The previous Director of our department was such an inspiring person in general. We never had many opportunities to see her work with Stakeholders. However, whenever she spoke to us or to the Executive team, her passion for the mission was inspiring, and she always had numbers and data to support her points. 

One of my colleagues and I communicate differently and need very different things when interacting. What I thought was being helpful, was overbearing to her. What she thought was clear communication, I thought was rude. It took us several sit down conversations to get things out in the open and share what we needed, but it worked. Our communication and team work has greatly improved.

The biggest challenges are waiting for the client to take the initiative and do the their share of the work. It has to be a team effort. If a client does not uphold their side of the coaching agreement, they will not success as much as they could. For successes, its amazing when I get a call from a former client who told me they were able to finally purchase their own car after working for a few months, or that they are now in their own apartment, which they have furnished  themselves. The success of my clients outweigh the frustrations I have any day.  

I like to bite off more than I can chew, so sometimes that can cause conflict with stakeholders, so I have to remember stay on task and follow the agenda. 

I had a previous coworker whom I struggled to get along with, and she struggled to get along with me. If I had used more critical thinking during conflict with her, I feel like the situation could have been better.