Our Team

Alison Atkins

Eclectic interests, curiosity, incredible possibilities, and tantalizing diversity--those are a few of the keys to my passions and pastimes.

I am a Certified Management Consultant and Master Business Coach, president of a Leadership Consulting firm, and recently Director of a National Entrepreneurship Program. My professional journey includes work with public and private businesses across Canada and internationally—from South America to Russia and Uzbekistan. My executive positions and consulting range from distribution and logistics services industries, retail, wholesale, high-tech, professional services sectors such as insurance and accounting, to resource industries and the energy field.

Now in my 20th year consulting to industry, I established a private practice in 1994 which focuses on leadership excellence. We support clients to develop their vision, clarify values, build ethical culture, improve motivation and performance, take action, lead and manage change, communicate effectively, create value for customers, innovate, compete globally, and enliven high-performing teams.

I stay connected to community through volunteer contributions and boards of directors in Transportation, Education, Health care, Environment and Performing Arts.

I've Come to Understand

Life is the greatest teacher! We choose the life we live, and create the legacy we leave. The core of who we are–vision, values, and perceptions about the world–all contribute to our sense of being able to shape our destiny and to fulfill our dreams. I coach people to strengthen their core so they can lead their own life, from the “inside-out”.

Ninety percent of the work we do with our brains isn’t rational thought. Rather, its intangible: creativity, emotion, insight, hunches, self-control, empathy, intuition – some of the many faces of Emotional Intelligence (EQ). My professional focus is to integrate IQ with EQ and SQ (Spiritual Intelligence). Emotional Intelligence is how we understand our hot buttons and learn self-management, to build healthy and productive relationships. Spiritual Intelligence is our ability to synchronize our inner strengths, values and life-force energy to enliven and enrich our life experience and optimize our personal and professional effectiveness – our wholeness within a greater context.

Why Coaching?

I work with people who want to find most effective and satisfying ways of working with themselves, others, their organizations, and who care about the legacy they leave, no matter how small or large their circle of influence. We work together on uncovering and building inner leadership and the skills and abilities to be credible leaders who help shape their world, and who deliver value to those around them.

My belief is that most people have an inner desire to envision and to realize life dreams.

Coaching is the process of questioning how best to achieve our greatest: Awareness, Purpose, Competence, Well-Being and RESULTS, to integrate personal and professional life, and to find inner strength and power in the face of a hectic, demanding world.

As an executive coach, I develop managers and leaders in diverse businesses. I am also a certified facilitator of Situational Leadership Skills Training, Emotional Intelligence and additional assessment instruments. My experience includes helping leaders with the nuts and bolts of logistics, to vision and strategy to take themselves and their organizations to the next level of effectiveness, personally and professionally.

My Style

Clients, colleagues and friends describe me as curious, intuitive, wise, caring, insightful, inspiring, and a visionary change agent. I am optimistic, tenacious, and highly creative in tackling complex problems.

I am passionatly committed to helping individuals find their inner power by mastering personal responsibility, accountability, and results. Greater awareness opens new perspectives about life purpose.

I listen to hear others, to understand the meaning, the hidden messages. Because I care, I both challenge and invite people to stretch towards what is important to them, so dreams can become real.

A continuous blend of work gives me constant reality checks through consulting with private sector clients, teaching leadership, working to help teams grow from good to great, and individuals to emerge to their greatest leadership capability. I focus on giving clients the opportunity to change their life experience and that of the organizations to which they contribute.

My Training

  • Master Business Coach, Performance Leadership Coach
  • Member: International Federation of Coaches, International Society of Performance Improvement, Organizational Development Network of Ottawa-Outaouais, Canadian Association of Professional Speakers
  • Certified Management Consultant
  • Licenced for: EQ (Emotional Intelligence) MAP, RESILIENCE MAP, STRESS MAP, Blanchard Situational leadership (SLII), Strategy Focused & Developmental Coaching Systems, Integrated Strategic Mapping System of Leadership University
  • Personal Development Excellence Programs – The Pursuit, Mastery, Advancement, and 21st Century Leadership
  • Carleton University – graduate courses in Economics and Business
  • University of Waterloo, Honours Bachelors in Psychology
  • Counselor, Planned Parenthood, and Ottawa Rape Crisis Clinics

Interests

Self-propelled outdoor activities are wonderful energizers—paddling, camping, cycling, hiking, cross-country skiing, skating on Ottawa’s five-mile-long canal in winter, as well as yoga, pilates, and reading—fiction and non-fiction. I love to travel, to learn, and I enjoy the best family and friends in, and around the world!