Make a change, Book a call

Do you struggle with issues rooted in your past, but impacting your current life? Do you wrestle with depression, anxiety, or addiction? Are you tangled up in a toxic relationship? Therapy is probably the best route for you.

Do you feel blocked in your relationship with God — struggling to find freedom or traction in your spiritual journey? Are you hungry to hear God’s voice in the context of your life? Spiritual Direction or Pastoral Care may be the best next step.

Do you have healthy foundations in place, but feel like you’ve lost your footing? Do you generally know how to move through change — but this time you’re stuck? Have you been haunted by the same performance issues or growth areas year after year? Are you making a vocational pivot or pursuing a dream? Are you hungry for honest mirrors & helpful insights so you can “close the gap” between who you are & who you want to be? Coaching could be just the thing.

It’s tricky, huh?! People often do mean different things when they talk about coaching…

The wide semantic range is confusing, at best. (At worst, it raises legitimate concerns — is this all a bunch of woo woo or a giant waste of time?!)

Perhaps it’s telling that even amidst such broad & amorphous language, the coaching industry continues to grow, with thousands who testify to the transformational power of coaching.

At Storyboard Coaching, we most often define coaching in simple + memorable terms:

Coaching is an action-driven discovery process.
Coaching equips leaders for embodied growth.

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) — the world’s largest organization of professional coaches — defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.

Brilliant!

The ICF has also established a standard of Core Competencies for coaches. They offer a number of pathways to formal accreditation — including partnership with the Neuroleadership Institute, the organization where JT received her formal training.

While formal accreditation can hold value, it must be named that some of the best coaches — like some of the best teachers & leaders — develop & refine their skills by other means.

We like the way Ron Heifetz understands leadership as an “activity” and think of coaching in much the same way.

We love the language Jason Jaggard uses in the context of his Executive Coaching. We can’t improve upon it, so we offer it here to you — alongside attribution and commendation of his coaching.

Coaching is NOT a fit if…

— You think it’s the coach’s job to tell you what to do.

— You’re doing this because someone else is paying for it and you don’t want to look bad by turning it down.

— You’re committed to being defensive during feedback.

— You blame your problems on external circumstances.

— You don’t want to get clear on what you want out of the coaching.

— You do not want to have a vision that requires you to grow to accomplish it.

— You are unwilling to be vulnerable and explore your weaknesses.

— You are not open to new ways of looking at a situation that you’re currently sure you’re right about.

— You are unwilling to experiment with new behaviors.

— You are unwilling to stay with new behaviors.

— You’re not willing to suffer for the results you want to create.

— You’re not excited about exploring generosity or leaving a positive impact in the world.

The work we love at Storyboard Coaching is fundamentally about you and your story—not our questions, our frameworks, or our process.

Simply put, we can’t imagine this world without your unique and beautiful contributions.

You—and only you—carry a singular mix of ideas, quirks, burdens, hardships, and gifts. Our lives are richer and more dimensional because of the stories only you can live and tell. In truth, the stakes couldn’t be higher: everyone and everything is better when you’re living into the fullness of who you are.

Storyteller Ira Glass once said that great stories happen to those who can tell them. We think he’s right. (Of course Ira’s right!) And yet—telling a good story, especially your own, is deceptively difficult.

That’s where storyboarding comes in.

In creative production, storyboarding (think comic-strip frames) is a trusted tool for making sense of complex narratives. It helps storytellers clarify what matters most: purpose, turning points, tension, and timing. And here’s the fascinating part—in a comic strip, nearly all the action happens between the frames.

Storyboarding works by untangling a complicated narrative into a sequence of short, simple frames. It safeguards space to consider how each component part relates to the whole.

When stories are stripped down to these essentials, core themes emerge with greater clarity, beauty, and precision. It’s no surprise that this practice can shave months off a production schedule—or save thousands of dollars by revealing what truly matters.

In oh-so-many ways, coaching is to life what storyboarding is to production.

Coaching is the practical and profound work of honing in on essentials—then bringing creativity, rigor, and grace to serve the story at every turn. It helps you see what’s happening between the frames of your life: the assumptions, patterns, tensions, and possibilities that often go unnoticed but shape everything.

Good coaching—like good storytelling—is also a team sport. The bravest and best work unfolds as clients tap into community: beginning in the coaching space itself, then extending to trusted stakeholders, collaborators, and—before long—new partners and friends. Coaching reminds us that relationships are still the fulcrum on which real transformation turns. Any good story depends on collaboration of this sort.

We also love that storyboards, from their earliest days, invited teams of people to imagine and create something bigger than themselves.

And finally, how could we resist a nod to our beloved Kansas City—where Walt Disney once sketched storyboards for a little mouse who became Mickey. We like to think some of that whimsy lives here still…

Why not step in—and let us know what you think?!

Storyboard Clients routinely experience personal & professional growth, including…

— More clarity about the challenges & opportunities they’re navigating.

— Traction & goal-achievement NOT possible apart from radical candor & fearless coaching.

— Progress in hard change. (Change that’s not just incremental or additive, but operational — brand new ways of thinking, being, and leading.)

— More capacity to bring a full and integrated “self” into into every part of leadership and life.

— Clear-eyed vision around hard realities (no pretending) alongside collaborative leadership (no manipulating).

— Better skills in design-thinking and increased capacity to “build through” hard decisions and difficult realities.

— Insights & break throughs that ripple across projects, profits, team, family, and various life domains.

— Quicker recognition of fear, shame, and anger, alongside resilience, when these threaten to hijack goals and plans.

— Traction and support in next steps that compound to culminate in powerful outcomes.

Storyboard Coaching typically partners with clients on a retainer basis, most often for 6, 9, or 12 months. This allows us to do meaningful work without rushing what deserves time and care.

Most clients receive:

• 2–3 coaching sessions per month (approximately 120 minutes total)

• Unlimited access to spot calls and personal support as questions, decisions, or challenges arise between sessions

At the start of our work together, we take a structured approach to co-creating clear goals and a practical action plan. This gives you a sense of the road ahead—the stages, priorities, and early steps that will guide our work.

At the same time, we’re honest about this: much of the most important work is emergent. It unfolds alongside real-time decisions, discoveries, and the complex systems you’re navigating. Because of that, our coaching rhythm balances clarity with flexibility.

After the initial scope is defined, our work settles into a natural cadence of two complementary session types:

Traction Sessions
Focused on action, implementation, and learning by doing—turning insight into movement.

Discovery Sessions
Designed for reflection, recalibration, and sense-making—especially when plans meet resistance, surprises, or changing conditions.

The balance between Traction and Discovery is shaped by you: your context, your season, and what you bring into the room. We take seriously our role as skilled facilitators—but you are always in the driver’s seat.

Week by week, our coaching relationship is designed to help you:

• Ask the most helpful questions

• Commit to the most effective actions

Rates vary based on timeline, individual vs. team coaching, and the level of support required. What we can promise is this: we treat your time, energy, attention, courage, and financial investment with deep respect. These are precious resources—and we steward them carefully, alongside you.

Jeanette K. Thomas (JT) is a leadership coach, facilitator, and strategic advisor with more than 25 years of experience supporting leaders and organizations navigating growth, transition, and complexity across nonprofit, philanthropic, and faith-based contexts—with increasing engagement alongside senior leaders and leadership teams in the private sector.

She brings together academic rigor and deeply practical, real-world leadership experience.

Education & Professional Training

• BA in Psychology, with a Minor in Business Administration, from Pittsburg State University

• Master of Divinity (MDiv) from Trinity International University

• Brain-Based Coaching Certificate from the NeuroLeadership Institute, grounding her work in applied neuroscience, decision-making, and change leadership

• Adaptive Change Advisors Facilitator

Leadership & Organizational Experience

JT began her career working closely with youth, families, and community organizations in the Kansas City region—developing a grounded understanding of systems, care, and relational leadership.

She later served in pastoral and organizational leadership, with responsibility for global partnerships, teaching, and local community development. These roles sharpened her ability to lead through ambiguity, align diverse stakeholders, and communicate clearly across cultural and organizational complexity.

In 2016, JT joined HOPE International, where she helped launch and grow a new regional market. Over five years, she:

• Built a new regional donor and partner base

• Increased annual revenue from under $12,000 to nearly $1.5 million

• Partnered closely with senior leaders, donors, and cross-functional teams to align strategy, narrative, and measurable outcomes

This season deepened her expertise in strategic growth, partnership development, and implementing values aligned systems—capabilities that translate across organizational settings.

Coaching & Facilitation

While JT has coached throughout her vocational life, she began formal coach training and client work in 2019 and launched Storyboard Coaching in 2020. She now works full-time with business leaders, entrepreneurs, nonprofit executives, and faith-based leaders navigating adaptive change.

Her coaching integrates:

• Brain-based leadership insights

• Systems-aware and adaptive thinking

• Story-centered strategy and communication

• Relational, values-driven facilitation

Clients value her ability to clarify priorities, navigate complexity, and translate insight into disciplined action.

Selected Teaching & Communication Work

JT’s background as a communicator and facilitator is reflected in a number of public-facing projects, including:

November 2024 “The Formed Life” Podcast Interview
HOPE in the Heartland — Album Recap
Sermon — Matthew 11
Video — Deuteronomy/Joshua
Video — Nehemiah/Job
Video — Isaiah/Jeremiah
Video — Zephania/Malachi/Luke
Video — Acts