Kathleen was the only product manager at her company with no mentor or support, making director advancement feel impossible. The Inspired Leader program gave her peer community, communication frameworks like SCARF, and role-playing practice that let her tackle difficult conversations faster. She now feels director-ready.
Chapters
All right. Hey, Kathleen, how are you?
Hi, Lynne. I'm good. How are you? Good.
So I thought we'd talk about the Inspired Leader program for a little bit today. Great.
I'm happy to.
Fabulous. So tell us, what were things at work like before you joined the program? What were some of your main challenges?
So before I joined the program, I'd say I was struggling at work. I didn't have a great boss. I didn't really have a good mentor and someone that I could really lean on. And in my organization, I'm the first product manager and the only product manager. So I needed a lot of good advice and guidance.
Perfect. And what made you decide to join the program? What, what put you to that endpoint where you're like, I'm done, I've got to do something?
Yeah, so I'd say for the last, the last couple of years I've really been working hard to get to the next level. I'm really motivated and driven to become a director, but I wasn't getting the resources I needed from my organization through HR or my boss. They weren't really giving me the tools or specifics that I needed to develop and really become a director. And that's why this appealed to me, just because I saw the benefit of it.
Perfect. So when you think about what you've learned in the program, what are some of the key highlights from benefits and key things you've learned?
I'd say because it's a group coaching environment, it's really helpful in making me feel like I'm not alone in this. And when I'm experiencing things, like, okay, this is normal. I can think of examples that peers have given of things when they have experienced it as well. So that's really helpful because, like I said, being the only product manager, sometimes I do feel alone. And then other benefits are just the tools. Guidance and tips for dealing with different communication styles. SCARF for Critter State. There's lots of acronyms and key takeaways that I have on Post-its on my, on my desk and that help me remind me to dig in to use the tools that I've gotten from the program.
Fabulous. So how— so now that you're through the program, how has work changed for you?
It's changed a lot. I'd say that rather than go within whenever I was experiencing something difficult, it's helped me move out of that faster because like I mentioned, I have the tools to know what to do. And I have the confidence and the practice of, you know, having difficult conversations and, you know, knowing when to go to my manager or go to a peer or go to somebody and tackle those problems. I'd say before I would kind of dwell on things longer and not really know how to get unstuck in certain situations.
Right. So you mentioned you want to be a director. Do you see that in the foreseeable future for you?
Yes, I definitely do. I've been really pushing myself lately and just taking action. You know, I think a lot of it, I knew what I had to do, but I didn't have the confidence or the guts to really do some of these things. And so I think in the program, there's a lot of role-playing and practice and breakouts. And those types of things have pushed me out of my comfort zone. And I feel a lot more confident to have these conversations that I need to sometimes at work to keep me moving forward and emerge as that type of leader.
Right. Do you think the program has helped you become a leader?
Yes. Yeah, it has. It's given me a lot more confidence for product itself, to be confident in what product is and what my role is and how I should be interacting with other departments. That's not something I could have gotten on my own and without this community.
Awesome. You're a rock star. Thank you, Kathleen, for your input.
