How Learning to be more ENTITLED is a Game Changer

Emily (not her real name) was a new manager.  She was an exemplary employee at her organization.  Well respected, known for being a hard worker, with years of experience under her belt.  Then she got promoted and was finding it difficult to manage a team of five direct reports.

One thing Emily was good at, was setting and sticking to deadlines.  For herself.

Now she had to translate that and make it stick, with her team.  She didn’t feel entitled to ask them to meet deadlines. Because she liked and respected her own supervisor, she felt compelled to deliver projects on time and on budget.  

But she was lost about how to develop a similar sense of accountability and loyalty from her staff.  She was pretty timid and just didn’t yet feel entitled to set deliverables and timelines.

And so, we began our coaching together.

Over just a few initial sessions, here’s what Emily was able to figure out:

• She respected and was loyal to her boss in part due to his confidence and faith in her abilities.  But she hadn’t consistently demonstrated her confidence and faith in her team.   Yet.
• She had always valued the requests and needs of her boss ahead of any that she may have put on herself.  And consequently, she was not conveying to her staff a sense of confidence and entitlement around the deadlines she was asking them to meet. Yet.
• That by stepping more fully into her role as a manager, she was able to shift away from thinking of herself as just “one of the team” and into realizing that as their manager she was indeed fully entitled to set deadlines and deliverables. In fact, that was a key responsibility she now had as a manager.

Emily discovered through our time together, that valuing her own requests was an essential part of the process of taking on the role of a manager.  And her understanding of what being ENTITLED means, has changed significantly.  In a positive way!

Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought provoking and creative process that inspires to maximize personal and professional potential.  When you come across someone you think would benefit from some coaching, I’m always available for a preliminary conversation.