Eric Buehrens Consulting LLC

Why I Coach

I am an executive coach and organizational consultant. My current practice has grown out of my leadership roles at various institutions, which have included public service, the private sector, and for the past twenty years, academic medicine, healthcare and higher education.

As the institutions I served asked more and more of me as a leader and a person, I became aware that the leadership problems I faced were more often social and psychological than technical. I saw the contrast between the espoused values and goals of organizations and their internal life and workplace culture. I began to wonder: how can leaders bring those ideals and realities closer together? Where can leaders turn for guidance and support when their institutions rely on them to solve so many problems? How can they satisfy the needs of their institutions, and guide and mentor other employees, while also sustaining themselves? 

Over the last decade, I’ve been chiefly occupied with understanding how the interplay between the inner and the outer is realized in organizational life. We are all individuals, embedded in multiple systems: our cultures, our families, our work relationships. We all function in multiple roles in these different groups. We all have an outer life of conscious tasks and goals, and an inner life, less readily apparent to others and often unavailable even to ourselves. This is true for institutions as well. It’s in this complex interplay that the path to growth, for institutions and leaders, is to be found.

I work with leaders to help them understand how their values can and should inform their work. I serve as an outside, neutral party who understands the organizational ecosystem but is not embedded in it. I listen to dilemmas and problems, and help leaders find a path forward, working proactively in their organizations and within themselves to meet new challenges. 

For more about my work and how I can help you, view my services, learn more about me, or contact me.