Coaching

Susan MacDonald provides educational directors and leaders with individualized coaching, creating opportunities for them to overcome challenges and develop an empowering vision for their work. These coaching services are designed to cultivate the skills needed to improve program quality, increase positive energy, establish a growth culture, enhance professional working relationships, and support inspirational leadership. Coaching programs are tailored to the time leaders have available to commit.

Director Coaching and Leadership Development

This unique program is designed to develop and enhance the professional strengths of leaders of early childhood programs. Clear goals for the coaching program will be determined through an in-depth assessment, and monthly coaching sessions will focus on supporting the early childhood leader in reaching their goals. Ongoing contact through video calls and emails provides additional support and accountability.

Key coaching goals

This coaching program is designed to provide leaders of early childhood programs with the professional development and support they need to:

Improve the quality of their programs.
Increase the positive energy they bring to their daily work.
Improve their overall job satisfaction.
Enhance relationships with staff and create the systems they need to observe, provide constructive feedback, mentor, and evaluate teachers.
Move from administrators/managers to true inspirational leaders of their program!

Contract Options

School year support model

In-depth assessment and goal-setting meeting.
Ten monthly meetings
Bi-weekly check-in phone calls or emails

Six-month option

In-depth assessment and goal-setting meeting
Five monthly meetings
Bi-weekly check-in phone calls or emails

Additional Services

These services will be tailored to meet your program’s specific needs and billed at an hourly rate:

Short-term issue-specific coaching.
Design and facilitation of parent meetings, team meetings, and/or staff meetings.

What People Are Saying...

I’ve had the opportunity and privilege to learn with Susan several times over the past few years. My first experience was an intimate retreat setting for leaders in early childhood from around the world. Susan deftly navigated and guided professionals with vast storehouses of knowledge as well as empowering strategies on how to harness strength-based leadership. All of us left with a new toolkit of knowledge, inspiration galore, and the relationships one can only build when a skilled facilitator such as Susan is at the helm. I also engaged Susan for professional development when I was the Executive Director of Preschool of the Arts, in Madison, WI. Susan planned with our leadership team for months to prepare a day full of active learning and leadership experiences. From her large group keynote to her smaller group experiences, everything about our day together was the height of professionalism as she shared her knowledge of best practices in early childhood. I’d be honored to work with Susan now and in the future. I count her as a cherished mentor and colleague.

The Early Childhood Professional Association (TECPA) in Metrowest Boston has had the pleasure of Susan MacDonald's programming on a number of occasions. Susan has shared programs with our administrators group on leadership and goal setting, done specialized professional development with our Lead Teacher and Group Leaders introducing the use of coaching strategies, and--most recently--spoke to 85 early childhood educators on building positive strengths-based teams. I've had the pleasure of seeing and participating in all of them and in each of these opportunities, Susan brilliant challenges the status quo in Child Education with new ideas and solid strategies to support the growth of teams and individuals in their respective roles. Susan brings a depth of experience in early childhood education, Reggio Emilia philosophy, as well as leadership and unrivaled coaching strategies. Her presentation is positive and strengths-based, but she leaves her audience ready and eager to try out these new ideas. Through TECPA, I have been booking professional development programming for many years. Susan MacDonald is consistently great and I'm already thinking about ways we can share her wealth of knowledge in a new school year.

As an Executive Director contemplating retirement, I think a lot about leadership planning for my center and for the field. Susan MacDonald has been an invaluable resource for Concord Children’s Center helping us through coaching, mentoring, and training our future leaders as well as facilitating the work we have been doing to assure our quality programming can be sustained into the future. Susan not only brings her knowledge and experience, but she also makes it a point to know who we are, what is important to us, and our culture. Engaging our teachers in the planning process and decision-making around quality improvement and our involvement in NAEYC accreditation was not only important to us, but it was also important to Susan. With her empowering strategies, she has been able to guide our staff through several processes of inquiry, resulting in strong decisions and an even stronger school community.

Coach

Susan MacDonald is a certified professional coach known for her work on empowering educational leaders who want to enhance their programs. Susan holds a Master’s degree in Instructional Design, and professional coach certifications through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching, IPEC, the Center for School Transformation, Evocative Coaching, and the Minds at Work, Immunity to Change programs.

A firm believer in strength-based leadership, a deep knowledge of early childhood quality standards and her unique professional background help Susan successfully guide leaders through the coaching process, actualizing their vision in concrete ways.