I was surprised. I've seen other coaching journeys, but when I started with the Bloombase team I was immediately surprised that whatever we were going to focus on was interesting. I think what separated it from what I've seen others do is that you cared and that it was genuine. It was really about the whole person, not just one tiny aspect. And since that experience was on the whole person, we could look at what that person's core values really were, and really unlock that full potential.

In terms of a dollar and cents return on investment, it's immeasurable in terms of unlocking what you could be at your best. I think in the terms of the context some are more willing than others. Is that a sign of weakness or not? I think if any of us can get past the assumption that individually, we don't know all the answers, we may have blind spots, or there's an opportunity for us to be at their best, we can get there.

Coaching can introduce blind spots. It provides a different perspective of what the problem that you're looking at is and what else you might consider. A lot of the times when we're struggling with something in our emotional intelligence where we're triggered, and we've really narrowed down on the number of degrees of thinking to absolutes, and coaching brings in this other neocortex and perspective that says, no, there's actually a wealth of possibilities here. It helps you get there in a space where you can be frustrated or genuinely feel your emotions that you don't want to get into necessarily.

Coaching allowed me to explore what my intentions were here, what my impact is over here, what input can I provide into the system to maybe get those to match a little closer? When I started my journey, I was awful at it. When Dan Goleman founded the idea of emotional intelligence, one of the main things he preached was that we can all learn it.

It’s something that we can all be taught and he's absolutely right. How do I get a highly skilled individual, to open up in that space? We talked about the science of emotional intelligence and exactly what's going on in the neocortex and amygdala. We talk about the potential of why leaders are able to differentiate with emotional intelligence, but then we take them specifically through the model around recognizing, hey, when I got upset and I couldn't think of that comeback, and it happens 18 minutes later, what is the science behind that?

I think as a leader, one of our primary roles is how we can help our team be at their best. In the case of recommending the coaching experience to our teammates, it is of a genuine positive intent of how are we helping them unlock doors that they may or may not be able to see yet. As a senior leader coming into it of what could coaching really bring, I’ve personally, been through a lot of different development experiences. Coaching is the next big door that’s really going help you unlock some blind spots in your thinking. As you become increasingly more senior it is harder to find that safe space with other senior leaders. In your business, your friends and family, they play an important role, but their main job is to be on your side.

In my space, with my team, culture eats strategy for breakfast, right. If you have a positive team culture that really like working together, and you're getting all those value cards from them of their full potential, you don't necessarily need to worry about results and what comes with that, because those will naturally occur, but to get there, that is hard work. As a leader, you want to open up that space for them to have hard conversations with them in a safe environment and have those moments of insight that kind of lead, what they are saying to each other in the moment is different than what they are feeling with each other. If your teammate raises her hand and says, I feel hurt about something, all of your teammates will respond differently. In that moment, we see that when our teammates are going through life struggles or anything like that, and sometimes even when we're most critical and we're hurtful to each other, what we're actually saying is I feel hurt. So, if you can recognize that within your teammates, I think you're going to really build a much stronger culture and get to a higher potential.

The coaching experience that I've went through, that I've seen with Bloombase, is phenomenal in terms of that whole person impact - not just about what this small problem is, but feels big in the moment - but what the small problem is really about that whole person is. As we think about leaders and what they want for the team, ultimately our job is to help others be their best. Even in terms of succeeding us someday, and even more importantly, doing more than us, someday of leading to that full potential of doing those great things. Coaching is a big door to open, to get there.