Leadership Coaching

December 6, 2018January 13, 2023
by Holly Burton

The Inescapable Competency Trap

You're stuck as an indispensable technical expert (even though that was never what your leadership-obsessed self wanted).
You're constantly doing work you don't love (but that you're good at) to keep the trains running on time (instead of work that would challenge and excite you).
You find yourself working on low-hanging fruit projects outside of your roles and responsibility (instead of concentrating on the tough work in your area that would make an impact).

The Impenetrable Fortress of Self-Sufficiency

You're running on empty because you're taking care of everyone else's needs and waiting for someone to notice yours at work, at home, in your love life, and in your friendships.
You have a habit of not asking for the help, mentoring, training, budget, professional development funding or credit you need to be successful at work.

The Unsolvable Puzzle of Professional Development

You dread feedback and performance reviews (because it points out places you're imperfect and you thought you had all of those catalogued already).
You struggle to find good mentoring and coaching because most people just aren't fast enough, smart enough, or experienced enough to meet you where you are and challenge you.

You vs. The Patriarchy

You have trouble figuring out whether you're struggling because of something you should change or whether you're just up against garden variety sexism. All while not gaslighting yourself. And being a feminist advocate for yourself and other women. And not offending people so much that it hurts your career prospects. Fun!

Hell no!

My clients are amazing women!

My clients have a lot going for them. They're fast learners and full of great ideas. They always find themselves leading -- at work, in their communities, heck, even when it comes to picking where to eat dinner. And when you ask their colleagues, friends and family, they say my clients are so confident.

But my clients don't feel confident. They actually spend a ton of time worrying that they're not getting their technical decisions right, that they're not being a great leader to their teams, that the guy that complained that she was a bitch when she was promoted was secretly right.

And then there are days when they hit it out of the park and they have more swagger than Nicki Minaj. The people they work with see that. But internally they're a tangled mess of conflicting opinions and second guesses, and it makes it hard for them to get to the next level.

Confident and Efficient Decision Making

Confidence in your ability to make the right decisions at work, for your career strategy, and in your relationships.
Less time canvassing friends and professionals for their opinions on your ideas and options, and more time in action.
Focus on creating results, getting messy, and iterating to find the solution, rather than analyzing every option to death.

Painless, Schedule-Clearing Delegation

Learning how to trust your team and delegate without panicking that the work quality will suffer without your intimate involvement.
A team that's more engaged, innovative, and confident in their ability to make decisions and get the job done without worrying about you over-managing them.
More innovative ideas from your team who is finally empowered to experiment.

Actual Support and Help for Your Overfunctioning Self

Asking for and getting the support you need at work and home so you can keep on kicking ass and taking names, without the massive personal cost.
Empowering other people around you to pull their socks up instead of relying on you to overfunction for them.
Detachment from other people's outcomes so that you can be happy even if things aren't going perfectly for everyone around you.

Control of Your Career & Development

The ability to take control of your personal and professional development.
A deeper understanding of your strengths and struggles so that feedback doesn't land as a surprise.
The ability to have productive conversations with your manager to turn vague, hard-to-implement feedback into a plan you can use to advance your career.

Heck yes! Let's whip out the map!

So here's the deal: Just like trekking through the desert, these outcomes take some work. No surprises, right? Game-changing results usually take some effort and commitment.

My clients create these results for themselves by engaging a coach (spoiler alert: me) and taking a deep look at the places they get in their own way.

This work is rarely tactical or related to what steps you have to do. My clients are a bunch of smarty-pantses who google problems like it's their job, so I trust that they (and you!) have the skills to figure out the tactical stuff.

In coaching, we'll focus on the stuff that's hard to do on your own. We'll spend a lot of time digging into the emotional stuff that gets in your way. And that's what will help you get moving forward again.

You'll get support, love, and a troubleshooting partner while you go out into the world and practice using the skills you need to get to the next level.