My dog, Gizmo, tends to get trapped in places. The place he’s most commonly trapped is my husband’s office which has a door that opens one way. It’s very easy to push open, but it closes behind you. And if you can't pull a door open, you can't get out. This is Gizmo’s nemesis, trapping him multiple times a day. Every day, every week. The only way out is for one of us to open the door.
I think a lot of us also get stuck sometimes. It isn’t that we don’t know any better - we’re all smarter than Gizmo - but we still find ourselves in situations and wonder - how on earth did I end up here? And we stay trapped until someone comes and opens the door.
I work with leaders in mission-driven organizations who second-guess every decision, question whether they belong, and feel trapped by the weight of the mission resting on their shoulders. I help leaders gain confidence to do what they do best and trust their teams with the rest.
Who am I?
I am Cate Burnett Fierbaugh, and sometimes, I’m a little like my dog.
I’ve spent most of my adult life working alongside minority language communities who wanted to see their languages used, valued, and preserved for the next generation.
As my career took many twists and turns, I eventually found myself in a mid-level leadership position. Just like you. I loved it, but eventually I started to feel the squeeze. Leadership had a vision. The team knew what life was like on the ground. And I was somewhere in between absorbing pressure from both sides. I had a great team, but after numerous reorganizations and leadership changes, neither the team nor the job looked much like it did before. Doubts started to creep in and I began to question: What do I like about my job? And what are things I could do without?
So I spent a lot of time soul searching, trying to figure out what was working, what wasn’t working, and what I would like to do instead. Teammates and friends readily shared what they saw in me. A career counselor helped me sort through it all. The office door opened, and I saw that there was a world of possibilities.
When I reflected on the things that I liked in my job, what I realized was I liked my team. I liked working with them and seeing them succeed. I liked giving people the tools they needed to do their very best. Then, stepping back and letting them shine.
So I became a coach. Now I help leaders do what opened the door for me: look honestly at where they are and decide where they want to go. I started ERA Coaching & Consulting so I could work with you because I was you.
What’s Inside?
You have enough on your plate, so my articles are intentionally short, something that you can read in 5 minutes, usually less. Every post uses the ERA format that I use with my coaching clients:
EQUIP. A story from a middle manager’s real week, plus a tool to use the next time it happens to you.
REFLECT. A question to sit with: where does this pattern show up on your team, or in your own head?
ACT. One experiment to try, so you can see whether the tool fits you.
You’re in the right place if…
You’ve given feedback up the chain so many times you’ve stopped expecting anyone to hear it.
You replay meetings on the drive home, wondering if you said the wrong thing.
People tell you you’re good at your job, and you can’t quite believe them.
You care about the mission enough that letting go of anything feels like letting someone down.
The cause matters, the budget is thin, and somehow the gap always lands on your desk.
You’re stuck in the office and need someone to open the door.
Start Here
Your time is valuable. Here are the three articles to read to give you the best idea of what we talk about here.
The Good Manager Vanishing Act. Read this if you keep stepping in to fix your team’s work.
Start Questioning the Voice in Your Head. Read this if you replay every meeting on the drive home.
Not Lazy, Not Unqualified, Still Stuck. Read this if you want the bigger picture of why competent people stay stuck, and to find out which saboteur runs your bad days.1
Want to go further?
If you find yourself stuck behind a closed door, let’s find out who’s holding it closed.
Most of us have a few familiar voices that take over when the pressure is on. One insists you do everything yourself. One tells you you’re not good enough. One keeps the peace at any cost. The free Saboteur Assessment from Positive Intelligence® takes about five minutes and shows you which voices run your hardest days.
As a PQ Coach™, I send the assessment personally. Write to me at cate@eraccg.com and I’ll send you the link. Once you have your results, send me your top saboteur and let’s talk about it.
If you’re ready for more than an email, you can see how coaching with me works by scheduling a free call with me.
Thanks for reading!
Whether you’ve been here from the start or you’re just joining, I’m glad that you found my corner of the internet.
I hope this becomes the place you come back to after the meeting that went sideways, the week you said yes too many times, or the day you wondered if you’re any good at this. I want this to be the place that helps.
So tell me: What’s the door you’re stuck behind?
The Judge, the Saboteurs, the Sage and its five powers all come from Shirzad Chamine's Positive Intelligence® (2012), along with the PQ® assessment I use with clients. POSITIVE INTELLIGENCE® and PQ® are trademarks of Positive Intelligence, LLC. The framework is his. The conversations and examples are mine.
Love the analogy of the one-way door, and your dog’s name!!
Gizmo and the one-way door is a great way to open this, Cate.