What’s your story?

While your situation is unique and your desires are your own, you are never entirely alone. Take a look at some of the most widespread circumstances our clients face, and learn more about how we’ve helped them recreate their realities by bringing their core, actions and results into complete alignment.


 
Coaching   Consulting

The Golden Handcuffs:

How to overcome feelings of being trapped and defined by your income and status

Challenge

I’m so unhappy in my job, but I can’t afford to quit.

Action

My coach and I, objectively, discussed my choices so I don’t feel so trapped. What is it I can control and influence to help myself feel and be more powerful in this situation? For instance, I put a clear financial plan in place and have discussed it with my family, who are also on board. I’ve begun delegating tasks more often, and I’ve begun re-discovering the parts of my job that have meaning to me. Most importantly, I’ve created a 3-year exit strategy in case things don’t get better, and that roadmap gives me comfort, clarity and courage every day.

Outcome

Now that I don’t feel so trapped, I am working more effectively, even though I haven’t yet changed my job. I also can see I’ve gained perspective, patience, and even wisdom while I’m waiting to make the right things happen for the right reasons.

Imposter Syndrome:

How to ease into your new role, even if you don’t think you’re ready

Challenge

I just got promoted, and I don’t feel ready. I’m worried they’re going to figure out I’m not qualified, and that’s going to set me back for years.

Action

As I talked with my coach, she helped me ground my fears so I could distinguish between the real ones and the imaginary ones. After I let the imaginary ones go, we created a plan to address the real ones. As we looked at the job’s competencies and objectives and compared them to my qualifications, my coach helped me link my past experience with future expectations so I could see that I had experience that meant something—not just to me, but to my job and the organization. We also designed and practiced conversations so I could ask the “dumb” questions without feeling stupid. It’s been humbling, but also empowering. I can see, now, that it isn’t as important that I know everything, but it is important to find out how to find the best answers.

Outcome

Even though I don’t yet feel competent in this role, I’ve learned what it is to be a learner—and I’m appreciating that I don’t have to have everything perfect to make progress. My greatest leverage for effectiveness is to do the best I can with the resources I have. I’ve also learned that another person’s emergency—even my own staff member’s—doesn’t have to be my emergency. This realization has helped me avoid reacting unnecessarily, and it’s helped me focus on creating valuable experiences for my team, our clients and myself. I’ve learned to keep my eye on the strategic goals and not get distracted by all the operational noise, too. In the end, this makes me and my team more effective.

The Makeover:

How to find your true calling and walk into your dream job

Challenge

I’ve been doing this job for 15 years, and I just don’t like it. I want to do something that I’m good at and that I have passion around. But, I have no idea how to choose, let alone make that transition successful.

Action

My coach helped me identify the kinds of roles/jobs that I really like and are aligned with who I am. We also did an inventory of my strengths and values, talking logically and also from gut instincts about what I want to do and where I want to go. Smartly, we identified some of my skill gaps, and developed a plan so I could close those gaps. We talked through and worked on my confidence and self-esteem matters, so I could present my authentic, best self to potential employers, networks, etc. I also practiced conversations that helped me gain comfort and confidence talking about my new goals with friends and family, so I can have a strong support system in place as I move forward. It helps knowing I don’t have to figure this all out or do it all by myself.

Outcome

Interestingly, through this coaching, I’m finding greater joy in the work I do, knowing it’s not permanent. Each day, I look for one or two wins that matter to me. Those wins have always been there, but I didn’t notice them before. I’m beginning to realize maybe I don’t have to remake myself, but just refine my professional identity or find another organization whose mission, values and culture I feel more connected to. But, if I want to keep forging ahead on my own, I know I won’t be starting over —I’ll be coming into my own. That insight, alone, is invaluable to my confidence.

The Legacy:

How to make an impact, even years after you’ve moved on

Challenge

I’d been serving in as role for several years and realized I’d never considered my lasting impact or been aware of what I was going to leave behind. I wanted to think in terms of my legacy: what is it, and why is it important to me?

Action

My coach helped me to define what “legacy” means to me and explore why it’s so important to me. In our time together, we created different scenarios of my last day, and then I got to look back and reflect on each of them. What felt right? What felt hollow or incomplete? I intentionally developed a plan so that when I left, I could take more than my last paycheck—I taught others some key skills and I’ve adopted a group of mentees. They tell me they can now see the link between what they do and who they are.

Outcome

I’ve been retired for over 3 years now, and I look back on what I’ve been able to teach others about my work-life lessons with both pride and wonder. I know every person is on his or her own journey, but perhaps some of my former colleagues’ and mentees’ challenges will be easier because of my actions.

Mr. Popularity:

How to convert your leader from someone who wants to be liked into someone who makes the tough calls and earns respect

Challenge

Our leader wants to be liked, so he doesn’t make the tough decisions. As a team, we’re counting on him to step up and be decisive, even if his actions are not going to be popular.

Action

Our coach helped us define the problem from an organizational and business perspective. Our problem wasn’t a personal one, but it could be misconstrued as such, so we were glad we could get clear on things from the organizational light. Our coach then helped us design a conversation that we would have with him that would allow us to communicate our problem, in the business context. The conversation wasn’t about blame, but about needs, communication styles and solutions that would work for all of us.

Outcome

Our boss is still shy about making decisions, but our conversation with him seemed to bolster his confidence in himself and in us. He has moved on some things that are crucial to our progress and effectiveness, and we’re holding up our end by offering our support and working through the impact of his decisions. We’ve got more work to do, for sure. But, the team is coming together and, ironically, our boss is more liked and respected when he is decisive.

Eagles vs. Roosters:

How to rise above day-to-day operations and focus on strategy

Challenge

My direct reports are stuck in tactics and can’t think or operate strategically. I’ve taught them skills and given them my expectations, but it doesn’t work. They act like “chaos junkies” and I need to get the team aligned and on board with strategy.

Action

We hired Blue Mesa coaches to work with us and help the team get out of their inboxes and see the current and future problems. Our coaches worked with the team so they could learn how it is and how it isn’t effective just to react to a crisis, and so they would stop and think about the nature of the problem, not just “Whose problem is it?” In other words, the Blue Mesa Group taught even the most reluctant individuals on the team to slow down and consider things from the “Eagle’s Nest” perspective. It turns out that many of their activities were redundant, and when they recognized that, they began to see the value in sharing information so they could minimize overlap and spend time being creative and effective with their own areas of responsibility.

Outcome

The team has begun to incorporate their activities with the bigger mission of their departments and each department’s role in our organization. They are thinking more about the financial, market and organizational implications of their decisions and actions; I see more problem solving and problem prevention going on. In time, I think we’ll see an increase in productivity, lower overhead and turnover. I also think, if we can keep this going, we’ll be operating as cohesive, collaborative business units rather than competitive and rather selfish departments. I look forward to that day.

The Beginner’s Mind:

Learning how to learn at both the individual and organizational level

Challenge

As the Chief Learning Officer, how do I foster a learning culture for our associates so they benefit as individuals and we benefit as an organization?

Action

The Blue Mesa Group helped us analyze our cultural beliefs about learning and showed us how to align them within our strategic and operational frameworks. Through an integrated consultation and coaching process, we realized there was a bit of a disconnect between what we said we believed about learning and the systems we had, or didn’t have, in place to support it.

Outcome

Individual staff members find themselves thinking more and reacting less. Our associates are less concerned about appearing to be smart and more comfortable asking crucial questions. As an organization, we’re finding our teams are more cohesive, more trusting and more collaborative. Our people continue to approach each problem as an opportunity to learn in new ways. Meanwhile, our managers are learning to lead from a place of possibility, rather than a place of fear.

New Leader Assimilation:

Understanding identity, information and affiliations within established cultures

Challenge

Historically, when we’ve brought a new leader into the executive team or promoted from within, our business suffers. Feathers get ruffled, turnover happens and political posturing gets in the way of the work we need to be doing. How can we bring in new leaders, ramp them up and integrate them successfully and quickly?

Action

Under the proactive guidance of Blue Mesa consultants, we discovered we needed to re-evaluate the dynamics of leadership and what it takes to step up and step into a leadership role. Rather than just pop somebody into place and tell them, “Go!” we learned the value of spending time, up front, on relationship and business expectations, plus communication and behavioral ground rules. Now, we have a specific, interactive process where, on Day 1, our new leader invites the existing team members to candidly express key questions, ideas and concerns. And vice versa.

Outcome

The information exchange is the right mix of both personal and professional dialogue. We all know, up front, what we need and want from each other, which makes for great transparency and accelerated productivity. Our new leaders report deep and lasting satisfaction as they grow into existing leaders, and our business culture and outcomes have deeply benefitted, too.

Great Leaders or Great Interviewees:

Using assessment interviews to identify top talent and true potential

Challenge

As difficult as it’s been to admit it, we realize our talent development practices need to be less about relationships and connections and more about developing high potential leaders based on aligned values, deep competence and demonstrated potential. How can we accurately assess an emerging leader for potential to go to the next level?

Action

We brought in the Blue Mesa Group to conduct high-level assessment interviews and to attain in-depth information about our high potential candidates.

Outcome

The Blue Mesa Group helps us make data driven, unemotional decisions about who the right candidates are. They’re skilled at acquiring more than just referrals and a career history. Blue Mesa understands how to accurately assess competency, business acumen, honesty, the ability to effectively contribute to a team, interpersonal communication style and other key pieces of data that indicate how a leader will truly perform in a position at the next level. Since we contracted with Blue Mesa, we are making evidence-based decisions about the people we are selecting for greater leadership responsibility. At times, this includes not promoting individuals who may be well liked but don’t have the clear potential to operate effectively at the next level. We’re definitely better off for it.

Individual Commitments and Group Effort:

Converting independent producers into a collaborative, cooperative team

Challenge

As a senior executive, I count on my direct reports to work together well to achieve sustainable results. Unfortunately, my “team” places more value on their abilities as individual contributors—they’re not getting along well and they’re not getting the job done. How can I remake my team and inspire them to be cohesive? It’s ridiculous for me to act more like a referee than an executive leader.

Action

The Blue Mesa Group conducted private interviews with each team member and with me, and they were immediately able to pinpoint key gaps in the team’s behavior. With Blue Mesa’s help, we could see exactly what was getting in the way of full performance. Blue Mesa also helped me, as the leader, learn more effective ways to shift my behaviors and set more clear expectations and consequences with my team. Together, we all sat down as Blue Mesa facilitated a working session with us to address our gaps and plan for meaningful actions going forward. During the session, the team was encouraged to be honest and put the real issues on the table, which they did.

Outcome

While the work was difficult and at times uncomfortable, the team was able to identify a clear action plan and committed to following through. I’ve made some notable changes to my leadership style, including clarifying my expectations. I also had new data and insights about my team members, and I made some decisions about the people on the team who demonstrated no commitment to our team and who weren’t meeting expectations. I’ve since removed those people from our team. Now, while not perfect, the team has evolved and is following up on the commitments they’ve made. We are all working more like a team and I’m happy with our progress.

Employee Misconduct:

How to manage sensitive issues while preventing the bad from turning ugly

Challenge

We ran into a situation where, through a series of miscommunications, one of our employees felt wronged.

Action

The situation escalated to the point where we knew we were going to need to go into mediation. So, we brought the Blue Mesa Group in to help us in two ways: (1) we asked Blue Mesa to conduct a third-party investigation of the situation and to look into ways we may have let our colleague and ourselves down; (2) we also asked Blue Mesa to serve as our mediation expert and facilitator.

Outcome

While some people in the organization worried about what could have been conflicting interests on Blue Mesa’s part, we were all impressed with the professionalism every Blue Mesa staff member demonstrated. Of course, the results of our work are confidential, but we feel very satisfied with what we learned and how we were able to resolve what could have become a very painful and worrisome situation. We were able to achieve a resolution that was acceptable to all parties’ interests. And we’re going forward with important information about how to improve our organization, so this type of concern never arises again.

What’s going on with you and our organization? Tell us what’s on your mind.