MY STORY

When I first started managing people I got lucky.  I made every mistake that a new manager can make and was in a very tough environment.  I had no training, had never really lead a team before, had no idea what I was doing and felt as though I couldn't go to my boss for help. I thought it was going to be easy. I looked easy enough. You tell people what to do, and they did it. For the first 5 years of my management life, I struggled. Looking back, a Management or Leadership coach would have accelerated my learning curve dramatically. Learning from the mistakes of others can save you a ton of time. Instead, I called friends and talked to family about this issues and challenges that I was facing. Unfortunately, not many of them had any leadership experience. They too thought it was easy and couldn't really understand why I was struggling. Most managers don't receive management training when they need it, which is before, during and after taking a management role. It is a lifelong process and you should never stop learning. Most managers need a tailored approach and they need to be able to talk to someone with experience so that their specific challenge can be addressed. There are too many variables for theoretical knowledge to help. This is where I got stuck. I was going to people that didn't have the experience and anything that I had studied in the past was too theoretical and not applicable to what I was facing. When I went to find a professional coach, I was met with a lot of people who had no real world business experience. They were book smart, had fancy degrees and were coaches that never really lead a team or worked in the trenches. I also did not feel comfortable going to my boss for help. I was afraid that I would have to admit that I didn't know how to do the job that I was hired for.