Leadership Whackamole

If leadership feels relentless right now, coaching may not remove the challenges but it can change your relationship with them.

I was talking with a client recently and we noticed a familiar pattern. Every time they resolved one challenge, another appeared. Sometimes two. Often something that no-one could not have predicted.

Leadership can be intellectual and emotional whackamole.

I recognised it immediately, I remember leading teams and thinking that once this issue was sorted, things would settle but they rarely did. One problem resolved and the system shifted - new dynamics emerged - new tensions surfaced. It took me time to accept that this is not a flaw in leadership, it is the reality of it.

Many leaders come to coaching feeling quietly worn down by this cycle and assume they should be better at preventing it by now. Be more experienced or in more control and coaching helps to reframe that belief.

Leadership is not about clearing problems away, it is about staying steady while complexity keeps moving. Coaching creates space to step back, notice patterns and separate what is actually happening from the story you are telling yourself about it and that shift alone restores energy.

In coaching conversations, leaders stop asking “how do I make this stop” and start asking “how do I meet this differently”. With more choice and more perspective and less self-judgement. That is where confidence grows.

The challenges do not disappear, but leaders stop taking them as personal verdicts. They begin to trust their capacity to respond rather than react, stay hopeful without needing things to be calm.

That is not fixing whackamole. It is learning how to play the game with steadier hands.

If you are ready to feel more grounded in the middle of it all, let’s talk www.mentecoaching.com

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