Mother-daughter duo combine strengths to beneft clients

Mother, daughter combine strengths to benefit clients

Written by MEG H. PARTINGTON Mary Ellen Waltemire

Leadership Coach & Facilitator For One Step Closer Coaching

Kelsi Palmer

Chief Experience Officer Kite & Anchor/passionpeoplepurpose.co

The family business connection:

Waltemire, 68, owns One Step Closer in Hagerstown, a life and leadership coaching business established in 2011. Among the goals of her business are to help clients make positive changes in their lives; take purposeful action to reach their goals; achieve a greater sense of fulfillment; find more balance in their lives; and improve relationships.

Palmer, 40, owns Kite & Anchor, a marketing, advertising and human-resources coaching business born in 2018. She strives to help goal-oriented, success-driven individuals do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. The people with whom she likes to do business are focused on passion, people and purpose.

How long have you worked together?

About five years

How did your working relationship start?

Through the Western Maryland Consortium, Waltemire was leading a multiweek summer session for high school students about work preparedness, but couldn’t teach all the classes, so she suggested that Palmer finish leading them for her. Palmer has been teaching the course ever since and just finished her third year as an adjunct professor at Hagerstown Community College, in partnership with the consortium.

“It was an opportunity for me to get in with HCC as an adjunct professor, and I have my mom to thank for that,” Palmer said.

Waltemire, too, is an adjunct professor at HCC and taught Palmer in 2013, when she was a student in the general management program.

HCC was already offering a program for business professionals to hone their skills in communications, leadership, supervision, customer service and coaching for performance, and Waltemire was one of the instructors. Now a six-week “Management Bootcamp” course, Palmer recently joined her mother as one of the people sharing her expertise with the students.

Mary Ellen Waltemire,right, leadership coach & facilitator for One Step Closer Coaching, which focuses on helping leaders build their skills and her daughter, left, Kelsi Palmer, Kite & Anchor, chief experience officer, with passionpeoplepurpose.co, through which she coaches those working in HR, business and marketing. BY COLLEEN MCGRATH/HERALD-MAIL

What are your roles in the business?

Waltemire is the leadership coach and facilitator at One Step Closer in Hagerstown, while Palmer is the chief experience officer at Kite & Anchor. They do coaching sessions together, each bringing their areas of expertise to the table.

In addition to leading classes at HCC, they teamed up to lead some Learning Lunches offered by the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.

Waltemire brings to the mix ways to build leadership skills and develop strong boards for organizations, and her daughter focuses on the human resources and marketing angles. They also discuss their perspectives based on the nearly 30-year gap in their ages.

“We really do like to offer the different generational options,” Palmer said. “We share the same passion for helping people get to where they need to be.”

What is the most rewarding aspect of being in business together?

“Kelsi’s different perspective is always interesting” and sometimes surprising, Waltemire said.

Collaborating with her daughter has taught Waltemire to be more patient because they tend to work with different senses of urgency. And Palmer has learned to work ahead more, like her

mom prefers to do.

“She has helped me be a bit more prepared in advance,” Palmer said.

Palmer added that she and her mother refer people to each other.

“We understand what our strengths are in working with others as one-on-one coaches and, luckily for us, we have the ability to suggest one another for those strengths. It’s a great feeling to be able to say, ‘Thanks for that opportunity; however, I believe that my mom/my daughter would be a better fit for what you are looking for.’ We share our connections and resources with one another so we can both be successful.”

What is most difficult about working with your parent/child?

Palmer said there are times when she just wants her mother to be a sounding board, not default to coaching mode.

“Sometimes, I just want her to let me vent and be negative for a while,” Palmer said.

But her mother’s tendency to always find the positive in a situation has also helped Palmer do the same for her clients when they are feeling frustrated.

Waltemire said she can get impatient about the “differently prepared” styles that she and her daughter possess. “I’m a little uncomfortable when things aren’t done (early),” she said.

They also overcommunicate sometimes, Palmer said, though it’s necessary when they’re trying to coordinate their busy schedules.

Share a favorite story about your time as business partners.

“We enjoy working together, so it’s hard to find just one example of a favorite time,” Waltemire said. “One that comes to mind for me is the generational discussion. Since we represent two distinct and differently amazing generations, it’s fun to spar friendly with one another during this part of our training.” To make her point, she added a loving jab: “Of course, being a proud part of the baby boomers and being much superior to those millennials in many instances, it is fun to share our very different perspectives.”

Palmer loves the way their varied strengths combine to benefit their clients.

“One of the most memorable examples that comes to mind during a presentation would be our most recent Level Up Leadership sessions with a group of supervisors for a local business,” Palmer said. “The way we are able to get the group talking and discussing real-life scenarios of day-to-day operations and struggles in the workplace has really been beneficial in the training of the team. Helping by sharing some of our previous (and very different) experiences managing employees ourselves helps to drive home the benefit of why both of us bring something different to the nontraditional classroom.

“While Mom is great at suggesting topics and exercises to use, I am equally great at putting together a fun and creative presentation to keep the class flowing between topics. We are a power team and love the opportunity to share these special moments.”

Peaches & Cream Cheesecake

Crust:

¾ cup flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 package vanilla pudding (not instant) 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted ½ cup milk 1 egg

Filling:

15 ounces (2 cups) sliced, canned peaches (save syrup) 8-ounce package cream cheese ½ cup sugar 3 tablespoons peach syrup

Topping:

1 tablespoon sugar ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch pie plate. 2. Spoon flour into a bowl. Combine all crust ingredients and blend with a mixer at low speed until moist. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. 3. Pour crust into a greased pan. Arrange fruit over batter. 4. In a small bowl, combine the remaining filling ingredients. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Spoon within 1 inch of edge of the fruit. 5. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle on top of filling. 6. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Filling will appear soft. 7. Store in a refrigerator.

Source: Mary Ellen Waltemire, owner of One Step Closer in Hagerstown

What advice do you have for those considering going into business with their parent/child?

Palmer emphasized the importance of patience.

She often works with individuals who are transferring leadership of their businesses to a younger generation and helps them figure out what boundaries need to be set between the old and new regimes.