Coaching to Support Leadership Development for a Team

The Partnership

Empower Project, a national leader in relational organizing, partnered with us starting early in the 2024 election cycle to provide opt-in 1:1 coaching for members of their expanding leadership and management team. As of early 2026, we continue to support leaders on an ongoing basis through 1:1 coaching, 2x2 coaching with the founders, and team facilitation as needed. The Executive Director connects us with new leaders as they’re onboarded, the employees meet with us to learn about our approach and discuss their individual development goals, and then opt into coaching if they choose. 

The Initial Program

Over the course of the 6 months leading up to the 2024 elections, Empower Project engaged us to support their quickly expanding leadership team. Amanda Brink, Empower’s Executive Director, opened the opportunity for coaching to more staff in the final weeks before the election. By the time November 4th rolled around, we’d worked with 19 members of the Empower team, providing a combination of individual coaching and group coaching tailored to the unique pressures of their work. We adapted to the needs of each individual team member. Some people chose to meet with us for weekly coaching, others worked at different cadences. A number of leaders opted to complete a Prism Personality Assesment, which we then used as a tool to inform our coaching. Individual coaching was later complemented by group coaching sessions, 90 minutes each, offered to staff looking for support at the very end of the cycle, when pressure and stress increase.

The Challenge

Empower Project’s leadership team faced the dual challenges of intense demands and the emotional toll of managing quickly constructed teams that are built to last only through the cycle. Recognizing the need for structured support, Amanda sought coaching to help leaders manage stress, improve communication, and maintain focus on their mission.

The Transformation

Our coaching all along has focused on developing emotional intelligence, strategic thinking, and building habits to support effective team dynamics. Participants who worked with us during the 2024 cycle reported significant personal and professional growth, attributing improvements in their leadership skills and team collaboration directly to the coaching experience.

One Empower Project team member noted, "I think I have become more emotionally intelligent and aware of how I show up in the workplace." 

Another shared, "Coaching has helped me through a number of situations and helped me to think through how I can be a better leader."

A third reflected, “I always took a very left-brained approach before and now I'm better at thinking about how my team is feeling and letting that guide what they might need from me as a leader.”

The impact of the coaching extended beyond individual development. Teams reported enhanced cohesion and a greater ability to navigate the complexities of campaign work. As one participant observed, "I was able to try tactics in working with a team that I had not used before."

Continuous Support Through 2026

Our partnership has deepened since the 2024 election cycle as Empower has continued to evolve. Through ongoing 1:1 coaching, 2x2 coaching with the founders, and facilitation of sub-team retreats, we support the ecosystem. We see the system as a whole - individual challenges, recurring patterns, relational dynamics, and pressure points. Because we are in a sustained relationship with leaders at multiple levels, we can surface insights and offer observations and suggestions grounded in this broader perspective. We maintain confidentiality and still use what we see to help leaders in the system build their own awareness and strategic clarity. Rather than episodic support, this ongoing engagement strengthens the organization’s capacity to learn, adapt, and lead with intention.

Conclusion

Empower Project’s collaboration with WBT demonstrates the power of sustained, multi-level leadership support. By investing in individual coaching, founder partnership and team facilitation that are delivered simultaneously across the leadership system, they strengthen not only personal leadership capacity, but the connective tissue of the organization itself. Because our work spans roles and levels, we are able to help leaders see patterns, anticipate challenges, and make more aligned decisions in real time. The result is not just improved individual performance, but a more self-aware, adaptive leadership culture; one better equipped to navigate complexity and drive ambitious outcomes over time.