As we navigate the complexities of the modern world, the need for tailored guidance, support, and empowerment has never been more critical. Women in coaching, both as coaches and clients, are at the forefront of a transformative movement that is reshaping the face of leadership.
Dr. Colleen Georges is one such established coach who has dedicated her career to empowering individuals, especially women, to realize their full potential and achieve their aspirations.
Through her innovative RESCRIPT coaching process and framework, Dr. Georges has empowered countless individuals to rewrite their stories, fostering positive self-talk and actionable steps toward their goals. Her focus on incremental progress and emotional well-being as measures of success has proven to be a game-changer in the coaching industry.
Fittingly, in this issue featuring the Most Influential Women in Coaching to Watch in 2024, we have Dr. Colleen Georges on the Cover.
A Foundation Laid
Dr. Colleen Georges’ journey into coaching is deeply rooted in her educational background and early experiences in mentoring. “I have my bachelor’s degree in psychology, master’s and doctoral degrees in counseling psychology, and I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor,” she points out, emphasizing the significance of her academic foundation in her coaching work.
Beyond her formal education, she has completed over 30 certifications in life coaching, career coaching, psychology, and leadership. “I’m addicted to learning,” she admits, showcasing her commitment to personal and professional growth.
Dr. Georges’ interest in the helping professions was sparked at the age of 14 when she took on her first job as a summer camp counselor. This early experience of mentoring ignited a lifelong passion for guiding others.
Her time in college further solidified this path when she worked as a Therapeutic Assistant, mentoring teens in foster care. “The teens I worked with had been through many traumatic experiences in their young lives. I adored them and my time working with them further fueled my desire to do mission-driven work,” she shares.
From Counseling to Coaching
During her graduate years, Dr. Georges’ focus became centered around counseling and advising college students on personal, academic, social, and career issues. “I enjoyed working with college students so much that I decided to advise students full-time once I completed my doctorate,” she remembers.
In 2007, she enrolled her first coaching certification program; and in 2008, she started a side hustle providing career and life coaching services. According to her, “Coaching seemed to take all my education, experience, passions, and purpose and merged them into the perfect career for me.”
By the end of 2010, Dr. Georges’ side hustle had turned into a full-fledged business endeavor. She decided to leave her full-time job as a University Department Director and began running her business. Reflecting on this transition, she shares “It was one of the very best decisions I ever made, and I’ve never looked back ever since.”
RESCRIPT Your Story
As a career and life coach, Dr. Colleen Georges is blessed to be working in a field wherein she can accomplish her biggest mission in life: to help others see the good within and around them and use this as fuel to pursue their life and career goals with confidence, while boosting their joy, gratitude, and optimism.
This passion is the cornerstone of her RESCRIPT coaching process and framework. “I built my RESCRIPT coaching process and framework around this mission,” she explains.
The acronym RESCRIPT, which stands for Releasing Rumination, Engaging Growth Goals, Seeking Strengths, Challenging Catastrophizing, Restricting Regret, Inviting Imperfection, Pursuing Passion & Purpose, and Thinking Thankfully, is a comprehensive approach to transforming lives by rescripting self-talk and actions.
This framework was inspired by Dr. Georges’ 2016 TEDx Talk and further developed in her book RESCRIPT the Story You’re Telling Yourself, as well as in her workbooks, the RESCRIPT Daily Gratitude Journal and RESCRIPT Daily Goal Getting & Productivity Planner.
The Coaching Process
Dr. Georges begins her coaching process with an assessment of her clients’ self-talk through the RESCRIPT Quiz, life and job satisfaction assessments, and a pre-coaching questionnaire to understand their coaching goals.
“We work on becoming aware of negative self-talk, its triggers, and how to respond back to it,” she states. Clients also assess their schedules, responsibilities, and strategies for creating time blocks to dedicate to goal-related actions.
Following each session, Dr. Georges provides clients with an action email outlining their focus areas and resources to get started and completed. Progress is reviewed weekly, with adjustments made for maximum achievability. Her coaching approach not only helps clients achieve tangible success but also fosters resilience and a positive outlook on life.
Measuring Success
Dr. Georges evaluates the success of her coaching engagements by focusing on two key aspects: behavioral changes and emotional well-being. She asks, “Are they changing their behaviors in small increments towards their larger goals and are they feeling better than before coaching?” These questions help her assess whether her clients are making progress in a way that is meaningful and sustainable.
In addition to these broader measures, Dr. Georges also looks at specific outcomes related to her clients’ individual goals. For example, she considers whether her clients are getting job interviews, enrolling in training programs for a career change, dedicating time to important relationships, incorporating exercise into their daily routine, adhering to a work shutdown time, or launching a website for their new business.
“Success lies in both the small ways we move towards our goals, as well as the moments we fully achieve them,” she beautifully explains. By focusing on incremental progress and tangible outcomes, she ensures that her coaching engagements are both effective and impactful for her clients.
Talking about the visible results of her coaching program, she shares “My clients accomplish some incredible things through coaching, including re-careering into fields that spark their passions, launching six-figure businesses, starting, and completing graduate degrees, leaving toxic relationships, running marathons, and one client even wrote, performed, and sold out a one-woman show off Broadway! I work with so many resilient and remarkable people.”
Navigating Challenges
Talking about the challenges one faces as a coach, she claims that the rewards of her coaching work far outweigh the challenges she has faced over the years.
From a business perspective, she attributes much of her success to her early adoption of search engine optimization, which has helped her website rank high in relevant searches, reducing the need for extensive social media marketing. With 16 years in the business, she has built a robust referral network and a loyal client base. “One of my greatest joys is how many entire families I’ve worked with,” she shares, emphasizing the deep connections she forms with her clients.
However, coaching does come with its challenges, primarily related to clients’ fear of the unknown. she explains, “Sometimes, a client can get so stuck in fear of what’s on the other side of change that they freeze when it comes time for bigger actions towards their goals.” She cites the example of clients hesitating to submit job applications despite being well-prepared. In such cases, Dr. Georges focuses on helping her clients concentrate on the immediate step rather than worrying about the uncertain future. “We can’t predict the future, but when it arrives, we can assess the situation to make informed decisions,” she advises.
When a client is not making progress, Dr. Georges emphasizes the importance of breaking down the process into manageable steps and addressing any underlying fears. She reassures her clients that they are more resilient than they often believe and that they are never truly stuck in any situation. By instilling confidence in their ability to adapt and make changes, she helps her clients overcome obstacles and move forward towards their goals.
Empowering Women
A value that has guided Dr. Georges throughout her career is her deep-rooted commitment to empowering women. She has served as a therapist at a women’s counseling center, worked as an advisor at a women’s college, taught a women’s leadership course at Rutgers University for 14 years, and focused on women’s empowerment coaching in her business.
As a coach, Dr. Georges empowers her female clients by guiding them to value their voice—their words, wants, wisdom, and will. She emphasizes the importance of self-compassion, validation, hope, and encouragement in their self-talk, as “our words create our worlds.” One of her favorite strategies is fostering a daily gratitude practice, which helps women focus on what they are thankful for, thereby cultivating joy, hope, and confidence.
Another key aspect of her coaching is challenging catastrophizing. She teaches her clients to focus on what they can control in a situation, take action, and then let go of intrusive thoughts. She also encourages them to craft phrases that shut down negative self-talk, reminding them of their resilience and achievements.
Empowerment, according to Dr. Georges, also involves expressing one’s thoughts, feelings, values, and beliefs, and making one’s desires a priority. She advises against letting “shoulds” dictate actions and encourages women to create and claim the life they want. ‘My motto is, ‘Don’t wait, initiate’, urging her clients to take proactive steps toward their goals.
She also stresses the importance of acknowledging and honoring one’s unique accomplishments, avoiding comparisons with others, which she sees as “a disempowering thief of joy.”
Finally, she coaches her clients to assert their will—passions, intentions, and determination—with confidence. She encourages them to own their power in all areas of their lives, as allowing others to dictate their story can undermine their autonomy. “When we live with intention, we can create amazing things in our careers, relationships, health, finances, time management, self-care, and beyond,” she concludes.
The Next Chapter
Moving ahead, Dr. Colleen Georges plans to expand her coaching practice by offering more group coaching experiences in the coming years. “Although individual sessions will always be at the core of my business, I’ll be evolving my coaching practice by offering more group coaching experiences,” she clarifies.
In January 2024, she launched a 12-month goal-getting group with nine women, featuring monthly virtual meetings, a WhatsApp group chat for ongoing support, and an online resource center with strategies and worksheets.
The group has already seen significant achievements, including creating morning routines, setting boundaries, starting certification courses, and launching small business plans. Encouraged by the success of this group, Dr. Georges is considering starting shorter-term groups later in the year.
In addition to group coaching, Dr. Georges plans to increase her speaking engagements. “I’ve been receiving more invites for keynote speeches, so I plan to do more speaking engagements,” she shares. Her commitment to empowering individuals through coaching and speaking engagements reflects her passion for the work she does, whether in one-on-one, small group, or large group settings.
