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When Sarah got the text from her boss Derek asking her to come to their office, her stomach dropped. She had a stinking suspicion that she knew what it was about, and she was worried and, honestly, annoyed. Her boss had a habit of creating these triangulated messes. Staff would bring him a complaint, and instead of sending them back to deal with it directly with Sarah, making sure staff knew she had the authority, he'd tell the staff he'd "talk to her," and it made things so much more complicated than they needed to be, and Sarah felt like he'd undermined her. As she sat there fuming, Sarah rolled through the events of the last few days in her mind. She'd talked to Diane a couple of days ago about her behaviour at the staff meeting. She was always so negative and dropping sarcastic comments again and again. At one point, when Sarah had had enough, she called her on it. Sarah followed up with Diane afterward and was firm about the need for her behaviour to stop and for her to work on being more of a team player. She knew Diane wasn't happy. She'd heard the ramblings from other staff, and her admin support whispered to her on her way in that Diane had been in Derek's office. Sarah pushed herself away from her desk, knowing she may as well get it over with. After meeting with her boss, Sarah felt deflated. She was questioning if she was cut out for this. Maybe leadership wasn't her thing. Was she too hard on people? Was she the problem? Had she been getting this whole leadership thing wrong? She wasn't doing leadership wrong. Nobody had taught her how to do it right. She'd been handed a job description, told what meetings to attend and what forms to fill out, but nobody sat her down and taught her how to handle conflict, manage relationships or lead with emotional intelligence. That part she was supposed to figure out on her own. I know that feeling. Not Sarah's exact situation, but that gut punch when something goes sideways at work and suddenly you're questioning everything. I spent 25 years in the nonprofit sector. I've had hard conversations with my boss. I've had staff go around me. I've sat in meetings wondering if I was the problem. That's actually why I do this work. Because I've been where you are. And I know how alone it feels. And I don't want you to have to go through it alone. If you've read this far, I suspect something is off for you at work. Maybe your situation looks nothing like Sarah's. But I wonder if some of this sounds familiar.
You don't have to be in a full-blown crisis for this to be hard. Sometimes it's just the weight of it all. The exhaustion, self-doubt or dread. And it sucks to feel that the real you, the one who is caring and capable and actually really good at this work, has gotten buried somewhere under all of it. And you can't talk to anyone about it. Your staff can't know. Your board can't know. Your colleagues are caught up in their own stuff. So you just keep carrying it. You're not falling apart. But you're closer to the edge than you'd like to admit. I get it. I really do. And I'm not just saying that. I've been there! So what do you do when you're in the middle of it? Ask yourself this first: Are you actually stopping long enough to deal with it? Or are you just pushing through and hoping it gets better? Pushing through doesn't work. Trust me, I tried that for years. What does work is having a process to follow because your brain can't think straight in the middle of a crisis. That's why I use The Infinite Leadership Loop with my clients. It gives you a framework to hold onto when everything feels out of control. And it starts with a pause. When you are full of doubt, what you need to do is PAUSE. You literally need to stop. Right now you're spinning. Your mind is going a million miles an hour, and none of it is helping. You're stuck in a negativity spiral, and if you don't interrupt it, it will keep you there. Close your office door. Go for a walk. Take a deep breath. Something to stop the spiral in your mind and help you feel more grounded. Then PONDER and process everything that is going on. Grab a journal and just start writing. Get it out of your head and onto paper. The anger. The hurt. The self-doubt. The stories you're making up about yourself. The beliefs that got triggered. Don't try to fix it yet. Just notice what's there. But pondering isn't just about processing the hard stuff. It's also about getting clear on where you want to land. So ask yourself: how do you want to feel on the other side of this? More composed? More in control? Like yourself again? What do you actually want to happen here? Sarah did this the night after her meeting. She sat at her kitchen table with a cup of tea and just wrote. It didn't fix anything. But it slowed her down enough to actually think. I used to do this too. When something blew up at work, my first instinct was to go, go, go. I'd try to fix it, manage it, push through it. It took me a long time to learn that stopping first actually gets you there faster. Once you've slowed down enough to actually think, that's when the real pondering begins. This is also where you start to separate what actually happened from the story you're telling yourself about it. When we're spinning, we add a lot to the story in our heads. We turn one staff complaint into proof that we are a terrible leader. We turn one hard conversation into evidence that we don't belong in this role. I've done this. More times than I'd like to admit. One minute, I think I'm doing okay, and the next, I see myself getting fired. My mind can do crazy things. And I see it in almost every leader I work with. Sarah had to do that work too. She had to see that the actual situation, a staff member who didn't like being held accountable, was very different from the story she was telling herself, which was that she was the problem. She wasn't the problem. Though she did have a role to play in what came next, and she needed help seeing that. Once you're clearer on where you want to be, you can start thinking about how to get there, which is the PIVOT part of The Infinite Leadership Loop. This is where you start thinking about the thoughts, energy and actions you need to get to the vision you saw for what you want to happen. For Sarah, that meant figuring out how to have a direct conversation with her staff member again about her actions, this time to make a difference and not have her staff go to her boss. Sarah also needed to address the pattern with her boss so it wouldn't keep happening. With this plan in place, Sarah can PROCEED with courage and maybe even some vulnerability into that conversation with her PEOPLE, her staff and her boss. Sometimes it's enough to slow down, get clear on what you want to happen, create that plan and move forward on your own. But sometimes you can't get there alone. The spiral is too strong, the situation is too loaded, or you just need someone in your corner who gets it. Sometimes You Need Someone in Your CornerThat's where I come in. I call it an SOS call.
Sarah booked one about a week after that meeting with her boss because she was still spinning. She was still lying in bed at night, playing the whole thing and questioning herself every time she said anything around her staff. In one call, we got her out of her head, feeling more grounded and in control of her thoughts. We looked at what was really going on with her staff member, her boss and the dynamic she'd been navigating for months. Then we mapped out how she would handle the next conversation. She didn't leave with all the answers, but she had more clarity, felt more hopeful and was confident she had a plan. And she felt like she had someone on her side. I know that feeling too. That was one of the greatest gifts I got from coaching when I was introduced to it as a floundering leader: not having to feel like I had to do it all alone with no one on my team. If you'd like someone on your side for a conversation that makes you feel less alone and more supported, book a SOS call today. These calls are for when something has hit the fan, and you need to talk it through with someone who gets nonprofit leadership. I lived it for 25 years. I know what it's like to lead in this sector, under these pressures and impossible expectations. You bring the problem. We dig in together. You walk away with a clearer head and a next step. It's $97. It's for leaders who haven't worked with me before. I'm hoping it is a low-barrier way to get support right when you need it most. Because you shouldn't have to do leadership all alone! I'm here to help. If you're in the middle of something right now, this is for you.
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That knot in your stomach before a tough meeting? Here's what to do about it.I was talking to Sandra earlier this week. Sandra is a manager of a busy, short-staffed program. And, she has a meeting with her boss coming up, and she’s been dreading it for a week. “Every time I think about it, the knot in my stomach gets tighter,” she told me. She knows what’s coming. Her boss will point out everything she’s doing wrong, highlight her weaknesses, and Sandra will walk out feeling beaten down instead of supported. Sandra’s mind has been working overtime, imagining the worst: being fired on the spot, raked over the coals, belittled. Here’s what I told her: Most of what you fear will probably happen. Your boss will pick you apart. She will be mean about it. Here's What You Can ControlBut here’s what you get to control You don’t have to believe all of it. You don’t have to take it as the absolute truth. You get to choose which parts are helpful and which are just noise. To help her make choices that would help her feel more in control, confident, and aligned, I walked Sandra through how to prepare for the meeting using The Infinite Leadership Loop. The Inner Work: Pause, Ponder, Pivot, ProceedFirst, PAUSE Before you react to what she says, take a breath. Even if she’s waiting for you to respond. Then, PONDER Get clear on what’s actually true vs. what’s just mean delivery. Her boss will say: “You have too much overtime. You’re not good at managing your time. You’re always late with reports.” Here’s where Sandra gets to choose how she hears it. Victim mindset: I don’t know how to do this work without overtime I’ve never been good at managing my time I’m not leadership material Response-able mindset: I’ve been working hard and putting in extra effort I’m committed, and I care about my job Yes, the overtime is killing me. I want to reduce it - not because my boss is telling me to, but because I want to figure leadership out AND have a life. PIVOT your thoughts Shift from “I’m not leadership material” to “I’m learning, and I care about getting better at this.” Then PROCEED Get ready to have the conversation, holding onto that truth instead of the mean delivery. This is the inner work. But it doesn’t stop there. Then Comes the PEOPLE PartThe PEOPLE part This is when Sandra actually walks into that meeting with her boss. She’s done the inner work, so now she can engage with her boss differently. She can listen to the feedback, take what’s useful, and let the rest go. She’s not reacting from a place of feeling small. She’s responding from a place of strength. What Happened NextBy the end of our call, Sandra was still nervous. But instead of feeling like a victim of the conversation, she felt in control of how she’d hear it and what she’d do with it. The tightness in her stomach had started to ease. Join the Book Club!If you’re tired of that knot in your stomach before tough meetings, you might be interested in the 6-week Mastering Confidence Book Club starting March 6, where we work through The Infinite Leadership Loop together. - You’ll learn how to become response-able. - How to take back your power. - How to handle tough conversations without feeling beaten down. Dates: Fridays 12-1:30 PM Mountain Time on Zoom. March 6 - April 17 Details and registration here: Mastering Confidence Book Club Join the Book Club I know what it’s like to dread those meetings. To feel like you’re walking into a conversation where you’ll be torn apart. But you don’t have to keep feeling powerless. You can learn to take back control of how you hear feedback and how you show up. That’s what being response-able means, and you can do it too! Remember, you don’t have to do leadership alone. I’m here to help. ~ Kathy Do the Inner Work. It’s Worth it! P.S. If you’re thinking, “I need this book club, but I’m not sure if now is the right time”, trust me, there’s never a perfect time. But there is a right time. And if you’re still taking that knot in your stomach to every tough meeting, that time is now. P.P.S. Sandra messaged me after her meeting. “It worked,” she said. “I still felt nervous, but I was in control of my emotions and my responses. I didn’t feel small.” That’s what this work does It’s a lot right now, isn’t it? The news. The uncertainty. The weather. The constant pressure to show up for your team, your community, your mission, let alone what’s going on in your personal life! Sometimes, I don’t know about you, but I feel like the world feels like it’s spinning faster than I can keep up with. So, just know, if you’ve been feeling that weight, you’re not alone. And...Those of us who lead in the nonprofit world are really good at taking care of everyone else. We pour ourselves into our work because we care deeply about the people and causes we serve. But we’re terrible at extending that same compassion to ourselves. So if you’re feeling heavy right now, this email is permission to take what you need. Not everything here will be right for you, and that’s okay. Just grab what speaks to where you are. When you need to be kinder to yourselfA lot of us were never taught how to practice self-compassion. We learned to push through, to be strong, to keep going. But self-compassion isn’t weakness. It’s what allows us to keep showing up without burning out. If you’re being harder on yourself than you’d ever be with someone you care about, I want you to check out Dr. Kristin Neff’s work on self-compassion. She’s a researcher who’s spent years studying this, and her approach is practical, not woo-woo. I go back to it again and again when I feel off, scared, anxious, overwhelmed or sad. You can find her work at self-compassion.org. There are free exercises, guided meditations, and resources that can help you shift how you talk to yourself when things feel hard. My biggest takeaway from learning about self-compassion was learning to hug myself. I do it often now. I know, it sounds a little weird, but honestly, sometimes there is no one else around to do it, or who wouldn't give you the hug in the way you need it. Sometimes the most important leadership work we do is learning to treat ourselves with the same kindness we extend to everyone else.
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