Unlocking Solutions with Unparalleled Precision in a Single Session
- Time & Energy Efficient: a one-time, intensive 2.5 to 3-hour virtual session via Zoom
- Unlocking solutions with unparalleled attention in a single session
- No long-term commitment: this is not a sign-up for ongoing coaching; it’s a commitment to results.
- Experience the power of a focused, put-it-all-on-the-table, get to the bottom of the issue session.
- These sessions are meticulously designed for elite clients seeking immediate resolutions to intricate, complex challenges.
- Engage my laser-focused expertise to swiftly diagnose and work with you to find solutions to your most pressing concerns.
- Results-Oriented: Commit to achieving unparalleled outcomes
- We will investigate your issue together with a deep dive to achieve a resolution to your issue OR uncover enough underlying tendrils that you will get clarity to move forward with a clear direction.
- Invest in Success: Your issue deserves the precision of Platinum Precision Strategy Sessions.
$750: Email me at Marcia.Coach@icloud.com
Case study 1: A highly skilled professional immobilized by anxiety
Case study 2: A divorce and saving a beloved home
Case study 3: Collision of a business crisis & a personal crisis
Case study 4: The Director of a Not-For-Profit gets bamboozled by the board members
Case study 1:
A highly skilled professional immobilized by anxiety
Several years ago, James came to me with the need to recreate his life after having agoraphobia for 5 years. He had been living in a studio apartment with very little contact with the outside world except through his computer and technology job.
On his 40th birthday, he made a commitment to himself to change his life.
It was especially challenging because he had been living in a foreign country and, although he was schooled here in the states, he had just come back to the US after 15 years out of the country.
He didn’t have a job and only a temporary place to live in a shared family condo. His whole life was impacted by the move. While a part of him was hopeful, another part of him felt like he was going to be stuck forever. He didn’t know where to start and felt hopeless.
After three weeks of working together, I led James to create metaphors of a loser who would never get anywhere and a winner who had confidence. He chose a cartoon character that embodied the loser that he had watched a lot on TV as a child. The image of a winner was The Marlboro Man (a commercial from the 70’s). He decided that he wanted to embody the characteristics of the Marlboro Man.
Before our coaching, he had been walking in the same neighborhood with his head down, slouching along and not looking at anyone. Directly after the metaphor call, James got business cards printed showcasing his tech skills and started handing them out to businesses in his neighborhood.
He attributes this shift to using the metaphors that made him feel like he was putting on a cape of confidence and embodying it.
Within a few months, he found two apartments in an area where he wanted to live. The one he could afford looked directly out onto a wall and was dark. The second one had a beautiful view and was $200 a month more. He didn’t feel he could spend the extra $200.
I knew he had IT skills and I had already experienced his engaging personality. James had a drive to change, so we discussed the outcomes on his mental attitude depending on which apartment he would take. It became clear that to take the lovely apartment would support an uplifted outlook on life, instead of a view that would lend more fuel to his depression and anxiety.
Then he started the job search. He got responses right away to his IT resume. We worked on interviewing skills and his cape of confidence.
Follow up: James’s life is quite strikingly different now.
After his first application, he interviewed with different IT departments in a Fortune 100 company! He got a job there and within a few years he was head of the Global IT Department!
Now, years later, he works for another Fortune 100 company, a computer technology company, his passion and right up his alley! I’m so happy for his success.
Together we created a vision that expanded his confidence, acknowledged his natural abilities and reminded him of his highly developed skills that would support him in moving confidently into a bright future.
Case study 2:
A divorce and saving a beloved home
Denise had scheduled to put her house on the market the next day. She loved her home but couldn’t afford it as she was going through a messy divorce. Her idea was to move 40 miles away to live near friends for needed support and friendship. Despite her friends’ continuous encouragement, she had grave doubts about whether this move was the right thing to do. As a stay-at-home mom with an eight year old daughter, she felt like she was lost in a desert with regular sandstorms blowing in her eyes.
Through a two-hour Silver Bullet Session, we sifted through all the issues:
* Previously, Denise had loved being a political speechwriter
* Now that her daughter was becoming more independent, Denise was feeling unsettled.
* As an extraverted personality, Denise missed interacting with people.
* She had completely forgotten that an old colleague had actually contacted her about doing some work together.
* She loved her house and did not want to sell but felt pressured on many levels.
My final sorting out process:
WHAT IF: Your career was reignited so that you were having regular interaction with colleagues and using your skills and knowledge?
WHAT IF: The money from being back in the workplace lifted your financial burden?
WHAT IF: You set time boundaries so that you had time at home for your daughter and other pressing issues?
WHAT IF: You were out after a long day, how would it feel to come home to this house?
Her answer: “I love my house! I would love coming home to it. I want to keep it!
That’s what I’m going to do. I’m taking the house off the market right now. This is it! Thank you, Marcia!”
Follow up: Denise contacted her old colleague and soon had an exciting project with meetings outside of the home and she could also work virtually.
Together we created a vision that opened her heart and showed her the path forward.
Case study 3:
Collision of a business crisis & a personal crisis
Robert’s wife contacted as me she was concerned for her husband, who, uncharacteristically, had fallen into a severe depression. She was not sure he would be interested in a longer term coaching relationship, so we decided that a Silver Bullet Laser Session would be best.
Robert and I met in person. He spoke in a hesitant voice, was very low energy and his posture was lifeless. He had been the owner of a dental practice and then moved into Dental Insurance Consulting, which was very lucrative, but was not doing it now. His consulting partner had decided to sell his half of the business and Robert was at a crossroads about what to do about continuing in the business. He had no interest anymore. He had no interest in anything. He was immobilized.
I asked what happened to make him lose interest?
Well, the bombshell! He had recently found out that their 18 year-old daughter had been molested by her uncle when she was small. She hadn’t told anyone and this had just surfaced. Robert was racked with guilt for not noticing that something untoward was going on and for not protecting his daughter. He was a solid family man, with a loving wife and two daughters in college. They were the mainstay of his life, along with his business, and both had always given him great satisfaction. Now he was shaken to his core.
I took him on a journey of his life trajectory. Stable, with increased success. Plateau, then increased success. Plateau, then increased success. At every level, he made wise decisions and his confidence grew, skills increased and family life blossomed.
Then the life crash! His business partner wanted to retire and he got the devastating news about his daughter. He had never had any significant crisis before. I showed him how he was on an upward climb his whole life, interspersed with periods of level constancy. He had clearly led a successful life. And then he hit this severe drop, so had no experience in how to handle the turmoil that he found himself in. This new circumstance had destroyed his self-esteem and confidence. He had been reflecting and dwelling on his failure, and all had turned to gloom and doom.
As he listened, his facial expressions became animated, he was sitting up straighter and his energy started picking up. Now he was ready to access his present and future.
With his newfound energy, we brainstormed some ideas. He became clear that he did not have the heart to go back to his business life. What about part-time? What about service at a non-profit?
He had a great concern about what to tell his associates and friends about not working anymore. He was uneasy about being viewed as a quitter!
My final sorting out process:
WHAT IF: You were semi-retired?
WHAT IF: You were exploring non-profit volunteer positions?
Happiness flooded his face! Happiness flooded my face!
Follow up: Clearly Robert had a lot to offer as a volunteer at non-profit organizations. He was snatched up by one whose values coincided with his own. Soon they offered him a part-time paid position and he settled into this new development which felt “just right”.
Together we created a new scenario where Robert felt comfortable and excited about connecting with past colleagues and friends to share his new direction which nourished his soul.
Case study 4:
The Director of a Not-For-Profit gets bamboozled by the board members
Lisa was a lovely person who cared deeply for her work as Director of a Non-Profit Hospice Organization. She called me because a Board of Directors meeting was coming up and she had an important agenda item to discuss. She had been trying to get this item passed for months, but had been consistently overruled with unsubstantial rationale.
The problem seemed to be that there were only men on the board and, increasingly, they seemed to be consistently ganging up and overruling her. Initially, it was on smaller issues, but this was a very important opportunity, which Lisa truly believed would be a great asset to the hospice organization.
As she told me about her work, it became clear she was “hands on” with every aspect of the hospice organization. She had a very small staff and although she did not do everything, she clearly had her hand in all aspects of the organization: Training new employees and volunteers; Outreach to the community; “Death Awareness” five day workshops; and Fund Raising. Her fund raising events were highly successful with their unique themes for each one. An example was a robust Casino night with dealers at each table, costumes and drink and appetizer servers. They raised a lot of money at each event and clearly Lisa was the linchpin that was responsible for the success of the organization to serve so many clients and their families in such dire circumstances.
So, to beg the question: What on earth was keeping her from standing up to these objections?
As we went deeper, it seemed to be the “domino effect” of one man raising an objection and another chiming in and then all talking in one continuous flow, a barrage of objections. This felt like a solid wall to Lisa, an impenetrable barrier of negativity which caused her to back up further and further until she was lost in doubt and confusion.
As we talked, she began to realize how this related to her childhood. “Children are meant to be seen and not be heard” was a lesson she learned on a deep level that never surfaced in her daily life or in her other positions. She had been a powerful asset in this organization and was highly regarded, but faced with these strong personalities that were determined to undermine her, she folded.
As the sun rose on the problem, creating clarity, she realized that actually many of the men on the board were generally rather insecure and ineffective. Initially, she believed, and most likely unconsciously and unintentionally, they saw that there was power in numbers. So they started taking this one opportunity, the BOD meetings, as a chance to band together, consolidate their momentum and gain power.
My final sorting out process:
WHAT IF: You go into the meeting as the strong and wise Director you know you are?
WHAT IF: You reclaim your power in keeping control of the meeting?
WHAT IF: You don’t let them interrupt you, even for one second?
WHAT IF: They have to raise their hand to speak?
How would these attitudes change the dynamic with the BOD?
Lisa, once she had a a clear view of the dynamic, felt that she had a handle on the issue and knew what she would do. She was the Director and already had the authority, she just needed to reclaim it.
Follow up:
Lisa was pleased to report that the meeting went exceedingly well and the motion was passed. She did not let them drive any wedges into the narrative. Now that each person had to speak one at a time, the dynamic shifted. She addressed every interruption with a straightforward direction to stay on track. She could address each objection directly and it soon became clear that she was acting out of an altruistic motivation to create a better hospice organization. Her impact drove the motion forward.
Together we created a win-win for Lisa’s self-confidence and a major score for the Hospice Organization.
Silver Bullet Laser Sessions provide that flash of insight you need in a short time when you don’t need or want a long-term coaching commitment.
* You may be very clear on your problem and want to brainstorm solutions.
* Perhaps you are swirling in the midst of a dilemma and can’t see a clear path ahead.
* You’re going to make a big decision and need a sounding board with a neutral observer and powerful questions.
* Maybe you just need a reality check or a new frame of reference for the issue.
* You might need to resolve a practical situation which has too many options and you want to narrow it down.
These sessions can be used to break down a complex issue into its component parts or get a bird’s eye view of something you are too close to.
Concise, perceptive, targeted insight is a hallmark of Clear Focus Coaching services.
- One 3 hour session on Zoom (with a brief break in the middle).
* For ongoing coaching sessions, see “Coaching: 3 Step Process“