Business Coaching Services

For Business Owners & Entrepreneurs

Human Resources Basics

Focus your attention where you want to – your core business. We provide comprehensive solutions to fill your company’s HR-related gaps. We offer multiple services that include communication and risk mitigation strategies, performance management systems, employee engagement, benefit package analysis and implementation, job description work, compensation benchmarking and mentoring for HR professionals.

Talent Acquisition, Retention and Staffing Optimization

Attract and retain high caliber employees to sharpen your competitive edge, enrich your work culture, and increase your profitability. We offer tactical and strategic services and systems to recruit the right talent, and optimize staffing levels and job functions.

Leadership and Employee Development

Maximize performance and achieve results by identifying desired outcomes and implementing customized professional development plans. We conduct one-on-one coaching with organizational leaders and team members to identify clear goals, improve job performance, and institutionalize successes.

Strategic Planning

Create a clear vision for all stakeholders, especially for your team. We help you create plans to communicate your business goals and effectively leverage your company’s resources.

Individual Career Coaching

Identify and articulate your greatest attributes. We help you to think strategically about changing jobs, shifting career focus or launching your dream business.  We teach you to create highly-effective marketing collateral that sells your skills to potential employers or business partners. Our personal and professional development process helps you effectively channel your experience and skills so you can achieve and crush your goals.

Testimonials

I often see my clients facing complex organizational, strategic or labor compliance issues that require the skills of a true human resources expert. In these cases, I've never hesitated to ask Beth to jump in. She has a unique blend of technical skills and practical, boots-on-the-ground knowledge that comes from her past work as both an inside HR executive and outside HR consultant. Beth's clients appreciate that she truly understands the nature of interpersonal dynamics and the vastly different needs of companies from startup stage to more mature firms. There is no question that working with Beth is an investment that pays for itself many times over.

Spencer Newman
President / Green Mountain Insight

Beth was a strong contributor to the improved performance of individuals around the Company (Green Mountain Power). She brought clear structure and discipline to our training and development process. She created a consistent process, a realistic budget, and held managers accountable for the development of their employees. She worked closely with managers to coach them through addressing performance issues with strong action plans and clear consequences. Beth’s professionalism, strong commitment to social responsibility and the communities we serve as well as a willingness to take on new challenges, strong focus on performance management, and team player attitude make her a great asset to the business community.

Mary Powell
CEO / Sunrun

Beth Peters / VIVID Workplace proved a great partner for Social Sentinel during a period of rapid growth. Wearing a variety of hats, Beth worked as an extension of our internal team. As such, she was much more effective than traditional outside recruiters when it came to things like talent acquisition. But Beth is more than just a talent acquisition expert. For example, Beth served as a Project Manager for the launch of our employee portal and we were thrilled with the results. With strong business acumen, a deep understanding of organizational dynamics and a commitment to results, I highly recommend Beth and am grateful for her efforts.

David Stetson
President / TenVest

I have known Beth as a trusted colleague since she was the Director of HR and Administration at The Vermont Teddy Bear Co. I consider myself fortunate to have made this connection because Beth has a wealth of HR and business experience and has always been generous in providing advice and perspective for various business and HR challenges. This year I hired Beth to help me do some career planning work. With only a few short meetings Beth helped me zero in on important questions and turn the answers into a focused, pragmatic plan. As a seasoned HR executive Beth has a lot of direct connections, but more importantly understands the career development process and therefore helped me focus on the right actions that would open new conversations and benefit my process. Beth was clear that I was the one who had to do the work and she was not shy about holding me accountable to move my plan forward. She was also my #1 fan and maintained the support, encouragement, and the timely check-ins I needed to stay on track! This is not exactly an easy time to seek out and find a new position, but thanks in part to Beth’s coaching and support I am now in a new position that is the perfect move for my career.

Justin Worthley
Senior People and Culture Leader / Burton Snowboards

Beth helped me build a highly effective and creative organization of motivated, engaged employees over the 10 years I was CEO of Vermont Teddy Bear. She recruited and helped me hire talented people who now hold high profile, key positions in many of Vermont's best companies, guided me through the complexity of HR law and regulation, developed a highly effective seasonal workforce, and teamed with me to build one of the first consumer driven health plans in Vermont. Beth is not the typical HR professional. She tunes into the strategic objectives of the enterprise, thinks outside of the box and is not afraid to take calculated risk in developing an organization. She deeply understands the balance required to advocate for the development of employees and meet the needs of the Company.

Liz Robert

Beth and my professional paths crossed in 2020 during a particularly turbulent time for the world and her organization. Throughout our partnership, Beth demonstrated a consistent commitment to nurturing a diverse community, particularly with intention in the workplace. Her character, professionalism and compassion for others shone through as many organizations, including her own, grappled with questions of police brutality, systemic racism, and how to create & nurture workplaces that could negotiate the many pressures of the outside world. I would love to work with Beth again should the opportunity arise!

Dan Egol
MBA, Executive Director / IDEAS Generation

We hired Beth to facilitate our Executive Director Search for our statewide membership organization. Beth worked quickly and effectively to grasp the character, needs and structure of our organization. This enabled her to become a real partner to the search committee, we could rely on her to manage much of the work of the search from resume review to interview questions and format. She led us in a professional and timely manner. Beth participated in each step of the process including networking for candidates, interviews and deliberation. Together we worked our way from a field of 30 down to our two finalist candidates. I would highly recommend Beth to any hiring process, and would guess these facilitative skills could also be utilized in organizational review and strategic planning.

Katharine Roberts

Among Beth’s many strengths is her unique effectiveness as a connector. Beth has a wide network of colleagues which allows her to maintain a keen awareness of the business climate, job market and professional opportunities for her clients. During my work with her she has readily connected me with people that she thought I might benefit from knowing as resources in my own process. As a result of her generosity, I have been able to broaden my network and quickly make decisions that have increased momentum towards achieving my professional dreams. I would highly recommend Beth to people who are trying to determine next steps. She is very knowledgeable, extremely personable, and has a fantastic ability to help you connect with what is most important to you.

Harriet I. Williams
Ed. D.

I have worked with Beth in a variety of settings over many years. These ranged from the corporate banking sector, as board members at the Boys and Girls Club, to personal and professional coaching. Beth's enthusiasm, passion, diverse knowledge and experience have been an asset to the many organizations and individuals that have had the pleasure of working with her.

Ranjit "Buddy" Singh
MBA, Mortgage Loan Officer / Spruce Mortgage

Cx Associates has been fortunate to work with Beth on multiple occasions. We are committed to developing and using constructive feedback processes to support our firm’s aspiration for continuous improvement. Beth’s compassion, insight, collaboration and knowledge contribute to us developing approaches that support ongoing individual and organizational growth. Beth helped us develop a 360-degree review process that enabled staff to provide constructive feedback to the firm’s principals in a positive environment and she is assisting our management team in understanding and responding to the feedback. Her individual and small-group coaching have helped us improve communication and increase our capacity for mutual understanding

Jennifer L. Chiodo
PE LEED AP, Former Managing Principal / Cx Associates LLC

Neither of our Boards had conducted an Executive Director search in a very long time, and Beth provided us with a level of service that made the entire process enjoyable, timely and successful. The end result speaks for itself: we hired a highly qualified individual as the new Executive Director who has hit the ground running very effectively. Retaining Beth Peters of VIVID Workplace to manage the Executive Director search process was an unqualified success. I cannot speak highly enough of her efforts and dedication to the best possible outcome.

Robert Giroux
Former Executive Director / Vermont Bond Bank

Beth would be an ideal addition to a team that functions in a fast-paced, innovative environment, and that needs a human resources professional who is a strategic player in conceiving and implementing the business’s future. I have worked with a lot of Vermont's HR professionals through client relationships with some of Vermont’s largest and most sophisticated employers. In my opinion Beth is among an elite group of professionals who not only know all the compliance issues, but who also have worked closely with management on strategic priorities. Beth also can deal with demanding environments with grace. She is driven to achieve excellent results for the larger business and will make and communicate hard decisions. At the same time, Beth demonstrates a level of empathy for individual employees that translates into better outcomes, even in difficult situations. As someone who regularly defends employers from lawsuits brought by disgruntled employees, I have to appreciate the latter quality, and must emphasize how important it is to the success of any business.

Jeffrey Nolan, Esq

Beth Peters is a facilitator extraordinaire! I asked her recently to help me facilitate a strategic planning session with over 25 cross functional business partners for a global organization I’ve been working with for years. She was able to integrate in a way that was the perfect blend of egoless presence, intuitive insight and co-partnered flow. She is the perfect blend of professional and personal, adding warmth and wisdom when needed, stepping back and letting participants find their own way when appropriate.

Peter Cole
Founder and Principal / Cole Consulting, LC

LMS is a fast growing family based business. We realized to keep pace with our growth we needed to reach out to other professionals. After meeting with Beth we immediately knew we had found somebody with the experience, insight and strategic thinking we needed. She listens to our ideas and understands what makes us tick. Beth has been instrumental in helping us develop a solid employee performance based evaluation system. She has helped us identify strategic growth objectives that will support our long term goals. Beth brings positive energy, ideas and implementation plans to the table. I highly recommend Beth to help you with your Strategic Growth Plans and Human Resources objectives.

George Lamphere