By Hadas Rave, Director of Education at Temple Sinai, Oakland, CA
When my former boss suggested that professional coaching might be helpful for me during my time of transition out of a 14 year career at a Jewish day school and into the great unknown of Jewish education beyond the four walls of our school, I jumped at the opportunity. I had had various mentorships through different professional development experiences I had embarked upon over the years, and had thoroughly enjoyed them all. Now, at an important crossroads of my career, it felt right to get some outside perspective again.
There are so many great coaches on Jewish Learning Works’ Leadership Coaching roster, yet from the moment I started, I was so glad Dana Sheanin became my coach. She got right into it with me. She let me guide our work, pushed me where I needed pushing and gave me space when I needed to come up with answers on my own. Her intuition and insight into what I was trying to unfold inside of myself was uplifting. I would finish our sessions feeling seen and heard, excited and hopeful about possibilities that we had discussed.
Our monthly meetings gave me an important structure to my personal and professional journey. There were homework assignments that Dana helped me to construct and a sense of accountability and direction. Dana nurtured me to uncover my chutzpah and gave me permission to move beyond the ways in which I had been seeing myself professionally. Her guidance helped me to answer questions that I had been asking for years and her encouragement helped me to actualize my most empowered self. At the end of our time together, I was in a new position professionally, and clear about my goals personally. This coaching experience was truly a blessing and I am deeply grateful to my former boss, Dana and Jewish Learning Works for the opportunity.
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Our Leadership Coaching Program is designed to support professionals working for Jewish organizations, sharpen their competencies, strengthen the community’s talent pipeline, and inspire individual and collective action.
