From Overwhelmed Manager to Empowered Leader: A Coaching Journey
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From Overwhelmed Manager to Empowered Leader: A Coaching Journey
As summer winds down, I’ve been reflecting on a season full of change. It was my first summer living at the Jersey Shore, I officially launched Elevare Dynamics, and I completed my master’s degree in Executive Coaching and Organizational Consulting at NYU. It’s been a milestone moment.
One of the most rewarding parts of the program was my Coaching Capstone project, where I worked with a leader I’ll call Scott. He manages a large team in the mass transportation industry and came to our sessions looking for support on one specific challenge: delegation.
Scott’s Delegation Struggles
When we first met, Scott was overwhelmed and stressed. He wanted to step back from the daily grind and focus more on big-picture leadership, but he kept getting pulled into the weeds. Delegating felt like extra work, so instead of training his team, he often did things himself just to get them done faster.
I knew exactly where he was coming from. I’ve led large teams too, and I remember the tension between wanting to let go and fearing that things would fall apart if I did. I used our early sessions to help Scott clarify his goals and begin building new habits to support them.
Building New Habits
One key breakthrough came when we talked about triggers, small cues that could remind him to pause before jumping in. Instead of defaulting to "I’ll handle it," Scott started asking himself, "Who else can do this?" Over time, he began handing off more tasks and saw his team step up.
We also talked about accountability. Scott had a habit of reviewing his team’s reports before they went to senior leadership and frequently found mistakes. Rather than continuing the cycle of fixing everything himself, we discussed how his team could take ownership of their work by reviewing it before it got to him. He agreed to start communicating those expectations more clearly.
Turning Point: Communication and Tools
It turned out Scott didn’t have regular meetings with his direct reports. He only spoke to them when he walked down to the floor. Together, we designed a simple solution: monthly meetings led by his team, where Scott could set expectations and encourage accountability.
In a later session, Scott shared feedback from his own performance review. His boss said he struggled with follow-up on key initiatives. When I asked how he tracked them, Scott admitted most of it was in his head or scribbled in a notebook.
Then he lit up. He pulled out a digital notebook he had just purchased but hadn’t touched. He showed me how it could capture notes and send them by email. It was exactly what he needed. We walked through how he could use it to track initiatives and follow-ups.
The Result: A New Type of Leader
By our final session, Scott was a different leader. He was delegating more, tracking key tasks, and giving his team space to grow. He even used his new notebook to send follow-ups to his direct reports. Most importantly, he told me he felt lighter, more focused, and surprised at how much coaching had helped him shift his mindset.
That transformation inspired something new.
Introducing the Empowered Manager™ Program
Scott’s journey reminded me how many managers are stuck in the same pattern. They are doing too much, carrying too much, and unintentionally blocking their team’s growth. So I decided to package the tools and strategies we used into a new offering: the Empowered Manager™ program.
This program is for leaders who want to stop micromanaging and start coaching their teams to success.
👉 Learn more about the Empowered Manager™ program here - https://www.elevaredynamics.com/empoweredmanager
👉 Read Scott’s full case study here - https://www.elevaredynamics.com/case-studies/case-study-4
Here’s to your success,
Rene