Frank reached out to me because he had an important interview coming up and he wanted to increase his chances of getting the job. We did three mock interview coaching sessions together and he did well on all of my sample questions except for Why do you want to work here?
The problem was that Frank wasn’t running to his dream job; he was running from his current job, which he hated. He was trying to escape his current situation because he was frustrated and felt disrespected and stuck. He was recently passed up for a promotion and now had to report to one of his former peers. He didn’t respect his new boss and he didn’t like his old boss who was now his boss’s boss. Instead of climbing the corporate ladder, he was effectively knocked down a rung.
Frank was also frustrated with his team. He always had to step in to fix errors they made and to take over projects they were unable to complete by the deadline. Frank worked long hours every day and was constantly in meetings or on email. He had a hard time going to sleep and he didn’t sleep well because he was always thinking about things that had to be done. He stopped exercising and ate convenient, quick, unhealthy meals.
Feeling frustrated, stressed, and worried, combined with a lack of sleep and an unhealthy, unbalanced life, led him to feel angrier and he sometimes had a difficult time being patient and controlling his emotions. This negatively affected his relationships both at work and at home. And everything was working together to create a downward spiral. He was starting to doubt his abilities and was losing hope that things would improve. He started drinking again and participated in other escape activities in order to cope with his depression.
Frank had tried everything he could think of to improve but nothing worked. Yes, there were some short-term benefits from reading books and attending coaching, therapy, and self-improvement seminars, but he returned to his old patterns over time, and, in some ways, he was getting worse.
Frank was hoping to find a new job that was free from all the problems he had at his current company. I let him know that it wasn’t possible because he was the problem. Wherever you go, there you are! And the next job will probably be worse.
What he needed was a customized program called Leadership Coaching for Managers, that helped him in both his personal and professional life. I recommended that he focus on making changes that were in his control first. Once he had healed and transformed, he could then evaluate whether he wanted to still leave his company. He agreed.
I first helped Frank identify his limitations and understand their root cause. He learned about the five fundamental flaws of the methods he had been using to try to make himself better and I showed him why they didn’t work. I led Frank through a unique, holistic transformation process. He learned how to overcome his limitations and make positive, permanent, and powerful changes.
Frank created a new direction for his life which included his goals, purpose, vision, and values; started exercising, eating better, and getting enough sleep; learned how to better manage stress and worry; turned his fears into strengths; learned how to better manage his emotions and how to keep people from pushing his buttons; improved the key relationships in his life; stopped his negative behaviors; and created new habits that empowered him.
Frank then worked on his career. He acquired new leadership and management skills to improve his effectiveness; learned how to better communicate and became more comfortable with public speaking; elevated his people skills so he could improve the relationships with his team, his peers, his managers, and his customers; and learned valuable goal setting, time management, project management, and negotiating skills.
Frank created a new mission, vision, values, and culture for his team and collaborated with them to get their buy in. He clearly defined each person’s roles and responsibilities. He created incentives at both the individual and team level to achieve the desired results. He redistributed some of his work to the team so he was able to focus more on leadership, management, customer service, and delivering results on time. And he unleashed the power of his team by giving them more authority and responsibility.
Over time, Frank began to feel more confident, energetic, positive, and fulfilled. He started to be more assertive and contributed more. He communicated more effectively and more often. The employee satisfaction survey for his team showed large improvements and was now first in the division.
Frank created a better relationship with his boss and his former boss. He improved relationships with his peers and with key people in other departments. He took on additional responsibilities for high-profile projects. He focused on how he could add more value to his company and have a greater impact on his customers.
People started to take notice of the changes happening with him and with his organization. Other employees approached him, asking if they could work on his team. His customers were happier. They let him know about the great things his team was doing for them and they asked him to take on more projects.
When Frank had completed the transformational leadership process, he was finally in a state where he could objectively evaluate what he wanted to do with his career. Not surprisingly, he chose to stay at his current company and pursue new opportunities. He was now ready to run towards what he wanted.
All of Frank’s hard work paid off and he was promoted a little more than a year after he started working on himself. Frank said the large positive return on investment from the money he spent improving himself was substantial considering his raise and his increased bonus percentage, stock options, car allowance, and other benefits.
But he said that his monetary payoff was nothing compared to the improvements in his personal life and to his new reinvigorated career that was filled with fun, excitement, better relationships, fulfillment, and meaning. He couldn’t put a price on that.