Championing Wholeness in Leadership
Elevating Women & LGBTQ Leaders by Cultivating Authentic, Resilient, Adaptive Leadership in Demanding Environments
Services to elevate your leadership
Individual Coaching
Leadership Experiences
Individual Coaching
The Ignite Coaching Program is an elite coaching experience designed to propel you to the next level of leadership. Through a collaborative process, we'll identify your critical leadership goals and craft a personalized roadmap for achieving them.
Team Coaching
Leadership Experiences
Individual Coaching
We will design customized team coaching to meet the unique needs of your team.
Cultivate a collaborative culture, increase productivity, retain talent, and increase overall team/organization performance.
Leadership Experiences
Leadership Experiences
Leadership Experiences
We offer cohort-based leadership training experiences across the year. These programs integrate training, peer support, and coaching. The programs are designed to provide practical, hands-on cohort experience designed to support system-level leaders in education and the social sector to build skills, elevate perspectives, and successfully lead at the next level.
Testimonials
I was fortunate enough to be coached by Paula during a professional transition time, when I was overwhelmed by the thought of having to decide where to go next in my career. Her support allowed me to engage in deep self-reflection and to quiet the “noise” within and around me—self-doubt, fears, input from others. I was able to define the work that was both inspiring to me and where I could have the most impact as a leader, and to focus my energy in those areas.
–Talia Shaull, CHRO at The Wallace Foundation
Paula Shannon is that rare individual who possesses both instinct and skills. Whether she is working with someone at the start of a career or a seasoned and tested professional, Paula offers keen insights and guidance that make a real impact in people’s lives. As a practitioner, she is a standout.
–Elsa Marquez, Founder & CEO at The Leadership Consultancy
Paula's coaching and guidance has been a transformational experience for me this year. She has put together a thoughtful arc of engagement and learning, with a range of supporting materials. While there's an intentional sequence, she has also been responsive to timely questions, needs, and interests in any given session. She asks great questions, captures and shares themes across sessions, and offers insights that push my thinking and inform my leadership actions. I have a clearer sense of my strengths, my goals, my values, and my learning edges, and I am excited to continue to deepen that understanding of myself as a leader and a human. If you are interested in an identity- and values-based approach, I recommend working with Paula.
-Heather Johnson, VP Ed Vestors
Meet Paula shannon
Paula Shannon
As the founder of Whole Leader Lab, I am passionate about supporting women and LGBTQ leaders achieve results while also being true to themselves and living a sustainable life.
I’ve lived the challenges of being a woman in leadership, making critical decisions affecting many while often suffering from bouts of self-doubt and questioning if I deserved to be in my role. I learned to name the negative stories and lean into the truth of my strengths, experience, and brilliance.
Being an out queer leader in a red state meant overcoming fear and embracing my full self, even when it felt dangerous.
I know what it’s like to feel stuck in a career, to lose passion, and how to reignite that spark by reconnecting with my purpose. I’ve reinvented myself through transitions that shook my world.
Throughout my career, I have led large-scale organizations with over 6,000 employees, managed teams of up to 15 direct reports across multiple functional areas, and overseen annual budgets exceeding $500 million. My experience spans strategic planning, organizational transformation, people management, operational excellence, and stakeholder engagement.
My coaching process is grounded in a holistic approach to leadership--learning to bring into balance their thinking, feeling and doing. My clients are able to be objective and strategic while fostering collaboration and tending to the emotion in the room and continuing to prioritize and tend to what needs to be done. Clients also become astutely aware of their own needs while leading. I leverage my expertise and diverse experiences to ask powerful questions and surface key insights.
As a certified practitioner of the Integrative Enneagram (iEQ9), Profile XT Select, and Genos International Emotional Intelligence inventory, I bring these validated tools to my clients to identify their strengths, uncover blind spots, and develop actionable plans for growth and success.
Through one-on-one coaching, group workshops, and leadership development programs, I help women and LGBTQ leaders:
-Develop resilience and adaptability in the face of change
- Achieve their professional goals while maintaining work-life balance
- Navigate complex political and organizational dynamics
- Build high-performing teams and foster a culture of collaboration
- Communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels
- Enhance their strategic thinking and decision-making skills
Contact me today to schedule a complimentary consultation and explore how Whole Leader Lab can help you unlock your potential for a legacy of impact.
Contact Us
Whole Leader Lab
Tackle your challenges today! Choose a legacy of impact.
