Darlene Goetzman
Consultant, Coach & Certified Dialogue Education™ Teacher
Co-owner, Global Learning Partners, Inc.

Leanne Eko Seattle, WA

Darlene’s style of coaching is not only insightful, but uplifting as well. I remember eagerly awaiting her responses to my drafts. I came away from our phone consultations feeling energized and excited to do more work. Darlene constantly challenged me to look within myself to find the answers I was searching for. I frequently reflect back on our work together. When I get “stuck” on a design, I pause and think, “What questions would Darlene ask me to gain insight on where I go from here?” More often than not this leads me forward in my design. Working with Darlene was one of the most beneficial and rewarding experiences of my career. Leanne Eko is an Independent Nutritional Education Consultant whose clients include Washington WIC and Head Start, among others.

Combining her knowledge of adult learning theory, practice and evaluation with her experience in effective organization development, Darlene M. Goetzman brings a unique combination of expertise to her work as a consultant, coach/mentor and teacher. Her well-rounded business experience includes starting and running several small businesses, serving as an executive director for three not-for-profits, and thirteen years of consulting and coaching work. Darlene specializes in learning-centered curriculum design and delivery solutions for educators and organizations, with a current focus on coaching and mentoring work. Darlene excels at seeing the detail and the big picture simultaneously, and connecting these to implications for the future. By respectfully asking provocative questions, and providing concrete and meaningful examples, her coaching stretches with her clients as a natural part of the work together.

Darlene has been working with Dialogue Education™ since 1992. Now one of seven co-owners of Global Learning Partners, Inc., and a Certified Dialogue Education™ teacher, Darlene’s teaching and curriculum design work is informed by participatory principles and practices that create and sustain an environment conducive to effective learning, retention and transfer. These principles and practices underlie all her work, so that engagement, dialogue and respectful accountability form the basis for her successful coaching and consulting work as well.

Darlene is a certified Associate with the Human Systems Dynamics Institute, and as an adjunct professor with Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, has taught several courses related to human development, learning and teaching. In addition to numerous curricula and training handbooks, her publications include a chapter in Dialogue Education at Work, edited by Jane Vella. (Jossey-Bass, Spring 2003.) Darlene is active in community service projects with local groups, including Genesis House, a homeless shelter for families and Zonta Club of Olean, a member of Zonta International, which supports the advancement of the status of women locally and worldwide. Past service projects have included the Pfeiffer Nature Center’s Camp Typnahdi, the Allegany-Limestone Elementary & Middle School: Odyssey of the Mind, and Community First, a local community development group of which she was a founding member.

Read more about Darlene's qualifications and experience...

Darlene’s recent achievements include the development of A Coaching and Resource Guide For People Designing Curriculum Using the Dialogue Education™ Approach to Adult Learning, and completion of a major curriculum development project with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Asthma Unit. But perhaps her most rewarding successes have been related to her coaching work, for which her clients have lauded her expertise, insight and mentoring style.

Sigrun Wolff Saphire   Brooklyn, NY

Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful contributions. I truly admire your ability to nip and tuck and tailor tasks so that they fit just right, combined with a facility to keep the overall picture in mind and in focus at all times. Your knack for delivering your thoughts with a light touch makes our work that much more rewarding and fun! Sigrun Wolff Saphire is a Curriculum Developer with Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, Brooklyn Urban Gardener certificate program.

Read more from Darlene's clients...

Whether you are seeking effective learning solutions for your organization, or support for your own teaching and curriculum design work, contact Darlene to put her skills and expertise to work for you.