We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tia Cole a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Tia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.
In 2019, we were contacted by LVTRise, a revitalization effort and community center in west Fort Worth. The new center had an executive director committed to improving the community and the experience of those who lived there by lowering crime, increasing employment, and expanding opportunities so that people could get out of the cycle of poverty. Generally, we coach and develop executive and more stable populations, but we have a heart for all communities. Often, our regular client is one crisis away from being in the same situation as the community this organization was serving, and they could not afford services like ours. So, when they asked for help. we thought about what we could do to support this important effort.
Usually what happens too often is that the services for the communities like those served by LVTRise end up being “check the box” programs that are forced to spend so much of their effort and resources addressing immediate, crisis needs that they don’t get to work one to one with the community member to get to the root of their issues and empower them to not only address their immediate needs but develop the skills for long-term independence.
At The Cole Lab, we specialize in helping our clients identify and articulate their goals and vision for their life, career, and team, helping them to mitigate barriers and develop the strategies to do so independently, and in holding people accountable for the action steps necessary to reach their goals.
So, we took our executive coaching model and used it with the community based clients, and we saw great impact and change. The success stories are aplenty.
This also helped us to better support the service providers and organizations staff, our normal clientele because we understood first-hand what they were trying to do and for whom.
Whether it is our standard clientele or other clients we serve, we work to facilitate opportunity and empowerment for those who don’t normally have access.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
I am a premature born, first generation college graduate from Nebraska who moved to North Texas in 2013. I started out as a secondary teacher and was a college instructor by the time I moved to this area. Early on, I discovered my passion and propensity for developing people and doing so in a way that empowered them to live to their greatest potential. I learned that I am both a visionary and a details person which allows me to listen to people and help them articulate the vision then to help them move through the action steps to realize that vision.
At The Cole Lab, we are your development destination for development solutions in leadership, personal, team, executive, and diversity, equity, and inclusion coaching, programming, curriculum, and assessment. We are a small, minority woman owned business focused on serving well.
We help emerging leaders, established leaders, entrepreneurs, and teams who are stuck, stagnant, struggling, and/or seeking opportunities to cultivate growth, and build capacity, competency, and connections by facilitating personal and professional development.
We do this work through workshops, coaching, and curriculum development and review. We help individuals and teams realize their purpose and missions. We are different from others because of our culturally responsive and experiential approach to development.
We are most proud of the people we have helped who have grown companies, taken on new careers and higher level roles, released world-changing curriculum, and positively impacted communities all over the U.S.
We want people to know that our first focus is our mission and values. We want to see people win. So, we take on clients and projects to whom we know we can add value. We will challenge and stretch you, and together, we all win. When you reach out to us, the first thing we are going to do is talk about what your needs and vision are and how we can support you towards that vision.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Our focus as an organization has always been on making sure our clients get the best experience working with us. We want to make sure that we operate in excellence and provide great value on every project big or small. In doing so, we have developed a reputation for being a major “development destination” in and beyond the metroplex which is our goal. The vast majority of our clientele comes from word of mouth. And, those who don’t need us yet are still often sending other folks our way and encouraging them to connect with us. That tells me that we are doing work that is impacting people in positive ways.
What helped us to build our reputation is consistency, excellence, passion, and values.
Any advice for managing a team?
When we coach team leaders, we start with some key things: vision, practice, culture, accountability, and environment. Your team must be clear on the vision; your practices as a team must be clear, consistent, and aligned with the vision. Everyone on your team must be held to the same standard (equitable) of accountability for their work and their role in realizing the vision. And, the work environment must be one where people feel safe, respected, supported, and empowered.
You can definitely reach out to us to talk more about this. We would love to serve you and your team.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thecolelab.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecolelab/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecolelabllc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-cole-lab
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/LabCole