Category: Coaching

  • Awakening: Recognizing the Season You Are In

    Awakening: Recognizing the Season You Are In

    Living in Minnesota, we experience seasons in unmistakable ways. The temperature shifts. The sounds change. Trees and plants signal what’s coming next. The clothes we reach for change. Even the light—how long it lingers and how early it fades—tells us something new is happening.

    And yet, how we experience each season isn’t just about the weather. Our interests, stage of life, health, and responsibilities all shape how a season feels. What energizes us in one season may exhaust us in another. What once felt familiar can suddenly feel misaligned.

    Leadership seasons change in a similar way—often just as clearly, though we’re less practiced at noticing them.

    • Teams shift through growth and attrition.
    • Roles and priorities evolve.
    • Health and energy fluctuate.
    • Programs and initiatives cycle and pivot.

    These changes can stir a wide range of emotions—energy, anxiety, curiosity, grief, motivation, and uncertainty. None of them are wrong, but they are often signals that something is changing.

    Seasonal shifts in leadership invite us into reflection. They offer an opportunity not just to adjust what we do, but to transform how we lead. Seasons remind us that leadership is not static. They call us to re-center, reimagine, realign, re-energize, and renew our perspectives and actions toward a more intentional future.

    This is where transformation begins—with awakening.

    Awakening means loosening our grip on the status quo and stepping out of autopilot. It means slowing down enough to see with new eyes. It requires knowing our own story—how past experiences, assumptions, and habits are shaping how we respond to our current reality and what lies ahead.

    Awakening starts with noticing.

    You might begin by asking yourself:

    • What am I noticing around me right now?
    • What am I noticing within myself?
    • How are the environments I’m part of shaping the shifts I’m experiencing?

    They are invitations to pay attention.

    This is the first step in a transformational journey—recognizing the season you’re in and choosing how you will meet it. You can keep moving without noticing. Or you can pause, awaken, and step forward with greater clarity and intention into what this season is asking of you. If you’re sensing a shift in your leadership season and want to explore what alignment and growth could look like next, I invite you to reach out through the contact page at SMPLeadership.com. Let’s explore the path ahead together.

  • 5 Key Strategies for Effective Coaching Preparation

    5 Key Strategies for Effective Coaching Preparation

    Having a coach to navigate leadership and life can be a new experience for many people.  Because it may be a new experience, questions about what to expect  are natural as well as questions about how to maximize the opportunity.  Being intentional with your preparation for the coaching experience will help you maximize the benefit of your coaching sessions.

    1. Commit the time on your calendar for the coaching sessions and protect it. It is also helpful to protect the time immediately before and after the session to allow you to process what you learned and are feeling as you anticipate next steps.
    2. Prepare for the sessions. Be ready to share what you have done or have not done since the prior session, and what is top of mind for you for the current session. Think about what outcomes you would like to have for the session to consider it successful.
    3. Focus. Create an environment for yourself that is free from distractions for your session. Turn off your phone, let others know you are not available, shut down other apps on your computer that might interrupt your thoughts, and remove any other things that might distract you from being fully present.
    4. Engage with a willingness to explore and reflect on what you are challenged to consider. Be willing to challenge your personal mental models and uncover limiting beliefs that may be creating barriers to your taking next steps towards your aspirations.
    5. Embrace action as you take the next steps. You are creating the next steps on the journey for yourself. The steps you prioritize are dependent on you being willing to lean into the process and grow.