Executive coaching, consulting & facilitation

Christine provided me with sound coaching during a particularly tumultuous period of organizational redesign. Through our meetings, she reaffirmed my capabilities, sharpening the leadership tools that I have at my disposal. As a result of her coaching, I feel confident in my approach to new and uncertain situations, knowing that I can trust my judgment. Our meetings were always vibrant; I felt that I walked away with a tool or framework which I was able to use immediately.

MARK SELAK, Director, Digital Transformation

My business was growing and I needed guidance. Christine’s business experience, her professionalism mixed with a fantastic sense of humour was just what I needed! She will challenge you and keep you accountable in a safe environment. Results for me included greater confidence and clarity, enabling me to maximize each day and keep living life to the fullest at work and at home. I highly recommend Christine’s coaching services. You will achieve your goals.

JANET HELM, Realtor

Christine is a phenomenal career coach with a broad range of skills in all things HR. She was instrumental in helping me reach my potential by giving me the tools and confidence to take my career to the next level. I highly recommend her as someone you want in your corner to help you reach your professional goals and I can't overstate how her advice, development and understanding was key to my professional success.

LUKE GILLIES MEM, P.Eng, C.I.M. – Deputy Director, Project Management and Delivery | Lonsdale Energy Corporation

Christine calmly wandered into a group of 12 individuals, and layer by layer peeled back our thick skin, to reveal the loving hotelier inside each of us, and then found a way to touch each and everyone one of us in her own way, to ultimately create a TEAM, ready to tackle the next phase of our leadership journey together. Thank you, Christine, I don’t think you realize the power of your sincere, educated, and genuine approach toward people in need. We are forever grateful.

IAN JONES, General Manager – Marriott Victoria Inner Harbour Hotel

Christine is truly the best executive coach I have ever worked with. If you are thinking of investing in a coach, Christine should be the first person you reach out to. Christine is empathetic and truly listens. She challenges you to think differently and makes you ask yourself the really tough questions. She also has a strong understanding of how relationships and organizational dynamics work, and helps you get the most out of them. Christine is an incredible human being and coach. I can’t thank her enough for her support and guidance over the years.

MEGHAN SMITH VP People & Culture (Toronto)

I have known Christine for over 10 years and have had the opportunity of collaborating with her on work focusing primary on leadership and culture. Christine is an authentic, respected, experienced, and strong leader. I saw her lead a cultural transformation across a Canada wide organization. In the midst of challenging change initiatives, the organization’s engagement scores rose to 86%, following a positive trend over three years. This level of engagement stands out in enterprise-sized organizations and was recognized in The Achievers Top 50 Most Engaged Companies. This accomplishment has a great deal to do with Christine’s leadership. The fact that she managed to accomplish this while simultaneously renewing eleven collective agreements across seven provinces and rolling out a company-wide values program, all the while doing her “day-job,” is quite a feat. Very few people get the opportunity to create value at this level of HR on a national scale in their career, let alone have them happening in such a short timeframe. It’s impressive.”

MIKE DESJARDINS Driver (CEO) – ViRTUS

I have known and worked with Christine in various capacities since 2010. She has an extremely keen sense for organizational dynamics and, while always objective, brings a personal and empathetic approach to all of her dealings. In working with her as a colleague I have always been impressed by her ability to distill complicated business and personnel issues down to their more practical elements; in working with her as a teammate she has the ability to lead and contribute while always being inclusive; and, in working with her as a coach I have found her to be one of the most insightful and human leaders I have met. Christine excels at strategic thinking and planning, but is always in tune with tactical implementation, particularly as it has to do with the use and management of, and the impact to, the people within a business.

TEJASH CHAUHAN Vice President, Asset Management

With compassion and without judgement, she met me right where I was at. Thanks to Christine’s kind and genuine presence, I learned quickly to trust my own discernment while transforming my ways of being in the world. Her insights and intuitive questions provided the guidance I didn’t realize I was seeking until we started working together. I strongly recommend Christine as an executive leadership coach, and as a workshop facilitator. Because of the times we’re living in, all our interactions have been online or over the phone. While I look forward to meeting Christine in person one day soon, she has a gift for connection that transcends the limits of technology.

JENNY VAN ENCKEVORT Principal, Earth to Jenny Communications

I first met Christine when she facilitated an in-person round-table discussion for HR professionals: How do we take our leadership to the next level when we move from director to executive? Christine’s authentic and informed teaching compelled us to invite her back the following year, where she introduced us to Brene Brown’s Dare to Lead material. Facilitating this time over Zoom, Christine was equally present, engaging our group with the material and prompting healthy discussion and growth. Even over video conference, she challenged us to more courageous leadership. I look forward to working with Christine again!

AMANDA MCLEAN Vice President, Human Resources | Young Life of Canada

Passion for people and leadership is what drives Christine. Christine has a unique ability to identify leadership opportunities that are preventing a business from reaching its full potential and can quickly develop and implement action plans to get the right results. Her ability to be a system thinker when it comes to understanding leadership, executive team and business requirements and taking advantage of opportunities sets her apart. At her best Christine is able to partner with key stakeholders within an organization and utilize her deep knowledge of leadership and people needs to create value. I would highly recommend Christine to senior leaders looking for an executive coach or organizations looking to strengthen the connection between its business and its people.

GIRI RAJAMAHENDRAN, BCOM Senior Vice President, Human Capital

Those things that hover in your peripheral vision and stop you from doing it is you really want to do: Christine will help you overcome them. I am so grateful to her for helping me regain my sense of self and for helping me get exactly where I want to be.

CRYSTAL CHOKSHI Principal | Kigo Communications

Why? Christine is an incredible listener, being able to articulate what’s not being said and then providing thoughtful yet direct insights and guidance to help someone like me, get to where I know I want to be. She has a deep breadth of experience—having worked with many senior executives around the world in her career—that for someone like me who has become a people leader in the last 10 years, is able to benefit from. I would highly recommend building a working relationship with Christine and if I can provide any more context here, would be happy to speak with anyone considering working with her: alex@4acap.com

ALEX BENJAMIN President, You Move Me | Partner, 4A Capital Partners

Christine has a gift for holding space that allows people to open things up, dig in and explore the issue, very quickly and effectively. She has a unique way of asking questions, and challenging you to look at your beliefs and the story that you’ve created to assess if they’re true, and if they’re serving you, so you can move forward. The approach and background she provides is a much more human, integrated experience. I came to Christine with a very specific challenge, which was a block around hiring staff and growing a team. My narrative was flawed, one-dimensional and rooted in fear. That narrative and flaw was keeping me from growing my business and looking at future opportunities. In just a few sessions, Christine was able to help me gain a very different perspective, open up insight into opportunities, and get me unstuck.

KARLEY CUNNINGHAM Big Thinker, Growth & Creative Strategist | Big Bold Brand

As a new entrepreneur and speaker, I recently found myself in the position of needing assistance in planning content and structure for a series of online events to a sophisticated audience. Christine acted as my thought partner and sounding board, and helped me to organize my many thoughts and design my sessions in a way that cultivated connection, learning and enabled key messages to land. This was a “high stakes” engagement for me, and I was grateful to have had Christine’s coaching, expertise and collaboration to help me show up as my best. If you are looking for an edge in your professional career, Christine can help you achieve it. I recommend her without hesitation.

A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR

Christine set me on a journey that changed my life. She pushed me to realize that the only expectations I need to live up to are my own, and that I should never be around anyone who makes me deny who I am.

I engaged Christine’s Executive Coaching services during a particularly challenging time in my career. As a senior HR leader, one can often be isolated in terms of who they can speak to about their own professional challenges. When I first started working with Christine, my professional confidence had taken a hit. She was a safe space for me to explore what had led to this shift, put it in perspective and to help me build back my strength.

From there, we worked to uncover the personal values that would guide my professional life, leading me towards a career that is more fulfilling and impactful—a shift I knew I wanted to make but one I wasn’t sure how to on my own. Much has transpired during my work with Christine and she has pivoted to meet my needs each time.

Working with Christine is fun but it’s also work that goes beyond the surface, so one can find out what truly drives them and how they can be their best in work and the world. On more than one occasion Christine has been the one to light a fire in my belly, and helped me rise up to meet challenges and be the best I can be. I am grateful to have her as a secret weapon in my pocket.

I didn’t need a coach…at least that is what I thought. As a person who considers herself well adjusted, successful and overall happy, the concept of coaching really did not resonate with me. I was not a critic but I did not think there was value in the process for me and honestly considered myself “uncoachable”. How wrong I was! It turns out that no matter how well adjusted, successful and happy you are, working with a skilled coach like Christine Maassen can provide a deeper understanding of your motivations, decision-making process and value system. I absolutely loved our coaching sessions and found myself thinking about my career and life in general, in a different way. It has led me to professional choices that feel more rewarding than any I have made in my 20+ year career. It’s so rare to have the undivided attention of a highly intelligent, insightful, kind, and hilarious individual, who is impartial and focused entirely on your success. Time with Christine is invaluable and a gift I recommend all professionals give themselves.

STACEY MORTON Marketing Consultant

At the end of our coaching journey, I have a better understanding of what is important to me, what I want more of in my career and my life and I have made concrete steps to make changes in my life that reflect this new clarity. That is not to say the journey was easy, nor that everything is smooth sailing now. She helped me see that we can build a story about ourselves and hold on to it long past its “best before” date. Christine’s approach of being a booster but still asking tough questions, of providing support as well as space to grow and reflect were what helped me over a hill that I thought was an unscalable mountain and helped me create a new narrative for my life.

I can personally attest to Christine’s qualifications as an organizational leader, strategic partner and executive coach. Our Company operates in an industry – hospitality – where success is achieved by harnessing “human capital” to provide the top-notch services, amenities and special touches that are valued by our guests. Christine’s skills have been instrumental in allowing our organization to mobilize our Associates to provide value to our guests while delivering returns to our investors. Christine has a passion for people. This passion permeates her interactions with everyone in the organization, whether they be executives, front-line associates or guests. Within an executive team, I’ve witnessed Christine’s ability to communicate this passion while understanding the demands of a business and keeping up with the concerns of its stakeholders. Her recommendations are practical and realistic within the context of an organization’s available resources. I unequivocally recommend Christine’s services as a leadership coach and strategic partner to any firm that understands the value of bringing humanity to work!

JONATHAN KOROL President, SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts