure which direction I wanted to go. That is no longer the case; I now have a clear vision. Michelle is a great coach! Very insightful and very knowledgeable."
Chris B., Meijer’s Retail Chain, IT Department
"I understood that I had several areas to work on as a manager. Michelle helped me isolate and prioritize which areas to work on and then gave me manageable assignments to use as building blocks to gain the needed new skills."
Andy B., U.S. Government Agency, Executive Leader
"Michelle does a marvelous job of identifying the core reasons behind attitudes, practices and beliefs that interfere with productivity and personal fulfillment in the workplace. By identifying the root causes of counter-productive approaches to the workplace, Michelle helps managers identify the barriers that keep us locked in self-defeating routines. Once an individual recognizes that he or she reflexively approaches the same problems and issues with the same attitudes, skill sets, or problem-solving techniques it becomes much easier to identify opportunities to try different approaches. When our old approaches fail us, Michelle is exactly the person to help us embrace new ones, for the betterment of ourselves and our organizations."
Karen B., U.S. Government Agency, Public Relations Director
"My favorite aspect of coaching was the very relaxed environment and the assignments that pushed me out of my comfort zone."
Leann M., Via Christi Hospital, Training Department
"Michelle gave me the momentum and courage to take my career to the next highest level. The coaching provided me the extra insight, wisdom, and strength that I needed to confront some great challenges. Michelle encouraged me to look at the details and take appropriate action. Coaching helped me to understand the complexities of human interaction in the work environment. Importantly, coaching helped me to look deep inside myself and set a course for the future. Life is precious; coaching helped me understand my strengths and achieve greater success and happiness."
Jesse D., U.S. Government Agency, Fire Protection Services Director
"Before coaching it was as though I was trying to scale a mountain without any rope. With my coach (rope) I felt secure in my ability to plan my next moves more carefully and discovered new rocks to use as support for making my ascent."
Shawn S., Intel Corporation, Project Manager
"I had never thought about coaching. Now that I’ve had a few sessions with Michelle, I’m glad it was her. Michelle listens and cares, she makes you feel good about yourself, she looks at every situation from every angle, and she provides you with the necessary tools to be successful. Overall, having Michelle as a coach has been very rewarding. I recommend her to anyone."
M.E., U.S. Government Agency, Facilities Manager
"Coaching with Michelle was an absolute joy. She helped me to realize my potential and set reasonable expectations of myself. She inspired me not only professionally, but emotionally & spiritually. I will use many of the things I learned from Michelle throughout my life."
R.E., Wilson-Miller Engineering Firm, Project Manager
"I didn’t really know what to expect when my supervisor said that she thought the whole management team would benefit from some coaching sessions. I can tell you that after one session I realized that having a coach was going to help me both professionally and personally. You have to go into this with an open mind and be willing to look at yourself honestly if you expect to benefit from coaching. You can’t be afraid to put your insecurities out there and make some necessary changes. I would highly recommend Igniting Excellence for anyone that would like to make some positive changes in their lives!"
Sherry W., U.S. Government Agency, Senior Administrative Officer
"Ms. Rios successfully defined appropriate outcomes and the customized steps needed to achieve them for hundreds of individuals. She consistently used her professional knowledge and skills to facilitate the development of her clients, including gathering information about individual needs, planning a program of study to facilitate career development, and monitoring and evaluating the process throughout. Ms. Rios is an excellent addition to any organization looking to improve processes and affect positive change."
Linda Chernek-Bautz, Program Manager, University of New Mexico
"Michelle is a talented and gifted Executive Coach and trainer. She has tremendous insight and skill in working with people to help them reach their goals. She has high energy and infuses her coaching with a combination of deep connection and fun. Michelle has great integrity and I recommend her most highly."
Dr. Marci Nemhauser, Psychologist/Executive Coach
"Michelle has created a customized approach to my executive coaching needs and the experience has exceeded my expectations. She has really helped me focus my energies and my time and improved my results with some challenging colleagues. Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, High Integrity"
Claire Celeste Carnes, Operations Director, Intel
"Michelle has coached me through several difficult situations in my life on several topics, including career, personal relationships, and personal growth. During this time she has been caring and helpful. Michelle has also been candid and honest with me regarding the coaching. I have had to swallow some hard truths from Michelle, but her deliveries of those messages have always been compassionate, so that I can still accept the message and see the possibilities for a better future and for becoming a better person. I am proud of the person that I am today and that is thanks, in a large part, to Michelle's coaching. Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Expert"
Jeff Gaulke, Shindaiwa
"For the past several months, I have worked with Michelle Rios which has been a very positive and productive experience. We reviewed the feedback from the various assessments including the Peoplemap™ 360 which provides an objective outside perspective of oneself, and Michelle has engaged me in a series of discussions and activities to interpret that feedback in order to enhance my ability to deal with current workload challenges while moving to the next level in my career as a leader and developer of people. As a result, I have been able to move significant strategic initiatives forward and have developed an improved self-awareness that allows me to play to my strengths and accomplish my goals. Wow! I would highly recommend the executive coaching experience. It is a meaningful process that contributes to the success of people, and thus, organizations. Thank you for connecting me with Michelle."
Susan Ouellette, HR Director, Kleinschmidt Associates
"Michelle has demonstrated an exceptional willingness and enthusiasm to work with us on several projects over the past two years. She has proven herself to be an interesting and engaging presenter and facilitator. In Sep 2006 Michelle conducted a PeopleMap™presentation for several Hillsboro Chamber members. Although the audience was diverse, Michelle was able to relate to each of them, ensuring that each took away valuable information from the training. The evaluation surveys collected after the presentation revealed just how valuable the training was for participants. Every attendee gave Michelle high marks, and wrote comments such as “Michelle provided excellent relevant examples,” and “helped me to critically evaluate my style and assess which areas I need to work on.” She is a competent and compelling trainer with extensive knowledge of the PeopleMap™ System. These trainings provide a great mechanism for teaching your employees the best way to relate to people both within and outside of your organization."
Deanna Palm, President Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce
Jen Davis, Business Development Manager
"Michelle, great presentation this morning. You treated those of us who participated as though we were the most important people in the world. Although the group was small, you gave tremendous value, both with helpful content, and by facilitating with group size sensitivities. You are a true professional (and a wonderful ‘people’ person)."
Jared Roth, Business Coach