Co-founder Gets Clear

NEEDING TO ADDRESS UNEASINESS

My client was a co-founder of a small logistics firm. Although this was the work she loved, she had recently been finding herself feeling uneasy about the company and the direction they were going, but she was unsure why.

We did a PD Insights session focusing on her company as it was, her concept of an ‘ideal’ companyand her partners, along with exploring her self-perception and preferences.

OUTCOME:

My client’s PD Insights data revealed several important issues:

1. She perceived the company as it was to be well aligned with her perception of her partners.
2. Her attitude towards the company currently was quite negative, and her attitude towards her partners was neutral.
3. Her perception of the company currently was not particularly well aligned with how she perceived the ideal company, and neither was her perception of her partners.
4. Paradoxically, her attitude towards the idea of an ideal company was slightly negative, yet her sense of personal alignment with the idea of an ideal company was very positive.

In our discussion of her results, my client discovered that her current frustration with the company was due to her sense that her partners were driving the company in a different direction than she thought would lead to the company she really wanted. As a result of that perception, she had also lost some of her enthusiasm towards building the company – as evidenced by her negative attitude to the ideal. She also realized that she had been unconsciously avoiding having the discussion with her partners about their vision for the company because she feared they might not see it the same way, which would lead to conflict.

As a result of our session, my client decided that it was critical for her own sense of purpose and well-being to be building a company that was in alignment with her sense of herself and her vision. She therefore resolved to have the potentially difficult discussion about vision for the company with her partners.