Not having a clear job description made her feel uneasy. She was excited by the “dive in” energy of a small enterprise, but it meant less clarity than she was used to about priorities for her attention. Wondering if she was hitting the mark was becoming a lingering worry that nudged into her confidence about her new role.
That was the starting point for our leadership coaching sessions. Here’s that client’s journey:
We explored the characteristics of her previous work environments to then identify what she might be hanging onto out of habit. Our goal was to tap into the opportunities of the new environment to grow her influence to positively impact the organization and the industry.
This goal was important to her because she is compelled to be at the leading edge of modernization. She wants her knowledge and expertise to be leveraged for driving change. She wants to expand what she has to say and wants to be heard and sought out for collaboration.
Through coaching she learned two key things about herself.
- She has relied on analytics and data to be what compel her colleagues and clients to make decisions, but sparking industry-shifting change will be less about convincing people into great leaps and more about tapping into people’s ranging motivations to join her for one step and another to build momentum.
- She tied her value to the quality of her deliverables and ideas, and had discounted the subtle value of her presence, demeanour, and relationship-building which are what she’d be leaning into more deeply as she elevated as an executive.
Together we framed an image of a new way for motivating change and created three specific competencies needed to reach that image. In every session, we created a detailed exercise to practice and develop those competencies in her regular workday, and we would explore her observations and reflections.
She let go of needing a road map to allow more flow, experimentation, and curiosity. She built trust in on-going open conversations about short term and long term visions for the enterprise, to help her find versions of acceptable next steps to grow her influence and sense of forward progress. She is energized and hopping on podcasts to engage more people in what’s possible.
She noticed her symptoms, didn’t dismiss them as “hopefully someday things will be clearer”, identified that coaching was a solution, and made an investment – in herself.
I wish I had learned much earlier in my career journey about connecting versus convincing, and about contributions other than deliverables. 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.
