Lisa, 32, engineer in the field of wastewater treatment

Describe your biggest, coolest result from the coaching program.

The biggest progress is a change of mindset in general. I was pleasantly surprised that by the fifth session I noticed changes not only in the career area, but also in other areas of life. This included family, finding balance, attitude to discipline, self-esteem and communication.

These five sessions with Zhenya were the beginning of a huge change for me. Talking about my career path encouraged me to reconsider other aspects of my life. I applied the approaches we discussed to other areas of my life.

What was the challenge you came to coaching with?

I came with the challenge of building a 10-year career plan and finding an authentic, balanced and fast path to achieve it, as I was starting a new journey at 30.

How did the work go?

We met six times. One short meeting for 20 minutes and five standard sessions of 1-1.5 hours. We began by reviewing the current career situation and set a goal for subsequent meetings. We discussed values, fears, strengths, approaches to decision making and ways of dealing with obstacles. Suddenly I discovered some internal limitations that I had taken for granted before. I did not realize how much they were constraining my actions.

Sometimes it was difficult for me to answer some questions immediately and it took time to think, realize and formulate an answer. I was glad that I had 1-2 weeks before the next session to reflect. We could come back to it later and continue the discussion. Five sessions seemed much better to me than three. In three sessions I would have felt rushed.

I liked that the topic of each next meeting was known in advance - it gave me the opportunity to prepare and made the meetings feel more productive.

What did you leave coaching with?

My self-esteem has grown. Communication with people became easier and clearer. I adjusted the balance between family, work and personal time. I realized that teamwork is of utmost importance to me and incorporated that knowledge into my career plan. I realized that I could leapfrog the senior engineer position and move towards project management.

I started thinking in terms of interesting projects rather than job categories. I now know what to emphasize when applying for a job, taking into account my values and strengths, which we broke down in the sessions. I've mapped out the steps for the first year, five years and 10 years ahead.

What is your impression of the atmosphere at the sessions?

It's now three months after the last session and I've already completed 40% of my first year plan! I can see that I'm moving in the right direction and I'm fully motivated. Yeeeee! In those three months, I took responsibility for two projects and delegated some routine tasks. My salary increased by 10%, I was recognized as a valuable employee and offered a contract extension. I also learned how to translate conflicts into constructive discussions.

What is your impression of the atmosphere at the sessions?

I enjoyed working with Evgenia. The atmosphere at the meetings was pleasant and without pressure. I felt listened to and Zhenya delved deeply into my reflections. The sessions were well structured. If I got distracted, Zhenya always brought my focus back to the goal and helped me get there faster. Even if I could just say that I was annoyed by a situation, Zhenya would find a way to unravel the tangle of thoughts and feelings. She was attentive to my emotions and gestures, which helped us to look deeper into the small things and understand what was really important. For me, an effective format of work is 5-10 sessions, then 4-6 months of independent work, and then meetings again and continued independent work.

Thank you, Zhenya, for your help and support on my path!