Years of Circling. Four Months to Momentum.
How a director-level nursing leader stopped grinding, started delegating — and unlocked a career-defining move she'd been circling for years.
My friend Juliet texted me one day: "Can I ask you a question?"
I'd coached her before, but we weren't working together at the time. I said sure.
"Do you think I should take a leadership course?"
The Pattern
Here's what I knew about Juliet:
She was a director of nursing at a privately owned hospital in the Pacific Northwest. She'd been there her entire career—17 years—starting as a frontline nurse and working her way up.
She loved solving puzzles. She was a constant seeker. First in her family to get a college degree and advanced degrees.
But lately? She was frustrated.
She had friction with her new boss (a former colleague who'd been promoted). Friction with doctors. Friction with executive leadership. And her team wasn't stepping up the way she needed them to.
She was also circling a bigger question: Should I stay in nursing? What's next for me?
What Was Actually Happening
When we started working together, I could see the pattern immediately:
Juliet was hoarding tasks.
She had to be at the center of everything. She had to be the doer. She thought her value came from doing, not from leading. In her mind, doing more proved her value.
That blue-collar, working-class mindset—the one that got her this far—was now holding her back.
"The more I do, the more they'll value me."
But she wasn't a frontline nurse anymore. She was a director. And directors don't do—they lead.
The Work
We worked on:
Pushing responsibilities back onto her team (stop hoarding, start delegating)
How she communicated with challenging personalities (doctors, executives, her new boss)
Recognizing her default reaction to change: resistance ("No, no, no"—then problem-solve)
Understanding that her value wasn't in doing more, but in doing better—and getting her team to do more
The shift wasn't just tactical.
We worked on how she saw herself as a leader.
Not boss mode. Leader-coach mode.
Firm, direct, clear—but not defensive or aggressive.
Comfortable in her own skin. Not putting on a mask. Not performing leadership. Actually leading.
What Changed
Within 8-10 weeks, people started noticing.
"What's going on with you? Something's different. Whatever you're doing, keep doing it."
She stopped holding back. She started showing up as herself—credibly, but lightly. Not taking herself too seriously.
She delegated more. Her team stepped up. She focused her puzzle-solving skills on big challenges, not small stuff.
Leaders noticed. Opportunities opened up.
She stayed at that job for another year or two—but now she was looking with clarity, not desperation.
When the right role came up, she moved.
Not in nursing. A community health leadership role. Exactly what she wanted:
Impact she could see and feel every day
Strong education component
Sense of purpose
Ability to create change
It was a promotion. A career-defining move.
And it required courage—leaving the only organization she'd ever worked for after nearly 20 years.
But her first daring move wasn't the job change.
It was changing how she saw herself as a leader.
Seeing herself more clearly. Seeing her part in the friction. Working on it. Improving communication.
That opened everything else.
In Her Words
"I finally feel confident and comfortable in my own skin."
— Juliet, Community Health Executive
If This Resonates
If you're hoarding tasks, grinding without traction, or circling a move you can't seem to make — let's talk.
This work isn't about fixing you. It's about retraining the muscle memory driving your decisions — so you stop circling and start building.