The one thing most people forget to consider in goal setting and New Year resolutions

Are YOU ready?

The reason we don’t achieve goals is often because they aren’t important enough for us to commit to them, or because we have some pattern of behaviour that prevents us from achieving them.

So, before you ‘fall off the wagon’ with your New Year goals I thought I’d share some of the areas you may want to explore before you fall prey to some of your unconscious patterns.

Your brain is fundamentally lazy and will follow the path of least resistance and our unconscious patterns are so ingrained that they work on autopilot. We (our brain) don’t even have to think about them. However, they are usually triggered by an event or situation. Think about your morning routine you don’t really think too much about what you’re doing because your pattern (routine) is fully embodied and you are pretty much operating on autopilot.

This is just one example and there will be many more throughout your day, so I put together some questions to hopefully prevent you from sabotaging your future achievements.

Spotting potential obstacles – 5 questions to accelerate your success 

1) What is your perceptions of your goal? Do you think this will be easy of hard? Is it going to be fun? On a scale of 1 – 10 how much do you want it where 10 is high and one is low.

If you consider your goal difficult to achieve break it down so it appears more manageable. How can you make it more playful?

2) What excuse are you making about getting started, or staying on track? Some excuses might be:

• I’m not quite ready yet, I need x, y or z in place before I can make a start.
• I haven’t found the time to fit this in/make it happen.
• Someone else hasn’t given you what you need yet.

If you find you are making excuses the chances are it’s not important enough for you, or you’ve hit another obstacle. In which case read on…

3) What sabotage patterns are you running? Here are just a few examples:

• Keeping busy so you don’t have time.
• Agreeing to do things for others without considering the impact to your own commitments.
• Relying on others to make things happen for you.
• Following your ‘old’ routines/patterns…

 What is triggering this behaviour? Pay attention to what, where, when this is triggered. Is it a particular thought you have that is conflicting with where you want to get to (your goal) or how you feel at a particular moment in time, or when you are in a certain place or with a particular group of people.

Once you’ve identified the trigger, what can you do to avoid these situations or think differently about them?

It may take you some time to identify the trigger, particularly if it’s one of your unconscious patterns, and I’d encourage you to stick with it. The more aware you become of what you’re doing automatically the more you are likely to change.

4) What changes do you need to make either in your self, or your environment in order to ensure you achieve your goal in the long term? (See your answers to the questions above).

5) What support do you need to achieve your goal? We all need encouragement and support to keep going, who can you ask for support to ensure you stay accountable? Who may be able to join you? How can you make it more fun?

When we set goals, or intentions, or New Year resolutions we are aiming for a future that we don’t yet have and there will always be an internal battle between your present self and your future self.

Staying ‘on track’ requires self-discipline, a muscle that needs to be exercised regularly. It’s easy to forget what you are aiming for when your present self is here and now, which is why identifying your own self-imposed obstacles can make a difference.

"The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them."

Jim Rohn

Change your Mind

Have you ever wondered what is going on inside your head?

Do you ever stop and listen to what’s going on inside your head?

Have you ever wondered who those voices are inside your head?

If you have then I’m hoping this article will help, even if it’s only in a small way.

How we think affects the way we feel, which in turn affects the way we behave. 

Consider a time when you were excited or happy and notice how you felt and how you behaved. Do you remember what you were actually thinking at the time?

Now consider a time when you were frustrated or irritated and notice how you felt and acted.  How were you talking to yourself at this point?

My guess is the way you looked, the way you sat and the tone of the voices in your head were different in both cases.

• What if it was possible to begin to make sense of these voices?
• What if it was possible to even quieten these voices?

You can!

All that is required is an investment of your time and a commitment to change.

I work with two models that allow you to do just this.

The first is a Creating your Future™ process which allows you to change limiting thought patterns and beliefs and set compelling goals to achieve.

The second is using the PMAI archetypal model to understand the essence of who you are, your identity, and what motivates you. This model will also allow you to put an archetypal name to those voices in your head and allow you to make sense of them.

Each of these help you get greater clarity about what may be holding you back and what you can do to move forward quickly and effortlessly.

If you’d like to know more simply email me and I’ll set up a call to discuss the opportunities and possibilities available you.

"The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence." 

Confucius

Are you a Change Manager or Change Enabler?

Last week I (with a colleague) presented at the International Coach Federations

UK event: Inspiring Coaching - the next 20 years.

The title of our session was “Harnessing the Dynamics of the Future’ and in it we referenced a couple of reports PWC 5 Global Megatrends, and the CIPD Megatrends – The trends shaping work and working lives.

The purpose of the session was to raise awareness of the huge shifts taking place globally and then reflect on what that means for us as leaders, because we are ALL leaders.

So my invitation is for you to do the same and feel free to read the reports in full, but for now here are the key themes:

• Economic power shifts are taking place and the gap is widening
• Technological breakthroughs are occurring with greater speed and less costs
• Global resource shifts – oil and gas reserves are depleting
• Changing demographics, there is now greater diversity in the workplace, a better educated global population and more people moving to live in cities.

The pace of change is increasing and most organisations are not changing at the same pace!

As a leader how are you preparing yourself to work in a world that is becoming more agile, complex and ambiguous?

Are you thinking about creating an agile organisation with a flexible, responsive structure to the management and conduct of work?

 

One thing is for sure the future requires a different way of leading, one that enables others to be more agile and responsive rather than manage others.

Which are you?

If not sure of the distinctions, use this rather quick and dirty checklist to do a little self-assessment.

  

Change Managers

1. Initiate change work to the plan where almost everything is prescribed
2. Invite only those of a certain grade to the table to problem solve
3. Manage change through a project office
4. Communicate major changes through a managed timetable with carefully honed scripts
5. Bring back any deviations from the norm back in line
6. Manage based on past experience and what has proven to work
7. Work through the hierarchy 

Change Enablers

1. Create conversations that generate problem-solving activity
2. Look for internal activist who want to be involved and have the courage to challenge the status quo
3. Invite and encourage commitment by asking people to get involved in the how of things from the front line not top down
4. Discard the notion of the right way
5. Learn as you go
6. Experiment
7. Encourage creative thinking

These two lists are not meant to be definitive. They are presented to initiate some reflection on how you are leading change currently, and hopefully, consider how you may adapt to be more enabling. Leading by harnessing the energies of those around you.

Making real change is a challenge for most of us – just think of all New Year resolutions that lapse after a very short period of time.

What one thing can you do to ensure the changes you’re leading come to fruition?

"To design the future effectively, you must first let go of your past."  


Charles J. Givens

My Top 10 Favourite Quotes on Change

I decided to do something a little different this week and share with you my top 10 favourite quotes on change and why I think they are relevant.

I hope they have some meaning for you too!

'Challenges are what make life interesting, overcoming them is what makes them meaningful.’
Joshua J. Marine

All change, whether organisational or personal, involves a challenge of some degree. That challenge may be how you influence others, how you overcome resistance, how you do more with less….. The important thing to remember is what you learn in the process that makes you a better manager, leader, person. 

‘You gain strength, courage, and confidence with every experience in which you look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot.’

Eleanor Roosevelt

It is easy to back away from things you don’t know how to do, or that seem overwhelming, or that we haven’t done before. Any growth, and I see change as growth, requires you to face up to your own fears, often they aren’t as scary as you make them out to be. What you learn in the process always feeds your self-esteem and self-confidence – so go for it!

‘To get others to come into our ways of thinking, we must go over to theirs; and it is necessary to follow, in order to lead.'
William Hazlitt

So often, in change scenarios, there is a sense of ‘pushing people’ to do something new and different with a bit of a one size fits all method of communicating.

If only we put ourselves in an others shoes. If you can find a way to understand what is going on from the others perspective you can tailor your message in a way that makes them feel heard and understood. They are then less likely to resist and certainly more open and engaged.

You may not always be the best person to lead on something, it may be one of your subordinates, or a peer. We all have to follow at some point and you can always learn from this position.

‘Whatever the mind can conceive and believe the mind will achieve.’

Napoleon Hill

Be open-minded. You are more likely to see possibilities and find alternative solutions. When you begin to think it can’t be done, sure enough you’ll find it can’t!

'Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right.' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.'

George Herbert

I have never been involved in a change programme where the time is just right, or you have all the resources you need. Starting any change from this place can seem a little scary and maybe daunting and I’m a firm believer in taking a step forward. The moment you start moving circumstances change and you can then adapt along the way.

'One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.'

Abraham Maslow

Change brings transitions that will often require you to let go of things that no longer work. This may be people, processes, parts of your business, or systems. You have to ‘let go’ of those things that no longer serve you to provide space for the new to emerge.  

It is easy to hold on to the things we know, they provide us with a sense of comfort.Moving forward into the unknown can evoke fear and resistance, take comfort from this as it's a sign you are heading in the right direction. 

'Nothing is terminal. Everything is transitional. What looks like the end of the road will turn out to be a bend.'

Robert Schuller

You may think you have arrived at the end of your change programme, systems implementation or new product development but there is always work to be done. You will be able to slow down for a little while and catch your breath. Then consider the fine-tuning you identified, or additional improvements and adaptations required to meet customer needs. Change is constant.

'The biggest problem with communication is 
the illusion that it has been accomplished'

George Bernard Shaw 

You can never communicate enough. Communicate, communicate, communicate!! To groups, one to one, face to face, in writing, via the internet etc.

'If one desires a change, one must be that change before that change can take place.'

Gita Bellin

As a leader you have to be prepared to model what you are asking others to do and be congruent about it.

'To design the future effectively, you must first let go of your past.'  


Charles J. Givens

We can often limit ourselves with our thinking, relying on past experiences and beliefs we have. This can actually be a block to creating the ideal solution and you could inadvertently recreate existing problems. Sometimes you need to get out of your own way and be creative to see what could be possible.  

I hope some of these have resonated with you and it would be great to hear any of your own stories or favourite quotes around change, so please share.

I look forward to hearing from you.

What is your Pruning Practice?

As we are now in the middle of autumn, and most of the trees have lost their leaves, I can actually ‘see the wood from the trees’ in my garden. I have a much clearer picture of what needs to be pruned back to allow more space for new growth, or where there is dead wood that is no longer serving a purpose.

Now I know that pruning in the garden doesn’t happen once a year, it really depends on the plants I have at any one time. However, autumn is the time when I can take a more strategic look at what needs attention so I can plan for next year and decide what areas I want to change and what I want to create.

Through this process my garden becomes an ever-evolving space and I’ve learned over the years which plants love their position and thrive and which positions in the garden need a certain type of plant.

It’s been more a process of trial and error than strategic planning and when I’ve neglected it it’s required a lot more work from me to get it back to be ‘fit for purpose’.

And the relevance to business is what I hear you ask?

How often do you as a leader take time out to look at your business or your team to reflect on what is no longer adding value?

Is it:

Monthly,

Quarterly,

Annually, or

Never?

Proactive Change

Many organisations and teams plan ahead. Usually this is around what activities are required to deliver your targets. Rarely is it about stopping things because they no longer add value.

I know of few organisations that change proactively, and as a consequence there is a mismatch between what is happening internally and the pace of change externally. The result is that when something does need to change it requires some form of change programme that takes more time, more resources and often a degree of pain.

Consider for a moment how different this would be if somehow we’d manage to evolve with the environment? What if we had a regular pruning practice?

Here are the benefits I see and the action you can take

Regular review of what’s working to achieve your goals

Consider:

• What is thriving and what do you need to do to maintain this? Does it need feeding? Regular pruning?
• What needs support to grow and flourish? Do you need to add some structure or additional resource to help it on its way?
• What needs digging up or pruning to allow space for something of greater value to grow?

An opportunity to consider what’s missing

Ask yourself:

• Where are you lacking creativity?
• Where is there under performance?
• Is there a clear path laid out?
• Do you have the right skill set available?

Weeding

A weed is anything that you no longer want. From an organisational perspective what behaviours are you noticing that do not support the culture you are wanting? What systems or processes are no longer delivering what you need? What teams or individuals are no longer performing?

A time for some self-reflection

Having considered all of the above some questions you may want to ask yourself are:

• What am I doing that is supporting this?
• What am I creating?
• What am I tolerating?
• What do I want to be new/different?

As a leader what action do you need to take to start a regular pruning practice?

I love to hear your thoughts so feel free to email me at: dawn@aurora4success.co.uk.

“Today may be the enemy of your tomorrows.”

Dr. Henry Cloud

Riding the Waves of Change – 3 Coping Strategies

We all know that change is ever present in our work and daily lives and it may

feel like there is very little restpite between one change piece and another. The more senior you are in an organisation the more frequent the waves occur it’s just the scale that may be different.

The art and skill for us all is how to best manage this ‘ride’ with relative ease.

Sadly, there is no silver bullet. If only……. There is, however, some things we can all do to manage ourselves as we address each day. If you can manage yourself you will be in an even better position to manage what is happening around you.

Here are my top 3 tips:

Breathe

Breathing is something we all take for granted. It happens automatically. However, when we are ‘stressed’ or under pressure it’s one of the first things that will change. It becomes shallower and higher up in our chest.

So, take a deep breath. In fact you may need to take several deep breaths and breath from your diaphragm. This helps you slow down and think a bit more clearly and be more present in the moment.

Observe

Lift your head up. This may sound a little strange, but I see so many people walking around looking at the floor ahead of them, or these days walking a reading their texts! You can’t observe what’s happening around you when you are looking down.

As a leader your role is to set direction and lead people in that direction.

Lifting your head up (literally and metaphorically) allows you to make sure you are heading in the right direction and can also see what is coming your way. Is the sea calm ahead or do you need to prepare for a storm? There may be times when you need to adjust your route and with your head raised you can see which route may be more appropriate.

Observing the landscape will also give you a better handle on how your people are performing:

• Who around you is coping and open to the change? How can you best utilise them?

• Who is the most vulnerable and how are they coping?

• Who is the most emotional and what exactly are they emotional about?Do you have people in the optimum position?

Being a great observer allows you to see what is actually happening and adapt your approach accordingly.

Be Open

When I talk about being open I mean be open on three levels:

1. Have an open mind – be open to others ideas and ways of doing things. Don’t try and predict what will happen next. 
2. Be open about what you think and feel – this may mean you saying that you don’t have an answer, that you’ve made a mistake as well as how motivated, excited or disappointed you might feel. 
3. By open physically – this links to lifting your head, as lifting your head will help you appear more open and approachable. In addition, consider how you are sitting or standing. Are you slouched? If you are, to others you won’t look open to ideas or approachable.  Be grounded and centred and face the direction of travel with confidence. People are more likely to follow you this way. 

Try them out. See how you get on and let me know how they work for you.

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."

Buddha

Where is Your Leadership Reinforcing Unhelpful Organisational Habits and Preventing Change?

We all know, or at least I hope we do. That it’s not the organisation that changes but the people who are in them who change. That’s either because the people change their behaviour or they leave and are replaced with new team members who have a better ‘fit’.

Creatures of Habit

We are all creatures of habit, which is why implementing anything new can be a challenge. As human beings we will always revert to our established way of doing things. Unless we make a conscious effort to change and practice something new, new habits are not built.

Our habits are our conditioned autopilot and whilst we may know what these are for ourselves are we consciously aware of what these are with in the organisation.

What habits are there in your organisation that as a leader you perpetuate?

Meetings are often the easiest place to start observing organisational habits:

Do you always have meetings with start with small talk before you get into the agenda?  

Is it OK for people to turn up late?

Is there a formal agenda and do you stick to it?

Do you set a time limit for the meeting?

Other habits may be:

When something goes wrong you look for someone to blame.

All new ideas are listened to and presented to a committee.

Elements of the dress code are not enforced.

The question when introducing something new is to decide which current habits are helpful and which are disruptive.

Signposting Change

What I see most organisations doing if they want a change in behaviour is make a statement that is generic such as, more customer focussed, or celebrate success, or value our people more, or more efficient…

This is great for pointing out the direction of travel, however what people need is more specific tangible instructions on what to do differently.

You may have the best strategy in the world, but if you haven’t considered the behaviour(s) that are required to support it you may not succeed.

Worse still if those behaviours are not present in your organisation, you can be sure the strategy will fail.

Building new Habits

If you are in a position where you are about to lead a change project or are about to implement something new here are 3 steps to take:

1. Identify the 5 most important routines (habits) that will enable the strategy to succeed? Get really specific about what these need to look like.
2. Consider what current organisational habits will support you and identify those that will limit you.
3. Then identify what specifically needs to change so you can clearly direct people on what is required.

I want to stress here this is about keeping things simple. If it’s over complicated you’re going to have trouble communicating with clarity. If there are too many changes for people to focus on behaviourally they’ll either give up or choose one that is less important for you and the change initiative.  

If you are struggling to get your head around this feel free to give me a call.

I can also recommend a great book on change management: Switch, by Chip and Dan Heath. They also have a very good website: www.switchthebook.com/resources

 

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”

Peter Drucker

The One Thing Every Leader Needs to Consider when Leading Change

It’s some years since I actually led a change programme, however I have worked with many leaders in a coach/mentor capacity since then. Often the challenges facing them are around coordinating stakeholders, communicating appropriately, engaging others and grappling with what seems complex.

All of these are critical to success and I still find it staggering to read that a large percentage of change projects still fail, in that they either over run, over spend or fail to deliver the benefits promised.

What is always interesting is that any conversation I have had with leaders starts from the perspective of them looking out at the change initiative – the task and the people involved.

I don’t think I have ever heard any one start with the question of themselves…

• How to I need to be to lead and manage this?
• How do I need to adapt?
• What is my stretch going to be in this? 

Granted, those leading change initiatives are usually chosen because they have the skills and expertise, and I still think this is an important question.

As the leader part of your role is to model exactly what you expect from others and as change programmes can often be highly charged this role model challenge is heightened.

The person with the greatest flexibility will have the greatest influence.

So… my one thing for leaders to consider is how will you adapt.

Adaptability is crucial to survival. You just have to look at Charles Darwin’s research to see it is those animals that adapt to the changes around them that survive.

Learning how to lead is a life long journey not a one off course or leadership programme.

In this spirit of continuous learning, next time you are leading or even supporting a change programme ask yourself how you need to adapt?

What fine-tuning is required in your own behaviour?

“In the long history of humankind (and animal king too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”

Charles Darwin

You are what you practice. What are you practicing??

How many of you have been on a training course or leadership programme and walked away with lots of new ‘stuff’ to put into practice?

How many of you actually then follow through with this?

In my experience many people go back into the workplace with good intentions and for many reasons these good intentions fall by the wayside.

I have been coaching now for over 11 years professionally and one of the many things I have learned is that you can’t bring about new ways of being with out practice. In fact we are all practicing things everyday – we are what we practice; how we walk into the office, how we answer our phone, how we take our coffee, how we read emails, how we organise our work. These are all practices we do largely unconsciously.

So, as a leader what are you practicing day in day out?

Do these practices support your own goals and ambitions?

Are there new things you need to practice to develop some different behaviours or to take new actions?

Hardwiring

Many of the things we do are unconscious and have been hardwired in our brains and our body through repetition over x number of years. They are therefore automatic.

Consider the first time you learned to ride a bike vs. now (assuming you learned to ride a bike). It may have been years since you last rode a bike and if you were to get on one now you probably wouldn’t have to think about it much.

From a leadership perspective what practices do you need to be more conscious of to best support your goals? This may be looking at what you are already good at and taking it to the next level. It may be a behaviour that you know currently gets in the way; such as becoming irritated when you are interrupted.

it may be something new that you need to start doing and haven’t done before such as lead a strategic change programme.

Whatever it is you decide to practice you are building a new ‘habit’ that requires new wiring, so it will take time.

Starting a Practice

I’ve put together some simple steps for you to follow to develop your own practices that I hope you find useful:

1.    Focus on one thing: Consider just one thing that you want to adapt. This may simply be stopping something you say or do, changing your internal dialogue, focussing on how you breath, giving yourself 5 minutes at the start of everyday to be clear on your priorities.

2.    Bite size chunks: Whatever you choose make it manageable. What will be enough to take you out of your comfort zone and not stress you out. What exactly are you going to adapt?

3.    Practice: Determine how often you are going to practice. What you choose will depend on your given ‘topic’ so it may be something you do several times a day for example: slowing down the speed at which you speak; or once a day - giving yourself 5 minutes at the start of every day to set very clear priorities for the day. Whatever you do COMMIT and be comfortable with taking imperfect action. After all this is a learning process.

4.    Reflect: After each practice reflect. how is it going/ What was easy? What was less easy? What was the outcome? Is the outcome what you wanted?

5.    Adjust: What if anything do you need to adapt? What will help you get a better result? Do you need to change the frequency of your practice? What can you do to make it a new ‘habit’?

6.    Celebrate: Acknowledge the progress you have made. If you forget to practice be kind to yourself. Your aiming to do something you haven’t done before so take it one step at a time.

Continuous Improvement 

The whole idea of practice is that you become the best version of you that you are and go on to achieve your aspirations. My advice is always to practice when you don’t need it. All the best performers be they athletes, musicians, dancers, actors, practice outside of the ‘main event’ so they can be at there best when they need to.

By engaging in regular practices yourself you will continue to make improvements and be the best that you can be.

"I’ve always considered myself to be just average talent and what I have is a ridiculous insane obsessiveness for practice and preparation."

Will Smith