Executive Coaching Testimonial

Paralleling my 25-year tenure at NASA

I have been training with Padma Shakti for almost 12 years. I have worked at NASA for 25 years. I am an IT Project Manager for NASA and have been since 2005.   My current job entails leading teams in the creation, testing and maintenance of software for the International Space Station to support our community in space.  I want to impart some of the lessons I have learned to integrate in my leadership at work.   I think you will see the value of learning to lead instead of manage.   

  • Responsibility vs. Blame
    • The energy that I hold is attracting life situations to me to learn.  It’s a hard one because self-awareness comes far ahead of self-acceptance.
    • What this meant to me, as I lead my teams, is that I must be responsible for my thinking and actions AND I need to learn to accept that I will make mistakes and will have to make course corrections by delving into learn what happened.   It’s all about seeing my judgements and coming back my intention to accept what is happening or happened. 
    • Padma works with me on making shifts to be responsible and making those shifts without the grasping, fear and control seeking.  I found this is truly leading myself and it translates to leading my team members and interacting with my management. 
  • Fostering Trust in Teams is Hard but Necessary
    • The connection and rapport that I have with my team members has deepened and become more open and transparent, more trusting.  I have begun to see the beauty in each of them and work to make connections.  Learning how to be present and not thinking while listening has been a game changer.   
    • Through Padma’s coaching I have learned to TRUST – me.  Then a synergy happens, as I trust me, I trust them and they trust me.  We begin to work truly together.   We have each other’s backs and we are way less afraid of stating our mistakes – because there are always going to be mistakes, missed deadlines, forgotten items and things that take longer than expected.  We are all more at ease working through those types of issues together.  We have become more accountable to each other, thereby resolving issues quicker and with less emotional upset or fear and sharing the load when someone needs support. 
  • Perspective vs. Perception –Training my mind — How can I look at this differently?
    • Padma is so curious, open, compassionate.  A one-hour coaching call or visit can bring me to a place of calm and give me a better strategy for overcoming any conflicts I am experiencing. 
    • I leave with a new view and plan to experiment with! 
    • When I get stuck in a conflict that is just frustrating me and I cannot see a way out, she shows me how to look at things from different perspectives.  My mindset governs everything and sometimes I need that accountability to see how I am being, thinking and acting. 
    • Padma holds such a high degree of integrity and compassion that I never feel judged or wrong for any of my human patterns, reactions, or responses.  She mirrors to me that part of me that is truly courageous, intuitive, and loving. 
  • The Principle of Acceptance – why doesn’t everyone just do what I want them to do?!
    • I have learned to see all ways this shows up and how Padma has helped me truly see myself in this non-acceptance.  Contrast is there for a reason.
    • When I want things my way but there does not seem to big consequence to the project, can I just accept the different path?  Sometimes yes and sometimes no. The process is valuable and it feels freeing. 
    • When I get wrapped up in “following the rules (aka Process)”, can I talk about intention of both ways and come to a compromise or even just accept it will be outside the rules and let it be?  When we all feel heard and seen that is a way better outcome. 

The more I practice these lessons, the more success I have with my relationships at work. It translates to my personal life, too.  She often reminds me that if I truly embody one principle, I learn 10,000.  If you engage Padma as a coach,  you will have more success with your peers and leaders.  You will probably become the “go to” person because you seem to be able to handle it all.  I feel a sense of ease and accomplishment that was never there before.  I see time very differently now too.  I can do almost twice what I could do before just by eliminating ruminating thoughts and vacillation about what to do or what to say – fear.   Her work with me is worth 3 times what I have paid for this training.  This stuff I did not learn at home, in school or even in trainings at work.  She was trained very early in the ways of the mind and mindset and has practiced her whole life and been very successful in business and life.    Padma Shakti is the real deal.  You are going to want to engage Padma as investment in you and your company!

Sandra Clark, Project Manager
ARES Corporation, NASA JSC

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