Barbara Dowell Lancaster

As an executive coach Barb brings her 25 years of experience as a leader in manufacturing, marketing, sales and technology to her clients. In order to have a significant impact on her clients she studies the workplace and stakeholders around her clients, establishes trusted relationships, builds on client strengths to address challenges, keeps the focus positive and offers appropriate exercises and discussions to help her clients meet their goals. She holds her clients accountable for the changes they make through measurement, stakeholder engagement in the coaching process and long term follow-up.

Barb works in structured settings within organizations that already have tools like 360s, assessments and performance review systems and is also flexible in ad-hoc coaching roles with clients who might just need a “thinking partner.” Her coaching work has taken her to large and small businesses and not-for-profit organizations. She attended the College of Executive Coaching and holds a BA from Bucknell University She also attended Northwestern University, Indiana University and Franklin & Marshall for executive leadership programs. She is an executive committee member on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement of Southern California.

Areas of Expertise

• Leaders in Transition
• Women in Leadership Roles
• Retention and Building an Engaged Workforce
• Manufacturing and Sales Leadership
• Matrix Management - many bosses, many missions, one employee

Industry & Functional Experience

• Former clients include: Lufthansa SkyChefs, Watson Wyatt, Yahoo!, American Honda Company, JP Morgan Chase, Facebook, Raytheon, Legal Arts Group, Memorial Healthcare IPA, Junior Achievement, US Bankruptcy Court, Karl Storz and Temple Beth Israel.
• Led a $100 million, 500 employee printing plant in Torrance, California for 5 years for R.R. Donnelley. Seventeen native languages were spoken by the employees. Awarded top employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction scores compared to 35 other facilities across the US.
• Led a nationwide sales support sales force for Metromail Corporation.
• Led technology transfer at the technical center for R.R.Donnelley supporting 600 installed systems worldwide with an engineering and tech writer team of thirty.
• Managed various manufacturing and staff departments in PA & CA including customer service, paper, preliminary, bindery and pressroom from 1980 to 2002.