Ilona is an experienced OD consultant and trainer. She has deep knowledge of leadership attributes and their development. Great curriculum development and platform skills. She is also skilled in executive assessment, coaching, and development.
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Hank Goodstein, Principal The Goodstein Group, LLC
Featured Resource
Excerpt from Human Capital Management:
What Really Works in Government – Chapter 1
This chapter describes how new leadership at the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Transportation (DOT-OIG) achieved transformational change.
Ilona has been my executive coach for the past three years. My agency hired The Wynhurst Group to assist supervisors and managers with leadership development. I had the pleasure of meeting Ilona after my 360° review was complete. She helped me identify areas for professional development and helped me grow to be a successful manager and leader within my agency. She continually provided advice, feedback, and above all encouragement and support. She not only helped me with enhancing my leadership abilities, but also was very helpful with stress management and work/family balance. Our professional relationship has grown into a friendship and I am very happy that I had the opportunity to work with such a highly professional and knowledgeable coach/mentor.
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Special Agent-in-Charge Federal Agency
I had the privilege of working with Ilona to plan and co-facilitate a series of technology-enabled opinion gathering sessions a part of a major engagement with a regulatory agency. I was struck right away by her open-mindedness and mental agility. Ilona has great insight and ability to see connections and deep implications that enable her to ask awesome probing questions that advance the discussion significantly. I am pleased to recommend her.
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Pat Esslinger Group/meeting facilitator
Ilona has provided executive coaching in my organization for several years and has been my coach for the last two. Shortly after being promoted to mid-level management and completing a self-assessment tool, which included input from my boss, staff, and peers, Ilona helped me identify areas for professional and ultimately personal development. She has helped lead me on to the path to being a successful manager and leader within my organization. Her candid advice, willingness to share, and — most important — encouragement and support have had a tremendous impact on my development as a leader. She consistently used creative techniques to diagnose root causes of problems, gave hard-hitting advice, and coaching on fixes needed to help alleviate the problems. Ilona always kept current with the most relevant research and leadership coach gurus and used that research to customize techniques and strategies for my development. I recommend Ilona to any organization looking to improve and strengthen its leadership ranks.
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Program Director Federal Agency
Ilona is a great leadership consultant. She is very personable and works well with people at all levels in organizations. She makes people feel at ease when discussing their business challenges, creating an environment conducive to solving problems creatively. Ilona has an exceptional work ethic and produces high-quality deliverables that drive results for her clients.
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Beth McDonald, Owner The Wheelhouse Group
Entering our 25th year in business, during which time we had witnessed tremendous growth, we turned to The Wynhurst Group for help in our effort to ensure that our senior management team was operating as effectively together as we could. The Wynhurst Group helped us to determine the best approach for gathering the essential feedback to inform us on how we were perceived as leaders within the company, both individually and as a team. They then set us on a course for working collectively to improve our areas of relative weakness while leveraging our many strengths. Throughout this process, The Wynhurst Group has been very insightful, realistic, and reassuring. With their help we have been able to face the occasionally sobering reality of perceptions while recognizing that we can in fact be successful in making some needed changes and be all the better for it.
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Craig Hughes, Managing Director for Financial Services Consulting CC Pace, Inc.
I have worked with Ilona in multiple capacities. She is an exceptional coach and consultant, with a sharp eye toward spotting subtle dynamics of operating in a corporate culture and a pragmatic sense of what kinds of interventions are likely to generate a positive impact. As a teacher/trainer she is a poised, dynamic presenter who effectively connects with audience, and as a project manager she possesses exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail. In short, she’s a star.
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Neil Stroul, Founding Faculty Georgetown University Leadership Coaching Certificate Program
Ilona has provided outstanding executive coaching, leadership training, and human resources troubleshooting on a number of issues for our organization for more than five years. She has helped me, a number of our leaders, and our organization as a whole. When she first came to us, employee survey results showed that staff had a relatively low opinion of executive leaders and the way in which we worked together. As a direct result of her work and that of the team she put together, executive leadership is the area that has shown the greatest level of improvement over the past five years, and is now one of our highest rated categories. She is a highly valued resource and a person to which I am personally thankful both for what she’s done for our organization and what she has done for me.
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Senior Executive Federal Agency
I have worked with Ilona for over 10 years as both a colleague and client. I can’t recommend her highly enough for her creativity and ability to build relationships at all levels of an organization. She has been a fantastic partner for my organization, Federal Management Partners, and most importantly, she makes working with her FUN!
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Liana Grassi, Vice President Federal Management Partners, Inc.
I highly recommend Ilona Birenbaum for executive coaching, leadership and employee development, strategic planning, and other organization development work. Ilona’s proven ability to establish rapport with individuals at all levels of an organization, particularly C-suite executives, is one of her major strengths. She also has top-notch facilitation skills — she has been a role model for me as I’ve developed my own facilitation and platform instruction skills. I began working with Ilona at AMS 17 years ago and am thrilled to have been able to maintain not only an active professional relationship but also a personal friendship. Over the years, Ilona has been one of my trusted mentors, providing sound advice and counsel. She is easy to talk to and an impeccable listener, using humor and asking insightful questions to get to the root of whatever issues her client (or friend) is facing. I am confident that Ilona will make an impact in any engagement she takes on and am happy to provide a reference to anyone interested in working with Ilona.
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Lisa Sper, Vice President Federal Management Partners, Inc.