Background
Let’s take a behind the scenes look at trust through the experience of one of my clients – we’ll call her Renee. When we first started working together, Renee was recently promoted into a global senior leadership role in her Fortune 200 company. I am on the executive coaching roster for her company, and Renee selected me as her coach because she wanted to create confidence, leadership presence, and align her leadership mindset with this new role.
The Turning Point
Renee was now reporting directly to the Chief People Officer of her company, where they would have weekly 1:1 meetings, and she was responsible for presenting to the global leadership team frequently. Renee is a competent and ambitious leader and found herself struggling with self-doubt and imposter feelings because she wasn’t trusting herself, which impacted her decision-making, presentation skills, and her overall effectiveness.
During the beginning of our coaching engagement, Renee realized that her relationship with trust, specifically trusting herself, was at the core of the challenges she was experiencing. Here’s the thing, no one doubted Renee, which is what had them select her for this promotion. It was only Renee doubting herself. This was tough for Renee to realize, and it was relieving for her at the same time. Now we knew exactly what to focus the coaching on to identify where these issues with trust were coming from so that she could understand what happened, and for us both to understand what would work for her to transform this back into trust, agility, and confidence.
Building Her Relationship With Trust
- Self-Awareness and Reflection
- I had Renee start with self-reflection exercises to understand her strengths, acknowledge her talent and achievements, and her pattern of doubt. This created the space for her to unpack her experience and clarify what was working for her and what was not. Most leaders and founders do not trust themselves because they are not aware it is a challenge for them, or aren’t aware of how much it is costing them, their team, and their organization. Self-awareness is the first step in emotional intelligence because if you are not aware of yourself, and present in the moment, it’s almost impossible to make different or better choices.
2. Growth Mindset
- I worked with Renee on activating and choosing her growth mindset for her to understand that mistakes and failures are learning opportunities and feedback. Also so she could understand where her attention and energy were aimed… perfection or excellence? Looking good/afraid of looking bad or diving in to produce great work? She applied and sustained what she discovered through the custom exercises and resources I knew would work for her specific leadership style and her personality.
3. Taking Risks
- Building on the growth mindset work, I challenged her to determine what were the interpretations and assumptions she had that were holding her back from her full leadership potential. And what risks might she take to break through these limitations that she was putting on herself. This is where we started to have some fun because now I was guiding her with everything she discovered so far to support her with trusting herself first. So rather than letting her old patterns and beliefs [mindset] over-protect her by choosing to doubt herself, she learned how to self-regulate and coach herself to take a risk to find the actual results. Most people stay stuck in the assumption and fear, and never find the actual… and never generate a result, much less the bigger results they want, or are responsible for in their organization.
4. Seeking Feedback
- One of the biggest risks she took during our time together in our first coaching engagement was requesting feedback from her team of peers. I supported her with crafting intentional questions to ask, and how to set a strong context for the type of feedback she wanted. She used this feedback framework to refine her leadership style and make informed decisions. This feedback also supported her learning how to ground into her self-worth which is the most effective way to trust yourself.
The Transformation
As Renee began to trust herself, she began implementing changes that transformed her confidence, presence, and her team’s results
1. Enhanced Decision-Making
- Trusting herself led Renee to making strategic decisions swiftly and effectively. She identified gaps and opportunities that led to mitigating risks for her company.
2. Empowering the Team
- Renee empowered her team by delegating responsibilities and trusting them to make decisions. She encouraged a culture of contribution, autonomy, and critical thinking, which led to increased engagement and satisfaction.
3. Authenticity & Open Communication
- Renee showed up authentically with the CPO and global leadership team, where everyone was clear on what she was sharing and enrolled in her ideas and input.
Conclusion
Renee’s journey from self-doubt to trust illustrates the transformative power of trusting oneself as a leader or a founder. By investing in her self-worth and embracing her challenges as opportunities, Renee not only transformed her leadership, she also turned her team into a connected, collaboration machine. Her story serves as a powerful example for other leaders and founders, showing that the foundation of effective leadership lies in trusting yourself.
What’s possible for you, or the leaders in your company, when everyone trusts themselves? Traditionally, trust tends to be addressed with teams more so than with individuals. What resources are available for you and your leaders to identify a person’s experience with trust so they can understand their mindset in order to practice and apply the specific resources, exercises and strategies that will work for them individually?
If you’re looking for ideas or a place to start, connect with me at leadership@evolveeq.com
