John Lybarger

John serves AvoLead clients as a curriculum designer, program facilitator, executive coach and organizational development consultant for public agencies and private sector organizations. A nationally known workshop facilitator and keynote speaker, John is continuously honing his ability to engage learners, increasing their competence at mission execution and creating sustainable results. John strives for opportunities to work with executives from both the public and private sectors, taking what he learns from each engagement and applying it to the next – all in the effort to make a more results-focused and mission-driven impact.

Throughout his career, John has designed and facilitated numerous residential and custom courses. His most recent experience includes contract work with the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Western Management Development Center (WMDC), where he co-designed more than a dozen courses and served as a feedback coach. He has conducted client needs assessments and client relationship management activities for numerous government agencies including: Department of the Treasury (US Mint and Internal Revenue Service), EPA, Department of Defense, Department of Justice and Defense Contract Management Agency. He has co-designed and facilitated courses for the US Army, Social Security Administration, EPA, Food Safety and Inspection Services and US Customs and Immigration Services.

Supplementing his consulting within the public sector, John has had the opportunity to deliver career transition coaching services to executives from well-respected companies including Hilton, IBM, Adobe, Jacuzzi, Maytag, Firestone, Nabisco, Schlumberger, Kodak, Rockefeller Center Radio City Music Hall, and Six Flags. He has also facilitated workshops on employment law, diversity and inclusion for The Home Depot, Frito-Lay, US West, ATT Broadband, Bank Boston, Proctor & Gamble and Yellow Freight. As an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership in Colorado Springs, CO, John provided executive coaching and small group facilitation for numerous clients in 2006-2007.

John is certified in numerous assessments and simulations, including: Paper Panes Inc., The Leadership Challenge Workshop™, BarOn EQ-i, BarOn EQ 360, Change Style Indicator, Conflict Dynamics Profile Self and 360 Assessments, The Conflict Lens, OPM Leadership 360, OPM Organizational Assessment Survey, Benchmarks, and Skillscope.

He is qualified to administer and interpret these assessments: FIRO-B, Myers Briggs Type Indicator, CPI, Campbell Interest Inventory, Campbell Leadership Index, Campbell Organizational Survey, DiSC Classic 2.0, Everything DiSC Management Profile, The Diversity Profile, and The Listening Profile.

In addition to serving AvoLead clients, he continues to train, coach and consult for the OPM Management Development Centers through Lybarger & Associates. Founded in 1993, Lybarger & Associates is John’s second successful coaching and consulting firm. He launched his first counseling, consulting and coaching practice in 1985, effectively guiding the startup to full operation through strategic new business development and various partnerships.

John spent the first thirteen years of his career in progressively responsible leadership positions in the healthcare and human services sector. John’s success as an entrepreneur and leader arms him with real-world business experience that keeps him focused on consulting and training interventions that are results-oriented, mission critical and fully engaging.

John holds a Ph.D. in psychology and an M.B.A. from California Coast University as well as an M.S. in counseling from California State University at Fullerton. Additionally, he is a certified paralegal from the ABA approved Denver Paralegal Institute and a certified mediator from The Center for Solutions, Denver, CO.

John lives with his wife in Colorado. In his leisure time he enjoys aerobic exercise, travel, reading, swimming and skiing.

What clients say about John:

“John is a consummate professional, conscientious, disciplined, trustworthy and committed to his client’s success. He dedicates himself to lifelong learning, which results in recommendations, plans and action strategies with a higher probability of success, less error and less downtime and therefore results with greater overall value to the client and end-user.” –George Liscic, Program Director, Public Agency

“I had the pleasure of observing John leading workshops for candidates and their coaches in two of our recent Executive Development Programs. John demonstrated expert knowledge on receiving and interpreting 360 feedback — and how to get the most out of the data — both for capitalizing on strengths and addressing improvement opportunities. More importantly, he provided guidance and modeled behaviors for establishing a productive coaching relationship. The candidates and coaches found him highly credible and provided him with stellar reviews.” Consequently, John has become a “regular” presenter at our ‘coach/candidate workshops’.” –Matt Ferrero, Director, Leadership Succession Planning, IRS Human Capital Office

“John has worked with the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) through the Office of Personnel Management, Management Development Centers as a visiting program manager and facilitator for the past several years training and developing our supervisors to become better leaders, managers and coaches through the DCMA COHORT Leadership Training program. This multi-week, time-spaced learning initiative has been the vehicle for training over 1,000 supervisors from our agency in emotional intelligence, coaching and leadership skills. These alumni are making a difference in our mission and culture. Many have been promoted and selected for our Tomorrow’s Leaders Initiative–a multi-year program designed to grow our future agency leaders. John’s passion for developing leaders and impacting organizational culture change keeps our leadership training fresh, mission-oriented and results-focused. The COHORT program has been one of our most successful leadership training initiatives in many years. I would recommend John without reservation to work with an organization to develop their leaders.” –Randy Sawlsville, Executive Director, Human Resources, Defense Contract Management Agency

“As consultant for the Office of Personnel Management, Dr. Lybarger has had a proven track record to successfully design, oversee and deliver a Cohort Program on Leadership for the DOD, Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). The program was started in 2003 and he has continued in the role throughout 38 Cohorts. In 2009, DCMA Cohorts led by Dr. Lybarger fall into the Kirkpatrick rating of 4.50 and above. Comments made by participants include:

• Current Facilitator should be included in future sessions.
• John is class act instructor with patience and professionalism.
• Instructor commitment to the training reinforced my commitment to Public Service.

–Phyllis O’Meara, Account Manager, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Succession Planning and Custom Solutions