00:00:06:17 –:–:–:–

Announcer: Welcome to “Own the Promise,” a CLA podcast created to share what guides every decision we make and every relationship we cultivate. This podcast is another way to remind us of our strategic focus, prepare us for new and exciting endeavors, and help us sustain our rhythm of business.

00:00:28:12 –:–:–:–

Denny: Hello, CLA Family. Today I actually have the privilege of being at the director/manager conference in Minneapolis. And a lot of the discussion today was around the career-building firm, and part of the career-building firm is obviously the coaching process that takes place for all of our people in CLA. And I thought it was a great opportunity to sit down with some of the attendees and really have the discussion around what kind of coaching actually is happening throughout the firm, true-life experiences. So, with that, I’d like them to do a quick introduction so you know who I have the privilege of being with this evening.

00:01:04:27 –:–:–:–

Rachel: This is Rachel Webster, health-care group, in the Charlotte office.

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Connie: This is Connie Lira from the Cedar Rapids office, and I am nonprofit tax all day every day.

00:01:14:22 –:–:–:–

Stephanie: This is Stephanie McDonald, and I’m in the Charlotte office with the Biz Ops Group. Whoo-hoo!

00:01:20:02 –:–:–:–

Matt: This is Matt Billman from Denver, Colorado. I’m in our private sector tax group.

00:01:24:22 –:–:–:–

Tim: This is Tim Rawal. I’m also from the Denver offices, and I’m in the public sector group.

00:01:30:07 –:–:–:–

Denny: Well, thank you all very much for spending some time with us this evening. When you think about the coaching process, we’ve all been through some good experiences, and we probably have been through some negative experiences, but I think it would be helpful and interesting to the CLA family–What has been your actual experiences? So maybe what we’ll do is we’re gonna start on the negative side, and we’re gonna finish on the positive side. So anybody would like to share either a coaching experience that was delivered to you or just one that you observed that is really probably not the way that we would want to be coaching within CLA.

00:02:10:27 –:–:–:–

Connie: This is Connie, and, you know, I’ve been with the firm about ten years, and very early in my career, I got with a coach, and I was very excited, and I talked a lot to my coach. We talked, and we talked, and I felt like I was talking about all the things I wanted to do in my career, and I found out a little late that we weren’t actually communicating. And so the difference between talking and communicating is something that I have carried with me for the rest of my career, making sure that we are solidifying what I think is being said and what I think is happening to what is actually happening. Some specific things were, “I like to travel. I like to get out and try new things.” And I was saying these things, and then I didn’t follow up when they weren’t happening. So that’s the second takeaway. You know, you have to own your own career development, and if you aren’t getting out of coaching what you want to get out of coaching, make a change. Do something different. Those were two things that I learned a lot from.

00:03:09:22 –:–:–:–

Denny: Thank you, Connie. I’m curious, when you think about the coach itself, ’cause a lot of this is improving the coaching part of our process, what do you think the individual was lacking and why they weren’t hearing you,