Read on to see how Justin partnered with his BetterUp Coach to shape his days, unearth goals, and think about the road ahead to chart his course for the future.
BetterUp through Josh Bersin Academy
As a top performer in Josh Bersin Academy, Justin was awarded a BetterUp license to work with a Coach. His reaction? “Only executives need coaches.” Luckily, after thinking a moment, Justin remembered hearing that everyone can benefit from working with a good Coach. He set up his profile and got started.
Tactical to strategic — making the transition
“At first I didn’t know what I wanted to work on. My days were always full, sometimes overwhelming, and I wanted to be in control of how I was spending my time…. I never had time to pick my head up and look at the long-term road ahead.”
Justin was in the midst of transitioning from an executional role to a strategic one — the timing for coaching felt ideal. As he began working with his coach, Justin realized that one goal he wanted for his time was to be less reactive. He wanted to focus on impactful work, rather than a never-ending task list.
Identifying the patterns to navigate his path
With a packed schedule of meetings, Justin had difficulty getting to the meaningful work. With his Coach, Justin identified patterns in his daily routine that would help him gain control over his calendar and to-do list. He worked on breaking down the core work that needed to be completed each week, and addressing “filler” projects when he had extra time. The result? He became more strategic. He also made a practice of checking in with himself throughout the day. He’d ask himself, “how can I structure my day in a way that’s going to serve me?” His Coach gave him a 3-question framework to ensure that he was focusing on the high-impact work, rather than getting lost in minutiae.
With these “small” tweaks, Justin felt more energized, organized, and eager to look ahead and plan further into the future. “As my coaching continued, I was able to create structure in my day to day that, candidly, started to slip during the pandemic.” Justin found himself being more intentional about his calendar, planning, and the projects he took on. He also realized that some of the “nice to have” routines he’d been prompted to by his coach had become integral to his day-to-day.
Setting goals for the immediate- and longer-term
Justin and his coach connected weekly on ongoing topics. But some weeks were focused on the immediate, like presenting at the upcoming meeting or a difficult discussion. A key takeaway he discovered? “By talking with someone and sharing my short and long-term goals out loud, it allowed me to bring goals to the surface that I didn’t necessarily know were inside of me.
“Once we had set a long-term vision, we backtracked into things that I could do in the day-to-day to help me make incremental progress toward those goals.” With coaching, Justin was able to put his many cards on the table, create a view of the future, and get personalized guidance to figure out which step to take next.
