John Spence

I love helping people name, claim, and aim their talents to achieve the success they desire. I’ve been using the Clifton StrengthsFinder as a tool for strengths-based development since 2009 and have provided training and individual coaching to individuals, managers, and teams. I specialize in career planning and transitions, talent alignment and team engagement, and management strategies for creating productive and vibrant workplaces.  

As a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, I bring experience coaching individuals from early to late career in all levels and coaching teams large and small. Throughout my coaching process, I apply my Signature Themes to help my clients achieve meaningful impact:  

• My Connectedness helps clients find deep meaning and satisfaction in right work and right living

• My Strategic helps clients see alternatives and chart a path to success

• My Input leverages resources, information, ideas, and people to help clients achieve their goals

• My Achiever delivers results, gets things done for clients, and guides them to greater productivity

• My Ideation generates creative approaches to meeting personal and organizational goals and exploring possibilities 

My background includes over 20 years of experience directing large-scale initiatives, with a solid track record of expanding operations, initiating and maintaining strategic partnerships, managing technical assistance and professional development, developing and sustaining meaningful relationships with clients and stakeholders, hiring for talent, supervising teams, writing and delivering reports, facilitating meetings and events, and public speaking.  

My particular area of expertise is K-12 public education, but I work across the spectrum of professional services and have additional experience operating in matrixed organizations. I am skilled in the Gallup model of behavioral interviewing, and I am also a certified Levels of Use (LoU) interviewer for the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM), which helps organizations manage the human side of change.  

One of my duties as a senior technical assistance consultant at American Institutes for Research involves leading an internal initiative to provide supports for strengths-based development, which includes coaching staff, teams, and managers. I also support individual clients and organizations that are seeking greater engagement for their teams, enhanced productivity, and high-performance outcomes.