A Case Study By Joseph Ibrahim, Business Coach, LEBANON
Jane’s Transformative Journey of Reframing Perspective Using the “Significance vs. Lightness” Life Coaching Power Tool
In this case study, we will explore the transformative journey of Jane, a 39-year-old, demotivated professional seeking clarity and direction in her career through a business-focused life coaching journey, between her, the client, and myself, the life coach. As Jane’s life coach, I employed powerful coaching tools to guide her towards a renewed sense of purpose and help her navigate the challenges she faced through a partnership of exploration of feelings, identification of value, setting goals, and committing to completing them.
Jane, a manager in her company, approached me feeling stuck and disheartened in her current job. She has been in the same position for the past 6 years and feels like it is going nowhere. She expressed a desire for personal growth and wanted to find a way to move forward in her career. Throughout our coaching sessions, we focused on exploring her strengths, values, and aspirations, to help her uncover her true potential and pave a path towards professional fulfilment. Jane always wanted to start her own business but always felt that it was not the right time to do so.
Jane felt stagnant and undervalued, which affected her self-esteem and motivation. Her values of growth, recognition, and fulfillment were compromised.
The Importance of Life-Coaching Power Tools:
Life coaching power tools play a significant role in facilitating personal growth and transformation. These tools are designed to help clients gain clarity, shift perspectives, and overcome obstacles. In Jane’s case, the power tool that proved most effective in reframing her perspective was the “Significance versus Lightness” power tool, which enabled her to change her perspective on her current challenges and see them as opportunities for growth while also working on small task guiding her towards the start of her own business.
Jane’s Significance:
Jane experienced “Significance” as she was fixed on an outcome that had been assigned to her by her company. She was so overwhelmed with work and financial burdens that the idea of starting her own business started to fade away. This significance of her work tasks and duties, and what is expected from her, kept her focused on problems and issues that weighed her down and that, eventually, were not hers but the company’s.
She started carrying around her work pressure and the company’s expectations at home and around friends which made her anxious, stressed, and unhappy even in her time off.
More work at her job and no support from workforce management have left her hopeless about any upcoming promotion in her position and gave her a wake-up call to start looking for solutions.
She constantly focused on the negative aspects of her situation, magnifying them to believe that her current circumstances would never change. This mindset escalated her feelings of hopelessness and hindered her ability to explore other possibilities.
Jane felt Hopeless, Exhausted, and Overwhelmed.
Jane’s Life Coaching Journey
Jane was unaware of the life coaching process and she was just seeking professional help where she could find it. However, once I explained to her that life coaching is a partnership, where a creative process is used to maximize her personal and professional potential, she was more than keen to try it. She had a big dream of starting her own business which seemed impossible to her at the moment, we explored her professional goals and values, what she is interested in, and what feels right.
During our coaching sessions, I asked Jane powerful and thought-provoking questions to deepen her self-awareness and uncover insights. Some of the questions I asked were:
- What are your core values, and how are they currently aligned (or misaligned) with your work?
- What aspects of your job do you find most fulfilling, and how can you incorporate more of those into your daily tasks?
- What are the perceived obstacles holding you back from pursuing your desired professional path, and how could you reframe them as stepping stones?
- What excites you about your professional life, and how can you create more opportunities to experience that excitement?
- What could be the next small step that you can commit to, at the moment, towards your big goal of starting your own business?
Jane has discovered many values throughout our time together, and when it comes to her professional life, she realized that what matters to her the most are: Success, Recognition, and Balance.
The Power of Reframing:
The empowering power tool that assisted Jane in reframing her perspective was “Significance versus Lightness”. This tool enabled her to shift her focus from the limitations and challenges she faced to recognizing opportunities for growth and personal development. This allowed Jane to approach her situation with a fresh mindset, seeking new possibilities and potential solutions.
The power tool of “Significance versus Lightness” was instrumental in helping Jane change her perspective on her career challenges. Initially, she felt trapped by her current job’s limitations and the perceived lack of growth opportunities. By reframing her mindset, we explored alternative ways in which she could view her challenges as opportunities for skill development and networking, focus on leaving what is for work at work, and focus her free time on the start of her own business. This shift allowed her to explore creative strategies to make the most of her present situation while taking steps toward her desired career trajectory as she needed to keep her job for financial stability.
New Goals Set by Jane:
As a result of our coaching sessions, Jane set new goals for herself. These goals encompassed her personal growth as well as professional achievements. She identified specific actions to take, such as developing new skills through courses or workshops, seeking mentorship, and exploring cross-functional projects within her organization instead of lingering on redundant tasks that made her feel demotivated. Jane also set a timeline for herself, breaking down her goals into achievable milestones, such as creating a brand for her own business, starting with the title, and logo, and creating a roadmap for her advancement to get to fully be able to start that business.
Through exploration and reflection, we discovered that Jane had limiting beliefs that were holding her back from pursuing her desired career path. We used the power tool of “Limiting Belief Transformation” to challenge and reframe these beliefs. By supporting Jane in shifting her perspective, she was able to break free from the self-imposed barriers, created by her current job, and herself, that were hindering her progress. As a result, she felt empowered to take bold and courageous steps toward her goals and feel lighter about the issues previously mentioned; releasing all the stress and pressures she was carrying from her job to her personal life.
As our coaching sessions progressed, Jane began to experience a deep transformation within herself. She gained a deeper understanding of her values, strengths, and passions, allowing her to align her career choices with what truly mattered to her, including which projects she wanted to be a part of, what to prioritize, and how to focus on her personal life as well without her job interfering. Through the power tool of visualization, Jane was able to paint a vivid picture of her ideal career and use it as a compass to guide her decision-making process.
One of the key aspects of our coaching journey was the creation of a comprehensive action plan. Jane identified specific actionable steps that she could take in both her personal and professional life to propel her toward her desired future. By breaking down her goals into manageable tasks, Jane was able to maintain clarity and focus throughout the process.
Accountability:
The importance of accountability cannot be understated in the coaching process. Jane recognized the value of having a support system in place to hold her accountable for her actions. We established regular check-in sessions to review progress, address challenges, and celebrate achievements. This helped Jane stay motivated, focused, and committed to her growth journey.
Throughout our coaching relationship, I emphasized the significance of self-care and maintaining a healthy work-life balance as this was one of Jane’s big concerns where she felt that her personal life was negatively affected by the work stress she carried with her. Together, we explored different practices, such as mindfulness and stress management techniques, to ensure that Jane could sustain her momentum and well-being in the long run, and keep a positive mindset even when continuing with the job she currently has, considering it a stepping stone to a brighter and more successful future.
Results Achieved and Future Outlook:
By the conclusion of our coaching sessions, Jane experienced a remarkable transformation in her professional life. She developed a renewed sense of purpose, confidence, and clarity. Jane had gained the skills and tools required to navigate challenges, make empowered decisions, and pursue her desired career path. Jane set a goal to collaborate with her current employer to identify new challenges and opportunities within her existing role, infusing it with fresh enthusiasm to gain new skill sets that could help her in the future.
She became more aware of her responsibilities at work, what she can control, and what is out of her control, what is important to worry about, and what she needs to focus on to feel productive and grow professionally even if it is not in her current company.
She had a new goal in mind: to work towards starting her own business. She made a road map of achievable and manageable goals that she worked on during her free time, where she identified what steps she needed to take toward starting her own business within her defined time frame.
Jane’s new goals ranged from pursuing additional educational opportunities, seeking leadership roles, expanding her professional network, and exploring entrepreneurial ventures aligned with her passions. She had a clear vision of the legacy she wanted to leave and a solid plan in place to make it a reality.
Jane’s “Lightness”:
In closing, Jane’s coaching experience helped her realize her true potential and tap into her innate talents. She discovered a sense of empowerment, transformation, and fulfillment in her career. With the newfound clarity and direction, Jane was equipped with the necessary tools and mindset to continuously evolve, grow, and thrive in her professional life.
She realized that her job will always be demanding and overwhelming, but she learned how to navigate her inner feelings to align with her values without “catastrophizing” her work problems and bringing them into her personal life.
The newly-found “Lightness” within her was showing in her tone of voice, and excitement towards her newly set goals. She did what felt right for her and for her career while working steadily and firmly towards her big goal of starting her own business.
Unlocking New Paths, a Life Coaching
Life coaching, through the use of powerful tools and strategic questioning, has empowered and transformed Jane’s professional life. She experienced a shift in mindset, moving from feeling stuck, demotivated, overwhelmed, and hopeless to being proactive and seeking growth opportunities. With her newfound clarity and strategic goals, Jane is now on a path toward holistic success and fulfillment in her career.
By utilizing the power tool of “Significance versus Lightness”; Jane transformed her disempowering perspective into an empowering one. This shift allowed her to escape the cycle of negativity and take proactive steps toward personal and professional growth. Jane’s journey exemplifies the transformative impact that coaching power tools can have in guiding clients toward improved self-awareness, enhanced decision-making, and the pursuit of meaningful goals.
References
- Coaching Power Tools (Booklet) from the International Coaching Academy (ICA): Coaching Power Tools (Booklet) – Google Docs
- “FC01: What is Coaching?” from the ICA: FC01: What is Coaching? – Google Docs
- The FlipIt Online workshop from the ICA: FlipIt Online Workshop – Find It (icacoach.com)