I have had the pleasure of working with Gayle Abbott and Strategic Alignment Partners for nearly 20 years. I have worked with Gayle in three organizations during this time period. Gayle has become a trusted advisor as I have worked to transform organizational culture at the three companies. She has helped each organization and myself as a leader grow tremendously. She is a strategic thinker and understands how individuals process information, interact with others and are motivated. She knows how to help a team grow, work better together to manage the firm operations and collaboratively make decisions that positively impact the bottom line and client service.
-Head of Operations, Law Firm
Gayle is the real deal! As the CFO of our fast growing high tech
company, my expectations for ROI on her talented services were very high. Gayle is a catalyst of positive cultural change, people resource optimization, and the critical thinking paramount to innovating, competing, and attracting, developing, and growing the capabilities and contributions of each employee! Equally best, Gayle does not operate alone, her company and their methods, programs and tools are strategically and efficiently utilized to provide customized support. The bottom line, Gayle will assist and teach your organization to transform and manifest break-through results while building long term capability and resilience!
-Chris Abetz, CPA
NRTC, CFO/SVP
“In a firm where exceptional service, value, and quality are expected, Strategic Alignment Partners made the effort to understand our larger culture and truly customize a program to our specific needs. The program was crafted to match our maturity and achieve the specific results we were seeking. The program was very accessible, tangible and relevant to our everyday work. They brought a breadth of experience and expertise that was simply revealed in every interaction and conversation as opposed to bragging or promoting themselves.”
-C-Suite Executive, Information Technology, Legal Services, North America
“I have worked closely with Gayle Abbott for nearly twenty years; and 
there is no one I respect more for their advice, counsel and executive coaching around people and organizational structure. Simply put, Gayle helps executives and their teams get tangible and actionable results.
-Jim Kaitz, CEO, Association for Financial Professionals
“We have worked with Strategic Alignment Partners to create a culture, facilitate a turnaround, conduct training aligned with our objectives, and coach high potential individuals. Individuals who engaged and participated have gone to significantly higher levels of performance in achieving results beyond what ever would have been expected. Strategic Alignment Partners’ truly tailors what they do to the organization and the individual so that there are relevant, targeted actions as opposed to generic “how tos” which I’ve learned didn’t always work for me. They bring a continuity, a caring and an ability to connect and build trust with the highest and the lowest level employees in an organization.”
-Mary Lue Peck, CEO, National Speakers Association
Gayle Abbott has provided tremendous value in leading a group to consensus on outcomes – thinking about the future in terms of a desired outcome and stating it succinctly and in a way that all parties understand and agree on the direction around the real outcome as well as in facilitating our thinking about how do we operationalize the goals in a way that aligns the financial and staff resources to achieve those goals.
-Kevin Keller, CEO, CFP Board of Standards
“If you would have asked me 2-3 years ago, I would have dismissed the program as impractical pseudoscience. However, I trusted the team and the process at Strategic Alignment Partners and made the leap. My boss and team noticed the results during a very critical year for our program. I noticed the difference when my personal development and learning initiatives started paying off as if I was taken off a hamster wheel. I can now confidently progress with my career and development because of the traction and focus created by this program. I am excited to see what comes.”
-Manager, Association
We began partnering with Strategic Alignment Partners on our organization culture project in 2001. The organization had reached a place where the CEO wanted to create clarity around the culture and expectations for leaders. Gayle Abbott worked with us to facilitate sessions with the leadership team around defining our core values as well as required leadership competencies. That original work has remained unchanged and stood the test of time. She also worked with us in aligning our performance management, hiring and selection processes, incentive plans, coaching and new hire orientation with those core values and competencies. They have been key in creating a culture where we have continued to thrive and get results in all the ups and downs which have occurred in the economy since then. Our organization uses them in everything - job descriptions, orientation, we use them as a critical part of our interview process when selecting candidates, performance management, mid year reviews, they are part of the staff members bonus calculations, part of coaching, they become part of performance development plans, there isn’t anything we do here that isn’t influenced by our core values.
The core values were a critical component that Strategic Alignment Partners was able to help us with but then also helping us understand how to use the core values towards our hiring and recruiting, how to screen for the core values. Of course the magic of the Assessments that we implemented through Strategic Alignment Partners has also helped as well. They have provided additional insights for and to each person through coaching, have helped us look at individuals objectively, communicate more effectively and they have been part of our selection process and we strive to match people to the jobs where they’re most likely to succeed.
-Pat Culkin – Association for Financial Professionals
Strategic Alignment Partners, Inc. consistently delivers high levels of performance and professionalism. Their product is consistent high quality. Each project is well planned with input from the NACHRI staff, to provide high quality outcomes. They provide excellent coaching particularly for senior staff, follow-up work has included very successful outcomes for many individuals on the staff. This includes utilizing information from the work groups and exploring methods to increase the probabilities for success at NACHRI. Perhaps the most important reason we chose to work with Strategic Alignment Partners is the trust placed in Gayle Abbott as a person and a professional. She always works within the best interest of NACHRI, and has always provided honest and meaningful assessments. She knows the staff, knows the association and has shown a commitment to "our" success.
-Mark Riley, NACHRI, Alexandria, VA
Through the coaching and clearing process Elizabeth was able to help me identify and get rid of some limiting beliefs I had about myself that I didn’t realize I had or understand they were holding me back. She was able to help me break through these beliefs and help me get to the next level both professionally and personally. Over the last year I have taken on a new role that I never would have taken on prior to my coaching experience. This new position requires a lot more flexibility, has more uncertainty, and there is less that I can personally control, but despite all that I love my new position and have found a new career opportunity I never would have considered, yet truly enjoy it. I can handle more responsibility and stress now while still staying calm without letting my emotions take control. This process has given me an opportunity to see what my full potential could be, and how to get there.
-Miranda, Association, Phoenix, AZ