"You ask too many questions," my manager said to me

Starting a new job can be nerve-wracking and exciting all at the same time. The start of something new, a new company, new people can all be incredibly rewarding, or they can be a recipe for a bad decision.

In my case, it was the latter.

It can also be a great opportunity to learn the kind of people you want to surround yourself with professionally that you can learn from and who can help support your development.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with all different kinds of personalities throughout my career (as I’m sure many of you have) and adaptability and flexibility to name a few, have proven to be important qualities that have helped me learn about others and allowed me to cultivate strong relationships.

I remember earlier on in my career (very early on), having recently joined a company and my first week on the job, I had a manager tell me that I asked too many questions.

Not only was it the worst thing to hear as a newbie on the job and from someone who was superior to me, but the lack of leadership this person displayed at the time only made the picture of the people I DID want to work with, that much more clearer to me.

Since then, that feedback and experience have actually reinforced what I do, which for those who don't know - let me introduce myself...

I'm Lisa.

I coach, advise, consult, guide, partner and support. All of which as part of wearing any one of those hats, yes! I ask a lot of questions! ??

Like with anything in life, when it comes to people, some you like, some you love, some you loathe but ALL of them, you learn from. You take the good with the bad, but you take the lesson regardless of the experience.

Experiences like this inevitably offer great learnings and for me, this experience wasn’t just a lesson reinforcing the kind of people I wanted to work with, but also spoke so much to the culture of this organization.

A culture that can either thrive or die in the hands of a poor leader.

BE the leader who sets the tone for your culture where your people can thrive and watch them bloom.

Here’s a two-fold question for you:

What's the biggest lesson you've learned as a leader and how has that impacted your culture?