The Situation: Navigating Difficult Situations*
Jill came to see me as a professional with a difficult situation regarding her manager. Jill’s manager constantly insulted her because of her age. Jill was a young, talented writer for a Fortune 500 company. Jill was looking for coaching as to how to best handle this situation without damaging her career.
The Solution:
We came up with a plan for Jill to reach out to her mentor and to set up a meeting for the three of us. The purpose of the meeting was to get executive coaching and to set goals that would help Jill be succinct in her messaging to her manager in these tricky situations. We also wanted to strategize how Jill could move to a difficult unit and report to her mentor. Jill’s mentor knew and saw the results of Jill’s skills, especially in her marketing strategy for the CEO in public.
The Outcome:
Jill was promoted a year later to be the senior speech writer for the CEO. She was admired for how she handled her previous manager. The manager was close to the senior team leaders. A few years later this manager had to resign due to his unprofessional behavior.
*This case happened approximately fifteen years ago. I am sharing it today as we are in unusual professional environments. For this young professional it was important to maintain her confidence without damaging another professional. We were also fortunate that her mentor, who went on to be a member of the c-suite, saw Jill’s potential and the value of an executive coach. A coach is only as good as the support a client receives in the business environment.
A team is not a group of people that work together. A team is a group of people that trust each other.
Simon Sinek