Overcoming Adversity and Rebounding from Workplace Mobbing Frank

Overcoming adversity and rebounding from workplace mobbing

Frank When Frank’s career and confidence were destroyed by a false accusation, he had to rebuild his personal brand, image and inner dialogue to rediscover the love of the game.

The Context When Frank got the chance to coach college basketball at his alma mater, it was a dream job. Two years in, his team was doing well, but he had to cut a few players, angering some students and parents who protested that he was picking favorites. Backlash evolved into allegations that his coaching style was in fact, antagonistic and inappropriate. Frank was put under investigation, sent to “charm school” for anger management and ultimately cleared twice by university administration, who reassured him that he if stayed quiet, they would support him and clear his name. After four years of negative press in the college paper, workplace bullying by colleagues and undermining by his coaching staff, Frank resigned from his position and college athletics altogether.

The Problem Leaving a vocation he had once cherished, Frank now had to navigate a new negative inner voice, a tarnished reputation and an uncertain career path and remind himself he’d done nothing to deserve this.

After leaving the university, he took on a recruitment position at a tech firm, quickly realizing he didn’t enjoy the start-up space. Despite the many players and supporters who had championed his coaching acumen and the fact the charges against him were dismissed twice, the workplace mobbing he endured had taken a toll on Frank’s health, family and outlook. He felt emotionally on edge and discouraged. In addition to his mental state, he suffered a fractured brand online; when someone Google’d his name, the results all pointed to the unfavorable media attention around his tenure at the university.

The Solution Lida’s proposed strategy to rebuild Frank’s outlook, confidence and reputation was twofold. First, they would tackle the inner personal critic and to deal with the external public perception. Second, Lida would focus on the online reputation repair on social media. Together, these approaches would support

Frank’s ability to envision what he wanted to pursue and work toward as he rebuilt his future.

The Process Lida and Frank talked about what the next chapter could look like and what his goals and aspirations were. Frank spoke about coaching, mentoring and his passion for inspiring young adults.

To work through the inner personal critic and deal with the external public perception, Frank had several fairly emotional coaching sessions in which he worked on separating fact from gossip — reminding himself that he had done nothing wrong and repairing the regret of not resisting when the administration instructed him to keep quiet.

Next was to focus on the online reputation repair on social media. Online, Frank had no presence except the negative articles. He had a dormant LinkedIn profile and no other social media accounts. Because Frank wanted to work with young people, he and Lida set up an Instagram account since that’s where his targeted age group participated. Using a carefully crafted approach, he started building an online presence. He retooled his LinkedIn profile to more effectively communicate his true values of servant leadership and the mentoring of young adults and athletes.

He began blogging, reposting like-minded leaders and creating his personal messages (videos) about servant leadership, resiliency and sportsmanship. Students and parents who had revered him as a coach and professionals who were inspired by his message began reaching out to him.

As Frank started pushing down the negative online searches, he continued to explore, articulate and galvanize his own personal values, which ignited his spirit and re-opened his love of coaching.

The Results When another coaching job opened up at a nearby university, Frank was ready to return to a career that had once burned him. He no longer felt beat up, embarrassed and abandoned and was able to effectively tell his story from a place of competency and passion. Frank returned to coaching with a school that has proven to very values-driven and encouraging.

Frank continues to blog and use Instagram to build his brand. He now stands tall and proud and looks forward to making a lasting impact in the lives of college athletes for a long time.