When Betty (name changed to respect her privacy) began her career 12 years ago, she pictured herself working hard, performing well, and growing with her company. Despite her dedication and high performance, she was not promoted.
So, Betty switched companies, moving up by moving on. Even though she gained a higher-level title and the salary increase that came with it, Betty saw this as a black mark on her resume. She felt she failed because she was not internally promoted.
At her next company, she was a Senior Analyst. She again worked hard and got results for her team. After two years she began positioning herself for a promotion.
I was really ready to be promoted. I was doing everything I could to position myself for promotion, but my boss consistently told me I was not ready. I needed to wait.
This really began to disturb me personally. I began to wonder, “Am I good enough? Do I even have a chance? Am I worth it?” To me, getting an inline promotion, I always thought that’s growth. That idea was fixed in my mind. In my last company, that did not happen, and then at my next company, the same scenario was playing out again.
Betty was in this frustrating place for about 8 months. Then, she did what she thought she had to do. She applied to and got a role at another company. She accepted a new role as a Senior Manager.
This may have seemed like a win to others, but Betty did not feel that way.
This experience really impacted my confidence. I felt defeated. I wanted to make sure this did not happen to me at my next company, but after watching this pattern play out twice, I knew I needed help. I decided I needed professional coaching.
I was beginning to realize that my professional life is not just about how I do the work, it is also about how I present myself.
I knew I had to set the right tone from the beginning. I had to figure out how to become a confident and assertive leader because I didn’t want to take up the new job and end up in the same position in another year or two.
Around this time, Betty came across some of Alida’s content on Facebook.
I saw Alida’s ad on Facebook and I really liked what she said and her presence. So much so that I didn’t even shop around for a coach! I had one initial call and decided to sign up for a 4 month coaching program.
It ended up being the best decision. Working with Alida was life-changing for me.
Alida took the time to truly understand me. She saw that I needed to look deeper than the frustrations I was experiencing in my work life. She helped me understand that to have a successful professional life, I needed first to feel good about the person I am. She was brutally honest with me, but she delivered that honesty with so much understanding. I felt truly seen. Through her coaching, I was able to see that I had lost my spark. I had let things beat me down.
So, we worked together to bring that spark back and I began to like myself again. I realized I let what happened around me impact how I saw myself.
Once I began to value myself again, I was able to see what happens externally is not always about me. I thought I was not getting promoted because I was not good enough. But I now realize there were other things going on with the two companies I worked with that had nothing to do with me or my performance. I acknowledged that I had done good work and now feel at peace with the way my career has evolved.
These realizations mean I now feel confident most of the time. When I speak up at work, there’s no hesitation in my voice. I know I am in the position I am in for a reason.
I continue to apply all the tools I gained through coaching in the work I do and at home. I am showing up as a better mom and a better partner to my husband. There’s more peace in my family. I continue to work on building balance and calm internally because I know that will show up in all parts of my life externally.
What I really like about Alida is she treats every client differently. It’s not a one-solution-fits-all type of approach. She gets to know each client and then coaches them based on what they need. This is where her years of experience show up. She was able to see where I needed to grow. I think that’s the coach anybody would want.
