How Groundwork coaching works

What Groundwork is

Groundwork is one-to-one business and leadership coaching with faith in Christ as its foundation. You bring the real problem when it happens: the employee you don't know how to handle, being asked to treat someone in a way you don't believe is right, the P&L you need to build, a money decision for your business or your household, or the deck where the real question is an ethical one nobody has looked at. We'll help you think it through as your coach, alongside the professionals you need, and every reply ends with what to do next.

It's practical advice for your work first, then your life. The faith is part of the working conversation, not a devotional added at the end: how to actually do the business thing in front of you as someone working as unto the Lord.

What it isn't

Groundwork isn't counseling or therapy, and neither of us offers counseling here. It isn't licensed medical, legal, tax, accounting or investment advice. It isn't a crisis service.

It also isn't a promise of results. What changes depends on what you're willing to do, and it takes as long as it takes, sometimes more than one term.

How the coaching runs

You get your own private channel, and you can message any time, typed or by voice. Matthew replies once each weekday, usually in the morning, with US federal holidays off, and he typically works 9 to 5 Central, Monday through Friday. If Matthew is sick or away, we'll tell you in your channel, ahead of time when we can. Replies come from Matthew, and some from April.

The conversation stays in your channel. We don't respond to DMs, and if one comes in, we'll take it to your channel, so nothing gets missed and April can be brought in.

The weekly review is optional: one piece of real work a week, like the deck, the P&L or the hard email, sent through the weekly review page. Matthew reviews it on Monday and answers that week. Quick calls are 15 minutes, Tuesday through Thursday.

If something serious comes up and you need to pause, message Matthew and we'll talk about it, and the client agreement explains how pauses work.

When you need more than coaching

Some of what comes up needs a professional: a counselor or therapist, a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant. When it does, we can make a referral, and we'll do our best to point you to someone local who can help. Coaching works alongside that help, not in place of it.

In an emergency

We don't monitor messages for safety, and we can't respond in an emergency. Because replies come once each weekday, a message can wait a while before anyone reads it. An automated check may flag a message to Matthew sooner, but it can miss things, it isn't safety monitoring, and it doesn't promise a response time, so please don't rely on your channel to get help. The AI Policy describes the check.

If you or someone else is in danger, call 911. If you're thinking about suicide or you're in crisis, call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Outside the US, call your local emergency number.

What stays between us, and when it doesn't

Only Matthew and April read your channel, along with your plus-one if you have one. A plus-one can read everything in your channel, including what was there before they joined, so keep that in mind when you add or change one. The services that run Groundwork process your messages too, and we've set up each of them so it doesn't use your messages to train AI. The AI Policy lists them.

Themes from coaching conversations may show up in the Groundwork newsletter, with every identifying detail removed, and nothing you write is quoted without your permission.

We aren't mandated reporters by profession, so in most cases we don't have a duty to report what you tell us to authorities. There are two exceptions. If what you tell us makes us believe you or someone else is in serious danger, we may contact emergency services or someone who can help, and tell them what they need to know, without asking you first. We can only do that once we've read your message, which may not be until the next weekday. And where the law requires anyone to report, we'll follow the law. Some states require it for child abuse, including what you tell us about a child in your life who has been harmed or may be, and some, Missouri among them, require it when an elderly or disabled adult is at serious risk.

What you tell us also isn't legally privileged, the way what you tell a lawyer can be. Like any business, we'd have to disclose information if a court or a government agency lawfully required it. Our Privacy Policy covers that.