She had a company-wide reputation as an investor in people, and was highly sought after for career and skill development coaching.  She personally invested in hundreds of employees, and had a high rate of success in helping those she coached achieve their career goals.  She coached both individuals and officers – essentially those with potential and promise who lacked confidence, an advocacy network, or the requisite interpersonal and/or leadership skills – the “diamonds in the rough.”  Her coaching and advocacy contributed to countless individual contributors and managers achieving the rank of officer, including senior vice president.  

Her approach to coaching is primarily one-on-one and highly personal, although she also has led coaching and development work in small group settings through her sponsorship of the Women’s Professional Network.  In coaching one-on-one, she invests in deeply understanding the person’s objectives, skills, and gaps, and validates those assumptions where possible with management and peer feedback.  In providing coaching, she draws on her own personal failures, successes, lessons learned, and research, and draws corollaries to what she is hearing from the employee.  Her approach intends to demystify the critical factors to success, disabuse the employee of some of the leadership myths, and provide hands-on opportunities to practice and improve necessary skills.

A sample of some of Vicki’s coaching impacts:

• Partnering to develop a sponsorship program for the Women’s Professional Network, which resulted in promotions within twelve months for all sixteen of the women who completed the program 
• Personally coaching five individual contributors on building their personal brand, building an advocacy network, and landing critical development opportunities to rise through the managerial and officer ranks, ultimately to the rank of senior vice president 
• Coaching an individual on skill development and interviewing, and then counseling them that their career goals might be achieved more rapidly in another company.  This person went on to two promotions at another company within the following three years.

Vicki has continued coaching since her retirement, and also coaches a select group of female high school students through the Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute’s program in Maine (as well as alumna from the program).