Today we’d like to introduce you to Meg Rentschler.
Meg, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I decided early in my life that working with others to help create positive changes in their lives was my passion. I clearly remember reading an article about teenage runaways in a Detroit paper when I was in middle school and being impacted by the stories of despair, sadness and depression. I decided then that I wanted to take a part in helping those who struggle with the many challenges that life can sometimes hold. I received my Masters of Social Work from the University of Michigan and began working in a Community Mental Health agency in Detroit that specialized in treating children and their families. My husband’s company transferred us to Dallas in 1989, and I continued my work with troubled teens as an Assistant Program Director for an inpatient treatment program for adolescents.
I went into private practice as a therapist and over the 20+ years that I had my practice, I saw more and more adults that were depressed, anxious and overwhelmed in their workplaces, some that were disabled from the experience. It became apparent many work environments were not healthy for the human spirit for growth, development, appreciation and full engagement. After years of working with clients who felt beaten down at work, I began to wonder what I could do differently to be more effective and help to create positive change. While not every work environment was the same, there did appear to be a need to empower people with better ways to communicate, to solve issues, to work as a team, to build confidence and value each person’s contributions.
In my search to respond more proactively, I discovered executive coaching and made the decision that it was time for me to take my experience and learn a new skill to shift my focus. I became a student again, enrolling in UTD to get my coach certification, at the time, I had a son in elementary and one in middle school, so we were all students together. Following my training, I began working within organizations to create work environments that help people to thrive. For the past 12 years, I have been working with leaders and their teams to build on their strengths, listen in a way that encourages others to speak, lead in a way that empowers others and create solutions together. Teaching leaders to use coaching as a leadership style is one of my favorite engagements and it is so gratifying to see the changes that happen within organizations when people communicate differently.
True coaching is a process of partnering with others toward self-directed, self-determined change. It is such a powerful process that I am thrilled to be on the faculty of two coaching schools, The University of Texas at Dallas and Coach Academy International in Dallas, to teach others to bring their coaching to the world. I became a podcast host of The STaR Coach Show, providing a platform to educate others about the impact of coaching and have produced over 200 episodes to date. I believe that true curiosity and letting go of judgment as a parent, as a spouse, as a colleague, as a community member, as a leader, in any role is a gift.
In the months since COVID, I have been blessed to continue my work with leaders and coaching students over video conferencing from my home office in Flower Mound. I joke that in my 34 year marriage, I have never had so much time with my husband as we have both been working from home since March.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Each time I face a change in my life, I have some trepidation and yet when opened to the opportunities offered, the path forward seems to become clear. I strongly resisted moving to Texas, as one of nine children, I wanted to stay in Michigan and have my children grow up with their extended family. However, when presented with the need to move, many wonderful things have happened in the 31 years we have lived in Texas including the birth of our two sons.
It was a challenge to go back to school while raising my boys, maintaining a full therapy practice and juggling all of the things one juggles. It was a large investment of time, energy and money and I clearly remember a few tears along the way yet it was well worth the investment. I had spent years building a successful therapy practice so the day that I wrote letters to all of my insurance contracts withdrawing from their networks was a scary day. I knew that if I was to truly build my coaching business, I had to make room for my coaching clients and that meant letting go of the other. I have learned along the way, have made mistakes and course corrected. I have wished at times for a Mulligan. Change can be unsettling, yet the cost of staying settled could be the loss of wonderful opportunities.
Please tell us about A Focus on Results Coaching.
My business is A Focus On Results Executive Coaching. I specialize in Executive Coaching and Leadership Development. I work with clients to identify their strengths as well as areas of potential growth to increase their leadership effectiveness, self-awareness and confidence while reducing the roadblocks that create challenges. My strength lies in helping her clients communicate in a way that creates clarity, breaks barriers and builds successful relationships.
Building self-awareness through a better understanding of internal beliefs, values and expectations is key to client personal and leadership growth. I use my extensive experience in understanding human potential and interaction. My clients are high-achieving, talented, driven and use the coaching partnership to achieve greater levels of success and life balance. I enjoy working with leaders at a variety of management levels with a variety of challenges and goals. Helping leadership teams utilize coaching techniques and listening to increase productivity and overall organizational effectiveness is a speciality combining my experience as a coach and decade of being a coach instructor.
As a coach educator, I work with other coaches to build their skills, confidence and businesses so that they can bring their impact to the community through their coaching. Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of coaches which lead me to create and host the STaR Coach Podcast (STaR is an acronym or Strategies, Tools and Resources for Coaches). This weekly talk show features experts in the industry to provide ongoing tools for the coaching community.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I am very blessed to have been born into my family, I have amazing parents and wonderful siblings. Being the youngest girl of nine children and growing up on a small farm in Michigan, there was always much adventure. One Christmas when I was about seven, there were three wrapped pails under the Christmas tree. One was for my brother, Steve, two years my senior, one for my brother, Patrick, two years my junior and one was for me. Each pail contained a different riddle penned by my mother. Once the riddles were solved, we discovered that we each had been given a new calf for Christmas. We donned our snowsuits and headed out across the field to the barn and I met the cutest baby cow with the biggest brown eyes, I named her Faline. (I had just seen Bambi and decided that my new calf’s eyes looked just like Bambi’s girlfriend’s eyes). She was a truly lovely gift.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.starcoachshow.com/www.afocusonresults.com
- Phone: 8178453594
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @megrentschler
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STaRCoachShow/ and https://www.facebook.com/afocusonresults/
- Twitter: @starcoachshow
- Other: www.linkedin.com/in/megrentschler
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