A frequent coaching question we encounter from prospective clients and friends at VIM Executive Coaching is, “What is the most common complaint of people who walk through your door?”
It is a tough one to answer. No two clients are ever quite the same and we are not the type of organization to believe in cookie-cutter approaches. In any case, we are fiercely protective of our clients and we would never divulge their identities or their companies.
Tell me generally
If there is insistence on an answer, we would say, “Security.”
Far and away, executives young and old in every conceivable type of industry will complain that they thought “their job was secure,” and that either a rug was pulled out from under them, or that in their complacency, they failed to understand what was happening to them.
As for the “rug pulling,” we know it can sometimes happen without warning. Clearly, mergers, acquisitions, and the whole topic of change can happen with swiftness and a lack of warning. There are also situations where an approval falls through or research fails and there are certainly occasions when funding falls through the floor.
However, more often that not, executives liken the security dilemma to the story of the two frogs. We’ve all heard it. One frog, feeling safe and secure jumps into a pot of water and simply sits there as the heat gets turned higher and higher. “He” doesn’t feel it. A second frog comes along, jumps in and yells “Wowee!” then immediately jumps out and yells, “How can you stand it in there? It’s practically boiling! I’m outta here!”
Security is a lot like that, for security is an illusion.
Coasting along
For far too many executives, the “comfortable coast” can go on for years. The company may reduce hours, “and that’s OK, because I’m comfortable,” or the benefits might get cut, “and that’s OK, because I’m comfortable,” or sales may erode, “and that’s OK, because I’m comfortable,” or any other number of reasons from outdated technology, to changes in the industry to shifting personnel roles. Then, suddenly, the classic (or not-so-classic) pink slip message is received and the coast comes to a crashing halt.
We would also be remiss if we did not point out another type of crash. An executive assuming or believing that he or she is so-well entrenched after five, 10 or more years, that they feel they are impervious to Human Resources actions.
While we dislike pointing it out, many an executive has fallen victim to their own failure to recognize their own bias, harassment, insensitivity and discriminatory policies. Those crashes are particularly “violent.” We might add that the majority of those committing such activities are not necessarily awful people, but felt empowered to take senseless or insensitive liberties because of their illusions. Mind you, we don’t condone issues of insensitivity, but we are merely pointing out where the complacency of security can lead.
Mindfulness
We can turn the topic of security back on itself if we were to point out that almost without question, illusions of security are shattered because of a lack of mindfulness. The executive who refuses to see what is happening in front of “her,” is living in an illusory dream. The executive who has been empowered to sexually harass or discriminate because “he” feels secure, fails to understand that the world now finds such behavior repugnant.
Mindfulness, a quality VIM Executive Coaching teaches and encourages, enables executives to see “the world” as it is and without embellishment. We can help executives to stop coasting and to once again, start to chart their own course. No, we cannot turn the unethical, ethical or the bigot to acceptance, but we can guide “him” to seeing the world as it is, and not as “he” would wish it to be.
In time, “the frog” in the water becomes soup. The world is ever-changing and either we are a part of that change or we are justifiably made redundant.