For more than 15 years, Susan Siegmund has been making a difference one client at a time — and now, as ADURO’s Director of Human Performance Coaching, she is turning her focus toward changing lives on a grander scale.
In this new role, Siegmund is responsible for leading, growing and scaling ADURO’s Human Performance Coaching operations; she will lead ADURO Coaches as they help people in all walks of life achieve breakthrough moments and create positive habits.
Prior to joining ADURO, Siegmund, a certified and credentialed Coach with a master’s degree in human development, had her own consultancy in which she worked as a leadership coach, strategic consultant and interim leader. Her extensive career has included executive-level product marketing roles at Adobe, Microsoft and tech startup Mindbloom, and also a post as Vice President of Talent and Culture for a leading corporate social responsibility firm.
“The passion, mission, sense of purpose and incredible awesomeness of the people at ADURO are all fully congruent with my personal mission,” she said. “To be welcomed into an organization that wants you to make a difference by fully expressing all aspects of yourself is incredibly rare, and very compelling. It feels like coming home.”
TAPPING INTO THE POWER OF “WHY?”
At her core, Siegmund is a believer in asking insight-seeking questions that unlock a person’s “why,” or “for the sake of what,” in order to spark deeper levels of awareness and propel them forward.
“Peeling away the layers of the onion and mining for the gems of ‘Why’ is a very important piece of coaching. From day one, I always work to help people figure this out,” she said.
“If someone says to me, ‘I really want to change my job,’ ‘I really want to get out of debt’ or ‘I really want to get a new role within my company,’ you have to ask ‘Why?’ That’s when the real answers are revealed, which is their inner motivation that drives them to move forward with a goal.”
INTEGRATING PASSIONS AND SELF-CARE
Another important exercise is to lean into restorative practices and express your creativity, Siegmund said. In fact, this isn’t something she merely helps others achieve — it’s something she practices herself.
“For example, creating ‘inspiration art’ is what integrates my own creativity with my restorative and energizing practices,” she said. “This inspires forward movement and reignites my passion and curiosity —and at the same time, these pieces have inspired my clients, colleagues, friends and family. I create them for myself, but I share them as well.”
Finding some form of expression is important for everyone, she added.
“In life, all it takes is one person to tell you you’re not good at something, like art or music or cooking, and that inaccurate label causes you to shut down,” Siegmund said. “But so often in mid-life, that passion is reignited, so it’s just a matter of finding what form of creative expression that engages you the most and what speaks to you. Then, you just start creating again. You get into the experience and you lose sense of time because you are so focused, it’s so energizing to you and so linked to your passions and purpose.”
TECHNOLOGY + THE HUMAN TOUCH
It all comes together in ADURO’s Human Performance approach, which helps individuals perform at their highest level by combining data and digital innovation with proven strategies to optimize the flow of the Transformative Habit Change Model: Discover à Engage à Ignite à Practice à Change.
“Technology and the human touch work beautifully in tandem,” according to Siegmund. “There are a lot of phenomenal technologies that can help individuals with their goals. Reaching goals becomes even more powerful when you can add a Coach who is committed to helping you live to your full potential and achieve the things most important to you.”
To learn more about how ADURO Human Performance programs can help your organization, click here to view our White Paper.