Kryptonite.

Kryptonite

Those of you who followed the Superman story will recall that the big fella had a rather bad reaction to some stuff called Kryptonite. It was a substance that was apparently the remains of his home planet, and when he was exposed to it he basically became about as much use as a chocolate fireguard in the fight against evil.

A couple of years ago, I was shortlisted for a really prestigious job. The timing was right, and it was something I could enjoy doing in the face of my early medical retirement from the police service. I was unfortunately ‘first loser’ but in fairness had I known that the successful candidate was applying, I likely wouldn’t have bothered. You can read a CV sometimes and just know you aren’t going to be able to hold a candle to them!

Whenever I’ve applied for posts, or jobs in the past, I’ve struggled to be anything other than ‘authentic’. I am who I am, and I’d rather a potential employer knew the real thing was sat in front of them. That’s not to say that I didn’t practice for interviews. Just in the same way I help people now, I sought out coaching and made sure that I was going to be my ‘best version’ on the day.

Anyway, when I had my feedback for the post, something interesting came up. I’d been asked in the interview; “What would you say your weakness was?” I resisted to say it was fine wines and Belgian chocolates, and told the panel the truth; “Uncertainty is my Kryptonite.”

Apparently, this concerned them. It was the sort of post where uncertainty wasn’t an option, and they were worried I would get waylaid by not sorting things out. It was a salutary lesson.

The panel all knew me, and what I was capable of. I was a tactical firearms commander for goodness sake! You can’t ‘Um’ and ‘Ah’ in the middle of an incident when someone is running around with a shooter! But because I hadn’t qualified what I had meant, they had written their own script and marked me down. What should have added was that I was a hugely proactive individual, more than capable of solving problems and driving decisions forward. What I detested, was having to wait for other people further up the food chain to have to make decisions on the back of my submissions. The sort of people that blew in the breeze, and wouldn’t make a decision themselves! I just wanted a yes or a no, and the mandate to either get on with it, or stick it in the shredder. Some clear direction, for want of a better way of putting it. I suppose what I really meant was that I can be a bit impatient!

But uncertainty really does cripple me. I need momentum, and to be on a roll. One of the real joys of coaching is enabling people to get out of that decision trap; to help them clear the fog around them, create clarity and make a choice. It often doesn’t just help them, but those they lead too. Quite often, if we look at what we are doing, it becomes apparent that our inactions are as impactive as our inactions.

So what is your Kryptonite? And could coaching help you to break free from it?