Alida Zweidler-McKay

Leadership Coach
​Facilitator
My path to coaching and consulting began as I was working toward my MBA at the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. I interned at CFAR, a boutique consulting firm, where I was introduced to a range of theories about group dynamics and tools to help teams develop. I loved seeing the impact we could make when teams worked better together. After business school, I joined Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and later worked as a Research Associate for Rosabeth Moss Kanter at Harvard Business School.  These experiences gave me a strong foundation in strategic thinking and deepened my understanding of how strategy and organizational dynamic intersect.

My journey deepened in Houston, where I spent over a decade supporting some of the world's most ambitious initiatives—$20+ billion megaprojects at Chevron and a major chemical company, and a global change effort at Shell. In those high-stakes environments, I coached senior executives and project leaders as they navigated the complex work of bringing together multidisciplinary teams, building alignment, and driving change. What became clear to me time and again was that when leaders genuinely tap into the talents around them and people work together well, businesses flourish and team members thrive.
I moved to Boston in 2016 and expanded my practice to work with leaders across academia, healthcare, biotechnology, information technology, and the non-profit sector. I coach executives to become authentic, engaging leaders who build high-performing teams and guide their organizations through challenges and change. I also work with emerging leaders and rising stars, helping them develop their executive presence, delegation skills, and communication abilities so they can confidently step into their roles as the next generation of leadership.

Most satisfying work
The work I find most meaningful involves helping leaders at all levels create genuine breakthroughs in how they show up and lead. I'm an expert facilitator, designing custom workshops that help teams surface, explore, and resolve difficult issues. My approach is grounded in an innovative systems perspective that works at the individual, team, and organizational levels simultaneously. I've seen how this integrated approach helps leaders expand their practical toolkit while deepening their self-awareness, creating lasting change rather than superficial fixes.

Frequently used theories and tools
I draw on several powerful frameworks and methodologies to support leaders with team performance, organizational culture, delegation, feedback, change management, conflict resolution, and executive presence. A few specific examples include:
  • The work of Yvonne Agazarian’s systems-centered practice and Barry Oshry’s power + systems organization workshop, which provide theoretical frameworks for understanding power and collaboration dynamics in groups
  • Agazarian and Simon’s SAVI® framework, which serves as a map for analyzing communication patterns
  • A variety of models and approaches for transformational coaching

Degrees, Certifications and Training
B.A. from Swarthmore College; M.B.A. in Finance and Organizational Change, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
 
Certifications: Professional Certified Coach (PCC), International Coach Federation; Certified Trainer in SAVI® Communications, Power + Systems Organizational Workshop, and Personify Leadership®; Certified Master Coder for SAVI®.

Training programs: Transformational Coaching Academy; Coaching Practices for Leaders; Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute Authority Issues Group and Leadership Development/Mentor Training;

I serve on the boards of the Systems-Centered® Training and Research Institute and TEDx Walden Pond and am former president of the Houston Organization Development Network. I am also an experienced speaker, having presented at TEDx Walden Pond, the Boston Business Women's Conference, the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Houston Association for Talent Development Annual Conference, the American Group Psychotherapy Association, and the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations, among others.