Before joining Ignite, Lisa was tired. She was working a lot of hours because she was doing overtime, so her work/life balance was unhealthy. During this time, her customer service experience had been negatively affected, and her focus was on personal issues.
Lisa was demotivated and stressed. Her driving goal was money. Lisa had no reservations about joining Ignite and was looking forward to the opportunity for change.
Lisa had worked for the company for nearly two years, but she never had a smile on her face when she came to work. Her manager regularly cancelled their one-to-one meetings, and it was only when it was time to discover her bonus rating that Lisa got any feedback on how she was performing.
She was stressed and appeared disruptive to others. She was brought into the Ignite team so that I could support the existing team manager by coaching her around her behaviour and draw her attention to the impact this behaviour was having on those around her. During the first two weeks, she was in and out of my office all the time as I addressed the behaviour I was experiencing. Using my coaching skills, I gradually started to explore her beliefs and the impact it was having on her at work and in her daily life. I did this by asking open questions, challenging her beliefs and probing her to look deeper. I also got completely comfortable with silences. I listened, and I didn’t judge.
As her beliefs started to unfold, I realised that Lisa had been holding on to negative thoughts and feelings for years. There were things that had occurred in her past that were still affecting her years later. Lisa was definitely unhappy and well outside her comfort zone but unhappily outside her comfort zone because her mood could get no lower. Lisa was in the ‘depression stage’ of change, and she didn’t like it. This was a great opportunity for her to make a choice. She could choose to stay where she was and be unhappy, or she could choose to change. Thankfully she decided to change. Rather than viewing the world as a negative place, she decided to see positive benefits around every corner. Before long, she was achieving goals she had set herself, and her performance was improving.
At last, Lisa was coming to work with a smile on her face, and it wasn’t long before she was asking to take on additional responsibilities and actively looking for opportunities to shine. At the end of the twelve-week programme, she had enjoyed herself so much that she requested a permanent transfer to my team. Lisa realised that she needed structure in her day, and by having regular one-to-one meetings, coaching sessions and development time, she felt empowered to step up to the mark. She knew her performance was going to be challenged but also that her contribution was valued. For the first time in a long time, all of her motivators were being met. She felt secure, she was being recognised for her achievements, and she was earning a bonus.
Lisa continued to grow after the completion of the Ignite Programme, and within 6 months, she secured her first promotion to the position of senior consultant, through which she took on supervisory responsibilities.
What Lisa is doing 18 months later
Lisa still comes to work with a smile on her face, and she is now recognised as a top performer across the whole site. She has taken on a complaint-handlers role as part of a pilot scheme, and she is leading the way with her organisational skills. She consistently articulates how she adds value to the business across her own team and the site. She is recognised as a role model and a natural successor to a leadership role. She has had a truly remarkable journey, one of which she is extremely proud. Lisa has agreed to share her personal thoughts about the Ignite Programme below.
“Working with Claire was completely different experience to how I had been managed before, and she met my personal preferences and gave me the structure I needed. Since then, I have incorporated this into my life and feel that I am more structured both at work and at home. She also helped me identify triggers which cause negative behaviours and put into place coping methods.”
“I can’t pick just one financial benefit I got from the programme, but the two best are achieving an Exceed bonus rating on more than one occasion and being promoted to the position of Senior Consultant, something I never thought I would have the patience to deliver against on a daily basis. I now consistently have a positive attitude to both work and home life. Since working with Claire, I feel more comfortable and confident at work and within my role. This has subsequently spilled over into my personal life. I truly think that without Ignite, I would have either gone off sick with work-related stress, or I would have left the company.”