During my 21 year career in high tech, I’ve worked for 4 Silicon Valley technology companies in a variety of roles – HR and IT Strategic Business Planning, Project Management, Executive Coaching and Facilitation, and Employee Relations to name several.
In the early 2000’s, although I was living in CO, my role required me to spend most of my time in the bay area of CA, so for 8 years I was a corporate road warrior, flying from Denver to San Francisco or San Jose and back again 2-3 weeks of every month. As a frequent flier, I earned that Premier Exec status as well as all the tricks for traveling most efficiently.
“Premier Executive”, 5 x 5 inches, mini textile painting, ©2014 Ayn Hanna
My corporate career has allowed me to develop my skills in business planning and management, coaching and facilitation, relationship building, creating and delivering presentations and many other areas which I am able to use in developing my art career and business now as well.
I’ve taken on many challenging situations, led teams of people through big culture change initiatives and traveled/worked internationally, expanding my world view and learning many life skills. (It’s not every day that you have to bring home a suspect birthday cake that was presented to a manager by an employee, and store the evidence in your freezer while the crime lab tests it for poison – yes it did happen and yes they did find it was poisoned!)
“Certified SHIFT-IT Coach”, 5 x 5 inches, mini textile painting, ©2014 Ayn Hanna
Given my background in Art, my uber organizational skills and interest in systems and strategic planning, one of the more fascinating skills I learned and had great affinity for was Graphic Facilitation – literally making meetings visual by drawing (in words and pictures) what the meeting participants are saying and helping people see the connections and relationships forming in the work they are planning.
GF has many applications for groups, but also works with individuals – because so many of us are visual learners. As a coach and facilitator, and looking for tools to use to continue to develop my own career path, I discovered Christina Merkley’s SHIFT-IT program, loved it and jumped at the chance to become a Certified Visual Coach myself.
As a certified visual coach, I can now use this amazing framework and 17 visual map templates to coach individuals in making whatever shifts they want to make with their careers and lives. It has helped me make my own shifts in developing my art career and I keep coming back to use the maps when I’m ready for more. So wonderful now to be able to use these visual coaching tools to help others draw out what’s in their hearts and help them develop plans to reach their goals.
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