They don't pace on the sidelines. They don't wear team colors and headphones. They don't carry clipboards or rant at officials or shout at players when they mess up.

It's a different kind of coaching.

Barbara Miller is a veteran registered nurse, an oncology specialist who crisscrossed the country as a contracted hospital worker. Jennifer Belcher is a women's rights pioneer, a five-term lawmaker and two-term public lands commissioner in Washington State.

They're sisters. They're back in West Virginia to kick off a new business called Legacy Builders, a coaching service that caters to CEOs, corporate workers and civic leaders.

"In my public career, I felt I had an obligation as an elected person to leave a strong legacy," Belcher said. "I feel very strongly about the legacy that each of us leaves. Coaching others to achieve their legacy appealed to the two of us."

"Neither of us has children," Miller said, "so we're very aware of the legacies we create for ourselves. We ask our clients what legacy they want to create and what they need to do to fulfill that legacy."

The sisters base their new venture on the premise that what works on the football field or basketball court also can work in the boardroom: Whether it's the score at the sound of the buzzer or the bottom line on the corporate financial report, coaching can make the difference between winning and losing.

Like athletes, executives need to prove themselves in a finite time frame, Belcher said. "That's the challenge most leaders and CEOs face - limited time. Look at the governor. All he gets is eight years. If you're a CEO, you've probably got two or three years to demonstrate your vision or they will look for someone else.

"We're looking for CEOs or other business leaders who want to be as effective as possible in the time they have. A coach can help you maximize that time."

Like coaches in sports, executive coaches hone the skills that brought their clients to the top of their corporate team. They guide more than lead, Belcher said. "It's like having a strategic thinking partner. It's not counseling. Counselors lead you somewhere. A coach walks beside you to help you discover skills you haven't been using or resources you haven't thought about. We try to help you identify your own solution."

People commit more strongly to change when it's their idea, she said. "I can't tell you what I think you should do, and I'm not going to make you do it. But I can make you think about it. It reminds me of leading a horse to water. You can't make it drink, but you can make it thirsty. A coach's job is to make you thirsty.

 "A consultant would be coming in and saying this is what is wrong with your organization and here is how to fix it. A coach says, 'What do you think is wrong in your department? What do you think you could do more effectively?'"

 "It's hard to define executive coaching," Miller said. "I work with people whose jobs are driving them nuts, whose employees are driving them nuts or whose lives are in disarray."

Belcher focuses on the executive side of the business. Miller likes coaching executives but prefers "life coaching," helping people sort through the challenges of everyday living.

It isn't just the CEO who makes or breaks a company, Miller said. "If employees are happier in their lives, they will be more productive."

Legacy Builders contracts generally run for six months, she said. The average fee is $2,000, depending on the extent of the services. Many corporate giants apparently deem the service worthwhile. "Harvard Review has lots of articles on Fortune 500 Companies. They all use executive coaches."

Thirty-two years in nursing led her to her destiny, she said. "I feel like this is what I was meant to do."

She worked for a company that handled short-term nursing assignments, anywhere from 13 weeks to six months. "We'd contract with hospitals that had nurse shortages. I've been everyplace. I worked in a tiny town in Maine in the winter. I worked in Seattle, Boston and Florida."

Lack of retirement and health benefits and the needs of aging parents convinced her to return to Charleston. She planned to continue in nursing until her sister mentioned the executive coaching concept. They received their executive coaching credentials at the Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia.

Her sister left West Virginia in 1967. She worked here as a secretary for an aide in Gov. Hulett Smith's administration. When her boss accepted a position with the governor of Washington, he asked her to continue as his secretary.

"In 1967, there weren't a lot of opportunities for women," she said. "Secretaries weren't highly regarded or highly paid. I got active in improving working conditions for secretaries."

She worked on passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and spearheaded efforts to get women elected to office. "We forget what it was like in the early '70s," she said. "Women couldn't inherit property in most states, or get credit in their own names. Jobs were advertised as male or female."

After serving 10 years in the legislature, she won her bid for state commissioner of public lands, a powerful position that involved managing lands given to the state at statehood. The only woman in the country ever to hold that office, she oversaw 2,000 employees and a $400 million budget, managed 6 million acres, battled for tougher regulations on the timber industry and served as head of the state Department of Natural Resources.

 "I ran as an environmentalist. We adopted the largest habitat conservation plan in the country. We committed to a 100-year agreement with the federal government on how we would harvest our timber in a way that did not decimate endangered species. That's one of the things I'm most proud of."

The experience helps her as an executive coach, she said. "Part of being effective as a CEO is being more creative, seeing the big picture, recognizing big opportunities when they come along. When I was CEO of a department of 2,000 employees, it would have been easy to get so caught up in day to day operations that I missed opportunities to think bigger, to make lasting change. I wouldn't have thought of that 100-year plan."

The sudden death of a favorite uncle in West Virginia prompted her move from the public limelight. "I wrestled with whether to take time off to come to his funeral, and I realized I had let life become way too complicated and I was missing out on too many things. I decided not to run again. I retired with the idea of starting something new."

Returning home for an extended visit, she realized her parents needed help. Divorced by then, she moved back in 2002. "I started thinking about what I could do. I knew a couple of executive coaches and thought my skills would fit nicely with that."

Although based here, the business goes wherever they want to take it. "We can do this all over the world," Belcher said. "I've already coached people around the country. A lot of it is done by phone. I see some clients together, some separately. I meet with people in offices and coffee shops. I have one client that I meet at the library."

To contact Legacy Builders, call 342-4520.

Reach Sandy Wells at 348-5173 or e-mail san...@wvgazette.com.