As another year ends and I focus on 2015, it is a reminder to reflect on what has inspired me this year, and decide on what resolutions can help me to “up my game” in the year ahead.
1. Get connected to nature every morning
Walking the dogs is the best start to my day. Being able to enjoy being out of doors, connecting with nature and getting some exercise I find refreshing, and a great way to get focused.
2. Ask better evaluation questions
I aspire to deliver excellence to my clients – be it in their coaching experience, how much they enjoy a motivational presentation or the quality of materials used in a training programme. That does not mean that everything has to be top quality or ‘gold plated’ but it does have to meet their needs. It can be easy to ask a simple question “did you enjoy that?’ or “was it good?” but it more difficult to ask questions that really cause the client to reflect and to respond with valuable feedback. My aim in 2015 is to ask better questions to help clients’ evaluate their experience.
3. What am I going to stop doing?
One of the first questions I often ask coaching clients before they begin an assignment is what are you going to stop doing in order to….make time for coaching etc.? Because its easy to make commitments for a lot of new things, its harder to stop doing things we have always done. I have also found this year that the time of great benefit to me has been the time to think and reflect. So I am going to ask myself this question before taking on lots of new commitments for 2015.
4. Use my resources more effectively
Over the years I have been many training courses, and learned a lot of things by reading books. But how much of that learning do I remember and apply? So 2015 is the year to maximise my resources, and remember what I may have forgotten! For example, one lady had to complete a complex project by a particular deadline, was feeling stressed by it. She did not believe she would succeed. During the coaching we explored times in her past when she had managed to succeed in achieving projects in a similar way. She realised that getting her family organised for a two week holiday or arranging Christmas had required similar skills and she had accomplished those things. But she had not translated her personal experience into a work context. So with all that time I will have freed up by following resolution no3 above, I will be able to review my learning from previous years!
5. Further explore my strengths
I recently read an interesting book on maximising strengths and it reminded me how vital it is to play to what you are good at and what you enjoy. So I aim to continue to explore what my areas of strength are, and how they can be of benefit to me at work, and in my personal life.
