Sometimes the work is happening, even when the progress is hard to see. Photo credit: Waddas Magalhães / Unsplash
A client came to coaching believing she didn't have much of an update on her professional goals. She felt discouraged and wanted to sort through the mental clutter happening for her.
We took at look at her coaching goals, organized across three columns: 1) desires, 2) blockers and 3) outcomes. Confirming the desires had not changed, we moved to the blockers column. Before she knew it, nearly every blocker previously identified was either resolved or minimized.
She was surprised to discover evidence of her progress in her own notes from a session two months earlier.
As she shared the progress around these areas, she noticeably got more excited.
So I reflected back: "Look at all the things that are going well. Look at the evidence of what's working. What has you focused on what's not?"
The review revealed that things that once blocked her completely—including fears and old stories—now had a softer effect on her. While she was working heads-down for a few weeks, she made progress in testing choices, making decisions and building confidence.
She wasn't able to notice that progress because the final outcome had not yet arrived.
When a goal feels like a black box, it can be hard to see what's changing along the way. For leaders navigating complex and ambiguous work, especially when outcomes depend on other teams or tools, looking at the progress within their control can make that change more visible.
For your unfinished goals, what evidence shows you there's progress?
