What if your biggest leadership triumph isn't the victory itself, but recognising you're already climbing the diving board?

Kara, Global Head of Marketing within an engineering firm, was exhausted.

She and her team were routinely diminished by certain male technical colleagues.

These were the same people she needed to work with to successfully market their employer's software.

I asked why challenging their poor behaviour mattered so much to her.

She didn't hesitate: "It's just what leaders must do."

Through our coaching sessions, Kara had genuinely improved.

She was challenging combative comments in meetings regularly.

Particularly when colleagues made untrue assumptions about her marketing team's capabilities.

But she was still exhausted.

The gaslighting she and her team faced was relentless.

This might sound small, but it's not.

Kara started realising that climbing the diving board was a challenge most people in their careers actively avoid.

Most prefer spending their entire careers paddling around in the shallow end, just watching those brave enough to climb.

And here she was—not just climbing, but jumping off repeatedly.

Yes, she was working on not drowning.

But she was in the water, trying, learning, getting better.

That's leadership.

This realisation gave Kara the confidence to try new techniques we discussed in our sessions.

One she particularly liked was using more open questions so colleagues couldn't shoot down her ideas without contributing their own.

It shifted the dynamic from her defending her position to them having to actually collaborate.

Kara described her next meeting as feeling much more collaborative.

She and her deputy even developed new ideas for making inroads on trickier topics with these colleagues in the future.

The exhaustion started to lift.

Not because the colleagues suddenly became easy to work with.

Instead, Kara recognised she was already demonstrating the leadership capabilities she was pursuing.

In our work together, Kara discovered her own solutions through strategic questions.

She found her approach to co-creation.

She identified what keeping her head above water actually meant for her specific situation.

This wasn't about my advice—it was Kara taking action on her own insights.

That ownership is what made the changes stick.

Want support in creating your own solutions?

Email me at suzanne@doylemorris.com for a complimentary chemistry call.

We'll discuss your biggest workplace challenge and whether a 12-month coaching partnership makes sense for you.

Most of my clients are employer-funded!

Yes, your company will likely pay for this and I CAN help you get there.

Dr. Suzanne Doyle-Morris is an ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC) with a PhD from the University of Cambridge focusing on women in Engineering.

For 25 years, she's coached accomplished women in STEM as they advance to senior leadership.

She's the author of three books: "Beyond the Boys' Club: Strategies for Achieve Career Success as a Woman Working in a Male Dominated Field," "The Con Job: Getting Ahead for Competence in a World Obsessed with Confidence," and "Female Breadwinners: How They Make Relationships Work and Why they are Future of the Modern Workforce."

80% of her clients secure promotions or stretch roles within 12 months.

Not because she gives advice, but because she asks the right questions.