When You Feel Stuck as a Leader: How Coaching Can Help
Updated: Oct 2
When you feel stuck as a leader, coaching can help you examine the assumptions behind your decisions, consider feedback, and test a different approach. Begin with a specific situation: a conversation you avoid, a decision you keep revisiting, or a responsibility you struggle to share.
What my own experience taught me
In 2006, while working in medical sales, I reached a point where external success did not answer all my questions about growth. I had access to colleagues, managers, and corporate resources. I also chose to invest in personal leadership coaching.
That experience gave me another place to examine how I was thinking and what I might be missing. It remains part of why I value a conversation with someone outside the immediate situation.
What an outside perspective adds
Managers, colleagues, friends, and mentors can offer valuable support. A coach provides a different setting: time focused on your goals, questions that examine your assumptions, and follow-through on the actions you choose.
No person has a completely objective view. The value is in bringing your interpretation into the open so it can be questioned. What happened? What meaning did you attach to it? What might someone else have seen?
A practical example
Imagine a leader who repeatedly takes work back from a colleague because “it is quicker if I do it.” That might solve today’s task while leaving the same problem for next week. Useful questions include: Were expectations clear? Was the person given enough authority? What would a smaller, well-defined handoff look like?
This is an illustrative situation, not a client case. The aim is to identify a behavior you can test, then observe what changes.
Three questions to bring to your next decision
1. What do I know, and what am I assuming? Write those separately before choosing your response.
2. Whose perspective is missing? Consider who has relevant information and who will be affected by your decision.
3. What action would give me useful feedback? Choose a specific conversation or change in behavior, then set a time to review what happened.
What working together looks like
I bring three decades of experience in medical devices, healthcare, and leadership to my coaching. We start with your circumstances and what success means to you. From there, we explore options, choose practical steps, and review what you learn.
The purpose is to help you make your own informed choices. If you are curious about your approach to leading and ready to examine it, we can begin with a conversation.
Start a conversation
If you would like to explore a life, career, or leadership question together, send me a message through the contact form. We can discuss what you need, how I may help, and whether working together feels right.
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