ACTIV in Action – Aneesh’s Coaching Journey

Part 4 – IMPLEMENT: When Action Meets Resistance

Aneesh didn’t come to coaching looking for a career overhaul. He came in the middle of a company-wide transition that had shaken everything familiar—his role, his team, and the culture he once trusted.

At first, the focus was on navigating change. But as we moved through the coaching process, something deeper emerged. Aneesh began to see what wasn’t working now and what had quietly misaligned long before the upheaval. Coaching helped him name both his losses and the lessons he had learned.

Through ACCESS, he reconnected with the values and motivations that had been sidelined. In CHOOSE, he made the bold decision to step away from Company 1 and search for something more aligned with his values. And in TAILOR, he shaped a plan that allowed him to keep moving forward. He took a flexible role at a small tech company where he could explore new possibilities, including project management.

He had done the work. He had made the plan.

Now he was ready to IMPLEMENT. The plan was in motion.

But real life isn’t a clean experiment. Sometimes, the noise of a dysfunctional environment makes it hard to hear your inner voice. And sometimes, putting a plan into action is exactly what reveals the next layer of truth.

What Is ACTIV?

Aneesh’s coaching journey follows the ACTIV framework, a five-phase process designed to guide individuals, leaders, and organizations through workplace transitions with clarity and confidence:

• ACCESS – Reconnect with your values, motivations, and deeper goals

• CHOOSE – Make decisions that reflect who you are and where you want to go

• TAILOR – Shape a path that fits your unique strengths and circumstances

• IMPLEMENT – Move forward with intention and confidence

• VALIDATE – Reflect, assess, and realign as needed

  
  

Each phase builds on the last. But it always begins with ACCESS—and from there, movement becomes possible.

☁️ Dysfunction Clouds Discernment

By the time Aneesh entered the IMPLEMENT phase, he had a working plan. He had joined a small tech company where he could wear multiple hats. He was gaining hands-on experience during the day while pursuing a project management certification at night.

One of his new responsibilities included the project management of a small external project. He wasn’t in a formal project manager role, but it was a chance to test the waters and see whether this direction truly fit. Aneesh said he was both “excited and nervous” about this new opportunity. On paper, it seemed ideal: flexible, practical, and aligned with his long-term goals.

But almost immediately, he encountered friction.

The company’s structure was loose. Expectations were vague. And performance gaps weren’t addressed, they were absorbed by whoever cared most.

That was usually Aneesh.

Coaching helped him name the experience: “It’s hard to discern what’s right or wrong with a role when you’re too busy managing chaos.” The noise drowns out your internal voice.

Instead of asking, Do I belong here? Aneesh was stuck in What else can I try?

We began untangling the signal from the noise—not to judge the company, but to help Aneesh hear himself again.

🔄 The Tom Situation: Navigating Misalignment

Aneesh’s conflict with one colleague—let’s call him Tom—became a defining moment.

Tom was responsible for a critical reporting task on Aneesh’s project. Despite multiple requests, Tom ignored the deadlines. Aneesh tried everything:

✔️He asked, patiently and respectfully

✔️He offered to streamline the task with automation

✔️He checked in to see if anything was getting in the way

✔️He escalated the issue to Tom’s supervisor—but internal politics made that route meaningless

Finally, he struck a deal:

“This task might not matter to you, but others will. Help me here, and I’ll make sure you’re supported when those come up.”

Tom reluctantly agreed.

The task got done, but the cost lingered. Aneesh wasn’t operating in a way that energized him. He was managing resistance, negotiating compliance, and finding workarounds to move things forward.

And he realized something significant: he hadn’t fully understood how central certain aspects of his value system were to his professional life. While he held himself to high standards of initiative, accountability, and follow-through, he began to recognize that not everyone saw their job performance through the same lens. In a project manager role, he would have to accept that and learn to manage around it. That insight reshaped his view of what kind of work would truly fulfill him.

⚠️ When the Cloud Lifts: Seeing Beyond the Dysfunction

At first, it seemed like the problem was the environment: disorganized, vague, and full of internal politics.

And that was true—to a point.

But the deeper insight was this: even in a structured, well-functioning organization, project management would still require asking others to meet expectations they didn’t always share.

Aneesh had always found fulfillment working in environments where collaboration came naturally, where teammates took initiative and shared accountability without being prompted.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t work with different styles; he simply realized that he wasn’t energized by a role that required him to constantly motivate and enforce.

In an early coaching session, I asked him how he defined integrity as it related to his work performance. He thought for a moment, then said:

“It’s not just doing what’s expected. It’s anticipating what’s needed. It’s seeing the bigger picture and acting before anyone has asked you to.”

That definition had quietly shaped how he approached every role. But now, coaching helped him see something clearly: he couldn’t expect others to operate the same way he did. And that truth had real implications.

Should he be in a role where his strongest value, integrity, might not be shared by others? Where his job satisfaction and performance depended on getting others to live up to a standard they didn’t hold?

Aneesh was comfortable offering support, tools, and structure to his colleagues. However, he didn’t want to motivate through pressure or perform the emotional labor of accountability. He needed trust and shared values to feel fulfilled.

This wasn’t just about the company. It was about the fit. And he gave himself permission to name it:

This isn’t how I want to operate.

🔄 CHOOSE Revisited

Instead of forcing a misaligned path forward, Aneesh went back to the choices he had considered earlier in his journey.

One stood out: data visualization—a path that blended his analytical thinking, communication skills, and desire to make complex systems clear and usable. It had been on the list from the beginning. It just hadn’t been chosen the first time.

Now, with deeper insight, he chose differently.

He began to TAILOR a new course of study and enrolled in a certification program. Once again, he stepped into IMPLEMENT—this time with renewed clarity and alignment.

🌱 From Misalignment to Meaning

This is the moment many professionals never reach.

Aneesh could have gone through an entire certification program, completed it successfully, and never understood why he was unhappy and unfulfilled.

He might have thought the issue was him, or the company, or the workload.

But the real issue was alignment.

In coaching, he uncovered two essential truths:

✅Your professional values matter.

✅Your job performance must align with those values, or you will always feel out of sync.

And that’s where transformation begins, not with doing more, but with understanding what matters most.

📌 What’s Next

In our next post, we’ll enter the VALIDATE phase—where Aneesh reflects on what he’s learned, affirms the new direction, and continues building a career that fits who he is—not just what’s available.

🔗 Need a Guide Through Your Own Transition?

If you’ve been doing everything “right” and still feel misaligned or unfulfilled, you’re not alone.

Coaching doesn’t hand you the answers. It helps you listen more closely to what’s working, what’s not, and what truly matters to you.

🗓️ I offer a Free 15-minute consultation—let’s explore what your next step might look like.