CASE STUDY:
Specific Situation Fixer-Upper

COMMON QUESTIONS OF FIXER-UPPER CLIENTS:

(Sometimes you don’t need to change jobs or search your soul.  This type of program is for when there are one or two specific issues you want to address in order to make work and life better.)

• “How do I improve my relationship with my boss?”
• “I just got promoted into a management role and I’m feeling somewhere between excitedly nervous and woefully inadequate.  Help?”
• “I’m starting a new job.  How do I do it right?”
• “I’m feeling like I’m falling behind at work, like my colleagues are more advanced and getting promoted faster than me.  What am I doing wrong?”
• “I’m writing a new policy and procedure manual at work and I might blow my head off with boredom.  How can I do more of what I want at work?”
• “My company is being acquired by a competitor I don’t respect.  How do I handle the transition?”
• “How do I get my mojo back at work?  I’m going through a funk where I’m not that motivated.”
• “I’m starting my own business.  Can you help me build my confidence to sell my services?”
• “I’m thinking of renovating my downstairs bathroom.  Can you help with that?” (No, sorry, but good luck!)

MEET KAYLA.

I love my job but my co-workers are really dragging me down.  What can I do about it?

SITUATION:

Looking to handle difficult interpersonal relationships in new office setting.

CURRENT JOB:

Associate real estate broker, new to office in last six months and new to industry in last 18 months.

COACH’S NOTES:

• Kayla was the newbie in her office, and as an extremely motivated young professional, she was highly interested to find a way to work through challenges with co-workers who she felt were overly competitive, territorial, and unfriendly.  Relatively new to the real estate industry, she was eager to gain experience as a broker and knew her options for employment were limited.  She felt fortunate to land this opportunity to begin with and wanted to make the best of it.
• In our Discovery process, we delved into what Kayla really wanted and why it mattered to her.  We uncovered that harmony was a top five value of Kayla’s, and that she was largely conflict-avoidant.  While she was ambitious and hungry for success, she didn’t have an ounce of the competitive edge that her co-workers appeared to possess.  That combination of values, in a setting as Kayla described, would surely cause feelings of unease and stress.  Kayla embarked on a 3-month program to work through whether or not she could impact her experience on her own.
• We completed two personality assessments to learn more about Kayla’s styles and preferences, and used the information to help her understand her co-workers’ behavior and how she was reacting to their own unique styles.
• We connected with two of the contacts that Kayla put us in touch with (her sister and a close friend) for feedback on where she was outstanding in her life and where she could improve.  Relating the themes to Kayla that she could be far more considerate of her own needs/ standing up for herself, while still being seen as a caring person, was incredibly impactful to her.
• Part of her development plan included helping her to become more assertive with her needs, confident in the communication of her observations and boundaries, and helping her to see that conflict could be healthy (that it didn’t have to be an emotionally charged or negative relationship-breaker).
• Kayla’s customized exercises included readings, podcasts, videos, role-plays on having difficult conversations, and specific experiences designed to get her more comfortable with conflict resolution.  She was challenged to get to know some of her team members on a personal level, have candid conversations with some of them, and initiate important conversations elsewhere in her life to help build her skill of addressing important matters.
• Since Kayla was relatively new in her role, we also added in a development goal of helping her become as effective as possible.  She had a few time management and organization issues that needed addressing and we created a habit-forming plan to get her back on track and in control of her time.
• Kayla’s Happy Spectacular Work + Life Plan included a reinforcement of her values and strengths, with an emphasis on her short term goals (6 months in her case) and medium-term goals (2 years).  Personal development continued to be at the forefront of her plan, which allowed the plan to be flexible as her needs changed.