Marion – The Manager with No Map

Built clarity and trust in the midst of chaos

The Pain

Marion had climbed steadily—from engineer to engineering manager. Her team grew to 60 people. Then half were reassigned to a flashy new project. Key people left. Her entire management chain disappeared—twice. She was handed the remnants of several other teams under constant scrutiny due to customer escalations and live site incidents.

She kept delivering. She kept leading. When her manager left, her peers expected her to get the job. Instead, an outsider with no more seniority than her was brought in.

Throughout this, she had no one to talk to. She felt invisible, overwhelmed, and alone.

The Approach

Marion’s biggest concern was safety. Her boss wanted to hear solutions, not problems, and those solutions had better work. Her peers were just as stressed as she was, and conversations with them generally weren’t fruitful. “You’re the only person I can talk with about this,” she told me.

And talk we did. We built plenty of Change Maps and Scatterplots of Now. We had many conversations about her Perpetual Puzzle, Primary Process, and Base Beliefs.

Most importantly, however, I gave Marion a space where she could speak freely, without fear. About whatever was top of mind for her right then. We sorted through the chaos, options for protecting her team, and prioritized what mattered. I helped her lead with clarity, even when everything around her was unclear. I helped her build a foundation of trust, reflection, and resilience.

The Transformation

Marion stabilized her teams. Escalations dropped. Incidents became rare. She led with strength and softness.

Burnout

• Burnout risk fell from 78% to 35%

Leadership Capacity

• Marion’s reactions to scope and responsibility increases went from “Oh, my; I am so not ready for this” to “I am so ready!”

Team Performance

• $28million in revenue saved through timely resolution of issues for “red account” customers
• Active customer issues dropped from always over 100 to consistently less than 10
• Team flight risk dropped from 73% to 13%
• Team satisfaction scores increased from 50% to 85%

The Time Frame

My work with Marion started five years and is ongoing. Throughout, we have had more or less weekly one-on-ones, plus occasional emergency sessions.

The Sustainability

Marion’s resilience, adaptability, and ease are leaps and bounds higher than when we started working together. While her environment continues to be chaotic, she is skilled at sustaining her movement, maintaining her alignment, and managing her impact. “You helped me not just survive but thrive,” Marion told me. While I am no longer “the only person [she] can talk about these things with,” “I keep discovering what I thought was a ‘9’ is actually a ‘2’. That is because of you."