Q

Before we talk about coaching, Denise, could you tell us a little about your career?

DA

I joined the Federal Government in 1985, and have worked in seven departments in both National Headquarters and the regions.

My work and my education have been pretty diverse. And looking back, I'd say exploring a variety of fields is a persistent theme in my life.

I can remember a guidance teacher telling me to take science because "doors will be open". Something about that image - the open door - has stuck with me and guided me throughout my career. I have always pursued jobs that have lots of room for exploration and which allow me to take what I have learned in one area and apply it somewhere else. I've worked in policy, operations, service delivery, program devolution, and public education and now in communications. Over the years, I have earned three bachelor degrees (biology, education and the arts) and a Masters Degree in education. I really love to keep learning and gaining new experiences.

Q

Did you take formal training in coaching?

DA

I began with the five-day Coaching for Breakthrough Course offered at CCMD in January 1999 and took the 9-month Mastery of Coaching Program offered by a private sector firm immediately afterward. Right now I am involved in a 6-month coaching course.

Q

What was happening in your work at the time you were starting to get involved in coaching?

DA

At the exact time that I was beginning to take training in coaching, I was involved in the Grants and Contribution file at Human Resources Development Canada. This was an intense period for my staff, me and a good portion of the department. It lasted 18 months. My team and I worked long hours over many months. What made it much more challenging was that we were constantly under the scrutiny of the media. We had to make sure that we had all the information at our fingertips on projects that were managed in the regions and that had been approved two to three years before. We had to be on top of hundreds of files, each of which was several inches thick.

The workload and the pace we set were exhausting. At one point, I even started doing double shifts with my team.

Q

You mentioned that throughout this period, you were involved in a coaching program. Many people going through a crisis like that would not have kept it up.

DA

What I was learning in coaching really helped me and my team succeed throughout this period. I would say that I became more aware of my strengths and weaknesses and I was able to more effectively meet the demands that were placed on me. One of the things I learned was the power of making requests. Up to this point in my career, I sometimes, took for granted that others knew what I wanted or needed. I was reluctant to make direct requests. So I went along, hoping that what I needed was obvious enough. What I learned was that unless you make a request, things will not necessarily come to you. You lose time because people do what they think you want and you are left either pleased or dissatisfied. When your request of someone isn't clear, chances are what they do will miss the mark.

Q

Can you give us an example of how making requests helped you?

DA

I'll give you two that come to mind. I realized we needed more people to help us with our heavy workload. This was after several months into the crisis. I knew it would be difficult to get more people because the whole department was overloaded. But when I made the request for more resources, my colleagues were wonderful. Everyone wanted to help out but, before I made the request, they weren't sure what I needed. Having extra people allowed us to introduce two shifts: a team working during the day and the other at night.

Another example of the power of making requests occurred in my work in conducting media interviews, sometimes four to five a day. In these interviews, I wanted the journalists to report the facts. When I spoke to them, I began by asking "What is the angle of your story?" In this way, we began by discussing their intent and their commitment to reporting the facts and not an interpretation.

Q

That is fascinating. What happened? Did the journalists cover the story better from your point of view?

DA

At first, they were surprised by the questions I posed to them because I brought to the surface what is normally left in the background. I essentially was asking them to say out loud what they were committed to. And, you know, many of them connected to me differently after that. By speaking in a more open way, beyond roles really, I believe the whole encounter became driven by trust and the factual account of the story.

Q

Let's turn our attention now to your relationship with your team. How did what you were learning as a manager-coach influence how you related to them?

DA

I've talked about the pressure all of us were under. To deal with it, we made sure that we still had fun. We worked hard and played hard. We had one of the best Christmas parties ever. I regularly acknowledged the efforts of my team. We had daily meetings and post mortems. We really bonded. I remember one person dropped a card in my mailbox at home saying "It will get better. I am thinking of you." As the leader, I began to see that people didn't expect me to be the strong one all the time. They connected more when I showed I was a person rather than the one with all the answers. They appreciated it more when I said I didn't have all the answers and when I was sufficiently at ease with who I am, and with them, to show my vulnerability. And you know, this applies to me as well. The people who have most influenced me are those who showed me their human side.

Q

It sounds like a powerful bond formed among the team during this time. How did you and the team keep up your stamina?

DA

During the summer, the Mastery of Coaching Program focused on wellness. This was a wake-up call for me. At this point, I needed a reminder of the importance of looking after my physical health. Exercise has always been important to me but it was slipping away as I was spending more and more time at work.

I got back in touch with my goals. I wanted to be effective in the short and long term. I wanted to be able to handle the escalating demand and to set up systems that would provide access to important information throughout the department. I knew that to accomplish these goals, I had to restore my physical health. At first, I couldn't see where I could fit exercising in. But I committed myself to exercising three times a week, as well as doing yoga in the morning. This was a bit of a hurdle at first because I had never seen myself as a morning person. However, if I was going to reach my goal, I had to give up that way of seeing myself - and I did. What was a surprising outcome of this was that my husband, who was taken aback by my new regime, began to exercise with me after a few months.

Q

Would you say the benefits of exercise go beyond the physical?

DA

Exercise helped me gain perspective and strengthened me so that I found I wasn't as affected by what happened each day. And, after a while, my peers were engaged in different forms of exercise and we were comparing notes.

Q

It sounds like you were able to reach that illusory goal of work/life balance.

DA

You know, I really see that whole issue differently now. Before, I saw my life as my work and what was left over was for all the other things that somehow needed to be balanced. Once I started to see everything in my life as my life, I began to concentrate not on balance, but on weighing priorities.

My husband and I bought a sail boat recently and this helped make this realization more concrete. Having the boat means that we spend every weekend on it. This is a significant change. But you know, it also changes how I schedule my week. Before, I just took everything on, knowing I could take things home every night and every weekend. Now I choose what I do during the day more carefully. My creativity has greatly increased now that I'm not rushing and not so consumed by the immediate task all the time. I've noticed that my best ideas come when I'm relaxed on the weekend.

Balance for me is about opening myself to being nourished. As a manager-coach, I have a new sense of responsibility for myself and my life. I wrote down the 25 things I want to do before I die. These are like a beacon for me. They help me look at what is happening day-to-day and the decisions I make differently. And my commitment to this list helps me see opportunities for making these things happen in my life.

Q

Was there something about writing these things down that made a difference to you, that made you feel more committed to them?

DA

This is how I see it after taking the training in coaching. Commitment is your contract to act. With commitment, you are taking the responsibility to engage in an action that will modify something or create a new opportunity. Making it live outside your head in some way, like writing it down and saying it to others, is an important part of it. When your commitment is only within yourself, you feel less accountable. I guess it's human nature. We all have a sense of pride. When the commitment is public, it takes on a new dimension. Others support you and the commitment seems to encourage you to find ways to put your goals in action. Without this, we leave too much to circumstances.

Not to get too metaphysical about it, but it's as if, once there is a clear commitment, everything moves to give life to that vision and it provides a focus that brings the actions in your life together.

Q

Denise, what you have shared with us shows how coaching helped you grow as a leader and as a person. What is next for you? What are you committing yourself to next?

DA

My new challenges are to learn how to manoeuvre my new sail boat, to run a marathon, and continue my journey in balancing work and life.