Erica’s challenge
Client Challenge:
The client was having challenges managing a high volume of priority items. Key issues were time management, prioritization-related intensive work pressure, performance efficiency, and productivity.
Erica is a senior VP in HR for a company that provided financial services. She graduated Law as top student in USA and she is working for the European operations of an American company for more than 10 years. Her career was progressing well and for the last 3 years she was running the HR operations for the region and was also part of the European Executive Committee.
Our first meeting took 30 minutes. The goal was to know each other and understand the main challenges and plan the coaching sessions together.
Chemistry meeting
In our first meeting she shared that she cannot manage the work volumes anymore and that the challenges are both on quantity and on complexity. She was talking quite fast and with a lot of energy. The first intervention she had, was for approx. 5 minutes, with a lot of words and details.
Approach
After listening to all her challenges, I took a long pause before answering. I wanted to make sure that if she needs to add more information or thoughts she ca do so. I expressed my observations and also what the company shared with me about her. First thing was that she has great results and a nice career in this company and that somehow, she must have managed the priorities and working volumes pretty well so far. Then I expressed my curiosity regarding what does she think that is happening now? What is different now?
Erica took a long pause thinking about my questions. And then she told me that she was always clear with what she wants and why she wanted it. And that career was one of her first 2 priorities. And now, she doesn’t know what she wants anymore.
Summary
She realized that her issue is not that she doesn’t know how to prioritize, nor that she isn’t managing her time well, but that she is lacking clarity and purpose. This context was nothing more than an effect of this lack of vision. We decided that she will start working on this on the next session and then we will see what comes up next.