Springboard Forward: How Coaching Can Transform Lives and Workplaces

Elliott Brown had a vision about coaching—that for people feeling stuck, having a coach is like stepping onto a springboard.

“We help low-wage workers get that light bulb to go on that says, ‘wow, I can do a lot more than I thought I could do,’” Brown said.

Brown created Springboard Forward, a group that provides skills development and coaching to low-wage workers who often miss out on the powerful advantages of working with a coach. “If you don’t focus on what is next for these employees, all you’re doing is moving people from being unemployed and poor to working and poor,” Brown told his college paper, the Stanford Daily. “It creates a lack of hope.”

“This problem of people being stuck, it’s not just a problem for communities,” said Brown. “It’s a problem for business.”

Brown, some insist, now runs a “business of hope” that uses the power of coaching to get low-wage workers unstuck and moving toward a successful future.

“I was very scared,” said Erin Teahan, a Springboard client. “Making changes is very scary.”

Another Springboard client, Lilian Porteous, is a single mom who worked per diem at a California hospital. Deeply in debt, she paid for her children’s health insurance out of her own pocket and feared for the security of her job. “I didn’t know what to do—I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted and I didn’t think I had the skills to move up at the hospital.”

Springboard Forward connected Lilian with a coach, and the two of them worked together to create a “career map,” that identified obstacles and strategies for getting around them. Lilian eventually worked her way into permanent job with full benefits and greater security for herself and her kids. “I was lucky to have my coach,” she said.

“Everyone in their life has the desire to feel really fulfilled,” said Manuela Pauer, a Springboard Forward coach. “Coaching really gets at what it is that they truly want, and what is getting in the way of where they are meant to be.”

“With Springboard Forward, with entry level workers, the idea is that they are in an entry level job and they might not be thinking about where they go next or where they can go next,” said Pauer.

The formula—they call it Engaged Employment—aims for social change by empowering often overlooked members of the workforce. And Brown’s creation has been identified as a trendsetter: Fast Company magazine calling the group one of the “Top 25 Changemakers in the United States” and Brown was among a group of philanthropists and group leaders honored at the White House last summer by President Obama.

“It helped me to really put things in perspective,” said Misean Whitehead, who worked with a Springboard coach.

Or, as Springboard client Marco Ponce put it, “a coach is a guy who guides you towards your goal.”

Watch (7+ minute) film below, “Transforming Lives, Transforming Workplaces.”

Note: This video was made possible through a grant from The Harnisch Foundation.