Now I hold confidentiality with my clients, which means I don’t share who they are, or their stories, nor what we talk about, unless they give me permission (you’ll see those in my testimonials page).
In my blogs I write about the struggles and breakthroughs either in composite or generally. Always anonymously. Trying to give you real life examples, while maintaining privacy and confidentiality.
It’s hard. My clients do amazing things and I want the world to know about it.
This post is about one person, and I’ve deliberately taken out all identifying data out of it, while keeping the story real and relatable. I hope. You be the judge.
But why go to all this trouble?
Firstly, the achievement is important. This person deserves to be celebrated, even if you don’t know their name.
Secondly, we all need reminders of what is possible.
Thirdly, it feels really good to celebrate others, for everyone involved.
Celebrating Others: let’s start with V.
V is working for an incompetent director. What kind of incompetent? You know, the kind who gets lots of ideas, doesn’t think them through, and makes you carry them out. Then when you come back with a progress report, they say “oh no, that’s a terrible idea. Let’s not waste time on that”. If you’ve never experienced this, congratulations, and may you always stay fortunate.
V works in an industry where there is a lot of incompetence in higher management.
So V took their time and carefully searched for a new job where the culture, people, and leadership match their needs.
V had a lot of offers, and V didn’t rush. No jumping out of the frying pan into the fire for them. (Did I ever tell you about the time that I did that? Oh it was horrendous).
V assessed, kept searching, and found what they were looking for.
V was strategic, patient, persistent. V held on to the vision of the next step. And like Ted, V Believed. V had hope.
That’s something we should all celebrate so let’s hear it for V! (resounding applause)
But there is another thing that we need to congratulate V for.
During that search, for all those months that V was still working for Incompetent Boss, V kept their cool.
V established and upheld boundaries.
V protected their team, and helped them develop and grow.
V broke a decades long habit of working all the hours, and kept their evenings and weekends free.
V went back to the gym and running – taking care of their body.
V restarted hobbies and being creative – taking care of their mind, heart, and spirit.
V did not let their circumstances take over their whole life.
V LIVED.
For this, I take a bow.
And the icing on the cake? V now has a director role.
They get to show us how it’s done so that people grow, results get reached, and good people don’t get suffocated and leave.
This is why I love this job. I get to meet people who know how the world can be so much better, and I get to help them stay the course and see it through.
This post is part of my special Coaching Tips Series. This series was inspired by my clients and the core themes in their challenges. When we can apply these tips, we bring a lot of ease into our lives and step into our leadership. Want to talk it through with me? Call me and let’s make a Game Plan together.