Nurturing leaders' personal and professional development
In October 2021, a national UK charity brought me on board to coach seven mid-level managers across their communications and fundraising directorate. The organisation was in the midst of a restructure, with staff feeling generally unsettled and many finding their feet in new roles. Here are the key takeaways…
Now, this is a tricky thing to write a case study about, because coaching is confidential, but I’m going to do my best, because I think it's an interesting story to tell...
I worked with managers over a period of six months and they had 12 coaching sessions each. None of them had previous experience of coaching, and while some were initially unsure, others jumped at the opportunity.
“I went into coaching feeling a little skeptical and unsure, and I've come out of it a huge advocate! Carrie is exceptionally warm and immediately created a space where I felt safe and supported. It has been a journey - Carrie made me laugh, got me out of my comfort zone and helped me to work through some difficult things at a difficult time. Now, I feel more self-aware, more confident and more in control of my future.”
Fundraising manager
Firstly, how we set things up...
We offered individuals the opportunity to be coached and they were free to ask questions, say yes, or say no.
"As a result of significant restructure, I had many colleagues in new roles while also carrying a high volume of vacancies. Colleagues were incredibly open and honest about their hopes and fears, and it was clear to me that colleagues at mid-senior level in particular were feeling 'forgotten'.
"Carrie understood the complexity of the charity and the potential impact of the changes. She helped me to make a completely optional offer to colleagues, and worked directly with them and their line managers throughout the journey."
Director
After a few reassuring conversations, everyone opted in. We kicked off the coaching relationships with a 3-way conversation with the client (the coachee) and their line manager.
We discussed coaching-specific objectives and agreed areas of focus, from an organisational perspective. We also set boundaries around confidentiality, so that only the client would report back to the line manager. After six sessions we’d have a collective check-in, to give the coachee the chance to share their progress, to reassure the organisation that coaching was adding value, and to offer coachees the chance to opt out if they didn’t feel it was ‘working’. **Spoiler alert… they all chose to continue after the first six sessions.**
Following the kick-off, coachees completed a ‘getting to know you’ survey, then I met with them 121, to explore ‘what else’. This was the chance to bring up anything more personal or anything that they didn’t feel comfortable discussing in front of their line manager. I’m a firm believer that life and work are not separate from each other, and by coaching the ‘whole person’, you’re more likely to see progress.
What happened next...
The coaching sessions began, with the client bringing a chosen topic each time. Every session ended with a self-inquiry or specific task, to help the client move forward. Sometimes that meant sitting down and pondering a question about themselves. Sometimes it meant going and speaking to their boss about their mental health. And sometimes it meant going to sit under a tree in the park or taking a trip to the seaside. We’d always check in at the start of the next call, to see what they’d discovered. You’d be amazed at how often a big ‘problem’ shrank, once they’d taken some time to explore it.
Over the six-month period I noticed a few common themes that I feel are really important to talk about.
Low confidence & fear of assertiveness - moving into management roles and not yet having the self-belief to ‘own it’ - both in terms of communications style and action taken
Challenges around boundary setting - taking on too much, knowing when to say no and when to say yes, and how to tell the boss when it’s all a bit too much
Difficulty communicating needs & speaking up - worries about speaking up or not being heard in the workplace, about appearing rude or getting things wrong
Lack of clarity around personal purpose / misalignment with values - at home and at work, finding that they’re not being true to themselves and what they want or believe
Desire for perfectionism & control - wanting to be excellent and do as much as possible, so that they could achieve results that would have a positive impact on beneficiaries… often leading to a perceived lack of control and overwhelm
Awkwardness finding their feet in new roles - stepping into management roles without the necessary support (for a multitude of reasons) and finding it hard to ask for help
Being stuck in a narrow perspective - being ground down by the restructure process or by their own ideas of how things should be, which makes it hard to ‘lift your head up’ and see things differently
Self-limiting beliefs to recognise and overcome - past patterns and life experiences that have led to self-judgement and beliefs about themselves that simply aren’t true
A need to listen to and trust intuition - often jumping to rational thought and logic, rather than listening to gut feelings and trusting their decision-making and ability
The interesting thing for me, was that these themes cropped up across many individuals. The ones who seemed most confident on the surface sometimes felt awkward in their roles. The ones who seemed chaotic were actually perfectionists who just wanted everything to be done right. The ones who felt they couldn’t speak up were often the ones with a really valuable contribution to make.
“Carrie has been a brilliant coach and has really helped me over the past 12 sessions to progress my thinking and change the way that I view things - not least myself. She helps make you feel at ease even when discussing harder topics.”
Fundraising Manager
The experience also taught me so much about working across teams. The way we get inside our own heads, judge ourselves, blame the organisation or make assumptions about others (and often how they might react to x y z). This impacts on everyone around us and on what we can achieve together.
“Carrie was an excellent coach - very approachable and open. She helped me refresh my perspective and refocus on the things that are important to me.”
Marketing Manager
The takeaway...
This work reinforced my belief that everyone can benefit from coaching. Whether they instigate it themselves, or ask their organisation to support them.
Through coaching, organisations can encourage individuals to take ownership of their personal development, so it's always in focus and not just a box ticking / PDR exercise at the start of each year.
“Carrie’s coaching was hugely beneficial for my line reports. The space for them to zoom out from their work, even from their roles to themselves; their personal goals and their potential, really allowed for productive self-reflection and learning.
"This massively complimented my work with them as their manager, and in very different ways I saw improvements in their confidence and their professional wellbeing. One had not considered themselves as a potential leader, another had not realised they were already an effective nurturing manager. But the coaching helped each to realise the strength in what they were already doing. In each case it was clear it had been a really positive experience and outcome from the coaching.” Head of Team / Line Manager
I would love it if every organisation started asking a couple of extra questions when it comes to objective setting too..
Where is the organisation getting in my way? What can be done to resolve these challenges?
Where am I getting in my own way? And what can I do about it?
The second question is most important. Because it’s often easier to blame our circumstances or push responsibility onto someone or something else. By being conscious of our own role in every situation, we can choose a different mindset, take a different course of action or decide to tackle a problem head on. And that leads to real change - for the person, who might just start believing in themselves a little more, and for the organisation, who will see an enthusiastic employee who innovates and fearlessly solves problems.
"What I saw from my vantage point varied from person to person. There was certainly a visible growth in confidence to speak up, to challenge, or to share an alternate perspective. Colleagues experiencing coaching became more accepting of uncertainty, and more confident in their new roles. As someone who takes a coaching approach to working with people, I could easily assume that we can do this ourselves, in-house. In some situations though, there's immeasurable benefit to bringing in external support for colleagues. Not least to support psychological safety and trust."
Director
Do you recognise any of the challenges mentioned here? Could coaching benefit you or your team? Get in touch.
