Jeevan has always believed in working to be the best version of himself. He was doing well as a leader of a sales team and was ready to take on more responsibility. He was ready for a promotion, but it was not happening.
In his free time, Jeevan read books about leadership, seeking the skills he needed to be the obvious next choice for a promotion. However, he realized he needed more support and feedback to fully develop these new skills. He had worked with mentors in the past, but this time he wanted support from a coach outside his organization. He wanted input from someone who wouldn’t be involved in writing his performance reviews. He especially wanted a coach who had experience managing corporate teams and corporate relationships.
“I wanted to work with someone whom I could completely trust. Someone I felt I could be open with, without being judged.”
Alida had the experience and style Jeevan was looking for.
Although it was challenging at first, he found the more he opened up, the more insights he gained. He began to let his guard down, feeling relieved that he could show up to coaching calls completely as himself.
“At first, I felt uncomfortable talking about issues I was facing and skills I needed to develop. It can be easy to avoid areas where you do not feel comfortable because you just don’t want to go there. But I have learned that by taking the time to name what is going on, you can really address it head-on and move forward. Alida helped me with this process.”
“I trusted Alida and knew she had my best interest at heart. And all that work really helped me. I have a sense of calm about me now and carry that calm with me as I go into unfamiliar situations.”
One of Jeevan’s learnings has been the ability to identify the needs and motives of the people he works with in all interactions. With Alida’s coaching, he was able to create a stakeholder engagement strategy, leveraging these insights to help each stakeholder and build support for his initiatives. This creates a win-win approach for everyone involved.
“I have a lot of teammates that I mentor, coach, and advise. Alida encouraged me to give my full attention to them. I learned to analyze who my work is serving and how my work serves them. This immediately takes the nerves away for me because I am working to benefit someone else, it is not about me. At first, this shift in mindset took practice, but now I think this way consistently. It’s become second nature to me.”
With these skills and strategies, Jeevan was able to have a major impact on his company’s success. He had an idea for how different sales teams go to market together. He mapped out the full process and began using it with his team. Seeing how well that was working, he wanted to bring it to other teams. With Alida’s support, he found ways to engage other leaders to join in. Jeevan created and ran a program designed to address the most complex needs of his company’s largest customers. By engaging his leadership and teammates, the program started seeing promising results. Eventually, it was adopted by other teams as well and Jeevan was asked to run the program in addition to his day job. As other teams came on board, his efforts gained the attention of the senior executive leadership at his company.
He was invited to present the approach at a company-wide meeting. As the strategy Jeevan created spread across the organization, it resulted in a game-changing growth in revenue. The company is now implementing the new program across all business lines.
“While the idea for the changes came from our CEO’s vision, a large part of the methodology that the company is now using is the one that I implemented in the program last year. That’s very pleasing to see, to have a $10 billion company pivot the whole strategy because the leadership believed in you.”
As a result of this success, Jeevan began to truly believe in himself and was ready to take a chance on something new. He began applying for jobs that had the kind of responsibility and impact he was looking for.
“There’s this saying that a bird sits on a twig, not because it believes in the strength of the twig, but because it believes in the strength of its wings. I resonate with this saying very strongly. As a result of the success I was having in my role, I was confident I could take on bigger challenges and was ready to take a risk to do that.”
Jeevan ended up getting offers from two different global Fortune 500 companies that are leaders in his industry. At the same time, he was offered the promotion in his own company that he was working towards — and yet another opportunity came up for Jeevan within his organization.
“If I would have been presented with all these offers a year ago, I would’ve picked one of the global brands, because, on the outside, those offers looked the best. But, because I have developed this profound way to center and ground myself, I took the time to carefully reflect on all four offers.”
“There was a new internal solution sales role that I gravitated towards. While this new role included a lot of risks, it would help me be closer to my customers and problem solve for them. It would give me an opportunity to build a team with teammates from different parts of my company. So, while the other offers looked great on the outside, I knew the solution sales role was the best option for me right now.”
Jeevan confidently turned down the other three offers and accepted the new position.
“When I started this coaching program, I really wanted that leadership title in my current company. I not only got that offer, I also got three other really great offers. But through coaching, Alida really pushed me to get to know myself. To be completely honest about what is important to me. As a result, I was able to analyze multiple offers and choose the one that is truly best for me.”
“I think that’s the definition of freedom. To be able to say no to something that looks good from the outside and select the option that best serves me and my family. I am now making decisions that will give me peace of mind versus doing what someone else might expect from me. While I might have thought that was selfish in the past, I now realize if I’m not happy, then how can everybody else around me be happy?”
In his new role, Jeevan continues to use the tools he gained while working with Alida to build relationships with customers and to meet and exceed his goals. He is a leader with heart who continuously has a positive impact on the customers he serves, the teammates he works with, and the company he works for.
Are you ready to build this type of freedom in your career? We’d love to help.
