Today we’d like to introduce you to Patricia Hylton.
Patricia, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Hmmm…. where to start… I never thought I stood out from the crowd in any way or really had much of a story to tell. I was born into a pretty large family with siblings who are much older and more extroverted than I. Never saw myself as a leader or at the forefront of anything and had become pretty good at hiding in the crowd and lending support from behind the scenes.
My family members are affiliated in one way or another with the medical field with one niece who is an RN. Her mom took care of the elderly.
Another sister is a pharmacy technician and so on, and so on. I went to a High School in New York that specializes in Nursing.
So, clearly, I naturally believed and assumed I would also go into the medical/caregiver field. Not so. I did not like the medical-related classes and instead was drawn to anything business-related or anything that required complex analysis, creative thinking and solutioning or problem-solving. I didn’t know where that would all lead. I pursued my Associate’s degree in Business and started working in Mergers & Acquisitions for JPMorgan on Wall Street. Doing so, I still did not feel fulfilled and felt without direction.
I moved with my family to Ft. Lauderdale. My first job in Florida was for a small magazine company owned by a husband and wife. After learning a little about membership practices and ad-buying and ad-placement decided to go back to school and pursue my Bachelors Degree. I graduated with my degree in Business Administration. I did not like NOT knowing how businesses operated. In general, I just don’t like NOT knowing something.
I began working at the HQ of a large staffing company and worked first as a training coordinator (this fed my love of learning and my introverted side that loved supporting people from behind the scenes.) I later transitioned into curriculum development, which also fueled my love of the English language, helping people learn and also teaching. When I moved to another company, I applied for a technical role in the Human Resources function (because I’m a tech-addict).
The VP of the department, however, said that she thought my verbal communications skills and professional demeanor would be a better fit for up-front class facilitation (a highly visible role) and convinced me to consider that non-technical role instead. That was about the time when I found my voice. That was the start of me stating what was in my mind, having an opinion and standing my ground. It was also when I began to push myself to step out from behind the crowd.
I came to realize the bigger impact I could make in peoples’ lives if I was leading from the front and not from the back and if I was leading by example. As I accelerated in my career in Corporate America, I stepped up in my leadership skills, in my leading of others and in my helping them. I began to focus on making an impact, not just in the company and the function in which I worked, but also in lives of leaders and of individuals.
I spent over 15 years working for large corporations, helping leaders lead and helping individuals realize their potential. I’ve focused on serving them from a partnership perspective as a means to building them up by showing them their potential and maximizing the same so they can eventually transform into and become exactly whom they are inside.
When I took a break from Corporate America to take care of some important family matters, friends and former colleagues kept asking me why I don’t start my own company. That has never really been something I saw myself doing. Yet, the more I thought about it, the more of a pull I was beginning to feel. I conferred with a few small business owners to get their thoughts and insight and did some soul searching.
Overall, I felt uncertain. But, having just given my life to Christ, I turned to Him for the ultimate guidance. His answer was very clear. He reminded me of the gifts He has given me for teaching, encouraging and leadership. So, I bit the bullet and registered and launched my company: Synergist Coach & Consulting Services. My company mission statement is a reminder of these gifts: “To Serve. To Build. To Transform.”
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No…. it certainly has not been an easy or smooth road (insert eye-roll emoji! ☺). The largest hurdle was first applying my own coaching to myself and practicing what I was preaching. I had to tell myself to get out of my own way.
It took a little time before I accepted that I had something the world could benefit from and to realize that holding back, even if out of fear, would just be downright selfish. I already had years as a Senior Certified Human Resources Professional working at the Executive level. I’ve tackled some pretty challenging situations in the past, so why be afraid now?
Ok, I was a little afraid. Where do I start? Where do I go? What am I all about? Do take a bold step and wear my heart on my sleeve (so to speak)? How do I market my business?
I looked everywhere. I read tons of textbook and studied old techniques but came to find quite a few of them leaned more towards being “schemes” focused on moneymaking but not on making an impact. What I had a hard time finding were other similar businesses/companies with substance. I was challenged in finding a company with a heart that truly wanted to help others.
I started talking and working with individuals, solo-preneurs and micro-to-small business owners. The more I talked and worked with them, the more I started to find my niche (for now anyway). I initially struggled with whether to target women in business or female executives and so forth but decided to begin by focusing on where the needs are right now and to let that dictate where I go next.
Synergist Coach & Consulting Services – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Where my focus is, at present, and where my interactions have led me, is working with smaller owners who want to speak the same language as their much bigger competitors and who want to understand how to play in those types of environments.
This allows me to work different hats and go between Human Resources Consulting, Business Coaching and Consulting and Professional and Personal Coaching. It’s working with the already successful to help them focus on how to take things to the next level and become even more successful. It’s taking the small mom and pop operators to the next level that may include total systems implementation and associated training and policy/process implementation.
It’s also working with them to get comfortable with company growth and to let go of the smaller things so they can be more strategic and less manual and tactical. This at times can include executive presence, communication skills and being visionary. It’s working with professionals to improve professionalism in the workplace and in personal and professional development for career growth and career mapping. It’s also working with individuals on a more personal/life coaching level to help them get out of their own way so they can get to where they want to go.
I’ve also been blessed with key partnerships and with joining a consortium of Executive Coaches and Small Business Consultants. We lend support to each other where there may be overflow that necessitates additional resources or where one or another area of expertise is needed.
At Synergist Coach & Consulting Services, we are Executive/Professional, Personal Coaches and Human Resources, Small Business Consultants. We are accountability partners, motivators, and cheerleaders. Our philosophy and core methodology embodies this quote by Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
We turn uncertainties into certainty and provide clarity where there may be confusion. We ask the questions that need to be asked to get folks where they want to go. Synergist Coach-Consultants guide individuals/ companies through creating action plans/roadmaps and partner with them every step of the way as they put plans in motion.
I say, “Why go it alone?” If they could have done it all on their own, they would have done so already. If they’ve been doing it solo, we recommend their taking a bold step in seeing how much more they can accomplish with someone by their side, coaching them to success. We want to work with these individuals because they’re already successful, but we can help make them even more successful. We work with them to propel them to the next level and to become who they want to become. We work with our clients to make them stronger, bigger and better.
What sets us apart is our flexibility and our adaptability in meeting our client’s schedules wherever in the world they may be located and at whatever time is most convenient for them. We put our clients in the driver’s seat where we are the windshield through which they can see their possibilities but they are the drivers in control of the steering wheel.
We utilize servant leadership practices and infuse strategic disruption where necessary to break up the monotony, get them out of a rut and to help them think and see things differently. Our pricing is dependent on how our clients value themselves. Essentially, our pricing is determined by how much our clients believe they are worth both in time and money and we work with them from there.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I have a couple that competes for my proudest moments. One of them was with one of my earlier clients. I had just completed a full system implementation and process implementation. The wife, who was also co-owner, was always uncomfortable with technology. The first time she processed an end-to-end transaction in the new system and attached the resulting report to an email and sent it elicited a squeal of excitement. That made my heart melt.
She was so excited that everything worked out and the world did not come to an end and it was done so fast and seamlessly. To me, it was like a mommy watching her baby take his first steps. She just kept going and going and when she eventually encountered a hiccup, she worked through it without fear and plowed straight ahead.
The second moment relates to life coaching. I sensed resistance during our exchanges and that made me wonder if anything I was doing or saying was making any impact at all. We talked about her relationship with her daughter and about her interactions with a particular friend. It wasn’t until she told me that if it weren’t for our conversations that she didn’t know how she would have gotten through some of the difficulties. She said I helped her reframe how she viewed things in general and in her interactions and relationships. That was when I saw where my guidance, coaching, and support had brought about the change that was needed.
These moments solidified for me why I do what I do. I do this for those “ah-ha” moments. I do this to see that happiness. It’s to see that confidence in someone when they accomplish for the first time something they once thought was impossible. It’s to see the quiet confidence they now have in themselves and their abilities.
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Anonymous.
This is what drives me.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3700 Airport Road Ste. 303 Boca Raton, FL 33431
- Website: https://www.Synergist-ccs.com
- Phone: 754-300-7292
- Email: Patricia@Synergist-ccs.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/synergistccs/
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/SynergistCoachandConsultingServices
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SynergistCCS
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/27025351/
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