Denice R. Hinden, Ph.D., MCC, is one of the coaches that we found this month and we did a little interview with her. She impressed us with her dedication and expertise.

She started her coaching career after discovering the power of a coach herself. She had a consulting firm and noticed that there was discontent among some of her clients. Someone suggested that she try working with a coach, and she did exactly that! After working with the coach, her life and business were transformed.

She realized that becoming a coach herself can have a positive impact on her clients, and after 15 months, she got her ACC. Today, she has over 13 years of coaching experience and MCC credentials.

Her coaching is focused on helping people become better leaders. She believes that everyone is a leader and everyone should learn how to master this innate potential within. Here is what she said.

Meet Life Coach Denice R. Hinden:

Name: Denice R. Hinden

Pillar: The Mind

Who is this coach for: Anyone who wants to improve their leadership skills or equip themselves with strategies and tools to solve challenges with a more positive outlook.

How they can help: Through deep listening, asking the right questions, teaching new strategies and practices.

First of all, how are you and your family doing after these Pandemic times?

Thank you, we are resilient and thriving.

We successfully pivoted our businesses to be entirely virtual and are doing well!

How did the coronavirus pandemic affect your clients? Did it affect you at all?

The pandemic was quite impactful.

Many of our clients provide residential services and employment programs for people with disabilities.

We lost two significant coaching engagements because our clients needed to focus on keeping their clients and staff healthy and the resources flowing to keep their doors open.

So I turned to volunteer my coaching services to any nonprofit leader who would take me up on the offer to sustain their energy. And several did.

I also focused on developing my skills and supporting other coaches in developing there’s by taking WBECS courses and volunteering as an implementation mastery facilitator.

Our clients returned as the pandemic recovery progressed, and my skills kept evolving.

What are the biggest lessons that you learned in this pandemic?

Pay attention to staying healthy.

As long as you are healthy, be generous with your time.

Use every opportunity to keep learning.

And work through your fears to resolve discord and explore new ideas.

Everything changes, so the best strategy is to learn to surf!

The Origin:

Tell us about you, your career, how you started with your coaching career?

I spent the first 17 years of my career working on the staff of various nonprofit organizations in positions ranging from administrative assistant to program director to executive director at the local and national levels.

Then, the guy I was dating (my husband of 20 years) offered me a chance to open a consulting firm.

The firm was six years old when I noticed discontent and frustration among our clients.

I was unfamiliar with coaching, but someone suggested a coach might help and referred me to one.

At the end of a year of working together, my business and life were transformed, and I had the epiphany that becoming a coach would significantly enhance our client’s experiences, so I enrolled in Coach U.

About 15 months later, I graduated and earned my ACC from the International Coach Federation.

Another pivotal moment occurred a year later while attending The Capitol Coaches Conference in Washington, DC. A person at the iPEC exhibit handed me a copy of the book, “Energy Leadership, Changing Your Life and Work From The Core” by Bruce Schneider.

I read it in a few hours, enrolled in a module they offered to learn about the Energy Leadership Index tool, and had a positive mindset transforming experience that fuels my life and work to this day!

One of my most personally rewarding accomplishments after 13 years of coaching was earning my MCC credential in 2021.

What was your biggest obstacle that you had to overcome in your life that made you who you are today?

Wow! I had to think a lot about this because there are many!

Somehow I got it in my mind early in my life that we can know everything we need to know and, with hard work, can achieve perfection and control what happens to us.

Thankfully, I’ve had an army of mentors and the Internet to remind me there is always another way continuously. Things happen all at the right time, everything happens for a reason, each day is a new opportunity, and the only thing we control is our behavior and choices.

Living my life through this wisdom makes each day a unique, wonderful experience, even if the experience is challenging.

And my life is filled with amazing people around the globe.

One of the first dents in the “control” armor came early in college when two of us were candidates for seemingly one internship slot.

We were competitive and not kind to each other.

The wise leader, Walter Lowery, who interviewed us, made room for us both.

The other student, Sherry Houston, is my friend to this day, more than 40 years later!

And honestly, those lessons about letting go of control have never stopped.

I just had another one this week.

A coaching colleague invited me to be on her LinkedIn Live.

I was trying to map the agenda with her and felt frustrated as she gently pushed back.

Since we were out of time, she agreed to send me some questions.

Her question later in the week was, what questions could we ask?

I was in a completely different space, and several more essential questions easily flowed for consideration.

The Coaching Style:

How do you innovate with coaching your clients?

First, I continuously experiment with new questions and tools.

I don’t worry about using them perfectly and ask clients for permission to try them to see what we’ll both learn.

Second, I come to every conversation with the trust that each client is whole, resourceful, and knows what they need.

Then, I only need to listen deeply enough for the openings where learning and growing can happen.

I’m listening for where the energy drops, where the inner critic is raging, where some belief is creating a gap, and where the view may be limited.

When I hear it, I shift into a discovery mode to begin the unpacking, where awareness grows.

I also read a lot, attend workshops and stay connected to developments in the fields where my clients work so that I can bring relevant ideas into my sessions.

What’s unique about your coaching approach?

I start with the premise that every leader has a unique identity comprised of their purpose, core values, and philosophy.

So we explore that as a foundation.

Then I draw on my passion for social justice through nonprofit organizations, belief in continuing education through professional associations, curiosity about how brain chemistry impacts leadership, and proven practices that the best, most inclusive leaders use to get results.

I also draw extensively from Energy Leadership (Schneider), Conversational Intelligence (Glaser), and Positive Intelligence (Chamine), three neuroscience based coaching frameworks that include assessments for awareness and creative tools that inspire positive forward action.

As with every coach, our uniqueness comes from connecting our distinct energy and experience with coaching competencies in partnership with our clients.

What benefits do your clients get after working with you?

Many clients come back and say what they got from me is my voice in their head, asking a question or encouraging them to consider things differently. LOL!

Seriously though, I aim for my clients to take away strategies and tools they can repeatedly apply to solve challenges with a more positive outlook and bring joy to their work and life.

Do you use any specific tools to be efficient with your clients?

I love the Positive Intelligence App as a tool for building and sustaining mental fitness, self coaching and continuous learning.

The Impact:

If you had a super megaphone that, when you speak into, the whole world will hear your message, what would you say?

Positive change in the world happens when we are all more loving, more accepting of differences, and proactively work on improving our behavior.

There is always a way to be and do better, so always continue learning and asking for help.

And always be grateful for the people and experiences that push you to grow, no matter how painful it feels initially.

They are allowing you to become more than you thought possible.

What is the greatest lesson you have learned in your life?

From one of my most beloved mentors, Dr. Maxine-Thurston Fischer:

“You never know if your words or actions will be the grain of sand at the bottom, middle, or top of someone else’s life pile. The point is to always be a valuable grain in what you give.”

Your final thoughts?

Leading for me is not only about a title and a leadership position in an organization.

It is how people motivate themselves and others daily to take forward looking, positive action.

For example, parents are leaders in their families. Students are leaders in their schools. Teens are leaders with their friends. Volunteers are leaders on the committees they serve, and time they contribute in millions of ways.

And because leading well is hard, even for the most passionate and enterprising leaders, every leader who is open to it can exponentially benefit from working with a coach occasionally to continue becoming the best version of themselves.

Where Can You Find Denice R. Hinden?

If you liked this interview and you would like to equip yourself with powerful tools to become a better leader yourself, go to www.managance.com and see how Denice can help you.

If you want to peak a glimpse of her coaching you can watch this video:

If you would like to connect more personally with her, you can do that through LinkedIn or by sending her a message on her Email [email protected]. It was an honor having this interview with her.