Why I spent the last year working with an NLP Executive Coach

May 1, 2023

I have spent the last year and a half working with an executive coach. When I told some of my colleagues or friends, their response was usually surprise, and asked “Why do you need a coach?” or “You have it all together, why do you need coaching?” Similarly, when I approached my (then) line manager about seeking out coaching, he did question why I felt I needed the one-on-one support, but immediately recognized why coaching was the right thing for me to do during that season in my professional life.

Why did I need a coach, you may ask? Have you reached a phase in your career journey where you are stuck? Not stuck because you don’t know what to do, but stuck because you know what to do but are paralyzed with fear, disguised as self-doubt, imposter syndrome or something else? I was going through several transitions at work, one of them being, I had overnight become a leader of a large team of over 30 creatives, after not having direct reports for almost 10 years! I was paralyzed with fear at the daunting task of coaching, mentoring and leading this team that had a spotlight on them to succeed in the evolving and innovative world of digital marketing. I was also on my second going on third line manager in 3 years in my role, all three who had quite different leadership styles, strengths, and I dare say, “opportunities”! I needed to understand how to best navigate that intricate relationship to ensure I was bringing my best self to the table (I had already taken my rightful place at the table!)

Through the partnership EABL has with Career Connections, I was matched to Imrana Nesbitt as my Executive Coach. Imrana employs the NLP method (Neuro-Linguistic Programming, not to be confused with Natural Language Processing!) in her coaching, which enables one to question not only how you see the world, but how others see it. This heightened awareness on the way communication works (remembering we all have different filters to perceive information), enables one to better understand how to handle scenarios based on your own reference. Over several months of coaching, which felt more like conversations I would have with my best friend on steroids, I was able to see that I have everything I need to achieve my goals and desired outcomes! NLP states “We don’t have influence on the outside world. We only have influence on ourselves, so to tap into our potential and inner resources will help you to stand in your power and strength. It’s all in you.”

And off course there is a happy ending to the series of coaching I had with Imrana. One of my goals was to better navigate my corporate organization by being more visible and stop being the silent achiever, and second goal was to be clear on what would be the ideal next career opportunity for me. Both came to pass. In that year, I was recognized as the Digital Champion at the Diageo Pride of Africa Awards, and also had the opportunity to develop and present EABL’s Digital Transformation strategy to Sir Ivan Menezes, the  Chairman & CEO of Diageo on his visit to Kenya in 2022. Just recently, I was promoted into a newly created role, one that I actually dreamed of (and actually helped the organization in structuring the role)!

Thank-you Imrana for guiding me in my journey of self-discovery. Your patience and empathy made all the hard work I had to do in reflection that much easier!