She was edgy about her upcoming performance review. She knew she was good at her job. She didn’t know how she wanted the conversation to go about increasing her responsibilities. People in higher roles all seemed really stressed.
That was the starting point for our career coaching sessions. Here’s that client’s journey:
We talked through her perceptions and experiences with the performance review process to then identify some assumptions and opportunities. Our goal was to position her to self-advocate while demonstrating her leadership skills.
This goal was important to her because she wants to keep enjoying going to work and taking on more responsibility and authority, but she doesn’t want a role designed with a risk of burnout as that would impact not only her but her family and friends too. She wants a sustainable challenge that leverages her strengths for the company and her clients.
Through coaching she learned two key things about herself.
- She approached a performance review form like a university exam (like many of us have been trained to do), where every section needs a thorough, long response for a chance at an “A” grade, instead of using it as a tool for guiding a meaningful conversation, which allows you to emphasize the sections of greatest relevance.
- She saw career paths being the same as the org chart, assuming that all promotional roles are pre-determined, instead of being open to crafting and collaborating on adaptations to make a role align with mutual interests.
Together we looked for multiple ways that her strengths tied to revenue and savings, and crafted a list of asks and offers related to career development. We also reviewed the components of meaningful feedback to have as a framework for the conversation.
She shook off the default of a student-professor dynamic, and gained confidence by reframing her supervisor as her champion and sponsor. In the performance review she was able to open new dialogue about the growth of the business and actually learned more about adjusted ratios of billable and nonbillable hours. She showed up prepared and curious and left feeling seen, heard, respected, and supported.
She noticed her symptoms, didn’t dismiss them as “everyone dislikes performance reviews; I just have to get through it”, identified that coaching was a solution, and made an investment – in herself.
I wish I had learned much earlier in my career journey about frameworks for meaningful feedback conversations, and about self-advocacy techniques that don’t feel like bragging. So as a coach, these are some of the tools I offer so my clients can thrive.
If you see yourself in this story, with similar symptoms and important goals, and you’ve been trying training programs, podcasts, and books, but haven’t felt momentum, yet alone a transformation, perhaps the solution you’re seeking is – coaching.
Hop on my calendar for a chat to learn more.
