Woo

Communicator

Strategic

Activator

Arranger

Woo • Communicator • Strategic • Activator • Arranger •

As an educator, athletic coach, and faculty developer for over 25 years, I have motivated people young and old to maximize their potential and improve their performance. Upon graduating from Doane College in 1996, I taught high school math and coached basketball at Nebraska City high school until 2001, whereupon I returned to Doane as a faculty member in the Math Department. In the 22 years I have been at Doane, I have been appointed to various leadership roles, including Liberal Arts Instructional Coordinator and co-director for Doane’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Having served in these capacities since 2014, I have overseen programming and assessment for all first year seminars, facilitated faculty workshops, provided early-career onboarding and mentoring for faculty, hosted special interest small-group discussions, and provided individual coaching to faculty members. I am a Gallup-certified Strengths Coach and also hold certification in the EQ-i 2.0 and EQ 360 assessments for emotional intelligence.

J.L. Vertin

Authentic connections

…generated quickly by trust.

Why did you create Vertical Coaching?

I became passionate about Strengths-building because it had a profound impact on me. It provided me a framework to understand that my natural tendencies were not good or bad, but just natural. Instead of trying to focus on “fixing” my weaknesses, I spent more time figuring out how to turn my talents into strengths. To put it another way, Instead of focusing on my C-minus talent and trying to turn it into C+, I spent more time taking my A-minus talent and turning it into A+. 


As I went through the certification process, I received several affirming comments from other attendees during the training process. The common theme: “You are good at this.” I created Vertical Coaching to expand the impact to others searching for the same vertical and horizontal growth I was.

You can count on me to:

  • Quickly make an authentic connection that generates trust and makes you feel at ease

  • Use positive body language and active listening to understand your challenges and highlight important takeaways

  • Identify how your combination of strengths will lead to action items towards successful outcomes

  • Generate enthusiasm for how you can utilize your strengths to get started on action items

  • Connect you with a network of resources and people that empowers you to meet your goals