About
Shivani Buchner brings over 18 years of professional experience across consulting, operations, product, and people & organizational development. She held senior roles inside organizations, including Director of Operations and Head of People & Organizational Development and worked with companies such as Accenture, zooplus, Userlane, and Payworks (acquired by Visa). She also coaches leaders globally. This background allows her to combine strategic perspective with operational reality, and to partner credibly with leaders at all levels. Alongside her work in Executive Coaching, she partners with organizations through Fractional Leadership and Organizational Development to strengthen leadership capability and people systems.
"Speak from regulation, not reaction"
Most leadership breakdowns don’t happen because leaders lack skill or experience.
They happen when pressure compresses thinking.
As responsibility increases, leaders are expected to communicate clearly, make sound decisions, and hold others steady, often while carrying uncertainty, urgency, and competing demands internally.
My executive coaching supports leaders to regain clarity, presence, and judgment under pressure, so they can lead decisively without becoming reactive, avoidant, or performative.
This work is not about fixing behavior in isolation. It focuses on strengthening how leaders think, regulate, and respond in the moments that matter most.
Areas of focus include:
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Decision-making clarity in complex, high-stakes environments
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Leadership presence and self-regulation under pressure
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Executive communication, feedback, and difficult conversations
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Navigating influence, conflict, and accountability with composure
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Leading others without absorbing unnecessary noise or tension
Solving Communication Breakdowns in Leadership Under Pressure
Most communication challenges don’t come from not knowing what to say.
They come from what’s happening inside the leader in the moment: pressure, fear, urgency, or the need to perform.
My work helps leaders slow the moment just enough to respond with clarity and intention. Communication becomes constructive not through scripts or techniques, but through presence, regulation, and sound judgment.
Leaders learn to:
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Communicate clearly without becoming dominant or withdrawn
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Give feedback without escalating tension
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Hold authority while building trust
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Decide and speak from regulation, not reaction
How New Managers Build Confidence, Clarity, and People Leadership Skills
90-Day First-Time Manager Training
Most first-time managers aren’t underperforming.
They’re underprepared.
The transition from individual contributor to people leader is one of the most decisive and least supported moments in a career. Without the right foundations, uncertainty hardens into habits that are difficult to undo.
My 90-Day First-Time Manager Training helps new managers build confidence, communication, and decision-making capability early, so they lead with clarity rather than guesswork.
This program supports managers to:
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Navigate the shift from peer to leader with confidence
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Communicate clearly without becoming avoidant, dominant, or reactive
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Give feedback and have difficult conversations with composure
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Make sound decisions under pressure
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Build trust and credibility with their team from the start
Designed for:
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Newly promoted and first-time managers
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Emerging leaders stepping into people leadership
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Organizations investing early in leadership capability
What we choose to focus on manifests in our lives
Fractional Leadership & Organizational Development for Scaling Organizations
Embedded leadership expertise during growth, transition, and complexity
For some organizations, coaching alone isn’t enough.
During periods of growth, transformation, or increasing complexity, founders and leadership teams often need embedded leadership and organizational expertise without prematurely adding a full-time People or OD leader.
As a fractional leadership and organizational development partner, I support scaling organizations to strengthen leadership capability, communication quality, and performance clarity while systems, roles, and expectations are still forming.
This work is especially valuable when organizations need to:
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Build leadership and people systems that scale
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Strengthen performance management and feedback practices
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Support mid-level leadership capability during growth
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Improve decision-making and communication structures
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Increase psychological safety without slowing execution
This role provides senior leadership and OD expertise, integrated with your team, for the period it’s needed — not as a permanent overhead.
Who This Work Is For
I work with purpose-driven leaders and organizations, including:
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founders and executive teams in scaling organizations
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people and HR leaders strengthening leadership capability
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first-time, emerging, and senior leaders navigating complexity
How Leaders Build Clarity, Confidence, and Capability Through This Work
My approach is whole-person, strengths- and values-based, grounded in neuroscience, psychology and leadership development. This work often integrates Leadership Development and Leadership Communication to support leaders and teams at scale.
Whether working one-to-one or at organizational level, I combine:
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deep listening and thoughtful challenge
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clear structure and accountability
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practical tools leaders can apply under pressure
The aim is always the same: to support leaders and organizations to translate insight into sustained change.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should first-time managers focus on in their first 90 days?
The first 90 days are less about having all the answers and more about building the right foundations. New managers benefit most from learning how to lead former peers, communicate expectations clearly, give early feedback, and make decisions under pressure without becoming reactive or avoidant.
This is exactly what my 90-Day First-Time Manager Training is designed to support.
How does executive coaching help leaders under pressure?
Executive coaching helps leaders slow the moment down just enough to regain clarity, judgment, and presence. Rather than focusing on surface behaviors, the work strengthens how leaders think, regulate, and respond when pressure, complexity, or uncertainty is high, which directly improves decision-making and communication.
When is fractional leadership or organizational development support the right choice?
Fractional leadership and organizational development support is most valuable when organizations are scaling, changing, or outgrowing informal people practices. It provides senior leadership and OD expertise during critical phases, without the commitment of hiring a full-time People or OD leader before the need is fully clear.
