Rediscovering Purpose Through Coaching
After more than 30 years in the corporate world, Pam Woehrle knew it was time for something different—not retirement, but reinvention.
“I stepped back to focus on what I loved most—coaching others,” says Pam, now a successful Executive Coach and owner of PMW Coaching. She had spent decades leading teams, solving complex business problems, and setting strategic direction. As she considered her next chapter, one thing was clear: her passion was helping people grow.
That led her to Northwestern University’s Executive Learning and Organizational Coaching (ELOC) program. Along with the Organizational and Leadership Coaching Certificate (OLCC), ELOC is one of two distinct pathways at Northwestern designed to help experienced professionals develop the skills and mindset needed to coach others with purpose and impact.
Building a New Kind of Leadership
For Pam, choosing a coaching certification program wasn’t about checking a box. It was about finding something that could match the depth of her professional experience—and challenge her to think in entirely new ways.
“I considered many coaching programs,” she says, “but I landed on ELOC because of its academic rigor and the way it built on the work of my career.”
The ELOC and OLCC programs at Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) are designed exactly for professionals like Pam—experienced leaders who want to be agents of positive change through coaching. With a curriculum grounded in evidence-based research, self-reflection, and practical application, these coaching programs equip coaches to shift from problem-solver to thought partner.
“I think the biggest thing that Northwestern did for me is really ground me in how I was going to approach coaching very differently than I approached my prior corporate jobs,” Pam reflects. “In my corporate job, I was expected to solve the problems, tell people what to do, provide that leadership. Coaching is very different.”
Practicing Transformation
Pam found particular value in the Coaching Lab’s unique feature: the weekly coaching circles.
These sessions offered a space to practice coaching in real-time, get direct feedback, and reflect deeply on both strengths and growth areas. “The experience of recording, watching, and reflecting on my coaching, as well as coaching others with different personality styles, prepared me for client work,” she says. “The feedback I got was very honest, very direct, and very supportive.”
This practice-based learning helped Pam develop a core coaching mindset: asking the right questions, not jumping in to fix things. It also gave her tools like Hogan Assessments, which she now uses with teams to resolve conflict and increase collaboration.
Today, her clients range from emerging leaders to seasoned executives—many of whom find immediate trust and credibility in Pam’s combination of business acumen and coaching depth.
A Lifelong Learning Community
One of the often-overlooked benefits of the coaching programs is the community of practitioners it builds.
Pam encourages future students to stay connected to their cohort. “I have several great relationships from the program,” she shares, including a fellow student “that I went through the program with that I still talk with every week, and we coach each other. That’s the type of value I got from this program.”
This kind of peer partnership and ongoing practice is a hallmark of the ELOC and OLCC experiences—a space where learning doesn’t stop when the coursework ends.
Ready to Redefine Your Impact?
Pam’s story is one of many that illustrate how Northwestern’s OLCC and ELOC coaching programs deliver more than a credential—it’s a transformation.
Whether you’re a leader looking to elevate your impact, a professional shifting into a coaching career, or someone passionate about developing others, the OLCC and ELOC programs provide a powerful framework rooted in relationship, learning, and performance alignment.
Discover who you are as a coach. Learn to build transformative coaching relationships. Join a cohort of dedicated professionals ready to lead change—starting with themselves.
Explore our coaching programs today.