The Lieff Method

We sought a session from Susan to address the challenges our leadership dyads have in communicating and co-creating the way we would like, due to time and competing demands. Susan’s workshop resulted in us pausing to reconsider how we view conflict and communicate in challenging times. The exercise was a great way to experience and try to work through the different ways in which we prioritize mutual issues as an academic and clinical multidisciplinary team.

If you are looking to strengthen communication and foster collaborative problem-solving, consider Susan. She will help you identify creative approaches to common leadership team opportunities and challenges.

I would like to thank you for your excellent learning session with our clinical chairs yesterday. From the pre-session exercise through to the elegant management of our hybrid format, this was a masterclass in education and coaching. 

I decided to get coaching when I took on a new academic leadership position. My initial motivation was to devise strategies for dealing with difficult conversations. Over time, I grew in confidence in my new position. Susan helped me define my values and, in tethering myself to these values in the context of my new job, my confidence in executing strategic decisions grew. While not every day is wonderful, I am truly enjoying my new position and am excited for what is to come

I first reached out to Susan after reading one of her articles that fundamentally changed how I thought about leadership models in complex organizations. I invited her to speak at a leadership program at our hospital, and her session not only exceeded my already high expectations but also left a lasting impact on everyone who attended. The feedback from participants was universally enthusiastic.

When Susan shared that she was expanding her coaching practice, I was thrilled to be able to work with her one-on-one. Her coaching was transformative and gave me the clarity and confidence to pursue an exciting new career journey. I recommend Susan without hesitation to anyone seeking to elevate their leadership effectiveness and unlock new possibilities for personal and professional growth.

At the time I met Susan, I had just undertaken a new step in my career. I was selected to be the Head of a District Hospital. I had never undertaken such a task and was having difficulty connecting with the staff. With Susan’s coaching I was able to connect with them, form working relationships with all the staff and get things done. Susan is easy to talk to and will help you help yourself by coming up with your own ways of getting things done.  She is awesome, over all an amazing person to work with. So happy I was able to meet her.

Your recent workshop session on Navigating Your Career was extremely well received! The evaluation results were overwhelmingly positive, with the majority of respondents awarding the highest possible score of 5 out of 5. Below are a few representative comments: “Amazing talk”, “This helped me reflect on my career trajectory and what my priorities are for the future”, “I found the workbook so helpful”, “I appreciated the breadth of what was covered and the applicability to all career stages”.

Head, Division of Developmental Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto

When I first contacted Susan, I wanted to plan my next career move. At the time, I was feeling confused and responsible for outcomes at work regardless of whether they were within my control. I was afraid of making mistakes and anticipated moving on. Susan helped me step back from the situation, see the big picture and better understand it. Once I understood what was holding me back, I was able to very rapidly let go of my previous concerns. As a result, I became more productive, creative and happier at work. I highly recommend Susan as a leadership coach. She is a kind and gentle person who genuinely appreciates your uniqueness and wants to help you bring out your best.

a U15 University, Canada

I had been feeling directionless in my career for some time and trying to determine how to move forward with intention, to plan for the final phase of my career. Susan’s coaching was pivotal in allowing me to see patterns and understand what I valued most about my work. Over the course of our sessions together, I was able to make important decisions about where to invest my energy going forward. Susan was very thoughtful, professional, and created a safe space for reflection about balance, leadership and academic pursuits. I found her coaching to be highly effective in clarifying my career-related issues and would return for further sessions without hesitation.

Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto

Dr. Susan Lieff is an incredibly helpful and insightful coach. When I met with Susan I was facing a significant challenge in my leadership position. I felt overwhelmed with the sheer number of operational tasks I had to confront and manage, and I felt that many of these were impeding my focus and ability to move forward on larger more visionary projects. Susan helped me work through an organized and structured way to look at all my different tasks and projects, so that I could create more time for the important and impactful projects I felt I was neglecting. Susan never does “the work” for you or tells you what to do, rather she is an amazing sounding board who listens and supportively challenges your approach, and helps you land on your own specific, actionable path forward to effect change. Her coaching me through this made a huge impact on my time management, and on how I still conceptualize tasks going forward. I would highly recommend anyone working through leadership challenges to connect with Susan for support!

Teaching Hospital, Canada

Dr Susan Lieff has been affiliated with Schulich ExecEd for over a decade and is ranked among the top healthcare experts in this field. In her capacity of Program Director for several programs in our Healthcare practice, Susan has left an indelible mark on all those who came in contact with her. The programs that she led were complex in nature and were targeted to healthcare professionals such as physicians, senior hospital administrators, nurses, practitioners, and other administrative staff. These were innovative, relevant as well as impactful to both clients and participants. Susan brings her deep knowledge and experience in the industry in terms of design, coaching and facilitation as well as a vast network of practitioners that she embeds into her programs to ensure relevancy and ‘real world experience’.   Susan takes a hands-on approach with her programs and deeply cares for her students. Through these programs she was able to upskill many individuals and get them ready to the next phase in their respective careers as well as transform various aspect of the healthcare industry.  

Schulich ExecEd, Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada