Smartest Person in the Room

They say that if you’re the smartest person in the room, you should find another room.

For your sanity as well as your growth both personally and professionally, you should always be surrounded by people who lift you up, push you on, and challenge you to learn more, do more, and be more. In a good way, obviously. I’m not talking about working with a boss who simply rewards all of your hard work with yet more hard work.

You see, I believe that true success in the workplace all comes down to the environment. I think if you are skilled in your work and good at your job, then the only reason you will ever ‘underperform’, become overwhelmed, or generally just burn out, is because you’re in the wrong environment. It might not be that you’re the smartest person, but that you’re being made to feel like you’re not smart enough to be in that room at all. Either way, it’s the wrong room.

We hear a lot about toxic environments, groups, and industries, and they really are poisonous places. They’re damaging to your physical health (burnout) and they’re poisonous to your mind (wellbeing and self-belief). They’ll have you thinking that the problem is you; you’re failing, you’re not good enough, you don’t belong there.

I say all this not just from having coached countless women who come to me from these exact same environments, but from having been one of those women working in such a poisonous place myself. Hey, I’m not going to slag it off completely, because I love where I ended up (a total WINNER) after feeling physically compelled to walk out, but it really was a truly toxic environment, nonetheless.

In my own scenario, I spent so much of my time looking after the needs of others and dealing with their issues, that it left little time and energy for me to do my actual work. As a result, when it came to my stats and my KPIs, I was understandably falling short. Did my employer recognise this and see all the good that I was needing to do to support the rest of the team, though? No. Sadly, in corporate settings in particular, none of that stuff ‘counts’.

Does working in an environment similar to that sound familiar to you? You’re not alone. This is why I have so many wonderful clients. They wouldn’t be coming to me if they already loved their jobs, their bosses, and their workplaces, now, would they?

Please don’t go thinking that things ‘aren’t horrendous’ where you are, so you’ll just stick things out a bit longer. We know workplace bullying is on the rise, but just because that may not be happening to you, doesn’t mean that you should stay. Put simply, if you’re feeling tolerated rather than celebrated, you’re in the wrong pond. (Life’s short, remember?)

Your work feels like you’re always swimming upstream, and you long to be in a position where you can be in flow.

Chances are that if you come to me for one of my coaching programs, you’re at least in part thinking you’re not good enough or strong enough in some way.

Let me tell you once and for all: You are.

That’s why you’re so set on coaching in the first place. You know deep down that you deserve bigger things and better things in your life and career.

This is why at WIN we’ll never just focus on things like salaries and promotions – we’ll focus on making sure that the match is absolutely right, so that you can walk into the workplace to deliver at the highest level, earn at the highest level, and be respected at the highest level, too. It’s all about the match between what they need and what you uniquely offer.

If you want help in finding the right place for you – where you are celebrated, not tolerated – get in touch. In a phone call, free of charge to you, I can assess if I am well placed to help you achieve exactly that. I will be honest either way.