Reintroduction + an Invitation

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” 

Spring is a perfect sign of new growth and a change in the seasons, so is it any surprise that the birth of a new opportunity begins now?

I chuckle as I think to myself, “not really…”

I have recently accepted that seasons in life don’t always coincide with the typical seasons of a calendar year. And at least in my own life, some seasons are shorter or longer than anticipated.

It’s a new day for me, and I hope this venture will be a blessing to you.

Allow me to explain:

For the last seven years, I’ve served in the role of helping people arrive at a destination in their career journeys, whether that was as an Executive Recruiter or a professional Career Coach. I have loved it and there is no greater joy than being a catalyst for transformative change in this category of someone’s life.

However, two things emerged last year as I gave my career a careful review:

• I missed working with and around people.
• I have always loved mentorship.

These factors would propel me to carefully consider where, how, and why I work. I’m privileged to still be coaching a small group of clients where I bring them into career clarity, re-brand them accordingly, and see them arrive at their new career opportunities. 

But I also have allowed myself permission to re-enter my first career pathway: architecture.

The truth is I miss the beautiful collaborative nature of the design profession and I have felt strongly about the issues only the built environment is solving. For example, everyone is affected by the challenge companies face in deciding policies about remote work, a hybrid solution, or an on-site opportunity. I want to be part of the solution, not the noise from the bleachers saying "there’s a problem." Additionally, there was an understanding I had that the coach and mentor skillset in me was innate and treasured, so I began to wonder about what to do with that.

I have taken precious time away from the noise of business to understand what’s next for me. The construction of Mentoring with Michelle is underway. 

While I wait to share where I’ve landed in the design profession, I want to invite you on the journey in this new season.

Once a month, I’ll publish an article related to Mentoring. I have led two mentoring programs, I’ve been a mentor my entire professional career, and I believe we need quality mentorship to see transformation happen personally and professionally.

I also learned recently that you can only have one newsletter per LinkedIn account, so please feel free to unsubscribe from this if you don't want to receive this type of monthly mentoring newsletter.

As an aside, the only other option was to delete this newsletter and start a new one, but I didn't want to eliminate the previous articles I had written, so a re-birth and a re-fresh it is!

In due time, the seeds I’m planting for this new venture will give a harvest that I’ll be glad to share with you.

This first article is mostly about an introduction and an invitation to read along, but I’ll leave you with this mentoring moment:

In a recent coaching session, I recognized for my client the same thing I had often wanted as I was moving forward on my career timeline. 

I always wanted a Mentor. I would sort of pick people to learn from, but a true mentor relationship was never quite formalized with any of them.

At the very beginning of my career, in my company’s formalized mentoring program, I was given profound advice that would stick with me forever. During my first mentor/mentee lunch, the Principal of the office said to me, “You mentor up.” 

As a young intern, I looked a little puzzled. How was I a mentor when I was young, and he had so much more experience than me? And that’s when my first mentor explained that even though I was young, I could still share wisdom with those older than me.

Getting back to the coaching moment, I shared with my client that he was looking for what he has always been. Just like I had always wanted a mentor, the reality was in my very makeup was the essence of a mentor. It’s both who I am and what I love to do. It’s why coaching came very naturally to me. It’s why I found myself easily working with those younger and older than me in my corporate career. I was a bridge in those work settings and the encourager of others’ strengths while shoring up their weaknesses. For my client, there was a profound breakthrough when he realized he didn’t need to look for that ideal boss to work for, but rather to own the responsibility and step into the confidence to know he is ready for the leadership role because he already has it in his DNA to do it.

For you, if there is something you’ve often looked toward others to have that you naturally gravitate towards… is it possible that you are the answer to your question?

Until next time,

Michelle

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The previous RP4C Newsletter will change to Mentoring with Michelle as of next month. We hope you'll stick around, but bless you if you need to go. If mentoring is something you know someone is interested in, feel free to share this newsletter with them.