Case No.
1
Presenting
Issue:
Laurie
has been a program manager
in a social service agency
for the past 5 years. Her
job responsibilities included
supervising a staff of
6, providing individual
and family counseling,
and program development. About
six months ago she was
promoted to an associate
director position in which
she was responsible for
12 programs, 36 staff,
and the direct supervision
of 9 program managers.
Laurie
was having some difficulty
in the transition from
manager to leader. Although
she had the ability, she
felt tentative about fully
embracing what it meant
to be a leader. She
came to coaching because
she wanted to become more
comfortable in a leadership
position. She felt
that the skills that had
helped her be successful
as a program manager were
not adequate for this new
position, and she wanted
some help and direction
in enhancing her leadership
qualities.
Coaching:
Our
first conversations focused
on different leadership
styles. Her predecessor
had a very different style
and was extremely successful
in the position. That
worried Laurie. Laurie
knew she couldn’t
copy her predecessor, but
she questioned whether
or not she could be successful
without employing a similar
style. I asked her
to read Leading from the
Heart and Women and the
Leadership Q to help her
understand that there are
many different roads to
becoming a good leader. The
key was to develop her
own style and find her
own voice. I challenged
her to step fully into
her new role and to trust
that she had the right
stuff, assuring her that
I was there to support
her if she were to hit
any obstacles.
I
also gave her some self-observation
exercises. I
asked her to notice times
at work that she felt powerful. What
was the situation? What
was her response? What
was the response of the
other people involved? Then
I asked her to do the same
thing in situations when
she felt powerless, or
ineffective, in her role
as a leader. As
we discussed what she had
observed, it became clear
to her that what caused
her feelings of powerlessness
was not being true to her
own style – of trying
to react the way she thought “a
leader” should respond,
instead of doing what made
sense to her.
Once
she was feeling a little
more solid in her new position,
we added flexibility into
the leadership equation. Different
situations may call for
slightly different approaches,
and an effective leader
needs to be able to easily
read the situation and
make the appropriate adjustments. We
used Ken Blanchard’s
Situational Leadership
paradigm as a model and
Laurie quickly became adept
at recognizing and using
his different leadership
styles with the people
she supervised.
We
would use some of our coaching
calls to brainstorm and
role play the most effective
ways for her to handle
some of the trickier situations
that arose in her work. She
would then be able to go
into the meetings with
an arsenal of ideas and
actions to utilize if needed. This
helped alleviate some of
the worry and helped her
gain the confidence she
needed as she began to
trust her own voice. Before
long Laurie was able to
create her own arsenal
of ideas and felt very
confident about when and
where to employ the appropriate
action.
Outcomes:
Laurie
is thoroughly enjoying
her new position and feels
very comfortable being
seen as a leader. She
has more self-confidence
and feels more competent
in all situations. She
is clear about what being
a leader means to her and
she has become a wonderful
model for other staff members. Her
positive energy and commitment
to being an authentic leader
has helped to raise the
overall staff morale in
her organization.
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Case
No. 2
Presenting
Issue:
David came to coaching because he wanted to re-design his life. He wanted a better balance between his personal and professional lives. He loved his job, but he realized that in the process of becoming a success in the corporate world, he had neglected all the other aspects of his life. He had let relationships die, ignored self-care, and neglected his personal environment. His work had totally become his life, and he was ready for that to change.
Coaching:
David was a very motivated client. He came to our initial coaching session with a list of 11 goals he wanted to achieve in the next 6 months and he was very excited and anxious to get started.
The first thing we did was to prioritize David's list. It was difficult for David to choose his top 1 or 2 goals because he wanted to change everything at once. But he decided to focus on exercising as he thought that might be the easiest goal to tackle. He wanted to get back to his old routine of going to the gym 3-4 times a week.
David was a "doer". That is why he was so successful in his work. But it also how he becomes overwhelmed in life. David and I worked together to slow him down and balance his action-oriented way of being with some self-awareness and reflection practices.
Looking at David's schedule and realizing that exercising had not been part of his routine for quite some time, I suggested that David started with one gym session a week. If he could easily integrate once a week into his schedule, then he could go for twice a week. If, for some reason, he didn't make it to the gym, he was to note what got in his way. Although he thought once a week was a little too easy, he was willing to give it a try.
The first two weeks went well, but by the third and fourth weeks David found himself slipping back into his old ways of being - letting work crowd out his exercise time. At first he thought it was just a scheduling issue, but as we started to look more closely at what was getting in his way, several issues began to surface. One of the issues was a concern that if he took time out of his day to exercise, he was short-changing his work.
David worked in an environment that did not support self-care, so it was hard for him to justify taking care of his needs, even when he did it on his own time. Exercise was important to David, so he was caught in a conflict between what he wanted to do and what he thought he "should" do. He was experiencing resistance because he had two things, work and exercise, competing for his attention. As we worked to find different ways for him to exercise without feeling like he was jeopardizing his work, it was easy for him to implement a regular exercising routine.
Another issue that came up was that David actually didn't like exercising in a gym, particularly if the weather was nice. He would much rather go for a walk, play some tennis, kayak, or go bicycling. He had been hanging on to the belief exercising meant going to a gym. Once he allowed himself to think outside the box and realize that exercise comes in all different forms, it became easier for him to be consistent in exercising because he really was enjoying it.
As we worked together, David began to see that a lot of what was holding him back from living the life he wanted were his own beliefs. Having immersed himself into his work, he had assimilated many of the beliefs and values of his company, his colleagues, and our society. He had lost focus on what he valued and what was truly important to him. A lot of our coaching was spent examining his current beliefs to see which ones were congruent with the life he wanted to create and which ones were holding him back.
Outcomes:
There is no doubt that David's life has become more balanced, although he is the first to admit that it's still a work in progress. He is exercising regularly, eating healthier foods, and spending more time with friends. He claims the greatest outcome for him was gaining the ability to slow down the pace of his life and being more intentional in how he spends his time. Because he is doing more things that he enjoys, work has become less of a stressor for him. He still is working hard, but he also has given himself permission to play a little more. He is having more fun, is more pleasant to be around, and he is finding a new and natural flow of friends entering his life. He feels more empowered and in control of his life, knowing that he now has the power, skills, and resources to change what's not working in his life.
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Case
No. 3
Presenting
Issue:
Sarah
came to coaching because
she was extremely frustrated
in her job. She wanted
to leave, but didn’t
know what she wanted to
do next. Sarah was
a volunteer coordinator
with a small organization
and did not feel that her
talents were being fully
utilized. She had
taken this job because
she loved working with
people, loved the variety
of activities associated
with volunteers, and she
was excited about the potential
of expanding the opportunities
available to volunteers. She
had not been able to achieve
many of her goals and she
was getting tired of trying
to make things happen in
an environment that she
saw as more reactive than
proactive. She was
asking me to help her come
up with a viable plan of
action that would help
her to transition from
this job to a new job that
would be more nurturing
and fulfilling.
Coaching:
Before
we could take any kind
of action it was necessary
to clarify just exactly
what Sarah wanted to do. At
this point she just knew
that she didn’t like
where she was, but we needed
to look ahead and discover
what she did want to do. What
were her skills? What
energized her? What
was important to her? What
did she see as her purpose
in life? I gave her
a series of homework assignments
that asked her these types
of questions. I asked
her to interview 3 or 4
close friends and ask them
what they saw as her strengths,
skills, and her purpose
in life. I also asked
her to begin a sitting
practice. I requested
that she sit for 15 minutes
a day. The intent
of this practice was to
slow Sarah down so that
she could gain deeper insight
as to what really she truly
wanted to do with her life.
We
spent several coaching
sessions going over the
information gathered from
all these sources. It
was not a quick process,
but it proved to be an
extremely useful process. Initially,
Sarah felt that any job
had to be better than the
one she had, and was impatient
to just make a decision
and get on with it. But
as she continued with the
coaching she began to see
that this was a wonderful
opportunity for her to
take the time necessary
to figure out what she
would really like to do
and then look at the options
available to her.
Sarah
worked very hard in this
process. She made lists
of “pros” and “cons’ of
past jobs. She looked at
what kinds of environments
supported her and what
kinds stifled her. She
described what kinds of
people she enjoyed working
with and the many successes
and accomplishments she
had had in her life. She
looked at the places in
her life where she had
stumbled and rooted out
the causes. As we
continued to talk and hone
in on what was a good fit
for her, ideas began to
take on a more distinct
form and Sarah became more
articulate about what was
important to her and what
she wanted to do professionally.
Two
career possibilities emerged
as viable potentials: catering
and event planning. Sarah
and I developed an action
plan outlining specific
steps and a general timeline
to use as a guide as she
explored these new options.
She conducted informational
interviews with people
in both areas and decided
that event planning was
what she wanted to pursue.
Outcomes:
At
the end of our coaching
Sarah had gained a great
deal of clarity about what
she wanted her future life
to look like.
• She
had decided to work for
herself or for a small
business.
• She
decided to initially work
part-time during the weekends
for an event planner to
learn the business and
see if this was the right
profession for her to pursue.
• She
was planning to cut back
her current job to 75%
within three months so
that she would still have
some money coming in, but
also would have more time
to pursue event planning.
• She
also realized that she
wasn’t in such a hurry
to make a change. She
knew that finding the right
fit for her may take a
little time, but that finding
her true passion and purpose
would be worth the wait.
• She
had a workable action plan
that would help her stay
on course as she worked
towards her goal.
• She
felt more in control of
her future and she appeared
calmer and more fulfilled
in her overall life.
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I
invite you to browse
through my website
and learn more
about how the coaching
process can
help you achieve
the changes you
want to make in
your life. If you'd
like to talk, just call
me at 206-760-0478 or
send me an email with
your phone number
and the best time
to call. I look
forward to hearing
from you.
