One of the most important aspects of my Professional Careers by Design® model is the ability to flex professional choices around personal priorities. It’s been important for my clients — and it’s also been important to me, especially in my solopreneur era, when I launched my own executive coaching business.
A few years ago, I sensed it was time for some flexing.
I’d retired from my job at an academic health center and was pouring my energy into Metta Solutions. I was doing a lot of writing, coaching and community building — things I love deeply.
I was also experiencing a shift on the home front, where it was becoming clear that I would soon be devoting more time to family caregiving. It didn’t take long before I started to notice that work demands were drawing attention from important family priorities. But as a one-woman coaching business, I didn’t have a lot of options to pull back without business grinding to a halt.
I have used Professional Careers by Design® tools like the Hip Pocket Questions for years, so I have a well-developed reflex for moments like this. I revisited my list of What Matters Most to Me and examined alignment in my own life.
It was clear I needed to make a change.
Meet the new Metta Solutions
I’ve long lived by the adage that leaders build systems, and I’ve coached many other professionals to think this way as well. I decided I needed to put systems and staff in place to allow Metta Solutions to serve professionals even when I could not. I had no plans to stop coaching (and I still don’t!), but I did need to put structure in place to allow coaching to continue regardless of whether my family needed me elsewhere.
The new Metta Solutions is built on the foundation I laid more than a decade ago. My beliefs about the future of work, career decision-making, leadership, time and energy management, and more remain at the heart of this firm. But Metta is, in fact, now a firm — with a wonderful group of associate coaches who have helped me scale our coaching and consulting work far beyond what I can manage alone. We also have built out a skilled staff — people whose expertise is enabling Metta to implement business and operational systems to serve clients efficiently and effectively.
We have also expanded our scope of services. Metta’s associates bring skills I have — as well as some I don’t, allowing us to offer new types of support. We also have been able to benefit from the diversity of our larger, thoughtfully crafted team — diversity of lived experience, professional training and coaching framework, to name a few. As a result, we can offer an expanded suite of options for individuals who are seeking coaching for themselves, as well as for institutions seeking coaching, training and consulting for their teams.
New look, same heart
As this transformation took shape, it became clear that Metta Solutions would need to change how it appears to the world. We needed a website that would shift the emphasis from me (Sharon) to our broader team of coaches. We needed branding and materials that would reflect our expanded services for businesses, firms, universities and other organizations. And we wanted to convey the professional, approachable, inclusive and impactful look and feel that we strive to foster.
We wanted to do all this without straying from the principles that have been at the heart of Metta Solutions since the day I created it. Principles that draw from the Buddhist Metta or lovingkindness practice, based on this simple prayer:
“May I be happy, healthy, safe and at peace.
May you be happy, healthy, safe and at peace.
May all beings be happy, healthy, safe and at peace.”
This mindset continues to guide us every day, and I hope it speaks to you, too. I’d love to hear what you think.
Reach out anytime.
