Leadership coaching · New York and online
Leaders who stay rooted and move with change.
Willow Haven offers coaching, courses, and research for leaders of organizations, congregations, and teams in seasons of transition. The work draws on attachment research, practical theology, and three decades of walking alongside leaders.
- 30+ years leading and coaching
- PhD, Practical Theology
- ICF-trained coach
- Yale Divinity School postdoctoral associate
Who I work with
For people responsible for other people
Leadership is relational work. Whether you run a company, a nonprofit, or a congregation, the health of your people shapes everything they build.
Organizational leaders
Executives, directors, and founders who want clearer direction, steadier teams, and a culture where people do their best work.
Pastors and clergy
Leaders carrying a community through change, conflict, burnout, or a new call, who need a confidential place to think.
Boards and teams
Staff, boards, and congregations aligning mission, vision, and practice so the whole organization can thrive across generations.
Parents and educators
Cohorts and courses that bring attachment research into homes, classrooms, and youth programs.
Why Willow Haven
Rooted enough to hold steady. Flexible enough to grow.
Willow
A tree with deep roots and remarkable flexibility. The willow bends in the storm without breaking, shelters new life, and nourishes the ground around it. Good leaders do the same.
Haven
Attachment research describes a safe haven and a secure base: the relationships that let people rest, recover, and then go out to explore. A haven is where renewal and strength begin.
Belonging and human thriving are the point. People and organizations change best when they feel safe, seen, and invited.
The approach
Five movements toward sustainable growth
Every engagement is shaped to your context. These movements give it a reliable path.
Listen
Discern the mission and the good work already happening, through powerful questions.
Name strengths
Identify the gifts and resources already present in you and your people.
Attune
Build listening practices inside the organization and out into the wider community.
Innovate
Design adaptive, data-informed experiments that fit where you actually are.
Sustain
Practice the flexibility and resilience that keep growth going after the coaching ends.
Ways to work together
Coaching, courses, and research
One on one
Leadership coaching
Single sessions and three- or six-month partnerships for leaders in transition, from a free discovery call onward.
See optionsTeams and congregations
Organizational coaching
A coach who walks with your board or staff from naming the challenge to measuring the change.
How it worksLearn in community
Courses and cohorts
Graduate-level learning on calling, preaching, adolescence, parenting, and secure communities.
Browse courses
Meet your coach
Rev. Dr. Michael W. Droege
Michael is a practical theologian and ICF-trained coach with more than thirty years as a congregational pastor, youth ministry leader, university lecturer, and consultant. He teaches at Drew Theological School, directs an intergenerational ministry program at the Atlantic School of Theology, and researches belonging and attachment across the lifespan.
He brings research and pastoral care into the same room, so leaders leave with both a bigger picture and a clear next step.
More about MichaelKind words
What partners say
Being coached by Michael Droege is like apprenticing to a great chef. You know that you will be growing through the very power of the coaching relationship itself. Vibrant Faith was the recipient of three years of Michael's coaching gifts on behalf of 4 churches in our Thriving Congregations Project. We found Michael's work with his churches to be innately compassionate yet deeply fruitful for the churches he accompanied. He aided them in digging under the obvious roadblocks to find new ways of thinking and being.
Michael knows church life and he knows church leaders. Over my 50 years of church ministry I have been privileged to work with a small number people that I trust to always provide the best service for a church and its leaders. Michael is one of those people. This is the highest recommendation I can give.
From the blog
Notes on change and belonging
It's just not the same
Grief is how we make room for what comes next. Notes on change from a balcony on Tampa Bay.
Curiosity as a Way of Life
Curiosity softens us, returns our imagination, and honors the mystery of being human.
Series 1: Belonging and the Missional Church
Real belonging is rooted in participation: people deepen their belonging when they see the mission as theirs, too.
Start with a conversation
A free 45-minute discovery call to talk about where you are, where you hope to go, and whether coaching is the right fit.