How To Leave One Great Job for Another

You may know me from my years at Arts Alliance Illinois. If so, you know that’s where I learned a lot of what got me where I am today: how to write a grant, run an event, manage volunteers, lead a meeting, build a community. It’s also where I fell in love with coaching.

Opening the door 
My first exposure to coaching came in early 2004. Having conducted extensive research about leadership succession in arts organizations, we realized that people in our field needed more support if they were going to succeed as leaders. So we created a peer coaching program to address those needs.

We recruited facilitators and brought in marvelous consultants to train us in the art of leading peer coaching circles. Minutes into the first day of training, I heard a whisper in the back of my brain: “This feels like home.”

Coaching, they explained, is not about telling people what to do or how to do it. Instead, good coaching allows the coachee to (re)discover their own wisdom and be accountable to people they trust while reaching the goals they’ve set for themselves.

It seems so simple. Figure out what’s important to you, act in accordance with those values, get where you want to go. All of the leaders I’ve worked with understand that this is what’s necessary to succeed. But to a person, they all struggled to find the time to plan and reflect in order to make that happen. Coaching helped them make that time.

Almost immediately, I saw what a difference coaching made for those leaders. Having support from and being accountable to a non-judgmental partner helped them make huge shifts. I heard the change in their voices. They were lighter. Instead of road blocks, they began to see possibilities. Instead of bemoaning their lack of resources, they were tapping into new sources of support.

Stepping inside 
At the same time tension was easing out of our peer coaching participants, I heard it seeping into my voice. Everything about my days was slightly off. I knew I had opportunities aplenty at work, but I didn’t know how to make the most of them. I felt stuck. So I listened to that whisper and hired a coach.

 In the course of working with her, I learned a lot about what is important to me. Collaboration. Developing people. Creating space for people to hear and learn from one another. And with Julia’s support, I began to see how I could do all of those things right where I was. I grew programs, I built my

network, I took on responsibilities instead of shying away from them. The tension drained from my voice (and my shoulders). I stopped feeling stuck and started celebrating my ability to make choices that align with my values.

A home of my own
What started as a whisper had changed to a full voiced mantra: coaching is where I belong. I followed a sudden instinct one bright November afternoon and signed up for a coach training program. If this was home, I was going to need a foundation.

Since then, I’ve worked hard to put a solid structure in place that includes 12 years of nonprofit experience, a year of coach training, the support of my own mentor coach, and a deepening ownership of my own strengths and values. And now, seven years after I first opened the door to the world of coaching, I’m living in the space I’ve created. There’s lots of space for light and air. I’ve even done some decorating. 

There are plenty of finishing touches still to come. But just as it’s been at every professional home I’ve had, what really makes this space come alive is the people who join me here. The leaders who trust me to partner with them, the teams who are willing to learn from each other, the creative individuals who follow their own brave instinct that whispers, “the world will be better if you fully express your gifts.”

That whisper? It’s right. Listen. And if you’d like some help getting it to speak a little louder, come for a visit. I built this space just for us.