EvolutionFM Transcript: Unicorn Startup Reveals How Embedded Coaching Transforms Companies (Alita Watson)

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Alita Watson is the pioneer of “embedded coaching,” she redefines what it means to support people within fast-scaling organizations. With over 15,000 coaching sessions under her belt, Alita’s secret sauce lies in her ability to be a cultural anchor—guiding leaders through emotional minefields while staying laser-focused on human potential. From her roots in global aid work to becoming the monk-like fixer in a unicorn startup, she shares how relational intelligence, not strategy alone, is the heartbeat of thriving companies.

Her methods fuse HR savvy with deep personal development, sparking transformation that echoes far beyond performance metrics. She’s a force of nature helping people say the thing they’ve been holding back. And just when you think she’s said it all, she hints at what happens when silence is finally broken and the real conversation begins.

Transcripts may contain a few typos. With many episodes lasting 1+ hour, it can be difficult to catch minor errors. Enjoy!

Scott Britton (00:00.518)

Alita, what's going on?

Alita (00:02.776)

How's it going, Scott? Good to be with you.

Scott Britton (00:05.758)

Great to be with you. So excited for this conversation just because we had such an easy spark when we first connected.

Alita (00:14.382)

We really did. I mean, we talked for like a half an hour and it was, covered so many things in such a short period of time. So yeah, it was one of those first impressions. I'm like, oh, I want more. I was so lit up hearing what you're up to in the world and your curiosity was just so refreshing. yeah.

Scott Britton (00:24.818)

Yeah, yeah, well...

Scott Britton (00:31.582)

Well, thank you. mean, the whole world of embedded coaching was one that I didn't even know existed. It's one of those ideas where I was like, I didn't know this existed. This makes so much sense. Why isn't everyone doing this? Right? Which I'm sure maybe you've had that internal dialogue. And and so maybe we just start this out here by like, defining it what is embedded coaching?

Alita (00:49.102)

you

Alita (00:56.844)

Yeah. Embedded coaching is essentially an internal coaching function that serves all layers of the organization and kind of adapts with the business and the culture and the people as it evolves. So that can mean that you're coaching multiple different teams. It can mean that you're coaching all the way from the C-suite down to customer facing employees.

It's working very closely with HR to respond to feedback, engagement surveys, to really work with those leaders to see where they can up-level, where they can improve communication. And ultimately, after doing it for a period of time, I feel like embedded coaches kind of become cultural ambassadors, like the key to embedding.

the ways that we working as companies scale, as teams are working in dispersed ways. When in our sessions or our teamwork, I'm kind of weaving in the language and the values and the kind of anchoring us in how we're going to collaborate and deal with conflict and kind of live the principles that is just more than writing on the wall. So.

Scott Britton (02:01.31)

Mmm.

Alita (02:11.214)

It also looks very different. I've come to learn for each organization and each coach. And, um, yeah, I think it's like, it's really a way to innovate the HR function and have the people within a business relate to the HR function is actually for the people here, you know, kind of a way for them to do their inner work in the workplace when things get hard. That's the gist. Yeah.

Scott Britton (02:35.794)

I love it. I want to dive deeper into that. And while we're here, I did think this quote on your website was epic that maybe is a tee up of why this is important. So I'm just going to read it and then we can start riffing on it. In an era of dispersed teams, advancing AI and relentless uncertainty, the most pressing challenges organizations face aren't just strategic, they're relational. What do you mean by that?

Alita (02:59.054)

Mm-hmm.

Alita (03:02.702)

I, Esther Perel, who I'm a big fan of, she had a quote that just really has influenced so much of the work that I do that relational intelligence is the new bottom line. And so what that means for me, relational intelligence is the ability to both be in connection and stay in connection. So being in connection is being open, curious, aware, having a desire to go deeper and to know the humans that you're working with, what motivates them.

how they can feel really seen. And then how do you stay in connection when there's a collapse, when there's a conflict, when people just, you don't like someone. Instead of withdrawing, shutting down, writing stories, rallying, all this kind of toxic stuff that happens within cultures, how can you lean in and reveal your true experience while kind of staying on your side of the street? Meaning how can you be in conflict by

you're naming what's true for you, but also being really open to the other person's experience versus all the other kind of stuff that we do in those situations. And I think that this skill is something that should be taught in the much younger years. We didn't really learn these skills. A lot of it is modeled by our parents or leaders that we've worked with.

I think that having a lack of relational intelligence leads to a lot of suffering, especially in the workplace when there's power dynamics and all different kinds of complexities that makes relationships more challenging than outside. Yeah.

Scott Britton (04:42.194)

Yeah, you know, it's not the number one thing that gets brought up at the board meeting, right? That's like, our problems lack of relational intelligence. But at the end of the day, a business is a collection of people. I mean, if we can't work together, like, what are we doing? You know, it's the most, it is so core. What?

Alita (05:00.256)

It is so core and humans are so weird and wonderful. Like we come to the table with all kinds of life experiences, traumas, beliefs, ideas about how things should work. And if we don't have a way to communicate that while kind of, you know, doing it in a clean way, staying on our side of the street, using language that is going to bring people closer and curious versus, you know, shutting down and withdrawing.

I mean, that's going to inform everything from how much people engage, how creative they can get, how innovative they can be, how collaborative they can be. And so, yeah, I mean, I think this is essential. And since I've learned these tools, mean, by the way, I never really knew I was gonna be doing this. Like I told you, I was a fan of big leaps. And one of my big leaps in life was to kind of learn how to communicate and relate in a way.

that would deepen relationship, that would bring people together. And so now that I've learned this and I teach this and I teach other coaches how to do this in organizations, it's also how I live. I'm kind of committed to naming what's happening for me in the moment and really being present with it and not withholding or tolerating. I'm not good at tolerating, I'm a fiery redhead. So if I'm tolerating something, it comes out sideways. So I had to learn how to...

how to really use these tools. And I mean, it's changed everything for me. And I see it and it's so rewarding being in an organization and seeing how it completely changes dynamics and like to coach someone and then send them out into the ecosystem and have them try this on is so awesome. It's so beautiful. And so it's like, I never get tired of it. I've done over 15,000 coaching sessions in the last eight years.

Scott Britton (06:30.558)

Hmm.

Alita (06:53.942)

I just am endlessly just kind of in awe of what people are capable of once they have the courage to kind of lean in and be their authentic selves. Yeah.

Scott Britton (07:05.3)

I love it. mean, that's what we're all about. A conscious talent is creating the connections that create the organizations that start to create that type of space. I think, you know, how did this whole like you, I look at you and I'm like, this this embedded coaching thing is very pioneering. And your story is pretty damn cool. So like, how did you get into this whole thing?

Alita (07:16.065)

So awesome.

Alita (07:27.587)

Yeah.

Alita (07:31.534)

Thank you.

Alita (07:35.138)

Thanks. Yeah. I mean, it was so, I do find that when you take big leaps in life, like, you know, I kind of quit a big job and decided to really geek out on organizational health and communication and leadership just because I saw like the impact when it wasn't working, coming from a lot of chaotic and tumultuous environments. I was in global aid for many years before this work. And so

I just went on a learning journey and ended up signing up for a year long course and about halfway into that course I was like, wow, if we could bring these tools into organizations, it would really create a paradigm shift. I had no idea how I was gonna do that. I never really identified as a coach or don't even resonate with that word still to be honest.

But it was about that time that I finished that training and I was kind of putting my feelers out and a colleague of mine who's a masterful executive coach is working with a young CEO of a unicorn startup. He was like 22, 23 at the time and got his world rocked and knew that they were gonna be growing really fast. And he's like, I want all of my new managers to have access to coaching. Like everyone needs access to this which would have been cost prohibitive.

so they decided to come up with this model of an embedded coach and, he introduced me to CEO. We kicked it off in the first conversation. It just felt like a fit for so many different reasons. And we really didn't know what it was going to turn into. cause you know, the company was growing so fast. were 150 people at the time. There was one HR person. And so the two of us put our heads together and figured out how to make the most out of this function.

which was complicated because obviously coaching needs to be held in a safe and confidential container. But there was a lot of overlap with employee relations and just a lot of disconnects from, you know, frontline employees all the way to C-suite, dispersed teams, know, multiple cities. And so it was kind of the perfect storm for me to be put into.

Alita (09:41.772)

a situation where I kind of became like the monk in the office. you know, word spread, like if you're going to meet someone, go talk to Alita. And, you know, it wasn't any kind of coaching that I'd ever done before. It was rapid fire, shit's hitting the fan. How are we going to get through this? And I think because of my unique skillset from the past and what I was bringing to the table with this kind of new relational intelligence skills was turned out to be a really

Scott Britton (09:46.206)

That's a sick title.

Alita (10:11.608)

fascinating constellation that worked. And then meanwhile, I have these two brilliant humans, my Jason Gore, who was the executive coach, who was teaching me, you know, all of the different ways to navigate with the complexities and the dynamics and the hierarchy and how I could actually effectively escalate themes to leadership to make sure that they could get ahead of some of the things that were happening under the hood that HR would have missed. Whether that was, you know, a leader who just

wasn't operating in a way that was aligned with our values, or there was just consistent conflict amongst a team. I could kind of go in there and as an outside source, as someone who people trusted because I was in HR, I was kind of this unique position between the business and the people, they felt safe enough to just really like, tell me what was going on for them. And because there was so much at stake, we could move really quickly.

So I knew what was the dynamics of the business and where we're at and all of the context. And then we could go into these sessions and it was like, you know, we'd already had 10 sessions because I know all of it and we could just get right to the heart of things and move really quickly. And I think there's something about working in a startup when there is urgency, all eyes are on you, big decisions have huge ripple effects. And so when someone comes to me and they're like, just help me figure this out. I have no idea what.

I have no idea how to be with this human. I have no idea how to deal with this conflict. We'd work together in a really fast way and they would go out and completely change the dynamic. And then I would hear about it. Like, whatever you did with that guy, it's working, you know? And so that's how it started. We grew from 150 people to 2,500 people. We scaled globally.

and that, you know, so my role kind of evolved into helping people adapt into new cultures, how to scale their team when they're working in a completely different environment, or speak different languages. So it was a really cool, opportunity to weave in all of my past experiences and then go into a, an environment where I could plug and play and, know, create workshops or.

Alita (12:28.398)

created training that was tailored just to the specific audience. I mean, it was kind of a coach's dream come true because you have endless people who are like, help me, I need to figure it out. And then so many opportunities to kind of create something that wasn't off the shelf, really customize it. So it resonated with the leader or a particular group that I was working with. So I was there for six years. I did hire two other embedded coaches. And then at one point I wrote an article

Scott Britton (12:44.627)

Hmm.

Alita (12:57.164)

about why I believe every startup needs an embedded coach. And that kind of went viral. And they started having CEOs and HR leaders reach out to me being like, how did you do this? Because historically, internal coaching kind of had a bad rap, right? So we created a model and a framework that actually does work. And I've scaled it. And since placed other coaches and have kind of, yeah, helped

helped different companies at different stages adopt this model and really help them to help the coaches integrate into the organization, know, doing it, using all the tools and really making sure that they're honoring confidentiality, which is, which is tricky. So sorry, that was long-winded.

Scott Britton (13:39.706)

No, I mean, amazing background. You forgot the part where they invented a character on the show billions of value. Couple questions I have. First is, is the coaching that you've seen primarily when startups do this, is it performance oriented? Is it developmental? Is it a mix?

Alita (13:46.07)

Yes, totally.

Alita (13:53.294)

Yeah.

Alita (14:06.39)

It's really a mix. Like the billions coach, she was largely about performance and strategy. My work really changes based on the human that I'm focusing on in the moment. I think that there's, so I'll back up. So what I developed is there's five different types of coaching that I provide in an organization. It's spot coaching, which is just rapid.

rapid fire ad hoc coaching, structured coaching, involves a 360, a whole program where we do a progress report. I do team coaching, and then I do triad coaching, which is like conflict resolution, which can involve multiple people or just one-on-one. And so it's really about kind of meeting people where they're at and also making sure that we're,

we're enabling the next generation of leaders, which means that yes, I wanna up level you as a leader, but also as a human, which is where we do start to kind of not weave in, but we cross into spiritual development and human development, personal development, all the different developments. And so that's kind of where we can really go anywhere in our sessions.

Scott Britton (15:25.512)

Mm, I love that. You know, you mentioned confidentiality, like, I remember I was having a conversation with Diana Chapman of Conscious Leadership Group. and she, you know, I was like, so like, what's the ROI on this stuff, right? I'm sure you get that question a lot. And she's like, you know, I can't honestly say that

Alita (15:38.366)

yeah.

Scott Britton (15:49.67)

it's like a direct through line of like coaching equals profit or a conscious, conscious leadership equals profit, right? Because the reality is, is a lot of people get coaching, or they do they get it, they, they get on their consciousness journey, and then they realize they're out of alignment. And they don't want to work at the company anymore. Right. And so like, you have this weird thing where there's like, there's more connection, there's more engaged employees, there's just like, lot of positive things. But there's also these other externalities that you can't predict.

Alita (15:55.981)

Yeah.

Scott Britton (16:19.794)

And so like we have to be honest about them. And it makes me think about like, what are the conditions that must be in place for an embedded coaching like thing to exist in a way that really honors the whole, the people at the company and also is a good thing for the business. I'm curious how you think about that.

Alita (16:22.445)

Yes.

Alita (16:48.59)

It's a great question.

I think my goal is always to support the human first. know, if I'm meeting with a person three or four times in a row and they're really unhappy and we've tried all different types of strategies and, you know, supported multiple conversations and we're getting to a place where they just don't feel in alignment with their values. If they feel like they're operating outside of their integrity, if they feel like they have reached their

capacity in this organization, then I absolutely will support them in imagining what's next for them. Like I always say, I'm never going to convince you to like stay here and push harder and just do it for the company. Like that's not my way. I see people as fully empowered and capable human beings. And if this is what they decide to do, if a transition is what they're ready for, if they are seeking something bigger outside of themselves, then

Scott Britton (17:30.537)

Bright.

Alita (17:49.334)

I'm in support of that because I think it ultimately is what's best for the company too. I think that prolonging the inevitable can cause more damage than good. But there have been many instances where people really do go through tremendous transformation. And that usually comes with a lot of breakdowns and a lot of dark night of the soul and a lot of deep confrontation for them to get to that place of being like, okay, I think.

Scott Britton (17:54.973)

Yeah.

Alita (18:16.204)

You know, like, kind of think it's like any relationship where you go in with this, you know, this idea of the biggest love that you could ever imagine. And then slowly as, you know, you get deeper into a relationship, you recognize how much of you is going to be able to meet its full potential. Where are, where, where is the capacity actually limited and how can you work with that and

you know, stay in it as long as you can to see what's possible before slamming a door, shutting down and withdrawing. But at some point, I think that once you have done the work, it takes a lot of courage to be like, okay, it's time for me to go. You know, and so I kind of use that similar approach when I'm coaching people out. I don't even like saying coaching people out. It's like, I just noticed the patterns. If I see someone stuck and they just can't get unstuck, then there's bigger questions we need to be asking. Right? Yeah.

Scott Britton (19:08.212)

Mmm.

So as a founder, I guess you need to be comfortable with the fact that this is a people-first investment that may positively impact the business versus I'm doing embedded coaching because it's 100 % gonna just move the bottom line.

Alita (19:30.166)

Yeah. mean, the bigger picture is, is that having an embedded coach does improve the bottom line because it informs retention, engagement. A lot of people said yes to their roles because they had an embedded coach. I, know, and so they're like, and I mean, of course all the other aspects of what an embedded coach does, like absolutely informs the bottom line. And there's going to be people that I'm going to.

Scott Britton (19:45.332)

That's cool.

Alita (19:59.798)

recognized as not the right fit, not in the right position, just not happy in their role. And I'm gonna do whatever I can to make sure that that changes because it is detrimental to the business. in some instances, when someone is really stuck, I'll ask for permission. I'm like, I bring this into a wider conversation? Because there's levers potentially that I can't pull, but I wanna help you make sure that you've investigated all of the different ways.

we can adjust, modify or shift this dynamic before you come to a conclusion that this isn't the right fit, if this is in fact what you want, right? So it's not a full stop in me, with me, I'm just the kind of the catalyst to broaden the view, the opportunity.

Scott Britton (20:44.018)

And is the expectation generally like when you advise companies on this that like, you're not like, it's like, there's a confidentiality and like, there's a permission required to like, escalate something versus like, kind of being like the CEO whisperer of like, okay, like, here's what's going on with so and so.

Alita (21:04.334)

Yeah, I am very thoughtful about how and what I share with leadership. The bottom line is that if I see or hear something three or more times, I bring it to the table and I'm really careful about how I do that.

But on the flip side, I am an extension of the CEO. That's why my relationship with them is so important because I'm the one who's hearing all of the narratives, all of the swirling, all of the complaints, all of the upsets. And so I want to be able to respond to those in a way that they would. So I'm hearing that this population is really upset with how you address this particular topic. Can you share your rationale? Give me more context.

what else would you want them to know about this decision and what you're thinking long-term for them? So I can calm the waters. So I can make sure that we're creating a shared reality between these two different worlds, right? And that is so helpful because as you know, you know, the stories people tell themselves, which I do believe like 90 % of what people say is a story that they've designed from limited context, their own personal beliefs, something that they heard on the street. And then it turns into

a whole big thing, right? And so if I can nip that in the bud, it's a game changer. but that I will say is kind of fundamental to the success of an embedded coaches is that they have that kind of relationship with the CEO and that the CEO is willing to hear the feedback, right? Like what I refuse to do is being kind of like the poster child for we give a shit about our people.

Scott Britton (22:20.958)

Right.

Alita (22:45.166)

but I'm just holding all of the complaints, stories and upsets without actually able to move the needle, right? Like it has to be received, responded to. And for the most part, I've worked with CEOs who will even own the feedback, like at all hands, be like, I heard that some of you don't like my tone or whatever it is. And it's a really cool way for them to like model a commitment to personal growth.

Scott Britton (22:51.379)

you

Alita (23:11.544)

Right? Like to be vulnerable and share like, I do this thing and I see it now and I want to shift it. Thank you for the feedback. Right.

Scott Britton (23:11.604)

Mmm.

Scott Britton (23:19.828)

Hmm, that's awesome. Couple other practical questions. So like when you have an embedded coach, is it like open door, like people just come in whenever you want? is it people can just schedule as much as they want? Are there certain kind of guardrails about like who gets it and how much and that kind of thing?

Alita (23:25.069)

Yes.

Alita (23:42.112)

I have learned over the past eight years that I think one embedded coach can effectively serve 500 people if they structure their time correctly. So I change my focus to different populations depending on what's going on for them. If they've had a lot of, if they're going through structure change, if they are working under really intense circumstances, if they have a leader that they're not driving with.

I will prioritize them and they can schedule spot coaching for this particular month. Or I will be doing, you know, team coaching sessions for the next two months. Um, I think that having a really strong HR partnership where they can come to me and be like, Hey, there's this, there's this fire over here and we're not sure how to put it out. We love your input. Right. So I can kind of go in there as like the fixer and figure out.

what's actually going on, what needs to change. And because I have the permission of those folks to work with HR, we're much more effective. But yes, an embedded coach does a massive amount of coaching. I when I tell people how much coaching I did, they're like, what? It's kind of insane. But I will say that the reason why I was able to do this effectively, and I know that a lot of coaches don't do this, is that I don't see myself as the fixer.

I see myself as someone who goes and I can give an honest reflection about what I'm seeing, noticing, feeling curious about imagining is might be happening. And just by having that conversation, people usually can come to their own solution on their own. mean, that's the ultimate goal of a coach, but I have found in my experience that a lot of coaches come into this work after going through their own personal transformation and then want to do that for other people. And that will not work.

in a business environment, right? You cannot choose sides. You cannot advocate for a particular interest. The moment that you do that, then you lose trust from the business or the leadership side. So that's a really fine line to walk. And it's been a hard learning curve for the coaches that I've placed.

Scott Britton (25:53.748)

Yeah, that makes complete sense. I've seen a lot of people get into the coaching industry, unconsciously wanting to be the hero, being the one that knows is the pattern. And yeah, eventually, that comes up. The shadow side of that gets revealed.

Alita (26:03.619)

Yeah.

Alita (26:07.979)

Yes.

Alita (26:13.518)

It does.

It does. there's really not a lot of like, justice doesn't apply to business world so much, right? Like there's, there's quite often a lack of fairness depending on the lens that you're looking through. Right. And so it's easy to, for example, you know, hear from frontline or customer facing employees that they're not getting paid what they should, that they're being asked to do too much, that it's being overextended, that they're being burnt out.

that, you know, there's a lot of shoulds and a lot of expectations and a lot of, you know, sometimes even entitlement. And if a coach goes to leadership and starts to advocate for that position, you can imagine how they're going to be responded to because they're not actually bringing in the data, the numbers, the rationale, right? So there's always a different perspective. And I, so you think that that definitely has been to the detriment of coaches who come in wanting to like, you know,

Stand for justice and fairness, because it just doesn't often work that way.

Scott Britton (27:17.458)

Yeah, yeah. So when does it make sense to consider this? Like there's probably startup founders that are listening to this and like, well, yeah, I work with a coach. I get a lot of benefit out of it. You know, would love to offer this to my people. What's what, what inflection point or stage do you think that this is a serious consideration?

Alita (27:41.038)

Well, my answer has kind of changed because when I first started Alma, I would tell people that usually it's around 100 to 150 people when you have a basic HR function in place. But over the past year, I actually have been working with like series A startups, right? Teams of like 15 and 20, but it's not.

It's definitely not in a full-time capacity, but it also is really cool because you feel like you're part of the core team at the very beginning. So we're having, we're doing more culture work. Like who are we? What are the ways that we want to work? How can we create alignment and being consistently modeling the ways of working as we scale? If there's any tensions or disconnects or just, you know,

philosophical differences, this is the time to really get clear on the bigger questions and make sure that everyone is owning it, even if they disagree that they're committing to it. Because then we can really build and scale and onboard people in a way that is inspiring and exciting. But to have a full-time embedded coach, I would say that they're going to be most effective if you do just have a basic HR function in place, so they're not doing a ton of employee relations.

And a lot of HR, or excuse me, lot of coaches don't have the experience of how HR works, which is why traditional HR has resistance to internal coaching because it could potentially create liability. So, you know, that's part of the, I actually have a training that I take folks through. know, the learning basic HR is essential to be effective and having an understanding of how it works.

So with that, mean, and the other thing is that HR has to really be on board with it too. There's been multiple times where I've placed an embedded coach with a CEO and an HR leader that were like, hell yes, we want this. then leadership changed and brought in someone who didn't want that. And it just was not a congruent relationship because we need to be sharing ideas and collaborating and really kind of staying informed and having a pulse on different aspects of the business.

Alita (29:54.37)

When that can happen, amazing things unfold. Like it's really beautiful to see that partnership evolve. So sorry, that was a long-winded answer to your question.

Scott Britton (30:01.926)

No, no, no, no. That's, that's cool. You know, one of the things I wanted to dig in a little bit that's kind of related, you mentioned earlier, it's like, like, integrated coaches have a bad rep, or could have had a bad rep. And historically, like, I actually didn't even know that. And like, what are the criticisms that people should be aware of, or things that can happen if not done, implemented properly?

Alita (30:08.355)

Mm-hmm.

Alita (30:27.072)

Yeah, I mean, I've had to create systems that make it very clear about how I escalate information if it has potential to cause damage to other humans or to the business. And so anytime someone signs up for a session with me, they get a clear explanation of what that actually means. So what that kind of keeps me from is holding secrets. Like I am not in a position to hold secrets about

toxic behavior, for example, that someone's coming to me and be like, I really don't want HR to know about this. And I'm like, I'm going to stop you right there. If this is an HR issue, I do need to just let you know that I will need to bring in an HR person to this conversation. So I'm really careful there because when fortunately, this has never happened where, someone has a difficult exit and then goes back and says, well, Alita said, da da da da da.

Right. Because then it kind of pits the coach against the business, which is why it's really important that there's very clear agreements from both the employee dynamic and from HR. I think that, you know, HR just the other, think that resistance is twofold. One is that they really want to be in the know. They want to know, know all the things that are coming up in my sessions because it helps them with all aspects of their business. And,

And also I think people go into HR because they want to do the fun stuff. They want to help leaders grow. They want to develop them. They want to actually be the resource instead of just a function that manages liability and compliance. So there's this kind of like a little bit of like territorial feeling at the beginning and sometimes, but once you can create that partnership, it's just like sky's the limit. You know, we're all on the same team. We're all brainstorming. I often will teach.

my HRBPs how to coach, just basic coaching, right? Cause then they're dying to do that kind of stuff. yeah, but I do think that traditionally there's just concern that coaches are gonna be holding information that HR isn't gonna have visibility to and it cause damage down the road. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Britton (32:44.082)

Hmm, that makes sense. How has this whole idea, like, I'm all I like, I'm all about this notion of like, how do we do a developmental container? Like, how do we make business into a spiritual practice or consciousness practice and, use it as a reflection to go inward? And, you know, it's a pretty nascent idea, like a lot of people just like, don't get it, you know, they're like,

Alita (33:01.165)

Hmm.

Scott Britton (33:13.924)

Okay, dude. How has this been received? you know, you mentioned you had the viral article, it still seems like a pretty niche thing. I'm curious, just to hear more about your perception of that.

Alita (33:29.782)

Yeah, I wish that it wasn't a niche thing. But as kind of, you know, I feel like I was kind of the pioneer in 2017 and have been looking at all the different entry points as the world has turned in very strange ways. Like when I came into this role, there was so much investment on culture and people and the pendulum has swung in the other direction.

And so it's kind of emboldened this type of leadership that lacks compassion, consciousness, know, inclusion, all of these things. so as, as this has kind of been evolving, what seems to always be the case is where it works is when the CEO or the co-founders see the ROI and are walking their walk, right? Like,

If they've gone and they've done their own personal work and they see the potential and the ROI in relational intelligence and connected teams and creating an environment that can withstand adversity. This is where the embedded coach just is unlike anything else.

because external coaches, don't have the context. They don't know the dynamics. They don't know what the North star is. And so, you know, I also think that like what's really cool about what you're doing is a lot of people don't change until things get hard. No, a lot of people just kind of stay in their comfort zone, stay stuck.

Scott Britton (35:07.526)

Yeah, I can relate.

Alita (35:19.784)

stay complacent until they meet an edge that they didn't know existed. And I think that often happens in startups where you're going to be confronted with people and situations that are going to force you to really look within and ask, who am I and how do I want to show up in this moment? What is the, what is the way that I can really honor myself and what I stand for and how can I communicate in a way?

that's going to reveal what's true for me without filtering or withholding. And that's when, know, sessions with a coach just, accelerate, they are accelerators. And so I think that like the amount of personal transformation I've seen far surpasses what I've seen in like the personal development space where people are just kind of.

I mean, I'm a big fan of that too. Anyone who's doing their work, I'm a big fan of, but there is something about that environment that really pushes people to places that forces evolution. And that's the space I wanna play in. Yeah.

Scott Britton (36:26.844)

Yeah, I mean, it's so doing a startup is so confronting, right? No matter where you are, as a part of that. And that's why I'm very passionate about this, integration, you know, and it's like, if you want to evolve rapidly, like you don't need to go be a monk, like you don't need to meditate 20 hours a day, you don't need to go do ayahuasca every month, like all these concepts that people have about, you know, what it means to

the ways in which we would rapidly evolve consciousness. You just need to start using all the opportunities that you're giving, that life is giving you. And for a lot of us in this whole tech startup and entrepreneurship world, you're getting a lot of opportunities. You're getting them constantly.

Alita (37:14.894)

constantly. It's so true. was just thinking I did this this retreat recently. I don't usually kind of do personal growth stuff because I really was drinking from the fire hose for a long time before this just like sponging everything I could but I wanted to be a participant for a change and I went into this group this week long experience and what it reminded me of was

how when we put ourselves into any type of environment where there's uncertainty, ambiguity, some type of system or process that we're following, other humans that trigger us or that are operating completely different ways in the world, you're gonna get a really clear reflection of how you show up, right?

All of my impatience is not my virtue. So like all of my impatience was right up in my face, my wanting to control things and have it be a certain way so everyone could get a lot out of it. So I was in my judge, I was impatient, all this stuff kind of like smacked me across the face. And I was like, yeah, like this is what it is, like to be in a startup.

All of these things are happening all the time and it is an amazing way to get a real look at, know, who you are, how you're showing up, what are the old strategies you're using to navigate in the world? Are they working anymore? What are the ways that you can be present and connect in a more meaningful way? What are the ways that you can really be open and curious to a new idea or a new

a new way of just operating in the world. And so it kind of, yeah, just reminded me that these little pods that we put ourselves in or these little kind of ecosystems, they really are accelerators and it's super uncomfortable. It's like, it's really uncomfortable.

Scott Britton (39:19.571)

Yeah.

Yep, yep. I recently started managing people again. And I'm like, oh, man, like the trigger fest continues. So a lot of opportunities for me.

Alita (39:27.054)

You did it.

Alita (39:36.789)

Yup. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. How's it going?

Scott Britton (39:43.624)

It's going well. know, like, yeah, I mean, it's so obvious to me. It's just so clear that like, the way I relate to it is like, okay, this is happening in order for me to see this. Like that is what's going on. you know, it's gonna keep happening until I use it, I face it, right? And so like,

Alita (39:44.867)

Yeah.

Scott Britton (40:12.242)

You know, it's kind of yeah, my business is my spiritual practice. And so is my relationship with my wife and my daughter and all these other things. But it's just like, it's just the big mirror, you know.

Alita (40:15.854)

you

Alita (40:24.866)

It is. No, I resonate with that in so many ways. I feel like I'm, you know, we're constantly coaching ourselves through the external experience. I think that the thing that really turns me on right now is empowering people to say the thing, right? To like in the moment, to just, yeah.

Scott Britton (40:44.724)

Mmm

How do you, let's quickly talk about that. Like how do you teach that? Because that's a scary thing and there's a lot of conditioning that tells us that that's not okay.

Alita (41:03.724)

Yes. I mean, just to double click on that, I'm actually continuously struck at the amount of suffering that happens because people aren't able to say the thing. And then they withhold it, they internalize it, they ruminate, they war game, they go home and they talk about the issue with their partners or rumble with it in all of their other conversation. It's always kind of in the background.

And as someone who feels very protective of the time that we have outside of work, I think that this is so essential to learn in all areas of your life. Very simply put, so I was trained in interval coaching and nonviolent communication, which is a terrible name for what that is, but essentially it's like, it's being able to communicate while staying on your side of the street.

So we are constantly in a state of seeing, thinking and feeling. It's this loop that we are always in, that we're not really sure when to say it, how to say it, if we say it, is it gonna create awkwardness, tension, conflict? And so there's all of this work that we're doing to just reveal what's actually happening for us. So the practice is to just notice what's coming up in the moment and to name it, right? Like, so I notice what you just said.

has me feel really frustrated, right? I'm curious if we could, so the five sentence stems are I notice, I imagine, I feel, I'm curious, and I need. So these are five different stems that I can use to express anything that is occurring in my experience while I'm staying over here. So I'm not making assumptions, I'm not making broad sweeping statements like you are, you should, it always, it never.

Scott Britton (42:29.118)

Hmm.

Alita (42:52.706)

Those statements are the things that like have people shut down and break connection. So I do this in all areas of my life. If I'm like, something's coming up for me, if I'm triggered, I name it right away. Like hearing you say that, I feel really confused. And then I don't even really explain it. I just say it and then it's amazing what happens afterwards. We don't have to work so hard. We just have to be able to name.

Scott Britton (42:56.977)

Hmm.

Scott Britton (43:12.914)

Wow, I need to start doing this.

Alita (43:20.014)

And also the last thing I'll say in this is to be able to separate observation from evaluation, right? Like what do you see with your senses? What are you hearing versus what are you interpreting and how are you making meaning out of that? To be able to break those two apart is, that's where magic happens because I promise you that the other person is having a completely different reaction, feeling, curiosity. And so like we all are on kind of different planets.

And if we can find a way to start to name it and to practice this way of revealing ourselves, it's just, it's so remarkable what happens.

Scott Britton (44:01.362)

Yeah, that sounds incredibly powerful. I want to implement that after this conversation. Cool, cool. Well, Alita, this is awesome. You are doing incredible things. I think some people will listen to this and go, okay.

Alita (44:06.286)

I'll help you out anytime.

Alita (44:20.75)

Very cool.

Scott Britton (44:21.32)

resources for this. If I'm interested in embedded coaching, where should people go?

Alita (44:26.754)

Yeah, they can just go to my website. I have two websites now, which I know I should, I'm trying to get them into one, alitawatson.com is more my one-on-one work. And then Alma Leadership is more for embedded coaching in organizations. So you can find me on either one of those. And I think that my goal is to really meet organizations where they are and find them the right coach, help them integrate that coach and make sure it's done really well.

There's a lot of, you know, I think systems and processes that I spent a long time building that have made this model work over and over again. And I'm just so passionate about it, especially in the world we're living in, right? Where technology is kind of creating less opportunities for us to really get to know the humans behind, you know, the screen and to connect on a more, on a just more meaningful level and

Scott Britton (45:14.416)

Mm. Yeah.

Alita (45:20.866)

And yeah, and like we've said, it accelerates personal, professional leadership development in a way like nothing else can. So super happy that I got to riff with you on this today. And I love what you're up to too. So there's a lot of synergy and I think the world needs us right now. Yeah.

Scott Britton (45:31.08)

Yeah.

Scott Britton (45:38.196)

Thank you. Yeah, excited to be hopefully trailblazing new ways of working and innovating and building. I'm happy to do my part. so this has been all this. Thanks, Alita. Likewise, we'll share all those links for everyone listening in the show notes. And thanks again, we're so grateful for you spending time with us.

Alita (45:49.282)

Right on, I'm cheering you on with every step.

Alita (45:58.414)

Right on.

Mm, gratitude received back at you, sir. So good to be here.