Janice, with more than fifteen years at her present organization off late, has been feeling isolated and disengaged with her work; while she has seen a lot of changes the organization has undergone in the past several years, post-pandemic things seem to have changed a lot more.

She missed the team members and the camaraderie with whom she had many successful launches in the past.

The Problem at hand.

Present day today, with new team members and roles, Janice finds herself working with a team with she has still yet to establish a connection. Therefore, most of her time is spent in isolation by herself reminiscing of the past and blaming a lot about the present that do not seem to sync with the way she wanted her role and work to turned out to be.

Coaching Work

During our Coaching work together 

Janice was filled with stories and a deep sense of demotivation she felt for her present role and people, and she blamed her career stagnation on the new leadership and their not-so-productive work style and strategies.

She was so deeply sunk into the emotion that she lost track of it when her performance began to express it in the most obvious ways. Her performance appraisal for the first time carried red flags that required immediate intervention which made her turn to a coach for support.

Here’s where our coaching journey began.

Change is always tricky and comes with disruption and chaos!

Giving Janice her share of time to pour her heart out and unveil the emotional mask she has been wearing for a very long time, most of the work we did together, demonstrated Janice ineptness in dealing with the changing power dynamics at the organization and how it was impacting her career growth. 

A key conversation we had, I asked her the following question.

What’s your Goal if you intend to remain part of this organization you have served for many years?

Janice replied: I want to grow in this organization the way I’ve always been in the past several years, and started again to blame the conditions, people, and organizational politics around her that were hindering her progress.

I probed with an additional question

What can help you achieve where you want to go, and is your present work behavior supporting you in doing so?

This question brought silence over her; I let her be and gave her a week to reflect on it at a deeper level.

Her narration had a lot of data to evaluate, and I coached her to connect the dots forming patterns.

The outcome

Janice wanted to aim for the next executive leadership role but had limited insights and knowledge about the path. She was more aspiring and dreaming than realistic about the possibility of it.

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It’s been more than a year of our work, and Janice today is in her pivotal role, leading confidently and fully engaged.

A technique to find your Best Possible Work Self

The four-step technique will assist anyone in creating a future plan, considering all aspects of Work, including the passion and technical side of a job or role one always wanted.

While none of us are aware of what the future has store in for us, oftentimes at mid-level managerial positions, we may come across several crossroads, confusing us, overwhelming us, and all we seek would be clarity and a way ahead.

This tool will help you take that key decision with certainty and confidence, when you find yourself in a similar situation.

Watch and practice it here

More power to you.

© Mehnaz Amjad 2017-2025

Mehnaz Amjad | Coach
Hyderabad, India