Coaching Women for Success in the Federal Government

Coaching Women for Success in the Federal Government: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Coaching Women for Success in the Federal Government: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Maria De Fazio:
All right, welcome, everyone. We are going to be giving everyone a few more minutes to gather and get settled before we kick off the event, so just get comfy and we'll be beginning soon. All right, I'm going to get a couple of the housekeeping things out of the way while then the rest of the folks get online and get sorted. So welcome, everyone. We are so glad that you are here today. My name is Maria DeFazio. I am the executive director of the Presidential Management Alumni Association. I'm also going to be acting as the moderator and producer for today's session. Thank you so much for joining us. And what we have cheekily dubbed Couchella, although now into our second year of doing these, we started them when the pandemic sort of made it harder for us to all get together in person. Now that we have been doing these for a little bit longer, we've decided to keep them because the community finds them really helpful. This idea that we're all getting together to share information and wisdom in a way that is collegial and cordial and a little bit less formal. So to that end, I've got a couple of quick housekeeping notes for all of our attendees. A quick little disclaimer. Our panelists today are appearing in an unofficial capacity. They are not representative of their agency, which happens to be the US Patent Trade Office. They are appearing to you as colleagues and friends to help share what they have learned about coaching and specifically how coaching can benefit women in the federal workplace.

Maria De Fazio:
So we are going to be recording the session. We will be posting it to our training page. You may notice now along the bottom, if you've got it enabled, there are closed captions available. You can turn those on or off however you prefer, but we've got them there to make sure that we're fully accessible. We're also going to be posting, posting a fully accessible transcript that is searchable along with the video on our training sites. So for today's panel, we've got a couple of topics that we want to cover and then we will open it up to Q&A from the audience at the end. We're going to save plenty of time, so don't worry. But if you think of a question, you can absolutely pop that in the question and answer function at any time just so you don't have to hold on to it or keep thinking about it. If you have a technical difficulty, please make sure that you use the chat function because that blinks at me and then I know that there's a problem. So I will just very briefly introduce today's panelists and then they're going to go into a little bit more depth about their journey with coaching and what that means for them. But today we have Dr. Shana, Webster-Trotman. She joined the US Patent and Trademark Office in 1990 and has over 15 years of coaching experience in the federal government, in academia and within her community. Dr. Webster-Trotman is participating in the federal internal coach training program, and she is a certified Gallup's strength coach DISC behavioral analyst and Myers-Briggs practitioner with a diverse multidisciplinary academic background.

Maria De Fazio:
She's got a Ph.D. in management with a specialization in leadership and organizational change, a Master's in financial management and a Master's and Bachelor's degree in English with a focus on communication. Dora Best is an International Coaching Federation associate certified coach and a member of the federal coach network. She's a certified John Maxwell, trainer, motivational speaker, DISC practitioner and a graduate of the federal internal coach training program and the Partnership for Public Service's Excellence in Government Fellows Program. She's also served as an alumna co-coach to one of their largest cohorts, Ms. Best has 30 years of leadership experience within the federal government. And she holds a Master's degree in human service counseling with a specialization in executive leadership and a Bachelor's in management with certificate in Human Resources Management. Just in case you wanted to know exactly how impressive these ladies were. So we are incredibly grateful that they have joined us today to share their wisdom. And we're excited to be able to offer something specifically for the women of the PMF community or the alumni community and those that are doing their part to support them professionally. So to kick things off, what I'd like to do is, is have Shana and Dora. If you could just give us all a little background on how coaching has impacted your journey, the sort of what coaching did for me, how I got into coaching, I think that be a great place to start.

Dora Best:
Shana, Dr. Webster-Trotman, would you like to start?

Shana Webster-Trotman:
Ok. All right, thank you, Maria, for that lovely introduction, and I'm happy to be here today with your community and with my esteemed colleague Dora Best. So for me, coaching, I got involved with coaching because it is something that I'm absolutely passionate about. I believe that each individual has the potential within them to be the best version of themselves. And I started with coaching many years ago, many years ago, wanting to improve my own performance. And I had a wonderful coach and I thought to myself, "Well Shay," I call myself "Shay." I talk to myself. Right. So I said, "Shay, you know, what are some of the ways in which you can give back to others?" And I pondered on that for a while. And the answer was a resounding coaching, through coaching. Dora, how about you?

Dora Best:
So for me, I don't know if I stumbled on it, because I like to say that it's a part of my DNA. I I watched my grandmother and other women in my life ask those powerful questions and sitting at what I would say their foot, I would see how it the questions were asked and it gave a call to action to these women. And I said, I want to do that. And as my career evolved, I looked for mentors and I looked for coaches. And for a period of time, there was none that was there. Coaching was not the buzz word as it is in federal government now. And there were informal coaching and informal mentoring. But I, I didn't find that for me. So when you are absent from what is absent in your life, you become it. And it just I fell into it and I like to say it was a part of my DNA. And since that time I have had some phenomenal coaches in my life.

Maria De Fazio:
Wonderful. So I'd like to start specifically with how why is coaching so important for women in particular? I know that obviously there is systemic sexism, among other things, throughout the working world. And while there have been improvements, unfortunately, the federal workplace is no exception. The the the breakdown of women in leadership positions is still not anywhere close to equal or or sort of matching the folks that they're supervising. So what why specifically is coaching important for women in the federal space?

Shana Webster-Trotman:
I think coaching is particularly important for women in the federal space because as women, we are known as nurturers, right. Or we are expected to be nurturers. Right. And so we're always pouring out into others, always helping others to develop and grow. But oftentimes we do not put the same level of energy or effort into developing and nurturing ourselves. Coaching is an excellent tool, excellent opportunity for you to do so because you get to partner with a coach whose primary primary purpose is to help you be the best that you can be, help you tackle those barriers or stumbling blocks that are in your way. And oftentimes it could be a mental barrier. And I think that's why coaching is especially important for women in the federal government. And secondly, because there is so much competition in the federal government that oftentimes women don't feel as though they have a safe space. Right. To be vulnerable and to say those things that are on their minds. Right. And to have that nonjudgmental partner. Right. That they can say these things. Well, you know, I'm not sure I'm up to that job or I'm not sure when we are vulnerable in a federal space, oftentimes were looked down upon and coaching provides that safe space.

Dora Best:
I add to what Dr. Shana has stated, that shifting of the mindset is very important when we enter the federal workspace, especially, we oftentimes we're coming from a place where perhaps we may be have been the biggest fish. And now we're coming into an environment that's extremely the landscape is so large and we're trying to find our place there. And as Dr. Shana has stated, finding that safe space in a landscape that spreads out or coaching allows you to do that coaching, allows you to change your mind shift when you're in positions in the federal government. It's not like private industry. You can get a position and be in it for three months and then get a promotion and then the next three months and then get a promotion. You can track your course within the time span that you wanted to happen. In the federal space is a little different. You go to your grade and you're like, when is it going to happen for me? Because you're coming into the work space with leadership skills such as your program, you're training people to be the leaders, the next generation leaders. And there's a group of leaders that's already there. It doesn't appear that they're going anywhere. So that might shift change in helping the person during the journey with them to get them to the place that they need to be, changing their mindset and those limiting beliefs that this cannot happen for me.

Maria De Fazio:
Wonderful. So how can how can the women on this call meeting today know when a coach would be beneficial? Because the way you guys talk about coaching in the way I've come to understand coaching from some of the work you've done this before, Dora, is that coaching is different than mentoring. Coaching has a specific goal, a specific target, a specific challenge that you're trying to work on, whereas mentoring is a little bit more overarching, career focused and and sort of planning for far, far in the future or building a career path or networking. So how how how how would someone know if coaching can help them with a particular issue?

Dora Best:
So I'll start that mentoring. Mentoring can be formal or informal, as we know, but a mentor opens the door. They're allowing you to track their progress, if that's the area that you're trying to go in and they open the door. Mentoring is somewhat like sponsorship. And a mentor can you can have various mentors in different areas of your life. Coaching helps you remove those barriers, they may ask the powerful questions to start you on your journey. Now a coach isn't going to tell you what to do. A mentor will guide you and tell you what to do. A coach is like--and we're group of ladies here--so it's like a midwife. I like to say a midwife helping you birth that that that is in you outwardly. But that's my definition, the difference between a mentor in a coach.

Shana Webster-Trotman:
And if I may add, a coach is someone who can help you to accomplish a specific goal, like, for example, for example, perhaps you're dealing with a problem employee, right? A problem employee and you want to talk to someone about what are some of the best ways to go about addressing the issues? Or you just want to have that safe space to talk things through. A coach would be an excellent resource for doing so, because the whole idea of coaching is that the client is intelligent, right? The client is resourceful and the client knows what is best for him or her. Right. And whereas now with mentorship, mentorship is a sharing of, oh, this is how I have gotten to where I am today. Right. So with mentorship you're looking more towards modeling that person's behavior, their path, etc., whereas coaching is more trailblazing, coaching is about you and what works for you. We can both get to be SES-ers. But that does not mean, right, that we have to go about it the same way. With coaching, there is no one size fits all approach.

Dora Best:
And the goals are constantly changing. You said the customer, the client sets the goal.

Maria De Fazio:
Excellent. So can you give us some examples of questions that a coach might ask in an initial session, say someone is someone is sitting at a GS-13, they're looking to figure out why they can't move up to the 14. So what would be what would some examples of some questions that you might ask a client to sort of help them drill down or dig in?

Shana Webster-Trotman:
And for coaching great question Maria for coaching. We focused a lot on the WHO because we believe, right, that we're dealing with the whole being, not just the supervisor, not just a director. Right. So one of the first questions that we would ask that client is what's making that important for you now? Right. Because we want to have an understanding of the context, what is going on that this is now important for you. Right. And then. We talk about what are some of the things that you're currently doing, right, what's the reality of your present situation? And what do you want to come away from the coaching session with? What's your goal, what as a result of us spending this half an hour, hour today, what are you looking to come away with? Because if you're saying you've been a GS-13 for a while, right, it could be that you just want to be heard. Or it could be I want to leave this session with at least three steps, three things that I can do between now and two weeks from now, that will help to move me forward in my quest for a new position for for a promotion. So it really depends. And again, like Dora said, right, it all centers on the client. The client drives the agenda.

Dora Best:
Perfectly said, I would add nothing to that, actually. I think we lost audio.

Maria De Fazio:
Oh. Sorry about that. I got muted a little bit. So I think one of the things that is a little bit unique for for women in the workplace is that we're frequently sort of moving the ball forward on this idea of work-life balance or how do we do it all or how do we we can't do it all at once. What do we what are we working on doing all of right now? And in a lot of ways, that's an important part of the conversation. I'm happy. I am happy when I see more people across the gender spectrum having that conversation. But in particular, as successful women, we feel compelled to try and do it all. How does how does coaching really help women in the workplace with that? Because I feel like a lot of times where we're either facing the I have no work-life balance because I'm being super successful at work or I'm absolutely stuck in my position because I prioritize something else where I--does coaching have a place in resolving some of those issues?

Dora Best:
Of course. Yes. If someone came if my client came to me with that particular discussion for our session, I would first ask, what are their priorities? The priorities that drive their life, their being and once they state that their priorities and their values, oftentimes we were trying to balance it all. But in order to truly be at peace with where we are, we need to be able to establish those priorities. So that would be my first question. What are your what are your priorities?

Shana Webster-Trotman:
And for me, my first question would be, what does work-life balance look like for you? Right, because, Maria, you can have a totally different definition of what work life balance looks like to you compared to what it looks like and it means for me. So I would start there. Right. And really help the client flesh out what is this vision? What is this state that they are aspiring for? So I would start there and and then help them to prioritize. Right. Take a reality check. How are you spending your time now? And like Dora talked about values. How is how how is how you are spending your time now aligns with the way your current values. What's important for you now?

Maria De Fazio:
So. Oh, go ahead, Dora, I'm sorry.

Dora Best:
...coaching session, and we had several clients to actually come to the table with that because we are in a space now where people are reevaluating what's important and what they came to the table with to the coaching session is shifted after the sessions. So they initially thought work-life balance comprised that being successful here from the job perspective, being able to do it all while high input, whatever you need it for the home life. Well, it shifted and through a series of questions and the client looking inward. It determines what they started out with, you know, it may lower or it may rise, it's based off their priorities and how they see that question. What does work-life balance look like for you?

Maria De Fazio:
Fantastic. So these are the kind of questions you might you might want to have had a discussion about before you go to your supervisor to try and rework that work-life balance a little bit or to talk about what your career path looks like for the next couple of years. Great. All right, so we happen to have in the group today a lot of very go-get-em, high-achieving women and I want to make sure that we can talk about how supervisors can can recommend coaching or support coaching or discuss coaching in a supportive way, because it can be a challenge sometimes to bring up the topic without it feeling punitive or without it feeling like, oh, gosh, I need a coach? What? I thought my performance reviews are all great. Why do I need a coach? So how can we all kind of shift the the negative stigma that comes along with this idea that we might want to work with someone to help clarify our priorities?

Shana Webster-Trotman:
I would invite our supervisors to look at coaching as you would a gift. That's how I view coaching as a gift. I have a coach, Dora has a coach. And in the federal government, we are so fortunate because we have access to coaches that in the private sector we would be paying, you know, it's not unusual to hear that you're paying a coach four- or five-hundred dollars per hour. Yes. Yes, I kid you not. Right, Dora? I kid you not. So here it is. Now, your supervisor is suggesting, right, that you, Maria, still looking like. Really? Yes. Your supervisor is suggesting. Hey, Maria, you know, I, I noticed that you are might be dealing with some challenges at work and balancing that off. You know, you might want to consider getting a career coach, right? Yeah. Where you pitch it, because a lot of times it's in the delivery. Right. So that people see that what you're offering them is a gift and it's not punishment of of any sort. Dora?

Dora Best:
And it's a gift that keeps on giving, I think a person's first experience. That could be some hesitation. But once you get into the actual session and you have that coach that's going to ask those powerful questions, that will resonate with you for long because it's going to change your trajectory. I say when you, a coach has the opportunity, they help you explore different paths in your life. It's a powerful tool. It should not be seen as a punitive measurement C-suite leaders, women leaders in C-suites, when they walk in the door to their positions, they are guaranteed a coach. From the moment they hit leadership positions, bottom line, they get a coach. Senior executives, when they entered this SES realm, they get a coach, and the federal government is changing the culture. They're introducing coaching as a part of that culture. We're like Oprah. You get a coach, you get a coach, everyone gets a coach. It's an opportunity to really. It gives the person the opportunity to explore their inner working, to be able to reach or achieve that milestone that they want in their career, and then also, I'm sure with the group you have here under the Presidential Management, there are some coaches sitting in your group, they have been doing it already. They've been inspiring their colleagues. So I'm sure they're coaches also.

Maria De Fazio:
I think we have seen that quite a lot across cohorts, is that there's a lot of informal coaching going on. I think we've all we've all been sat down and asked that really challenging, maybe a little uncomfortable question about what we were doing next. So that is that is not an uncommon occurrence here. I wanted to talk specifically. Resilience comes up as a buzzword a little bit. But how does coaching help us build personal resilience? Because I've I've heard that it can. But so how does how does coaching enable us to bounce back a little better, enable us to let things roll off our shoulders a little more?

Dora Best:
I think coaching builds a resilience because it allows the question to be asked of you, why is this crisis having such an impact on you? And being able to talk it through. It allows you oftentimes when we sit in the situation, we don't see a way out of it. Right. And. It becomes us or sit on us, talking it out allows us to develop the strategies and we become we're using it now as a strength and therefore you heighten your level of resilience for any situation. You have the tools.

Shana Webster-Trotman:
And I totally agree with Dora. Having an opportunity to be able to voice what is on your mind, whatever it may be, a disappointment, maybe you applied, right? You applied for that job that you really wanted and you didn't get it to be able to have a conversation with someone in a safe space and to just hear yourself say things. It's powerful, you know, in that nonjudgmental safe space. I can't tell you how many times I've met with clients. And they come in and they really just want to hear themselves verbalize what's on their mind. They don't have a supervisor that they can talk to. And oftentimes it's not even the supervisors place to have certain conversations. Right. They don't have that friend because again. Right. Again, as women in the federal government, we have to look right like we have it all together. Right. You know, if if we. If we cry, if we show emotions, if we seem like, oh, my God, something really got to us right, we often viewed in a different, not so favorable light. So coaching can create that safe space. And I think having that safe space helps helps clients to bounce back, to be more resilient. I didn't get it this time. Right. And then also, you didn't get it this time, what goals can you set for yourself, right? To increase your hireability? Right. Going forward, let's map those goals out right now. And we also serve as an accountability partner. All right, Maria, you said that right? Your goal is to apply for at least six GS-15 positions between now and two weeks from now. Well, guess what? I'm your coach. You're my client. We partner, right? We partnered together and I'm checking on you. Maria, how's it going? You know, how many of you completed thus far? Is that something that you still want to have as a goal?

Dora Best:
And when you leave that session, you're going to have provided you coach with the times span, a timeline on when you're going to get it done. So they're able to come back and mirror that. Have you got that done? And also, even if you are, if if your supervisor recommends a coach to you know that the client and coach agreement requires confidentiality, your supervisor or your manager cannot come to your coach and say, what did Maria tell you? That that's unethical and we take we take ethics to a higher standard. We cannot divulge that information to supervisor clients or anyone.

Maria De Fazio:
I was going to specifically ask, it seems like coaching is also a great way to get that kind of feedback and goal setting and sounding board that's outside of your chain of command, because that may be a big culture shift at a lot of agencies. Going outside your chain of command for advice is maybe not always the best idea, but coaching, I think, gives us an opportunity to reach out and and find those people who are outside of our chain of command but still potentially understand the culture of our individual agency.

Shana Webster-Trotman:
And I'd like to add also to your point, Maria, that with the federal internal coach training program, you can be paired with a coach who does not work at your agency. So there it is. You don't have to be concerned as Dora spoke to confidentiality. Right. You don't have to be concerned that, oh, my coach is good friends with such and such. Who is at my agency. You get to open up and speak freely. Right. About what's going on with you. What are some of the challenges that you are having? What are some of the goals, your aspirations, etc? And for me personally. I actually like having my coach, right, being at a different agency.

Dora Best:
And yep, and I tell you, in talking about career opportunities as well as having someone in another agency also opens you up to a networking opportunities. And being able to explore that as you are moving forward in your career and as a federal employee, you have access to that. There's so many great coaches out in the federal space. They are passionate and they love what they're doing and they have been trained to offer it to you free of service.

Maria De Fazio:
So could you both talk a little bit more about how to access these kind of coaching resources at at particular agencies, either as a supervisor saying how can I how can I get coaching opportunities for the people I supervise or as just an employee going? My boss doesn't really know what to do with coaching or how to get me coaching. Who can I talk to at my agency about signing up for that program or about finding other resources that are available to me? And Claire, I see your hand up, so I'm just going to message you. But go ahead. Go ahead, Shana Dora.

Dora Best:
So as a federal coach, we are all in a centralized database at the federal coach network. We can provide you with the email address for that. And you would the persons or if they're representing their own agency who do not have a coaching program, you can go on that behalf. We would like to bring coaching in-house or I have an employee who would like coaching or I want to sign up for coaching. And you will get access to the coaching network, you will see the bios and you would choose your coach based off of the what their bios is. And you will have an initial interview session with them to see if there's a connection.

Shana Webster-Trotman:
(crosstalk)

Dora Best:
No you're fine, go ahead.

Shana Webster-Trotman:
Ok, I was going to say excellent point, Dora. You know, you you get to choose your own coach and if you you you have that first initial session. And if for any reason you feel the chemistry isn't there because it's a relationship, it's a coaching relationship. Right. Some people may work better with my style of coaching. Others may work better with Dora's style, et cetera, et cetera. And if we don't feel like there's that chemistry right, you're free to choose someone else.

Maria De Fazio:
And just so I understand, this coaching is available for free, or does it come with training? Does it with training dollars associated with it?

Dora Best:
It is free, no training dollars and is done on government time. Because every agency you have theres' a lot of time that they will give you for coaching.

Maria De Fazio:
That's fantastic, that's also a great way, I think, to a deal to deal with some of the resource challenges that a lot of times we see either as a rank and file employee or as a supervisor, we may not always be able to get the paid training that we want. But I, I don't want to say like coaching is better than nothing. But coaching may be a first step while you're looking for other resources that are appropriate.

Dora Best:
And even with the coaching program that we went through, it is the program is funded by OPM and they are about between seventy five to one hundred people are chosen per year from across federal government. Each agency is given a certain number of slots for training and they pick they pick up the cost associated with that. So your agency do not pay.

Maria De Fazio:
So if any of the folks on the line today were interested in potentially becoming coaches themselves, this would be a great way to do that, using the resources at OPM.

Dora Best:
Yes, exactly. And they opened it once a year. We don't have a date just yet for the next cohort. But you can go on the OPM website and look for federal coach network, federal internal coach training program. I'm sorry.

Shana Webster-Trotman:
Similar programs, at, I think one is it George...is it Georgetown University coaching program is a similar program and I think that program is around fifteen thousand. For that training program.

Dora Best:
And the federal coaching program is equivalent to that program and it's at no cost for the government employee.

Maria De Fazio:
Nice, so we are, don't worry, folks, we are going to be posting a link to that as a resource on the training page once we put up this training. We've also got like a takeaway hand out flier that explains the difference very clearly between mentoring, coaching and counseling, just so that when you're trying to figure out, well, who do I need to talk to and what do I need as laid out there for you in a in a very easy to read chart. So we'll be putting that up on our training resources as well.

Shana Webster-Trotman:
Ok, I have a personal experience, if I may share it, Maria, in terms of the difference between a coach and a counselor, a counselor is is considered like a therapist. Right. OK, so I recently had a tragic death in my family that really threw me in terms of it was just so sudden. It was it just really was messing with my head a bit. Right. But it wasn't to the point where I needed to seek a counselor for that. Right. But I was able to talk to my coach about how I was feeling. Right. In a way that was very therapeutic for me and just hearing myself say out loud how I was feeling and allowing myself the space right to feel the way that I was feeling and to just, you know, to cry and and be safe about it was exactly what I needed in that moment, because I am always, I've always been the solid rock for those in my family, right? And so being hit with such a sudden death in our family, others were looking to me right for that moral support for that shoulder to lean on. And I felt like I just had to have it together. I had to be that tower of strength. And guess what? That tower of strength kept pouring out into everyone else and was depleted inside and through coaching, right, I got to replenish myself.

Dora Best:
That that is the replenishing that the coaching session brings to a person and supervision in the work environment has shown us that pouring out, you're taking care of everyone else as a woman, but you're trying to also manage your life, career, personal and having that safe space to be able to get it out and, not not be judged, not be judged.

Maria De Fazio:
So I want to pop back a second and we were talking about coaching being a relationship and and sort of like those kind of connections and dealing with individual challenges. Is it OK to have more than one coach at the same time, or can you have a coach and also have a mentor? How does that work?

Dora Best:
Yes, I have a mentor. I have a coach. And I have a therapist. And sometimes Shana has functioned in all three of those roles. We work together, as everyone know, and it it depends. Every coach needs a coach. You can't advocate coaching and you're not being coached, you know, so you can have all three and you can have multiple mentors. You can have a mentor in finances. You can have a mentor in your career. And all of that can happen simultaneously.

Maria De Fazio:
So it sounds like coaching and getting involved with the coaching process is is sort of a a commitment to ongoing personal development,

Dora Best:
It's personal growth and personal development. Exactly. And I'm going to quote John Maxwell, who is one of my mentors and strong leadership guru, coaching allows you to grow yourself. You've got to know yourself. So coaching allows you to know yourself so that you can grow yourself.

Shana Webster-Trotman:
And by way of example, I had a potential client approached me and during the intake session, right, because one of the things that we do when you reach out to a coach, we give you a few questions to answer, you know, wanting to get a sense of what you're expecting out of the coaching relationship. So in my first meeting with this young lady, it became abundantly clear that what she was seeking was not a coach. She was seeking a mentor. She wanted someone to share with them, with her their experience. How did you get to be where you're at Shana right. Was basically what she wanted to know, whereas coaching is not about how did I get where I'm at? That's mentoring. Right. So mentoring in this situation would serve her best. So I referred her to the agency's mentorship program because we have very robust mentorship program. And I said to her. If you get to the point where you have specific goals that you wish to accomplish, right, please do circle back. I'm happy to coach you on how to go about accomplishing those goals.

Maria De Fazio:
Excellent. So. And if anybody has any questions from this conversation, please go ahead and drop them in the Q&A. We've got a couple more here that I've been sort of weaving in. But what, are there, do you happen to have any coaching resources for folks on the legislative side? I know we're the federal family is a little broader than just the executive side. So do you guys happen to know if if the legislative branch has anything going on like this or where folks who are doing work on the Hill might be able to sort of tap into some of these resources?

Dora Best:
It's funny that you should ask that when I when I did my application for the program, one of my goals was to create the coaching culture on the Hill and one those big audacious goals. Right. We can change the world, but we've got to change it at the top. Well. I actually passed a recommendation on to the head of the coaching program and they're looking at it, but they do believe that every congressman, the incoming folk do get a coach. But to what extent they're still trying to figure out.

Maria De Fazio:
Yeah, got it. Got it. Got it.

Dora Best:
They could definitely use them.

Maria De Fazio:
All right. And then we've got I've got one last one here in the hopper. But it's kind of it's a question that I think a lot of us face at some point. What do you advise for folks who are mid-career and feeling kind of stuck? I feel like in our prep conversations we talked about getting unstuck and who are just sort of hanging in for their federal job and maybe they're doing some good work. But were were hanging on to a particular position because it's good for the family or like we need this particular job. What happens when we get stuck?

Dora Best:
So I'm mid-career, and that's a question that I've actually have brought to the coaching session. I feel I still have a lot to give. How do I do that and how do I get unstuck? And it's those questions about values. What are your priorities? What does unstuck look like for you, you know, getting unstuck? What will that look like for you? And just having that exchange asking yourself. Sometimes we get into the mid-career and we're like, OK, I get five years. I'm not going to make a move. Well, you need to become unstuck. So having the question, asking yourself, until you get a coach, what does unstuck look like for me and why do I feel like I'm stuck?

Shana Webster-Trotman:
And I would add to what Dora stated, you know, I would I would walk my my client through an exploratory session. All right. What are your options? Because, you know, oftentimes we tend to view our situations through one, you know, one lens. Right. And we have our own self limiting beliefs. So, you know, are you quote unquote stuck because you you've told yourself right a certain story and what might some other possibilities be for yourself? You know, and I know. I've coached a number of clients who they feel that they are not being fulfilled in their current position. Right. But because of position, because of the the money or the work life balance or the flexibility or the ability to telework, et cetera, they feel like they are wedded to that current position, even though, you know, there's something missing. Right. So what might some what might you do, right, that could bring you that source of fulfillment without having to let's say leave your current position right now? It may be right that what works for Maria. Right. Is a two-year plan. Right? A two-year plan. This is what I'm going to do from now for the next two years. That's going to help me get up and out of here, if that's what Maria wants. It could be that Maria loves her job and she is willing to remain at a GS-14. Right. But she wants more work that is more fulfilling. Right. So her course of action could be very different. It may take OK, having a sense of what specific types of work do you want, you know? How do you go about communicating that to your supervisor?. So it could look different for depending on on who it is and what their goals are.

Maria De Fazio:
So I guess the last question I have for the two of you is what is what does success look like in a coaching relationship?

Dora Best:
You would be a great coach.

Maria De Fazio:
It's just, it's the comms thing. I'm just really good at asking questions, but I guess help help the folks on the line understand what would a successful coaching session or coaching relationship look like? Is it the solving of a problem? Is it figuring out how to get unstuck? What what does it look like?

Shana Webster-Trotman:
Success is in the eyes of the client. OK? And I say that because we as coaches, we ask a series of questions, right. And it's how that question it could be a simple question, how it lands on the client that causes that client to have a new sense of awareness or a new sense of of energy and passion to go for. So I would say a successful session would be in coaching the WHO, because that's what we want. It's coaching is holistic. So you're coming to me, Maria, for, you know, for issues with with performance. Right. Success would be that you were leaving with maybe two or three things that you can do to help you to increase improve your productivity. So, again, it has to do with the goal. Why is the why is the client coming to coaching?

Dora Best:
I agree success is measured by the client and in in your role as a coach have you served the client in a manner which they needed to be? And did they had success with their goals?

Maria De Fazio:
Fantastic, well, on that note, I am unfortunately going to have to start our little bit of a wrap up because I've got a couple of things I just need to share with everybody. But I want to thank Shana and Dora so very, very much for helping support our community of alumni for supporting PMAA like this. And thank all of you for attending. PMAA exists to support the ongoing excellence of PMI and PMF alums, and to reinforce our efforts to build an exceptional public service. And so we do this by creating opportunities for all of you. So I'm asking the folks that are on the line that if they could take action now and give us a small donation. Twenty five dollars or so, whatever you've got, contributions from today's event will allow us to continue to support you as an alumni community and create more events like this, particularly as we slowly move back to a a new normal that involves some in-person getting together and some in-person training and coaching and and networking. So I know we're all very much looking forward to that. But as we work to build a sustainable organization that serves the community, don't forget we rely on all of you, our members, so you can go to PMAA.us and click on the donate button. We've also got PayPal and Venmo at [email protected]. And thank you for always supporting the community. So to sort of close things out, I will share our website. I'll share our email address. And Shana and Dora, if folks have more questions for you, they can just email me and I'll pass them on and you guys can get in touch.

Maria De Fazio:
So, folks, if you've got questions, you go ahead and email me [email protected]. I will be happy to get you connected with Dora and Shana so they can continue to share their wisdom with all of you guys. We have a great session coming up next month. We're still working on nailing down a date for our panelists, but it's going our next Couchella session will be allyship in the workplace, how we can all be better allies to each other, to marginalized communities, to folks that don't have a lot of representation within federal government. How we can all work together to be better allies in the workplace, which I know is something I'm looking forward to learning more about. So looking forward to that. Additionally, it is almost public service recognition week. So first of all, thank you all for your service. But PMAA is going to be putting out an additional newsletter with links and information, upcoming stuff that a variety of our partners are doing that will allow you to take advantage of Public Service Appreciation Week. There are some really interesting sessions on national security that are going to be put up by the Partnership for Public Service. The Federally Employed Women has a couple of events coming up. And there are some health and fitness challenges for the month as well, so all of that will be in an upcoming newsletter. And with that, I will say, see you all next month. We are so grateful that you joined us and we hope to see you all again soon. So thank you, everybody. And the video and the transcript should be up in under a week.

Shana Webster-Trotman:
Thank you, Maria. And thank you.

Dora Best:
Thank you.

Maria De Fazio:
Thank you. Have a great day, everybody.

Dora Best:
Everybody. You too.

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