One of my clients is struggling with overload, lack of confidence, and overwhelm as she struggles to balance her professional and personal priorities. She’s been promoted to Director, is only 6 months away from completing her EMBA, and her mom recently passed away. So now on top of everything else she is helping her dad during this difficult time.
She said, “I want to be a good leader for my team, creating trust and empowering them to do their best work. But I don’t have that with my manager and feel like I’m caught in the middle. She’s a micromanager and my team doesn’t want to work directly with her anymore. I’m doing my best to insulate my team while pleasing my manager. I feel like I’m not communicating well, and scared that I’m going to drop balls.”
She spoke about the lack of empathy and support from her manager and how it’s adding to her stress and feelings of inadequacy.
I asked her, “What’s important here to focus on”? Her reply, “I’m not sure right now.” Then her emotion took over, and she cried. We sat in silence.
A few days after our coaching session she texted me, “I guess here is my question, if you don’t see any great leader in your organization, what should you do? hang in there? do your own thing? or move on?”
My reply, “what does your heart tell you?”