1:1 Coaching

Nikka has logged hundreds of hours coaching students, professionals and executives. She is an affiliate coach for KLA Kaizen Leadership Asia—experts in psychological safety working with multinationals in South East Asia and BetterUp—the world’s leading human transformation platform.

KLA and BetterUp provide coaching for companies like Google, NASA, Accenture, Salesforce, Chevron, WarnerMedia, Bayer, Manulife and Lufthansa.

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The Future Leaders Program

A group coaching program designed for students and young professionals that lays a strong foundation for leadership mindsets and behaviors for future success.

The program includes workshops and coaching around self-mastery, tapping into one’s strengths, gaining clarity on values and purpose, goal-setting and thinking strategically about the future.

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Workshops

Interactive sessions designed to create an environment of collaboration and group learning. Workshops involve hands-on activities, reflection and discussions which allow participants to explore, ideate and actively participate in achieving shared goals.

Learning outcomes can include improving certain skills or finding solutions to tricky problems. Examples of workshops Nikka gives: Greater Conversations for Work and Wellbeing, Building a Coaching Culture and How to Talk With Teens and Get Them To Listen.

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Team Coaching

A leadership program for organizations custom-designed to cultivate team engagement, better communication and work relationships, and align around a shared purpose.

Team coaching involves a combination of workshops, group and individual coaching. Nikka does this in collaboration with other ICF-credentialed coaches and learning specialists.

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Nikka’s coaching process uses reflective + active inquiry that taps into the middle brain, our stories center.

This is for leaders who know they're meant to lead, not just manage the silence.

This is for you if:

You’re a middle manager, director, or executive who genuinely cares about our people.
You’re newer to leadership and finding it hard to navigate conversations with peers who now report to us.
You’re experienced, but honest enough to admit that some conversations still feel hard.
You want to communicate with more courage and less collateral damage.
You’re lifelong learners who take our own development seriously
You care about our work relationships — and want to protect them, not blow them up.

This is NOT for you if:

You think leadership communication is just about being more "assertive."
You’re looking for a script to follow rather than a skill to build.
You want a quick hack instead of a mindset shift.
You’re comfortable blending into the silence.
You believe emotions don't belong in professional conversations.

How Nikka's Coaching Serves Greater Leadership

1:1 Coaching

A series of one-on-one conversations where you and Nikka will partner to work towards your goal or seek clarity around a work, school or life challenge.

The ICF defines coaching “as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.”

The Future Leaders Program

Workshops

Interactive sessions designed to create an environment of collaboration and group learning. Workshops involve hands-on activities, reflection and discussions which allow participants to explore, ideate and actively participate in achieving shared goals.

Learning outcomes can include improving certain skills or finding solutions to tricky problems. Examples of workshops Nikka gives: Greater Conversations for Work and Wellbeing, Building a Coaching Culture and How to Talk With Teens and Get Them To Listen.

Team Coaching

Book a Discovery Call

Here's what leaders say after working with Nikka:

I’ve always found Nikka to be articulate, professional and creative. Her experience in coaching comes through in her facilitation style, using empathy and curiosity in eliciting awareness from the clients.

Angela Schloer - Leadership Coach | OD Consultant | Founder CLEAR Leadership Consulting

Nikka is an empathetic and outstanding career coach who helps young rising leaders find their calling and align purpose with their personal brand. Her strengths as a coach lies in her gift of empathy from many years of life experiences as a mother and business owner plus her creativity, communication skills and her deep knowledge of positive psychology that enables her to support her clients to clearly see the way forward. She is the COACH I wish I had when I was young and trying to figure out my path.

Carla Manas - Executive Coach Master Trainer, Center for Executive Coaching
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Coach Nikka led and facilitated one of our most recent Mental Health events where she spent valuable time with our employees and shared her views and thoughts on Flexible Parenting: Learning as we go.

It was one of our most well- attended events and Coach Nikka was in her best element sharing her parent-coach framework. Thank you, Nikka! We appreciate you and your passion for coaching.

Vina Paglicawan - Senior Director for Wellness + Resiliency at TaskUs

Nikka was present with compassion and support when I needed to drop business goals in the interest of dealing with personal loss.

Together we explored what I needed and established a plan which ultimately helped my resilience.

Andrew Bunting - DeltaGo Change Leadership and parents@work

Nikka asked the right questions without being intrusive or pushy. Our session was a real eye-opener for me.

We were able to identify action steps that would help me accomplish my objectives. I’m looking forward to continuously partnering with her.

Jerome Tuason - Senior Account Manager GMA Network, Inc.
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“I have the pleasure of working with Coach Nikka, one of the most genuine and caring coaches I know. ”

She is deeply committed to delivering high-quality workshops for our organization, consistently prioritizing excellence. As one of our senior coaches, she frequently works with our C-suite clients, always bringing a level of care and professionalism that sets her apart. Every session she leads is thoughtful and impactful, making her an invaluable asset to our team.

Rachelline Bautista- Head of Client Services at Kaizen Leadership Asia

See More Recommendations on LinkedIn

“She is the COACH I wish I had when I was young and trying to figure out my path.”

Carla Manas - Executive Coach Master Trainer, Center for Executive Coaching

See More Recommendations on LinkedIn

“She has a great blend of a listening and empathetic ear, as well as being able to play back and re-frame in a way that enabled me to see things differently or more clearly”

I worked with Monica as a coach for almost a year. She has a great blend of a listening and empathetic ear, as well as being able to play back and re-frame in a way that enabled me to see things differently or more clearly. She let me sit with all my emotions without trying to jump in with solutions, which often led to me finding my own way forward. She provided helpful prompts, reading and frameworks when appropriate, which added to the quality of our sessions. I would work with Monica again in the future, and would recommend to others.

Sarah Iemma - Strategic Designer | CX Strategy, Innovation and Service Design

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“During this training they have been able to change the lives of the participants and been able to get the best out of them.”

Nikka Santos, together with her colleague Andrea See have conducted a train the trainer program for Appreciative Inquiry leadership and change management for water utilities in the Philippines. During this training they have been able to change the lives of the participants and been able to get the best out of them. What struck me is their exceptional professionalism and endless enthusiasm.I wholeheartedly recommend them for tailormade and impactful trainings on leadership and change management.

Carl Kamstra - Project Manager Philippines at VEI B.V.

See More Recommendations on LinkedIn

“Monica was present with compassion and support when I needed to drop business goals in the interest of dealing with personal loss. ”

Monica was present with compassion and support when I needed to drop business goals in the interest of dealing with personal loss. Together we explored what I needed and established a plan which ultimately helped my resilience.

Andrew Bunting
‍- Enablement Coach

See More Recommendations on LinkedIn

“Her coaching personality presence help builds and creates trust and safety, spreading calmness and comfort that enable client to move smoothly during coaching session.”

Monica is empathetic, authentic, creative, coach that is passionate to listen and provide her clients’ a full space and time to reflect. Her coaching personality presence help builds and creates trust and safety, spreading calmness and comfort that enable client to move smoothly during coaching session. Her coaching style is heart touching and mind opening, she provided me a safe area to think and reflect. Her presence enables her to ask insightful questions that raising my awareness to the level that it helps me see more options.

Hisham Owaidah - PCC-ICF | Leadership Development Trainer & Coach

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is this really free?

Yes, completely. The assessment, the field guide, and the weekly newsletter are all free. All it takes is 5 minutes to take the assessment and a willingness to be honest with ourselves.

What do I get from taking this assessment?

A clear picture of where you stand right now. Not a label. Not a personality type. A practical, dimension-by-dimension look at how ready you actually are for the difficult conversation you’ve been avoiding.
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You’ll get:
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• A total readiness score across 5 dimensions: clarity of purpose, emotional readiness, thinking trap awareness, communication readiness, and relationship & context awareness
• A readiness zone — Pause, Building, or Courage — so you know whether to slow down, prepare more, or trust yourself and go
• A snapshot of your weakest dimension, which is usually the leverage point for the whole conversation
• A clear next step — the Courageous Conversations Field Guide — arrives right after, with practical moves to try for whichever dimension needs the most work
• By working on this, gaining more confidence and skill around your own unique way of having Courageous Conversations—for any other conversations in the future.
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In essence: you stop guessing whether you're ready and start handling hard conversations with more confidence and care.

What is the assessment actually measuring?

Our readiness across the 5 dimensions of Courageous Conversations: clarity of purpose, emotional readiness, awareness of thinking traps, communication readiness, and relationship and context awareness. We'll get an instant score and a readiness zone result.

I've been a leader for years. Will this still be useful?

Probably more so. Experienced leaders often have the most to gain from honest self-reflection because they’ve spent years working around the hard parts. That is a lot to draw from. Reflection turns that experience into richer learning—and even better decision-making.

Is this specific to the Philippines?

I'm Filipino, and my work is informed by a deep understanding of Filipino workplace culture: the relational dynamics, the hierarchy, the things we don't say because of hiya or shame. But the framework applies wherever we lead people. I’d encourage you to try it with family and friends too.

What happens after I subscribe?

You’ll get an email with the assessment link in minutes. After completing it, the Courageous Conversations Field Guide arrives in your inbox. A short survey follows a few days later. Complete it, and the Bonus Tools are yours: 5 Thinking Traps to Avoid and Emotional Readiness. You will then gain access to the Leaders Lab newsletter.

Is my data safe?

Yes. Survey responses are stored in a password-protected system. To request data removal at any time, just email coach@nikkasantos.com.

What does Nikka get out of this?

A lot, and I want to be transparent about it.
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I can only coach so many leaders and teams. The assessment lets me reach people I'd never get to work with directly. Your anonymized responses also help me understand the patterns—which dimensions leaders struggle with most and which scenarios keep coming up. This will shape a book I'm working on about courageous conversations and leadership. The short survey after the field guide tells me what's already working and what to build next.
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You get free tools that help you have more impactful conversations. Conversations that can make or break businesses and relationships. I get to learn and build something bigger that helps more leaders, enriching my coaching practice. Sounds fair?

The Courageous Conversations Check

Want to lead at work, at school and in life?

Nikka’s coaching process uses reflective + active inquiry that taps into the middle brain, our stories center.

That conversation isn't going to happen on its own.

Nikka’s coaching process uses reflective + active inquiry that taps into the middle brain, our stories center.

What happens when we don't have the conversation?

How Nikka's Coaching Serves Greater Leadership

Just as we can't tickle ourselves, our brains tend to resist testing our own thoughts. That's where a coach comes in.

Nikka's Approach: Illuminating Your Leadership Path

Nikka’s coaching process uses reflective + active inquiry that taps into the middle brain, our stories center.

Nikka's coaching philosophy:We are all leaders, if we choose to act as leaders.

Trusted by Industry Leaders

Hi, I'm Nikka. An ICF Professional Certified Coach and Shared Leadership Team Coach

How Nikka's Coaching Develops Greater Leadership

1:1 Coaching

The Old Way vs. The Real Talk Way

1:1 Coaching

The Future Leaders Program

Workshops

Team Coaching

The Avoidance Loop

The Courageous Conversations Framework

The Real Talk Readiness Assessment

When you subscribe to the Leaders Lab, here's what you get.

Step 1

The Real Talk Readiness Assessment

Step 2

The Courageous Conversations Field Guide

Step 3

The Bonus Tools (Thinking Traps + Emotional Readiness Toolkit)

Ongoing

The Leaders Lab Newsletter

Nikka’s coaching process uses reflective + active inquiry that taps into the middle brain, our stories center.

Not because we suddenly felt fearless, but because we worked up the courage.

Nikka’s coaching process uses reflective + active inquiry that taps into the middle brain, our stories center.

This is for leaders who know they're meant to lead, not just manage the silence.

How Nikka's Coaching Serves Greater Leadership

1:1 Coaching

The Future Leaders Program

Workshops

Team Coaching

Here's what leaders say after working with Nikka:

Angela Schloer - Leadership Coach | OD Consultant | Founder CLEAR Leadership Consulting

Carla Manas - Executive Coach Master Trainer, Center for Executive Coaching‍

Vina Paglicawan - Senior Director for Wellness + Resiliency at TaskUs

Andrew Bunting - DeltaGo Change Leadership and parents@work

Jerome Tuason - Senior Account Manager GMA Network, Inc.‍

“I have the pleasure of working with Coach Nikka, one of the most genuine and caring coaches I know. ”

“She is the COACH I wish I had when I was young and trying to figure out my path.”

“She has a great blend of a listening and empathetic ear, as well as being able to play back and re-frame in a way that enabled me to see things differently or more clearly”

“During this training they have been able to change the lives of the participants and been able to get the best out of them.”

“Monica was present with compassion and support when I needed to drop business goals in the interest of dealing with personal loss. ”

“Her coaching personality presence help builds and creates trust and safety, spreading calmness and comfort that enable client to move smoothly during coaching session.”

Frequently Asked Questions

We don't need another framework to memorize.

Want to lead at work,
at school and in life?

Nikka's coaching philosophy:

We are all leaders, if we choose to act as leaders.

Carla Manas - Executive Coach Master Trainer, Center for Executive Coaching
‍

Jerome Tuason - Senior Account Manager GMA Network, Inc.
‍