The breadth of opportunity at the Ford School was really attractive to me, not just in what we are being taught, but the people, the faculty, and the staff were representative of all those different levels—from a senior ambassador to a political consultant from Lansing—that breadth was thrilling. It was a great way to get a better understanding of where I thought I could put my skills to work in the policy space.
Adam Schmidt
First job out of Ford School: Project Manager, Project Lead, International Defense Policy
Adam Schmidt (MPP ‘11) was an Army officer before getting his master’s in public policy from the Ford School. After the Ford School, he landed a job at the Pentagon where, in addition to his policy work, he found a passion for developing leadership skills in others. After experiencing the power of coaching himself, Adam became a leadership coach. Today, he helps Ford School students and other policy professionals become more effective leaders, communicators, and change agents within their organizations.
Tell us how you came to be a leadership coach.
Many people look for advanced schooling after spending time in the military, either in business or policy after spending time as an army officer. Policy school was an attractive choice for me because I could continue focusing on service and put the skill sets I knew I had garnered as an army officer into public service.
I thought it made sense to go into national security and defense given my background. Fast forward 8 or 9 years, I remember very clearly, walking into work one day at the Pentagon and thinking, “Something is missing here.” I felt unfulfilled. My boss suggested I go talk to the internal corporate coach, which I did begrudgingly (thinking I had it all figured out!), and the rest is history. I saw that coach not only that day but about once a week after that for several months. She empowered me and broadened my perspective on what was possible.
Leadership coaches create a space where students feel listened to. An important distinction between coaching versus mentoring or therapy is that coaches are not in a position to diagnose you. They’re not in a position to validate any choices you've made. They’re simply there to broaden your perspective and explore what else is possible.
Before engaging with my coach, I had not been able to fully articulate what I wanted to do with my skill set within public service. I had professional momentum to go into national security and defense—it would have been a fine career. However, my coach helped me realize that I was most energized by leadership and team development - and make a plan to integrate that in to my professional life.
My coach helped me pause and to think about what I enjoyed, and what inspires me. She helped me change how I think about service. Now, I work for that same coach as the director of her leadership coaching programming. I am very proud to share that our leadership coaching programs will be touching over 1,400 Federal Government leaders with International Coaching Federation certified coaches—the gold standard of coaching practitioners.
The Ford School offers leadership coaching to all MPP students during their summer internship. What can students expect from the coaching?
We hope that leadership coaching will allow students to become more self-aware, prompting them to ask themselves, “Who am I?” and “What kind of leader do I want to be?” We help them notice good and not-so-good models of leadership in their day to day.
Leadership coaches create a space where students feel listened to. An important distinction between coaching versus mentoring or therapy is that coaches are not in a position to diagnose you. They’re not in a position to validate any choices you've made. They’re simply there to broaden your perspective and explore what else is possible.
What do students get out of it?
We prioritize goal setting. We meet with students three times throughout their summer internship. This format allows students to have the space and time to answer, “What do you want to get out of this?” How's it going?” And at the end, we reflect, “How did it feel to go to work every day?” With that reflection comes a tremendous amount of information and some of the biggest “aha!” moments I’ve seen.
Students are surprised by how much they can grow from a challenging internship experience. A coach can work with a student to help them appreciate and learn from what they went through.
The Ford School uses a handful of commonly used assessments. What role do assessments play in leadership development?
Assessments play a critical role by providing a lens and language through which we can talk about a person's leadership behaviors and predispositions. They give students language with which to talk about themselves and a lens through which to consider themselves that may not be intuitive before taking the assessment. The intent of using assessment is to help someone grow. It is just one snapshot taken from a certain light or perspective, so I would never recommend a client use a single assessment to measure how they're doing as a leader or as a person.
What motivates you as a leadership coach?
It’s those opportunities you have to help someone broaden their perspective. To help them have an “aha!” moment, just like I did in 2014 with my leadership coach. It’s those moments where they thank you for helping them slow down a little bit, for helping them reflect more deeply on challenges.
I had a student about two years ago, who, when we came to the midpoint in our coaching session, was struggling with getting the attention of the leaders in the organization. During our session, we focused on managing up—practicing skills to have a brave conversation and then built a vision and plan to have that conversation.
After she had this conversation with leadership, her internship completely turned around. At its core, it gave her confidence. Ten weeks go by in a heartbeat, but if we can have a student at the end of the summer saying, “I’m a better leader,” sometimes that means self-leadership, then the coaching program was a brilliant success.
I think what our students find through coaching sometimes is the extra shot of bravery, that extra shot of empowerment that they might need to stand up and say, “I have an idea.”