Results with coaching transformations

CASE STUDY

How coaching can help you change jobs gracefully without losing your mind!

Situation before coaching

Before we met, my client, Sam, had already made her big decision to move on from her role as VP in a local digital learning company to a senior role in a larger healthcare tech company. Having made that decision, Sam came to me as wanted help with making that transition. As a high performer, she was worried about getting ‘everything done’ and not leaving anyone in the lurch at the elearning company. Having had some challenges, she wanted to unlearn some behaviours so that she was starting at the new company as her ‘best self’ and, as we discussed, she essentially wanted to ‘leave with grace’ and without losing her marbles!

Sam wanted a coach who understood the tech sector and, with her job changes, she needed help to get from A to B; she needed to work with someone who would be personable but also honest and be able to challenge her to stretch and grow through thinking conversations. In her words, working with someone who could see through her own bullshit, keep her on track and accountable!

Solution

Through six coaching sessions over three months, which spanned the time that Sam left her old company and started with her new role, we looked at both practical steps and mindset shifts she could take to have a thoroughly ‘graceful goodbye’ and move into her new role with confidence and without ‘new girl’ fears. She created her own personalised ‘3 Things +1’ Plan, clearly defining her workload in her notice period as well as creating boundaries so that Sam could leave without feeling like she had to do ‘everything’, instead empowering those still at the company and allowing Sam to ‘let go’ of the work and ways of working. Using my 30 Day Reflective Journal and Vivid Action Planner helped keep Sam reflecting on her journey and accountable throughout her coaching journey.

We then concentrated on what Sam was good at AND what she enjoys doing. High achieving women leaders often focus so much on feeling that they have to be good at their job that they forget what they also enjoy doing! One without the other often leads to dissatisfaction at work, frustration and sometimes burn-out. Through these coaching conversations, Sam created three thinking categories to use in her new role (connection, knowledge and expectation) as practical steps and nudges to remind her of what she wanted to achieve in the first six months of her new role. She also started to award herself regular Gold Stars.

We looked at what it means to be a leader, as a woman, and what mindset shifts could happen and what boundaries could be reset. Sam dove into how to move away from the need to be the hero, to always be the one to get everything done. Instead, embodying her leadership style as leading a vision, engaging people, giving them the tools that they need to do their jobs, motivating them to do their jobs well and giving them the trust to do so.

Personal transformation and results

Coaching has been truly transformational for Sam and has gone beyond her goals of building her confidence and self belief as well as giving her motivation a big boost. She’s now truly recognising how amazing she is and giving herself Gold Stars without needing external validation for her work as well as regularly holding space for self-reflection during work-time. Sam had a really good exit from her previous company and coaching gave her the best possible start in her new role. She continues to use her three thinking categories of connection, knowledge and expectation to prompt her development and growth in her new role. Sam is also making time to have fun with adult swimming lessons and completing her Masters degree.

CASE STUDY

How coaching can transform how you lead

Situation before coaching

As a manager of a multi-site team, my client was feeling stressed out, overworked and emotionally exhausted from looking after her team’s needs and stopping team tensions arising. Dealing with inflexible team members during the pandemic had exacerbated this overload and she felt that she was giving everything and getting little back in return.

Solution:

Through five coaching sessions spaced over three months, we looked at what was keeping my client feeling that she was responsible for the wellbeing and happiness of her team at the expense of her own as well as looking at her work boundaries, time management and responsibilities for her own self-care.

Personal transformation:

My client felt she had a massive breakthrough quite early on in her coaching journey, as we talked through recognising herself as part of the team, not just the leader, and realising that her feelings and emotions were valid too. Through coaching, she felt validated as a person, as a woman and as a female leader. For my client, the change from her coaching journey was “unbelievable” and she felt significantly happier at work, less stressed and happier about having difficult conversations with team members. She also acknowledged that, as many women do, she had previously taken on the responsibility for when her team members didn’t rise to expectations as well as keeping team members okay. Creating firmer boundaries around responsibilities through coaching has led to better team contributions and her team have risen to meet her expectations while she has been freed from this self-imposed burden.

Result:

The impact of coaching for my client has gone beyond her. She notes that “the team now works brilliantly together, they’re nice people and people are willing to provide that additional support for each other, being supportive and collegiate – the coaching contributed to creating an environment where it’s not just what you want and what you need individually, it’s about everyone in the team.” My client has received an institution wide award for her inclusive leadership and now works in a grounded way with her team that allows them to take on responsibilities and create and keep space for her own needs and wants in her job. 

CASE STUDY

How coaching can transform your career journey

Situation before coaching

For 11 years, across two institutions, Fiona had been working in a Public Sector role. She had moved laterally in that time but there was little career progression for her. She was in a rut, not knowing how to objectively assess just what she could be capable of doing next. Adding in low self-esteem during the pandemic and she felt like she was putting a lot into her job but not getting a lot out anymore. It was time for a change. Having worked in the USA, Fiona had already heard about the benefits of coaching for underrepresented groups. She tried tapping into local professional networks; they helped, but something was still missing. Impressed by my ethos of supporting women, and coming with a variety of different sector knowledge, Fiona began working with me.

Solution:

Through six coaching sessions over three months, Fiona dug deep into what she wanted from a career, how to let go of tasks and beliefs that weren’t serving her career journey and how to best showcase her skills and experience for future jobs.

Personal transformation:

Coaching gave Fiona the fortnightly accountability that she needed so that she could plan and action her next career steps. One big realisation was that she could use her way of looking at things to help her find a new job that she’d enjoy: she thought algorithmically and from a systems perspective to research potential jobs on LinkedIn, picked out the keywords, going through an analysis process and then adding the top most useful twenty keywords to her LinkedIn profile. This was a key realisation; she approached her own problem with the same analytical mindset and dedication that she would apply to solving her clients’ problems. After many years in service roles, the tendency was to put her own solutions last. It was now time to start thinking differently.

Result:

Within a week of finishing coaching, Fiona was recruited via LinkedIn. It led to a leap of faith for Fiona, with a change in sector and role but it has leveraged her technology skills alongside her design research skills. Now, she’s uniting her love of solving problems with tech and helping people to learn. Coaching had emboldened her to make that leap and the tools we worked through together continue to help her own self-leadership in an empathetic, boundaried, and responsible way.