Member Spotlight

Each month we take a moment to recognize a Chapter Member and share a little bit about them.  We hope you find their stories engaging!

DECEMBER 2021

Name: Jennifer Zach

Position and Employer: Found, Zach Coaching, LLC, www.jennifer-zach.com.

How long have you been with your employer and/or in your position? 12 years

How long have you been a member of ATD Hawkeye Chapter? 3 years

What is a typical workday like for you? For me, a typical workday includes providing business leadership coaching and development services for senior leaders, small business owners, and aspiring leaders.  Besides coaching, my day carries a fair amount of research, building learning clusters for my clients and developing educational and inspiring content for L&D professionals and business leaders.  Aside from that, I also find myself helping organizations make sense of their data with people analytics for better business leadership and cultural outcomes.

What do you enjoy most about ATD Hawkeye Chapter? I enjoy the shared camaraderie of colleagues committed to creating a world that works better.

Name a professional challenge you have experienced, and share how ATD Hawkeye has helped you overcome it. ATD helped me see a professional challenge I didn’t know I had.  As written about in the book “Designing for Modern Learning” by Lisa MD Owens and Crystal Kadakia, modern learning opened my eyes to a unique approach I was taking to serving my clients that I was taking for granted because it came so naturally to me.  Owens and Kadakia’s book gave me the language and the framework of the Learning Cluster Design model to shine a light on the work I am doing to develop leaders in the flow of work.

What piece of advice related to talent and development has made a significant impact on you and your work? For me, it has been a behavior that has made a significant impact on me and my work. I took a chance submitting an article for publication in the TD magazine.  The editor has kindly aided me in developing my writing skills and connected me with the opportunity to write a book review that will appear in the December issue of the TD magazine.  To me, this editor’s behavior demonstrates ATD’s commitment to talent development in the most meaningful way possible. It has impacted my work by advancing my writing skills, building my confidence, and helping me become a better communicator.

What is your favorite part of the learning and development field? What I enjoy most about the ATD Hawkeye chapter is the sense of belonging and the prevalence of continuous learning and development that occurs with a community of lifelong learners.

What are your greatest strengths, and what are your current development goals? My strengths are getting to the heart of the matter, resourcefulness, building relationships, and unlocking human potential.  My current development goals are to be heard and understood through speaking, writing, and modeling behavior. 

Who is currently one of your favorite speakers or authors, and why? I am a HUGE fan of Brene Brown!  I’ve never really had a favorite actor or musician like many people.  I love Brene’s work because it’s timeless, relatable, and it’s changing lives for the better.

What are your hobbies or favorite things to do with your time? My top 5 values represent what my favorite things are to do with my time.   Those values include integrity, creativity, spirituality, relationships, and vitality.  I’m at my best when nurturing my creativity with arts and crafts, stimulating my spirituality by developing my faith, building relationships through spending quality time with friends, family, and colleagues, and furthering my vitality with yoga, pickleball, and summer water aerobics. 

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