Written by Sophie Toth on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)
The importance of having a safe place where everyone can find understanding and full attention. But how can we find a proactive way to address life and career challenges proactively in our always on world? How can we create an opportunity to encourage our colleagues and friends to talk about themselves with a professional?
In digital media, many of us have strict targets to hit, travel and sometimes live on the edge when a big deal is about to be signed or delivered. This requires a specific stress management type and a mindset that understands goals beyond hitting revenue targets.
These goals are essential for all of us to live our lives more meaningfully and have a high quality of life experience. Many have had signs of exhaustion or even burnout after a stressful time and needed to take shorter or longer time off from work to shift the focus to their SELF as opposed to constantly performing on a high level without finding a way to create a state of the family which most of the time referred as “work–life balance”.
Racing to be the best and get our bonuses is just one side of the coin. We need to think about how these fears and negative thoughts create the feeling of guilt, and as we all know, guilt creates pain.
Operational departments have different types of pressure. I call it the back-office syndrome. It means that they need to be capable of being the technical experts of the online campaigns, constantly train themselves, understand the issue and make decisions in absolute real-time.
These professionals are continually racing with time, and a little glitch can significantly impact the company. Carrying this weight of responsibilities is not easy either, especially if they are the only experts in a global company without having a frank conversation with anyone who can understand them, and they can open up freely.
Well, this is one reason I advocate for a coach approach rather than a mental health practitioner. I want to be there for people who struggle and have none to talk to because they fear losing their jobs.
Coaching is not about good or wrong answers or thoughts; coaching is about finding the best possible outcome of situations, goals, etc..… by using the individual or team’s full potential for achieving these objectives. The other central aspect of having a coach is that you need an independent person who can mean a safe place to everyone.
Coaching is about trust and willingness to listen to people who can be overwhelmed with work, technology and so on…
In the last year, I have seen mainly two types of people in terms of their connection to the digital industry, which pushed me to write this article with my inner need to do something to care about the individuals behind roles and job titles.
The two cohorts are:
– Job seekers who try to create groups and support each other.
– Workers who are primarily exhausted, overworked, sad to see their colleagues go, and possibly feel guilty that they weren’t part of the recent redundancy processes. These people are more likely to have anxiety and fear of the future, thinking about when they will be the next.
This negative thought slowly poisons everyday lives and results in self-doubts, burnout and, eventually, time off from work.
The modern online world must adopt a new mindset and approach professionally and how companies create a healthy, motivating environment for their workforce.
Yearly budgeting and investment ideally have a space for team coaching or budget for individual coaching or mentoring programs.
Many of us miss something in life or want to achieve grand visions and life goals, but these only stay as a “want” within our minds as we block them immediately with our limited beliefs.
Let me tell you the secret of life: we can achieve our aspirations if we are ready for the change and all the work. Moreover, we all have the answers to the “HOW?”
Coaches are now studying hard and have specialities they want to work with. This connection is based on a mutual rapport and has an entirely equal manner. As I say, live and breathe with the “coachee” without judgment during the client’s journey.
Before I explain why coaching is essential for all of us, I want to clarify some crucial points.
Coaching is not mentoring. The coach won’t tell you what to do, but she will guide you to use your resources and explore your hidden potential.
Coach is not a medical practitioner; she focuses more on your inner balance, aspirations, and the healthy functioning between body-mind- and soul.
If you want to start your journey to your better self with a coach, you must be patient and determined and progress at your own pace. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, as we are unique and unrepeatable.
Now let’s talk about our fantastic but many times stressful, target-heavy industry and why I, as a digital media professional, decided to learn and became a coach.
Well, I am an observer and a listener. When talking to my industry colleagues, I pay attention to words and nonverbal signs. During my 12+ years in the industry, I experienced many ups and downs, but since 2020, something has radically changed in our online world.
After the pandemic, these changes and the new lifestyle created an overwhelming, fast and even more performance-focused world, with more restrictions and new ways of approaching online marketing. We also have less face-to-face and more virtual interactions that force us to adapt to a new lifestyle. Some of us had fewer issues, and others had more; this is why mental health became the forefront of almost every company.
This is so much of a reactive way of treating one of the most difficult challenges and keeping employees and people safe with a healthy mind and thoughts. Well, this is how coaching as a proactive solution comes into place.
First and foremost, listen and see, then seek an expert who can be the best asset to help achieve overall company effectiveness with compassionate leadership, creating a place for the employees where they can talk to an independent person who can understand, explore, and with the company on individual motivation or group achievements. A coach can also anonymously address employees’ wants and needs as a mediator.
I see the future much brighter than digital is now.
I want managers to become mentors, and I can use my coaching knowledge to guide many great professionals from all levels.
Most asked questions
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