INsight/ Stop Start Continue
Photo by Bogamil Mihaylov on Unsplash.
Manila, 20 December 2023 — Time to reflect and start a new leadership challenge.
Story
It happened this week. As we near the end of the year, I was reminded of one simple and proven way to prepare for the new year, by asking what we should stop doing, start doing, and continue doing. We asked ourselves this question in our Grow3Leaders community of practice, and I am also applying it to my work and personal life.
Beyond what we should stop doing, it’s a good reminder to pause our busyness and create precious moments for reflection. Over the past week, several colleagues have shared with me the three words they chose to reflect the ‘Best of 2023.’ With some explanation of course.
For me, those three words were Positivity, Teams, and Collaboration. Even more than in previous years, I came face to face with the invigorating power of positivity and I realized anew how contagious the impacts of positivity are. I also witnessed in many workplace situations how contagious a deficit of positivity is.
Challenge
As a leadership coach, I avoid telling people what to do. In the right circumstances, however, I’m happy to share some of my experiences, as I do in these weekly leadership insights. Let me give that another go in the context of what we might stop, start, and continue doing as the new year beckons.
What to stop doing? First, I would stop making New Year’s resolutions. The research shows that they usually fall by the wayside after a few weeks. There are much better alternatives that require a bit more work that’s well worth the effort. That would involve, for example, using your strengths to work on your leadership vision, as we do together in Grow3Leaders during the month of January.
What to start doing? In my experience—and backed by research—what works extremely well is to take on a new leadership challenge, after giving that some thought and consulting someone you trust, like your coach or mentor. What I thoroughly enjoyed doing this week is celebrating the amazing accomplishments of leaders who took on a new challenge a year ago. I’m proud of them.
Question
What to continue doing? What comes to mind from my coaching experiences this year is the power of building leadership habits and showing up more frequently with the other 11 effective leadership behaviors we practice in the Grow3Leaders community.
Teams and collaboration were my second and third words to mark the ‘Best of 2023.’ Besides coaching corporate teams on the power of positivity, and teams of emerging leaders on leadership behaviors, I also witnessed the power of teams in the Grow3Leaders community, where we call them Collabs.
If you are looking for a leadership challenge to take on, we have one that you might consider. The Crossgen Challenge involves driving a positive change in your workplace in just 10 weeks, working together with three colleagues you invite to form a cross-generational Collab. We kick off on January 8th and this week you can still benefit from our Early Bird offer.
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