Through the Challenging Parts of Your Journey

I’ve been at a lot of “family and friends” events lately. Sometimes the family and friends are family of friends, people I don’t even know and have no context for knowing. Of course, I have to make small talk. That’s what we do, isn’t it?

“Oh yes, he’s my heart. It’s so wild that he’s graduating from high school. It seems like just yesterday I was going with my sister to pick him up from after school care.”

Blah, blah…

Insert awkward pause.

“So what exactly do you do?”

It's a question I've been asked hundreds of times over the years.

Usually, I give some version of the professional answer.

Leadership development.

Strategy.

Organizational effectiveness.

Executive coaching.

Human development.

All of those things are true.

But standing there at a graduation party, talking with someone I'd met only moments before, none of those answers felt quite right.

What came out instead was this:

"In a nutshell, we help leaders during the most difficult parts of their journey."

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that was probably the most honest answer I've ever given.

Because when I look back over the last three decades, that's exactly where I've spent most of my time.

Not helping organizations when things are easy.

Helping leaders when the answers aren't obvious.

When competing priorities collide.

When resources are shrinking.

When expectations are changing.

When a strategy that once worked no longer seems sufficient.

When a leader must make a decision knowing that no option will satisfy everyone.

When the future is unclear and people are looking to them for direction anyway.

Those are the moments that matter.

And they are rarely only strategic.

They are profoundly human.

That’s actually it, isn’t it?

That there are difficult points in our professional journeys and we need support, all of us.

For emerging leaders and new managers, you may be getting grounded in your voice, confidence, the foundational skills associated with management. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, management is not easy.

Asking, "Can I do this?"

For midcareer and midlevel managers, you are already influencing, you have a voice and potentially have a lot of experience and opinions. You may be frustrated by the pace and degree of change (too much, too little, too fast, too slow). Your voice carries significant weight. How you show support for an idea, initiative, direction can make or break the energy and engagement it receives. You have solid tools, and a significantly changing environment that makes use of those tools increasingly impractical, if nothing, for lack of time and focus.

Exploring, "How do I create influence and impact?"

For senior leaders, your roles are the most visible. Even with thorough communication and heavily involvement, decisions will be seen as coming from you. You feel the weight of the organization’s health, and the expectation to keep it relevant during shifting expectations, resourcing, and societal pressures.

Wondering, "How do I carry responsibility for something larger than myself?"

The more I reflect on that graduation party conversation, the more I realize that the difficult parts of our journey are not interruptions to the journey.

They are the journey.

They are the moments that reveal us, stretch us, humble us, and ultimately help us become.

And while none of us gets to avoid those moments, perhaps we don't have to navigate them alone.

After all, sometimes what we need most is not another answer.

It's a little help finding our way through the moment.