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Loie describes herself as a “rare second generation Edmontonian”, who has now fallen into “a happy path” in her life. Over the past 36 years she has always worked for other people, usually in management and leadership positions with customer service responsibilities. In fact, she was so good at what she did that employers sought her out and created her last five positions specifically for her. They needed her help to solve their problems, but once the problems were solved, Loie would become bored.
Her last position involved a commute outside of Edmonton, which was not always the best in winter, so when a project opportunity landed in her lap in March 2007, she decided to make a change. This time the employer did not want to hire someone to work for their company, they wanted an outside source who would work directly with their management team. She had often thought of going out on her own and being able to choose her own projects, and now the opportunity was there. A fatalist at heart, she sensed that “this was meant to be,” and she has not looked back since!
All of her life she was a manager of teams, people and the problems associated with them. She is a linear-type organizer, and can clearly see the path between Point A and Point Z, and the steps that need to be taken in between. As she notes, people tend to be caught up in the everyday noise of what they are doing, and do not always see the road to success. She helps them get to the point where they “can see the light,” and that makes her very excited.
She finds coaching to be lots of fun and enjoys using a different set of tools than in management consulting. Curiosity, asking questions and helping a client develop an action plan are skills that she enjoys utilizing. She likes to ask questions such as – How are you going to move forward today? If the steps did not happen this time, what would you do differently next time? As an old-style manager, she would have been tempted to solve the problem for them; with coaching, she states, you are helping them learn how to solve the problem for themselves.
She switches hats between both roles but finds that she is shifting more towards coaching than consulting. She was always a good mentor to her former staff, and has many thank you notes from them to testify that she helped them to find their wings. So coaching seems to be something that she has done for many years in one form or another. She believes that coaching will be the future of management and leadership in Canada and she is “happy to be part of the ride.” She finds it to be more progressive, more effective, and can derive much more satisfaction in seeing a client grow. For a client contemplating the services of a coach, she says that the positives can include speaking to someone with no bias about their position, confidentiality and a safe environment.
Family and past experiences have had an influence in her business in a number of ways. I asked her how she decided on the name of her business – Drumawillan. Interestingly, it pays homage to her maternal grandmother, as it is the name of her birthplace in Northern Ireland. She is a passionate golfer and loves music and theatre. Her entire family was involved in the theatre from a young age. Her father was a producer/director for a musical theatre group and her sister is still very active.
She states that her theatre involvement was a great foundation for responsibility, discipline, and accountability, and she is still involved as a Board Member for Edmonton Musical Theatre. And when she isn’t busy on the golf course, teaching a course, at a board meeting, or attending to clients? She loves to simply hang out with her Golden Retriever Gabby, “the love of her life!”
Written by: Glenda Van Koot
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