Meet Marnie Hausauer
1. What brought you to coaching?
Leadership coaching—as a client—changed my life. When strained work relationships and a sense of isolation were really challenging who I thought I was as a professional and as a person, coaching helped me make a radical shift in how I understand myself, engage other people, and make sense of the world. I found a new sense of freedom and of tremendous possibility.
So, 20 years into my Federal Government career, I became a coach, because I want to help other people discover that same freedom and greater possibility. It’s why I coach, why I lead experiential learning workshops, and why I teach and share the practice of mindfulness. I want to help people create new ways to work and to live—new ways to show up in the world. Because when you change that, you change everything.
2. Tell us about your coaching practice. (Niche, ideal client, etc.)
My personal transformation ignited a passion for the theory of vertical development, which says that as long as you live, you have the chance to get much better at coping—even thriving—in the middle of complexity and uncertainty and change and difference (aka global pandemics and widespread protests and deep political divides). It’s like you can upgrade the operating system of your mind and heart.
Since I got certified at Georgetown in 2013, I’ve been digging deeply into this theory and its practice, especially how to support people who are on the edge or in the middle of this kind of mental shift. It’s work I feel called to in all areas of my practice, and I support it with formal training; deep curiosity; community engagement; and my ongoing, lived experience.
If you’re my ideal client, your usual approach to challenges may not be working any more or it may feel limiting. Maybe you sense that there’s another way but can’t yet see it clearly or act on it. You might feel torn between a comfortable way of doing things and a newer, (better?) way that’s harder, especially when you’re tired or stressed. Maybe you just feel overwhelmed or exhausted by all the competing demands of life and work and are longing for relief. If this is you, and you’re ready to go deep to understand yourself better, question your assumptions and mindsets, and experiment with new ways of thinking and acting, I can help you make sense of your challenges and show up for yourself and others in more effective and flexible ways.
With a good friend and colleague, I also hope to facilitate mental operating system upgrades through a series of workshops we’re putting together, designed to help a small cohort step into the work of self-discovery and experimentation that changes how we make sense of and show up in the world.
3. What do you love about your coaching work?
I love sharing my clients’ journey of discovery. So much becomes possible—for you as an individual and in your relationships—when you deeply commit to your own growth by exploring your mind, heart, and spirit; when you start to embrace both your human imperfections and your fundamental goodness.
When you as a client realize something you didn’t know about yourself before or learn to accept yourself a bit more fully, and as a result you change how you show up in the world, you’re moving into greater freedom and possibility. And in every way I support you to reach those minor or major turning points, I’m doing my deepest work in the world.
4. Tell us about the coaching tools, books, podcasts, etc. that you follow that help you to stay informed.
I love to read and learn and grow. Right now I’m actively resisting an urge to attach a pages-long resource list. Instead, I’ll highlight a few longstanding favorites and recent discoveries. And, I’m always open to a conversation about sources of world- and self-discovery—my contact info is at the end for those who want to reach out!
Long-standing favorites:
• Any books, blogs, workshops, YouTube videos, or other offerings from Jennifer Garvey Berger. She’s one of several prominent thinkers, writers, practitioners, and teachers of vertical development, and highly accessible. Her Growth Edge Coaching workshops are a foundation of my learning in this area. Her book Changing on the Job is a great primer on the theory and how it can inform coaching.
• Any offerings by Pema Chodron. An American Buddhist nun, Pema makes it feel possible for ordinary people (even me) to learn to meet self, others, and the world as they are, with love and compassion. I return to her again and again.
Recent discoveries:
• Spiritual Intelligence (SQ), defined, discussed, and written about by Cindy Wigglesworth as the ability to act with wisdom and compassion, maintaining inner and outer peace, no matter the circumstances. We all need more of that! I also feel SQ reflects what vertical development looks like in ordinary life.
• Ruth King’s Mindful of Race spoke to me more deeply than any book I’ve read in ages. It has a central role in my meditation practice and personal work right now. It supports me both as a person of privilege trying to uncover and remedy my role(s) in others’ suffering, and as someone trying to heal my wounds and relate more productively with what I’ve seen as my sources of suffering.
• Presence-Based Leadership is an elegant book by the late Doug Silsbee that weaves together embodiment, vertical development, complexity, and more to support readers on a powerful journey of self-discovery. Colleagues of Doug’s in the company Presence Based Coaching continue this work.
5. How has ICF-MN helped you as a coach?
ICF-MN helped me first as a human living through 2020 in a new place with a limited local support system. The chapter’s Creative Exchange - Zoom to Lunch was a vital source of community, engagement, support, and humor! In the professional development realm, ICF-MN’s diversity-focused book club and webinars are particularly valuable sources of cross-cultural learning and self-development. This inspiring community and my new role as Secretary of the ICF Minnesota Executive Board are nudging me more actively into my personal and professional evolution post-government.
6. How can folks connect with you?
You can reach me by email at MarnieH.ICFMN@gmail.com and by phone on 571-236-2250. LinkedIn profile coming soon! Back to Catalyst...