Finally landed somewhere you feel valued, and now you have to get out of the weeds so you can lead?
By the time Marcus found a place where he felt valued again, he had become a more mature leader and now had to start getting out of the weeds.
Customer Journey: Marcus
Marcus was a tech executive who came to coaching during a career transition. Over the years that followed, he navigated new roles, organizational change, difficult bosses, and periods of uncertainty.
Marcus’s journey explores self-leadership, resilience, confidence, and learning to take ownership of his own growth.
Each post explores a real coaching conversation or leadership challenge from that journey. This is post five of six.
As Marcus moved forward, had become a more mature leader. He stuck it out with his bad boss for another five months while the team that he was asked to apply for came together. He was finally reassigned in March. This team was solidly in the same function where he had built skills for years.
Now he knew how to challenge himself. He knew how to challenge his team. He knew not to complain but when to ask for what he needed.
As he started getting back to work where he felt more valued, I asked him what lessons he wanted to take forward from the last year.
Marcus’s Leadership Values
Build my network. We have shake-ups every year, and I need others to see my value and know my work.
Be confident in my abilities. Control my insecurities when I report up to people at my boss’s level and above. I’ve earned my place here.
Maintain high work ethics. Go above and beyond. Challenge myself and bring new ideas to the team.
Take time to help others. Mentoring others helps my own visibility and adds value to the team.
Be respectful and treat everyone fairly, even when things are stressful. Be empathetic and compassionate.
These leadership values helped him stay productive, approachable, authentic, and challenged. He knew how he wanted to show up for others.
Learning to Get Out of the Weeds
“My boss needs me to push the agenda, and I’m learning to get out of the weeds,” he said. His first task was to close out a compliance review. It was very complicated technically and had to comply with a number of data privacy regulations.
Instead of doing the work himself, he managed his two team members and reviewed their work. He encouraged them to improve where he found errors or omissions. He praised their good work.
By staying out of the weeds, he was able to keep track of a lot of different pieces of the puzzle while getting the work done.
Once the review was done, he compiled a list of other projects he wanted to push forward and brought it to his boss to ensure alignment.
He wanted to start working on an understanding of processes and controls in APAC and LATAM.
He also wanted to understand procedures for how to escalate. He felt that a lot of people had problems and didn’t know where to check. He added training for other departments to his list.
His boss also noted that he wanted him in charge of conflicts of interest. He suggested that he develop some scenarios and training for that area too. He was excited to dig in.
Marcus continued to coach once a month. It was helpful for him to feel like he had someone solidly in his corner, encouraging him to grow, stretch, and believe in himself.
“Sometimes when I get into a situation where I’m second guessing myself, I hear your voice in my head encouraging me, helping me feel confident and stay curious, pushing me to push myself. It helps me keep going especially when things get rough.”
“Overall,” he said, “Even though I’m being pulled in a lot of directions and I’m busy, I’m happy. I know I’m in the right place and I can bring value and feel like I’m contributing something of value to the world.”
Continue the Journey
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