A creative and innovative HR leader has had her wings clipped by her new
risk-averse boss. Feeling stifled, she knows she must break free. And soon.
The Issue
Marie, the head of talent development in a financial services organisation, feels stuck, demotivated and frustrated, but at the same time as if something new is trying to emerge.
In the past, Marie has enjoyed the freedom to be creative. She has been applauded for her innovative, money-saving contributions, and has got a kick out of supporting people to make the most of themselves.
Recently, however, her role has lost its shine for her. She has a new boss who is risk-averse and highly budget-conscious, who she feels is cramping her style and her ability to innovate.
She feels her boss is very critical of her suggestions, that maybe she doesn’t like her or her approach and that she would prefer to bring in someone else to do her job.
Marie also has a strong sense that perhaps it’s time to do something completely different, to do something where she can not only be even more creative, but where “it’s not all about the money”.
A recent bereavement – a close friend – has contributed to this sense that there may be another calling.
Some days, she feels she could just walk out of the door and not come back, but knows this is not sensible.
How can coaching support Marie in her next move?
The Interventions
Charles Helliwell
Founder, Business Personality Audits
Marie is feeling demotivated, stuck and frustrated and has the feeling there must be more to life than the same old routine, the good news is, she’s not alone.
We all go through this cycle from time to time. The challenge is to pick the right option when choosing to do something about it, because the easiest, simplest and most taken option is just to leave and start again, in the misbegotten belief that somewhere else has got to be better.
It won’t necessarily be better – not if she really wants to break the patterns and behaviours of the past.
So, the first task, in getting to somewhere different, is to secure the present. After all, Marie can’t have that freedom of choice if her choices become limited or restricted due to personal and professional circumstances.
Marie’s professional circumstances are at risk, because she has a new boss with whom she doesn’t currently resonate. In the coaching, we would put some effort into stabilising and securing that relationship so Marie can ease the pressure at work and give herself some breathing space and thinking room.
Since her boss is risk-averse and budget-conscious, we would look at planning her programmes so she can demonstrate an understanding of how the role of talent development can meet those two requirements, while still enabling her to be innovate and creative.
That, in itself, should be quite a challenge for her, and will prove to her boss that she is a multidimensional person, capable of operating within strict guidelines, while still providing innovative and inventive solutions.
This outcome may well result in her boss looking at her differently and may even open up other opportunities in the organisation which she hadn’t even considered.
But even if it doesn’t, it will certainly provide Marie with a different perspective about herself, which will put her in a much stronger state of mind to look outside the organisation at her life as a whole.
It will certainly make it a whole lot easier to decide what it is she may want to do next.
Christine Alexander-Smith
Learning and Development consultant – PCC DCI Ltd
Career coaching would provide the right framework for challenging any current norms held by Marie, enquiring of her: “What do you really want?” or: “What would need to be present now to have you say, ‘I have had/I am having a fulfilling life’?” All the while creating a safe environment for Marie to answer these questions without suggestion or judgement.
Coaching would support Marie in auditing who she is at this stage in her life and co-actively work with her, asking questions such as: “What is out of alignment for you right now?” and “What is the challenge?”, helping her to evaluate and become clear about where she has been and where she wants to go.
Guiding Marie through a visualisation session, tapping into a Future Self, could help provide her with raw materials from which she can build her life purpose statement, rediscovering what is possible for her.
To keep her on track and to encourage accountability, I’d use smart questions such as: “What will you do and by when?”
Marie may believe that her skills are not enough for a role outside her current company. But, by turning the assumption around and asking her: “If you knew that your skills were very valuable and very sought after, how would you approach your job hunt?”, she would hopefully be challenged to investigate avenues she has not gone down before, creating new perspectives.
Coaching would support Marie in broadening her horizons, obtaining clarity around her skills and her personal assets.
Knowledge about where best to deploy her skills, incorporate balance between her personal life and her work life, will help her find fulfilment once again.