What used to work isn’t working now

The same effort doesn’t seem to produce the same results.

Things that once moved cleanly now take more work. Decisions that used to resolve start looping back. Problems reappear in slightly different forms. You find yourself revisiting ground that feels like it should already be settled.

This often follows a change. A new role. More scope. Different expectations. Growth. Sometimes it comes after success rather than difficulty. The situation becomes more complex, while the approach stays largely the same.

Methods that previously made sense and worked well now feel less reliable. Progress slows. Outcomes become harder to predict. Increasing effort doesn’t consistently restore traction.

It’s tempting to respond by tightening control or pushing harder. That can help briefly, but it usually adds strain rather than momentum. The issue isn’t effort. It’s that the approach no longer fits the situation as it now is.

Coaching here creates enough distance to see the situation as a whole rather than from inside the effort to manage it. That distance makes it easier to notice what has changed, what the current approach is optimised for, and where the mismatch now sits.

The aim isn’t to abandon what worked before, but to reshape it so effort once again translates into progress.