A somewhat pleasant surprise.

A somewhat pleasant surprise.

A consultant working with my employer suggested she come on as my coach for a few hours a month, which caught me more than a little by surprise. I have previous experience in the type of work I'm doing, and she and I hold the same credentials. The consultant was initially brought on for a project that resulted in the creation of my role.

I half entertained the idea because I wasn't entirely sure it was something I was in a position to say no to. I was worried that she expressed some concerns that my boss may have expressed.

I mentioned it to my boss today during our 1:1, whose immediate reaction was, 'Sam (not their real name) is a character and has a reputation for being a flake.' Which made me immediately feel better. He then went on to say that he hadn't expressed any concerns but admitted that while he wasn't an expert in my field, he had no complaints, but that if she did share a potential gap, he wasn't equipped to identify at their next meeting that he would share it with me. He also said that if I felt like I needed coaching from this person or someone else, he would be happy to support me in that.

It was such a pleasant surprise to learn that this request had nothing to do with me and likely everything to do with this person trying to secure their own bag.