When something clicks.

This post is dedicated to an amazing coach, mentor, and former colleague, Liz Chandler.

Early in my career, I was introduced to the GROW coaching model while serving as a frontline supervisor during the aircraft carrier refueling and complex overhaul project at Newport News Shipbuilding. A consulting firm had been brought in to help the organization adopt a more intentional operating rhythm. Like many good consultants do, they began by looking for leaders who were ready to lean in.

That was me.

“I get it. I believe in it. I’m all in.”

What followed were conversations, introductions, and a lot of learning. Somewhere along the way something shifted. The frameworks and conversations started to open up a different kind of space. A space where you lower the wall a bit and explore what is really possible.

For me, that space showed up through coaching. Not because coaching had all the answers, but because it created room for discovery. Capability growing. Aspirations expanding. The work beginning to feel more meaningful.

Looking back, it is interesting how quietly those moments sometimes begin. A conversation. An idea. A person who sees something in you and invites you to explore it.

At the time it rarely feels like a turning point. It just feels like curiosity pulling you forward.

But years later you realize something important clicked and a path started forming.

For me, that catalyst happened to be coaching. For others, it might be something completely different. But most of us can probably point to a moment like that. The beginning of something that quietly reshaped how we see the work and ourselves in it.

Keep tending.