Although I have been mentoring designers of all levels for years as part of my work, I am formally in the fifth year of my design leadership coaching practice. I noticed I am coming up to my 100th coachee and, while I don’t know yet who that will be, I thought I would share some quick reflections on the 99:
Coachee profiles
- I coached slightly more women than men as well as people identifying as non-binary.
- Coachees are from all around the world and a diverse range of backgrounds and ethnicities.
- The ages of my coachees ranged from 23 to 59.
- Around 75% of my coachees pay out of their own pocket versus employer paid.
Common themes
- Creating time and space in calendars as well as mental space.
- Stakeholder management and partnership.
- Dealing with feelings of overwhelm and imposter syndrome.
- The shift in identity from maker to manager/leader, what I call The Leadership Dip.
- Struggling with the unquestioned need for speed within organisations.
- Becoming more discerning about what you spend your time on.
- How to link the needs of design to the needs of business stakeholders.
- Loneliness in the leadership role.
- Lack of confidence in speaking off the cuff, in meetings and calls.
- Building up a palette of story components and structures.
- Finding the shape of you and developing a personal manifesto.
- Understanding leadership as enablement through slow-motion faciltiation.
- The importance of your inner work. You can’t lead others if you can’t lead yourself.
Thank you to all my coachees who have trusted me in their process thus far. It really is a privilege to be invited into someone’s inner life in this way and I’m looking forward to the next 100.
If you would like to be one of them, find out more here or get in touch
Photo by Javier Graterol on Unsplash
