coaching

Journey to Gratitude: Day 36

Day 36:
When I accepted my current position with Chick-fil-A Bristol, I accepted it on the terms that I would not have to work in the store. My role was purely an executive one, overseeing and directing our marketing and sales growth. As we embarked on our journey of culture change and leadership realignment, my role also began to shift, and I found myself being pulled more and more into the “operations” of the store (i.e. working in the store serving customers alongside my team). Eventually, my boss, the Owner/Operator, decided that he preferred having all Directors in the operations 40-50% of the time. Initially, I fought this directive and even considered resigning. “This is not what I signed on for!” I kept telling myself.

You see, I have worked in the service industry serving customers for 20 years – whether in entertainment, retail, or fitness. Now I am venturing into the food industry. With this much experience under my belt, I am ready for the “next level” – where I can merely advise and consult with a team versus serving alongside them in an operational capacity. But as I began to let go of my ego and acquiesce to this new directive, I began to see the tremendous opportunity I had to coach and develop our new and young leaders “in the moment” of the day-to-day operations, which is where we need feedback the most.

Today, I had many wonderful opportunities to coach and develop several on our team – leaders and team members alike. I had a great deal of constructive feedback for one particular young leader. Not only did she take it like a champ, but she then sent a public shout out to me on our leadership GroupMe group, thanking me for leading by example and setting folks for success before I left for the day. You can’t buy moments like that. Not only did it warm my heart for the public shout out, but I love seeing these young folks growing into such great leaders! So today, I am thankful for the humbling experiences God sends our way, and the great lessons we can learn from those experiences once we get our ego out of the way!

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Journey to Gratitude: Day 26

As I opened my email inbox this morning, this message sat at the top:

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What a great way to start the day! (By the way, the reference to the butterfly was an assignment; he was to find a butterfly that would symbolize strength whenever his inner gremlin would pop up and cause doubt in this fellow coach.)

Today, I am thankful for the awesome reminders that the Lord sends me from time to time to validate that I am on the right path with coaching. It is especially welcomed when the feedback comes from a fellow coach.

Journey to Gratitude: Day 13

Three years ago, I started down a path to be a “coach”. I wasn’t exactly sure at that time what that meant or how to make it happen, but I had done some research on coaching, and I was convinced that it was what I was destined to do.

Then life happened. I was laid off from my then job, I found out I was pregnant with twins, the twins came early, and I lost one after 9 weeks in the NICU. I tried to get my footing back by blogging about my experience, but then I went and got a “real job” when Bella was 8 months old. Four months later, my mom passed tragically and unexpectedly. A lot of life happened in a short amount of time.

Finally, after several discussions with my boss about what he saw as my strengths, I began researching the coaching path once again. This time, I ended up in a certification program with MentorCoach, and accredited training program by the International Coach Federation (ICF). What a wonderful journey this has been!

Nine months later, I have completed 2 classes, and amidst 2 more, and have 4 classes left to complete my certifications. Outside of my “day job”, I have been diligently working on marketing myself as a Business and Life Coach and have been making some terrific strides towards building my own practice.

Today I am thankful for the journey on which life has taken me, each event adding another piece of the puzzle that brought me to coaching. I am also thankful for how all of the pieces of my life fit together now – a great “day job” that allows me to practice my coaching skills and is flexible enough to allow me to work on coaching on the side, financial stability that allows me to work part time (again giving me flexibility to work on coaching), marketing skills that allow me to build this coaching business – all coming together at *this* moment as though it was perfectly planned this way. What an amazing journey! I’m excited about what 2015 has in store!

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