Your mission is clear. But do your people have what they need to carry it forward?
In mission-driven organizations, passion is rarely the problem. It’s the accumulated pressure — on leaders, on teams, on the people giving everything to work that matters — that quietly undermines even the most committed organizations.
Work Your Values partners with nonprofits and mission-driven teams to invest in what makes the mission possible: the people inside it. Through coaching and consulting, we help leaders and teams build the clarity, trust, and resilience to do this work sustainably — not just this year, but for the long haul.
Leadership Coach and Facilitator
Meet Megan Smith
Megan Smith founded Work Your Values on a simple conviction: the people carrying important missions forward deserve the same investment and care as the missions themselves.
With more than 20 years of experience developing leaders and teams across the impact sector, Megan has seen what happens when organizations prioritize the work at the expense of the people doing it — and what becomes possible when they don’t. That’s the work she shows up to do every day.
Megan has lived and worked in Mexico, Brazil, Timor-Leste, and Cambodia, designing and delivering leadership programs for more than 1,000 leaders from over 100 countries. She brings that cross-cultural depth and global perspective to every coaching relationship and organizational partnership.
She holds an MA in International Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a BA in History from Rice University, and is a Certified Professional Coach and ELI Master Practitioner (iPEC).
How We Work Together
Good work starts with the right support. Here’s what that can look like.
Leadership and Team Development
Strong teams don’t happen by accident. They’re built through intentional investment in the people and relationships that make the work possible. In mission-driven organizations, the pressure to deliver can quietly crowd out the time and space needed to actually develop your people. We help you reclaim that space. Through coaching and customized workshops, we work alongside nonprofit leaders and teams to strengthen communication, navigate conflict with confidence, and build a culture where people feel genuinely valued and equipped to do their best work.
What we focus on together:
- Building trust and psychological safety across your team
- Strengthening communication and navigating difficult conversations
- Developing leaders at every level of your organization
- Creating resilient team cultures that can sustain the demands of mission-driven work
This is for you if your organization is ready to make investing in its people a strategic priority.
Public Speaking and Facilitation
The best convenings don’t just share information — they shift something. They leave people thinking differently, connecting more authentically, and ready to act.
Megan brings that quality to every room she enters. Whether she’s keynoting a conference, leading a team retreat, or delivering a staff training, she creates experiences that are grounded, engaging, and built around what your people actually need. Her work draws on deep expertise in leadership and organizational culture, values-led decision making, and building workplaces that are sustainable for the long haul.
She’s particularly at home with mission-driven audiences — the leaders and teams who care deeply about doing things right, and who deserve a facilitator who meets them at that level.
This is for you if you’re looking for a facilitator who understands mission-driven work from the inside — and knows how to bring out the best in the people doing it.
Coaching for Leaders & Teams
The people carrying your mission forward can only give what they have. We work with leaders and teams in mission-driven organizations to make sure they have enough — clarity, confidence, trust, and the resilience to sustain the work over the long haul.
Individual Leadership Coaching
Leading in mission-driven work is meaningful — and it’s demanding. The pressure to deliver, to model the values, to hold the team together can quietly accumulate until even the most committed leaders find themselves running on empty.
Coaching creates a dedicated space to refill. We work with you to identify what’s depleting you, build on your genuine strengths, and develop a way of leading that’s effective and sustainable — for you and for the people who depend on your leadership.
This is for you if you’re ready to lead well for the long haul, not just the next quarter.
Team Coaching & Development
Teams in mission-driven organizations often give everything they have — and are rarely given enough back. Over time, even the most cohesive teams can find their reserves of trust, energy, and goodwill running thin.
We work alongside teams to rebuild what the work can wear away: honest communication, psychological safety, shared purpose, and the kind of culture where people feel genuinely supported to do their best. Because a team that’s cared for is a team that can keep caring.
This is for you if your team is ready to be as sustainable as the mission they serve.
What Our Clients Say
Megan helped me discover who I really am, how that shapes my leadership, and guided me through a major career transition. Her kind and supportive style gave me new confidence and helped me focus on my strengths. She encouraged me to trust myself and lead with clarity. I am truly thankful for her wisdom and caring guidance.
Working with Megan has been truly inspiring. Her nurturing and calming presence creates a safe space where I feel deeply heard and understood. Through thoughtful questions, she gently push me to dig deep and uncover the ‘why’ behind my thoughts and actions. Her ability to root out limiting beliefs and go beyond the surface has been eye-opening, helping me break through barriers I didn’t even realize were holding me back. With deep listening and non-judgment, she offers true empowerment.
Megan helped me navigate through a career crossroads and confidently work toward what’s next in my creative career path. Her positive demeanor, empathy, and encouragement in finding tangible next steps allowed me to get further ahead than I ever would have expected in just six months after a career change to filmmaking.
