Catherine Finger

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Happy Endings–Bold Beginnings

December 12, 2022 by catherinefinger Leave a Comment

How will you say goodbye to 2022—and what would you like to be able to celebrate in one year’s time? Endings and beginnings can be powerful transitions in our lives. As we approach the end of 2022, I encourage you to take some time to consider what you want to release—and what goals or milestones you want to reach in 2023.

Make space for reflection over the holiday season. Walk through a set of questions and spend a little time journaling your thoughts. Writing is a powerful tool for reflection as you identify what isn’t working and open yourself to activating more of what works well for you.

Reflection: Take a quick look at this year’s greatest hits.  Scan your year month by month, week by week, day by day—whichever way best serves you. Be mindful of your highs and lows—spend more time on your highs. What went really well for you this year—and how can you leverage that success as you look into 2023? What didn’t work so well for you—and what tweaks do you need to consider moving forward? Don’t let yourself get bogged down in maudlin memories—just acknowledge what you want to let go of to make space for what you want more of in your life. Think of it as cleaning out a closet, or a garage. You can’t park that Maserati if your garage is full of a year’s worth—or more—of outdated detritus. These are some of my framing questions:

  • What did you love about this year? What worked really well for you? What should we be celebrating in your life?
  • What did you hate about this year? What didn’t work so well for you? What do-overs would you give yourself?
  • What were your most joyful moments this year? What do you want more of, looking forward?
  • What were you most painful moments? What do you want less of, looking forward?
  • What did you learn about yourself?
  • What was the best decision you made this year?

Ritual: I call my favorite end-of-year ritual “Burn Baby, Burn!” I’ve done this activity collectively to celebrate the end of a New Year’s Eve party, at workshops and retreats, and sometimes all alone in my backyard. It begins with a brief period of reflection. Guests receive small squares of paper and pens/pencils and are invited to consider what they loved and didn’t love about the past year.  I ask them to think of one thing they want to release, say goodbye to, remove, delete from their lives forever—and to write that down on a piece of paper.  Questions I like to ask include:

  • What do you need to do to clear your own runway for takeoff?
  • What barriers stand between you and success?
  • What are you dying to unload or unleash in your life?
  • What’s holding you back?
  • What habit or practice do you need to stop doing? What do you need to get rid of and eliminate from your life?

Write them all down—and get ready to cast them all off—this is where the fire comes in! I start a small bonfire in my backyard (are my country roots showing yet?) and invite my guests to join me in the frigid winter air. One by one, guests approach the fire and are invited to hold up that piece of paper and proclaim (either silently or out loud) what they are releasing—and then toss it into the fire. Or rip it up into tiny pieces and then toss it into the fire. There will be some tears and there be a lot of rejoicing as the fire builds and your guests experience the freedom of letting go!

Reframe: The last step of my annual reflection and renewal process—and the perfect ending for the “Burn Baby, Burn!” experience—is to breathe in the new. Invite everyone to reflect on what is good, acceptable, and perfect about their lives. I like to encourage my guests with the ancient wisdom of St. Paul: “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.” Invite your guests to release what has been turned to ashes and to commit to a new habit, practice, promise, or way of being. Have them write down this renewal pledge as a way of saving it in their hearts and minds.

Real change is possible—and transitioning into a new year is a great time to double down on what you want to invite more of in your life. Give yourself the gift of clarity and support as you move toward your own challenges and commitments with renewed intention. Find a friend, hire a coach, sketch out your action plan and post it where you’ll see it every day, invest in an online program—give yourself whatever you need to support the changes you seek. And get ready to celebrate your success at the end of 2023!

Filed Under: & Life, Blog related to Coaching, End of Year Reflection, Excellence in Executive Coaching, Leadership, Personal Coaching, Professional Coaching, Resilience, Set Challenging Goals, Success Coaching Tagged With: Coaching for Educational Leaders, Coaching for Success, End of Year Reflection, Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching for Educational Leaders, Mental Health Support for School Leaders, Professional Coaching, Set Challenging Goals

Catherine Finger Earns 2022 CEO Today Executive Coaching Award!

November 26, 2022 by catherinefinger Leave a Comment

CEO Today announced the full list of winners of their 2022 CEO Today Executive Coaching Awards–and Catherine Finger is featured on page 79! You may see the listing from the CEO Today journal here: https://executivecoachingawards.ceotodaymagazine.com/winners-edition/79/

The following excerpts are from a press release issued by CEO Today  earlier this week: Every month, CEO Today Magazine features perspectives from business leaders at the top of their field. Though they may now be running S&P 500 and FTSE companies, they came from more humble beginnings. Often, their inspirational leadership and management skills were shaped by the expert training of an executive coach.

This new publication aims to celebrate professionals whose work in the world of business is less visible, but no less crucial for it. Every great figure of the modern business world, from Jeff Bezos to Larry Page, has benefited from the work of a coach to sharpen their acumen and perfect their leadership style – an advantage that even SMEs the world over are now beginning to recognize.

The 2022 CEO Today Executive Coaching Awards honor coaches including the likes of Navid Nazemian, Peter Baloh, Borut Jeglič, Tracy Clark, Mercy Situmbeko, Victoria Hepburn–and Catherine Finger. All are shining examples of leadership and emotional intelligence whose insights will fascinate any CEO with ambitions of industry-leading success. We at CEO Today are proud to present this special publication. Congratulations to all of our winners and finalists.

 

 

 

Filed Under: 2022 Coaching Awards, Awards for Excellence in Coaching, Awards for Excellence in Executive Coaching, Blog related to Coaching, CEO Today, Coaching for Performance, Excellence in Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching for Educational Leaders, Leadership, Personal Coaching, Professional Coaching, Success Coaching Tagged With: Coaching, Coaching for Educational Leaders, Excellence in Coaching Awards, Executive Coaching, Professional Coaching, Top Executive Coaches, Top Wisconsin Leadership Coach

Lessons Learned from Hitting the Wall

October 13, 2022 by catherinefinger Leave a Comment

“I hit the wall, Doc. I need your help.”

When one of my highest-performing leaders opened a recent session with this plea for help, it surprised us both. Think Top Gun-era Tom Cruise and ratchet it up several notches. Wildly successful by any measure personally and professionally, this top-of-his-game, prime-of-his-life leader found himself unable to get out of bed and unwilling to engage with anyone other than his wife, his children, and me.

After exploring his experiences and identifying his immediate needs, together we crafted a step-by-step plan designed to support him through this tough time. Part of our planning included prioritizing rest—for his body, mind, and spirit. Once we addressed his immediate physical needs (including a medical review) we moved on to thinking differently about his priorities, scaling back for the moment, and reframing his hard-hitting schedule.

  1. Recognize the wall—and the gift behind the wall. It is shocking to discover our humanity—especially when faced with limitations and needs. Your wall of exhaustion and your faltering body may be trying to get your attention. What is the message behind this wall? What gifts might be waiting to emerge during this debilitating experience?
  2. NOW. Stop, drop and REST. Body, mind, and spirit. I know this is hard for leaders. But not resting and continuing to ignore what your body is trying to tell you can be much, much harder in the long run. And here’s a bonus: as a leader, taking care of yourself in front of your colleagues gives them permission to take care of themselves. What would you tell your best friend if he were experiencing the same symptoms that you are experiencing right now? Give yourself that same stellar advice and follow it.
  3. Reframe your idea of priorities. That urgent work pile is not likely to go away while you are still working. Don’t fall into that trap of “when I get this done, then I’ll…” Peak performers are NEVER done with those urgent projects and initiatives. Learn to manage the anxiety that comes with increased workloads and heightened responsibilities and learn to trust yourself. Change your inner messaging from “I’ll never get this done” to “I’ve got this.” Each day has enough troubles of its own. Keep your focus on the present, and trust that the future will be handled when it arrives.
  4. Reaffirm your faith—including faith in your family, in your ability to bounce back, and in your organization’s ability to survive without you having to run faster than a speeding bullet. Lean into your belief system and trust that there is a larger purpose for your momentary suffering. Who knows what fruit might be developing in your life through this difficult period? You have to go through the wall to get to the other side—but you get to choose whether or not to keep going through that wall. No one else can make that decision for you.
  5. Recognize the talent and power in colleagues around you that may have been waiting for their moment to shine—and give it to them. Empower others to step in and pick up some of your leadership responsibilities—who knows, you may realize that you should have delegated more to your colleagues long ago.
  6. Recruit trusted supporters and invite them to help you recognize the key indicators you missed along the way while heading toward that brick wall. In my client’s case, he’d grown accustomed to being the fastest, brightest, shiniest bulb in any marquis. Whenever people questioned his level of responsibilities and commitments, he would smile and embrace the load—making it look far easier than it actually was. His wife, however, did not. She would question him and offer her advice about his need for solitude and rest—which he routinely ignored. During the quiet moments of recovery from his hitting-the-wall reality, it was her voice he heard in those still small moments while reflecting on what early indicators he might have missed. Going forward, her questions are now a part of his early warning system, as are noticing his emotional state and taking care of his physical need for rest.
  7. Reap the lessons learned and integrate them into the way you work. Several years ago, I was struck with a bout of vertigo at an airport while traveling to speak at a national women’s leadership conference. I remember pushing through my panic and allowing myself to wonder whether this is the time my life changes and no longer includes routine travel to serve others in my leadership journey. I gave myself permission to stay; permission to leave; permission to wait and see what happens next. Several canceled and rescheduled flights later, I arrived at the conference center with a little less vigor than I’d preferred having learned a valuable lesson: I can build enough margin into my schedule to make room for the unexpected. And, if I do have to cancel or reschedule an event due to illness or unforeseen circumstances, I can do that as well. Life doesn’t have to fit inside of our limiting “all or nothing” perspectives. By the way, I did give that speech and I had a wonderful time with a fabulous group of women—and I made it home just fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Coaching for Performance, Excellence in Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching for Educational Leaders, Hitting the Wall, Leadership, Professional Coaching, Resilience, Success Coaching Tagged With: Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching; Leadership; Coaching for High Performance, Hitting the Wall, Mental Health Support for School Leaders, Overcoming Obstacles, Resilience, Supporting School Leaders

Beat Those Back-to-School Blues!

August 2, 2022 by catherinefinger Leave a Comment

Do you have a recurring back-to-school dream (i.e., nightmare!) that signals the beginning of another school year? I used to have teacher nightmares before school started—in which I would show up late and unburdened by clothing to my Spanish class in a large urban high school…after having gotten lost and locked in a few stairwells. When I moved into my first central office position, I started dreaming I was on a beach in a swimsuit, soaking up the sun a half block away from colorful cabanas. Said cabanas would suddenly spring to life and I would find myself dragged through them, car wash style. I’d quickly emerge wearing a skirt suit, carrying a briefcase, and walking down a tiled school hallway between two suit-clad men. Yikes!

As you start putting the finishing touches on your annual back-to-school celebrations and rituals, let’s unearth those nightmares and kick those back-to-school blues to the curb.

I’d like to invite you to begin your new school year by reflecting on who you are, what you do best, and how leaning into your strengths can lead you into more powerful and positive leadership behaviors.

One of my favorite executive coaching exercises is called the Peak Experience. This exercise emerged from the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) movement and is designed to help clients focus on past successes to identify strengths, positive core beliefs and generate positive feelings—leading to more powerful action in their current settings. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a collaborative and strengths-based change management model pioneered by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastava in the 1980’s at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.

Here’s how I typically invite clients into this practice during in coaching session:

• Please tell me about a peak experience you’ve had in your professional or personal life. It may be a time when you felt most alive, most involved, or most excited about what you were involved in. What made it an exciting experienced? Who was involved? What images come to mind as you recall this experience? What made it so wonderful, so powerful?
• What feelings bubble up for you as you recall this experience? List them. What feelings did you have? What impressions do you recall as you think back to this positive experience? What feelings did you experience?
• What strengths were present for you as you recall this experience? What strengths were demonstrated in this initiative, this success, this memory?
• What other strengths, talents or character traits come show up for you as you remember this peak experience?

Once you have developed a clear picture of your peak experience, accompanying feelings, strengths, and character traits, and you are noticing how you feel when you recall this experience—this forms the nucleus of a powerful place you can return to when you want to shift your thinking into a more positive frame of mind. By repeating this practice a few times a day, you can learn to call up your peak experience, review your strengths and generate the accompanying positive emotions in as little as three to five minutes.

Learning to center ourselves and draw from our inner power in practical ways is a ninja-level leadership move that can serve to quiet our minds and help prepare for difficult meetings, projects, or events. Imagine the more peaceful frame of mind you could l be in to give that back-to-school welcome on opening day—or the more centered frame of mind you could be in to discuss complex issues during a late-night board meeting.

And with a little practice, you might just be able to turn your back-to-school nightmare into a dream.

Filed Under: Back-to School, Blog related to Coaching, Executive Coaching, Leadership, Personal Coaching, Professional Coaching Tagged With: Appreciative Inquiry, Back-to-School Blues, Executive Coaching

Coaching Affirmations from a Trail Rider

March 18, 2021 by catherinefinger Leave a Comment

One of my greatest passions is competing in an equestrian event called Trail. This is a sport that requires connection, forward motion, staying present, and focusing on one footfall at a time.  The partnership between horse and rider is essential in creating the elegance and poise characteristic of a winning ride in the Trail pen.

Clara—my ten-year-old quarter horse mare—has been my trail partner since January 2017. I know her well enough to know the difference between her asking for guidance and trying to take the reins herself. She knows me well enough to know when I’m asking her to round her back and lengthen her stride or when my arthritic left leg simply stops working for the day.

Together, we navigate a series of obstacles that require us to find a precise take off point for her (that’s my job) and an athletic surge of power and elegance as we maneuver over the poles (that’s her job.) An obstacle typically contains a series of wooden poles placed on the ground at varying heights and in differing formations, often surrounded by vibrant and distracting décor. The distance between each pole and the path you choose to take as a team determines the number of strides needed in-between each pole. In order to get to the correct take-off point, I need to focus on each pole and find a six-inch spot in the dirt to fix my eyes upon—signaling to Clara where to put her feet before clearing each pole with each foot.

Working with clients also requires teamwork, goal setting, and forward motion. As a coach, I strive to create an arena of safety and wisdom with each client. People come to the coaching experience seeking a thoughtful partnership that empowers them to navigate their own set of obstacles. Together we talk it out—riding every stride and letting each pole come to us instead of rushing the process and missing importance pieces of the pattern before us.

Filed Under: & Life, Blog related to Coaching, Blog Related to Horses, Coaching for Performance, Executive Coaching, Personal Coaching, Professional Coaching Tagged With: Coaching, Executive Coaching, Horses, Leadership, Overcoming Obstacles, Showing AQHA Trail

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