One of the most common questions I get asked is what is it like to work with you? How am I going to grow? How’s it going to be different? What tools are you going to teach me? And this is honestly a really challenging question, because a lot of that depends on you. What do you need, what do you already have in your tool box? What do you draw on the most frequently? Where do you have no resources?
Coaching is and always should be very tailored.
The other day I was talking to a friend who is a DEI expert and spends her whole life and career helping companies improve, establish, maintain their DEI programs. She was talking about “the dance” analogy, which was one that I had not heard before.
It goes something like this. The difference between diversity inclusion and equity is the difference between getting invited to the dance, getting asked to actually dance and having input or control over the music that’s played.
I really liked this and I think it’s actually been out there for awhile. It was just one that I hadn’t heard before. And suddenly it struck me that this was also really great analogy for what it’s like to coach with me.
For most of my clients, they’re at the point where they’ve been asked to the dance they’re being included in the conversations. People are aware of who they are, the work they do, the value that they bring, but that’s about where it stops. And they’re frustrated, they’re at the dance, but they’re frustrated and they don’t know how to have someone ask them to dance. And they definitely don’t know how to position themselves to be in control of the music.
Those are the tools I teach.
So until you’re at the point where you are the person that the company comes to and asked to put together, the playlist, I’m here and in your corner. I help you from the time you get invited to the dance until that point.
So what I mean by that is I help you figure out the best pathway from the door to the DJ booth? I help you figure out how to navigate. If there’s a process to submit your favorite song, to be the next song that plays, I help you figure out how to have that conversation with the DJ to see if you can get your song included. I help you figure out where eligible dear partners are likely going to be found around the room. I help you figure out which space is safe for you to totally throw out your best moves and which songs you should probably just stick to the steps that are well-known right. That’s what coaching with me looks like. So until your organization has changed or their perception of you has changed, I help you navigate from getting to the dance until you’re asked to put together the playlist, like that’s my jam.
That’s what I love.
That’s what I’m really good at.
I was so thankful that my friend shared this analogy because it was one of the first times that I felt inspired or felt like I had a really good analogy for how I help you fill in that gap.
So if your long-term goal is to be the person in charge of the playlist, I’m here to help you get there. That’s where our partnership can really set you ahead and really give you a variety of tools to start to infiltrate the selection of the playlist, to start making suggestions in what’s deemed in a appropriate way to do that, to help you be seen as the person that has a lot of value into putting together a playlist.
Ultimately the goal is to put you in charge of the playlist. So if that sounds like the path you’re on, if you’re on in the room and you’re trying to figure out how to get to the DJ stand or how to submit your song, reach out, I’d love to talk to you.
I’d love to work with you.
That’s what I do best.