Welcome to The Violet View!
A Monthly Newsletter designed to bring digestible leadership insights, straight to your inbox.
Hi there, have you ever had someone hold up a proverbial mirror to you—offering feedback that's direct, supportive, but also a bit uncomfortable?
We certainly have. And, as leadership coaches and practitioners, we're often in the position of doing just that for the people we support and work with. Through a range of assessments and coaching techniques, it's our mission to help our clients understand their reputation, impact, and areas of strength and opportunity.
As you can imagine, these conversations evoke a range of emotions—from defensiveness to skepticism, feigned ignorance, and even outright denial. Each reaction is telling and revealing in its own way.
Today, I find myself thinking about this process because I’m about to experience it firsthand. It’s been two years since I stepped into the role of President and co-founded The Violet Group. And what an interesting two years it’s been...
2 years of rigorous learning and deepening my knowledge in various areas - from finance to accounting and marketing and sales.
2 years of adjusting to leading at another level, empowering others to own their work, and pushing myself to balance details with strategy.
2 years of having a real-life masterclass in what it means to own, manage, build, and grow a consulting business.
I've grown, I've made mistakes, I've adjusted, and I've evolved. Or so I think. Now, it's time to validate my own experiences and thoughts with a 360 from my team.
Receiving in-depth 360 feedback can be challenging. It reveals surprising truths about a leader’s style that they may not fully understand or wish to acknowledge.
And as Tasha Eurich reminds us in her work on self-awareness, our delusions can grow as our power and scope expands. The "bigger" and more "powerful" your role, the more difficult it becomes to find truth-tellers who tell you what you need to hear.
A coach’s role is to help individuals thoughtfully and productively digest this feedback, identify what’s most crucial to focus on, and create action plans that drive development. This often happens in the context of a promotion, role change, or accelerated development program.
For me, this will all be in the context of better understanding how I'm showing up in my role and beginning to grapple with the - I imagine - myriad of ways I can lead more effectively, more openly, and more inclusively.
I invite you to join me back here in a few months, where I'll share some of what I learn. My hope is that it will inspire you to embark on your own development journey—however that might look for you.
See you on the other side,
Stefanie
