Finding Your Way Back
Yesterday marked an important milestone for me. I facilitated a team session at a company I left 2.5 years ago.
They'd changed, I'd changed, but somewhere along the way there was also a sense of familiarity.
There's still that deep sense of caring – a culture that was all about getting stuff done whilst being there for each other. The team I was working with lived that throughout the day.
We focused on strengths all day. Questions like:
When are you at your best?
What do you appreciate about what each other brings?
What's unique about this team?
Their team lead, Mary, set the tone. A quiet sense of focus, professionalism, humanity, humour and approachability. You could say that was really the backbone of the team too. A diverse group of funny, caring, supportive people – who genuinely showed how much they meant to each other.
What happens when leadership creates space?
Here's what I noticed: this team had created the conditions for people to be brilliant. Not through complicated frameworks or performance theatrics, but through something much simpler and harder to replicate.
They'd built a space where people could:
Be themselves completely
Bring what's authentic without fear
Deliver brilliantly through their unique strengths
The kind of environment where someone feels safe to say "I'm struggling with this" and knows they'll get support, not judgement.
Why this felt like a milestone
It's been quite a journey getting back to this room.
The last three years have seen some of the highest highs and the lowest lows of my career. I've felt angry, powerless, incapable, and lost. But I've also learned that these feelings don't have to be permanent. With the right support of family, friends, and colleagues, there's always a way back.
This year, I've become the best version of myself. I work with brilliant people, I have flexibility and balance, I do meaningful and purposeful work. And I do that as the Director of my own business – Taggart People.
By taking that step and making it work, I found my way back to this group of lovely people. But I arrived happier, more grounded, and clearer about who I am and what I bring.
It all worked out. But not in the way I thought it would.
What I've learned about taking control back
You never regret taking ownership of your life back. Difficult things happen. To everyone. It's how we respond and bounce back that defines what comes next.
As I sat at my kitchen table in October 2024, saying "I can't do this anymore", I didn't know what I was going to do. But I knew I had to take that control for myself.
If you're carrying the weight right now – feeling like you're the one everyone looks to for answers whilst you're figuring it out as you go – here's what I wish someone had told me: that feeling of being stuck isn't permanent.
And you don't have to navigate it alone.
Finding clarity through purpose
Here I am, successfully leading a business with a clear purpose:
"To walk shoulder-to-shoulder with people, teams, and organisations who are stuck – and help them connect to a better future, together."
What happens when you get clear about your purpose? The path forward becomes less about perfection and more about connection. Less about having all the answers and more about asking the right questions.
If you're navigating your own moment of uncertainty – whether that's about your role, your team, or what comes next – maybe it's time for a conversation. Not about transformation or reinvention, but about finding your way back to what makes you feel alive and effective as a leader.
That's what real leadership development looks like.
Not becoming someone else, but becoming the best version of who you already are.
Want to explore what that might look like for you? Let's talk.
