A Local Look at Eels: Featured by Farmington Patch
Jose Samayoa Executive Coach at 321 Main Street Offices Eels Farmington Little League Coaching and Sponsorship Eels Farmington High School Sponsorship Eels at CVS Main Street Farmington, CT
It's always meaningful when someone outside of Eels takes the time to understand what we are building and why.
Farmington Patch recently featured Eels Professional Development in a local story, “Farmington Startup Strives To Turn Managers Into Leaders.”
The piece provides a good look at where Eels came from, how we work with leaders and organizations, and why we believe there is room for a different approach to executive coaching and leadership development.
For those who are newer to Eels, we wanted to share a little more context behind the story.
Built in Connecticut
Eels Professional Development is based in Farmington, Connecticut.
While our work can take us outside the state and our coaching can be delivered virtually, Connecticut remains home. We work with organizations and individual leaders throughout the state and across industries including manufacturing, engineering, professional services, legal services, tech, food and beverage, and healthcare.
We have also made it a priority to be present in the communities where we live and work.
That means showing up locally, building relationships with Connecticut businesses, supporting community organizations, attending industry events, and becoming part of the broader business community.
A Different Kind of Leadership Development
One of the central ideas highlighted in the Patch story is the way Eels approaches professional development.
There is absolutely a place for training, courses, workshops, assessments, and larger leadership programs. But sometimes what a leader needs most is much simpler: Someone to talk to.
Someone outside of the organization who can listen, ask questions, challenge their thinking, provide perspective, and help them work through the actual situations happening in front of them. That is where our model begins. Eels provides one-on-one executive coaching and leadership development for people ranging from first-time managers to senior executives.
Rather than working from a predetermined curriculum, conversations are driven by the individual, the expectations of their role, and what is happening in their workplace. A difficult employee conversation. A team that is not communicating. A new manager struggling to find their voice. An executive trying to delegate. Conflict between leaders. A high-potential employee preparing for more responsibility.
Those situations become the work.
Getting Closer to the Workplace
Our approach can also extend beyond the traditional coaching call.
When appropriate, we work onsite with clients and may sit in on team or leadership meetings as a silent observer. That gives us an opportunity to understand more than what someone tells us happened. We can see communication styles, relationships, behaviors, expectations, and team dynamics firsthand and then bring those observations back into the one-on-one coaching conversation.
It helps make development practical. The goal is not simply to have a good conversation for an hour. The goal is for something to be different when the leader walks back into the workplace.
Human Coaching Supported by Technology
The Patch piece also touches on Eels AI, another part of how our model continues to develop.
Eels AI was created to support the coaching relationship, not replace it. Leadership challenges do not conveniently occur during a scheduled coaching session. Sometimes an employee conversation goes poorly on Tuesday afternoon and the next coaching session is not until Friday. Eels AI gives our clients another sounding board between those conversations. They can think through an issue, organize their thoughts, identify themes and potential next steps, and create a summary that can help us get to the heart of the conversation faster when we meet again.
Technology can make coaching more accessible and efficient. We still believe the relationship is what makes it powerful. The human eye contact and handshakes.
Relationships Are the Catalyst for Performance
That belief continues to sit at the center of Eels. Relationships are the catalyst for performance. People perform differently when they trust their manager. Managers lead differently when they have someone they trust. Teams operate differently when communication improves. And organizations perform differently when the people leading them are given the time, space, support, and feedback necessary to continue developing.
That is the work we are building Eels around here in Connecticut and beyond. We appreciate Farmington Patch taking the time to tell a little more of that story.
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