About Me

My name is Gwyn Teatro and I have long believed that the quality of leadership in an organization determines the willingness of its people to take their best selves with them when they go to work.

People who go to work and go home again feeling under-valued and under-rewarded are likely under-performing.  As such, good leadership is not just a “nice to have”.  It is a business imperative.

Organizations that underestimate the value of their human assets may achieve short term results but will fail to retain depth of knowledge and experience that are critical to sustaining business over time.  People will come, and go, taking the value of their knowledge and their best “game” with them.

The challenge for all leaders is to achieve optimal results through others and that calls for them to set the organizational tone and direction, role-model effective leadership behaviour and motivate others to produce desire results with enthusiasm and pride.  It’s a tall order but there it is.

I come by my views honestly having spent 35 years working in a large organization and having observed (and experienced) many different leaders from a variety of perspectives.  I remember the good ones. And I remember, even more vividly, the bad ones.

I spent the bulk of my career in Human Resources, in tasks that began simply enough, like balancing time sheets and keeping personnel records to ones that called on me to coach executives, plan and facilitate strategic planning sessions and other, more global, pursuits .  I went back to school when I was forty three and, in 1996, earned a Master of  Science degree in Management.  Later, I learned about the value of coaching in the workplace and became a certified coach.

Now,  at 60,  I’m retired, although I’ve always disliked that word.  I spend my time happily with my husband and family, often escaping the wet and miserable winter weather in Vancouver for drier and sunnier places.  There is more for me to do though, and often I think it is  about making a contribution to the development of healthy workplaces, places where people can, and are willing to, do their best work.  This blog is a start.