In the Kickass Koach podcast episode dropped Monday, I share how determined action with guidance from experts was essential to my healing after a recent stroke.
For the newsletter I explore how poorly considered actions had significant consequences in two workplace experiences.
Fear is often the reason many fail to act boldly and in this week’s videos on Instagram and LinkedIn I offer a warning about falling prey to this in your career or business venture.
Taking action is essential to get anywhere. When we choose an experimental mindset we are better prepared to make the necessary adjustments in our journey to maximize our chances for success. Finally, in this post I share a story that exemplifies the power of experimentation in the walk to where we all want to be.
Action Impacts when Taken or Not
Action IS what literally makes the world go around. Movement and change are both givens. What we do with our action makes the difference.
While we choose when to act and when not to act, the choice carries consequences in both cases.
Action Impacts
In my corporate consulting and Executive Coaching work I have noticed how some leaders are paralyzed to take action most commonly after a loss. This fits with how our brain responds to feelings of threat. Interestingly another threat reaction is to make unwise and rash decisions. Ultimately the verdict seems to be that we need to do what is necessary to reduce the threat response to take both decisive and wise action.
Knowing our strengths, developing strong collaborative relationships and exercising clear and open listening skills in the assessment and evaluation stages will support the best actions. Unfortunately this takes time and many leaders have adopted that belief that decisive means quick to act leaving the assessment and evaluation components behind when it slows them down.
Precisely because action is so critical, we need to have processes to support developing options and assessing choices. Brain research also tells us that the more effortful, the more willpower needed to practice these processes, the more unlikely they will be used effectively. Furthermore, a growth mindset, that welcomes an experimental and open engagement is essential to mastering this skill set. Finally, we must adopt a big picture, long term view that is prepared to synthesize a variety of perspectives.
A story…
I completed my undergrad studies at University of Waterloo in the 80’s. Co-op was one of the unique draws to this innovative institution. It wasn’t my draw but I benefited none-the-less. I got great jobs back home every summer so I didn’t see the need for the financial benefits. Over time though, I observed the significant opportunities my friends had to experiment with their chosen fields.
After University I happily entered the workplace with deep conviction and solid problem solving and critical thinking skills. University had prepared me to engage and navigate many difficult situations. My summer jobs had given me insights into workplace cultures and how to navigate them. My lack of focused co-op experience kept me from seeing the many options I had. For two years I survived but failed to thrive. As I look back now I can see the lessons but in that time I was reactive.
I had to be fired for refusing to defer to my boss’s boss when I thought he was wrong to realize this wasn’t the right sector for me. I had to get sick to be willing to leave the next, more profitable work environment. Thankfully, an employer started to see my unique gifts and offered to sponsor me to return to school to complete my MBA, part-time. This was when I saw the enormous value of co-op schooling. Going to school while applying the lessons in real work experience offered immediate dividends. I curated more meaningful skills as I experimented with the tools and models I was learning in the classroom and in facilitated discussions at school.
Action Impacts, so Experiment
It makes sense to adopt an experimental approach. We reaming open to learning when we do. The threat that this opens though is uncertainty. It can be a difficult place for most people to remain for any length of time. It may be even more difficult for action-oriented leaders. This is a great reason to cultivate delight in curiosity.
Most organizations have established performance metrics. A performance metric is the way we measure how we are doing with regard to our goals. We sometimes refer to them as KPIs (key performance indicators) or KRA (key result areas). This makes us all feel like our actions mean something. They tend help us check in on our progress. For them to work long term though we need to regularly assess where it is we want to be so we recognize if the metrics we chose aren’t just creating progress but that the direction we are going is aligned.
Too often we become enamored with great feelings evoked by achieving the small goals we lose sight of the big picture. We are doing a lot but getting no where near our desired outcome. The experimental approach requires us to constantly keep the larger hypothesis we are testing front and centre and it holds us in a curious state more readily.
Story continued…
I am action oriented. I was quick and open to make the shift and welcome the learning opportunities presented. Fully engaged in applying my book learning to benefit my employer, I earned a lot of money. I was in my mid 20’s, having a great time, growing my career, investing in properties. I was ticking off all the metrics of success, at least as they were presented both in the climate of the 80’s and the business courses in which I was excelling. Until now, business hadn’t even been part of my life vision.
What was my ultimate goal. I lost sight of it. As many of us do, I forgot what I was working for. It wasn’t the last time I need to stop and take stock to figure out where I was and if I was heading in MY desired direction, toward my desired goal.
Prospective clients often say things to me like, “I am living someone else’s destiny” or “I don’t know how I got here but it is even more difficult to figure out how to get out of it.” That was how I felt at 27. Taking action in my life was easy. Making wise choices that resulted in getting to where I wanted to be was much more difficult. Since realizing this and making wholesale changes in my mindset, attitude and beliefs I have experimented with a variety of options. Each one has added to the next, creating learning and growth along the way. Some choices were better than I’d dreamed and some were duds but I was able to see the lessons and growth in each one.
Action Impacts – so Bank Your Impact (BYI) System
Action isn’t the final step in my BYI process. That would be short sighted. Every options or choice made must be assessed for the results or consequences it engenders. Without action though, all our work to understand our self and our desired direction our destination, is for naught. To get what we truly want in life we need to be willing to seek help and take risks. We also need to willing to question our choices and expand our options through healthy curiosity and a search for unique perspectives.
A healthy meaningful and full life is made possible with clarity about our values, beliefs, patterns and habits. Additionally, our quality of life is influenced and shaped by our unique blend of strengths and inclinations. Furthermore, a growth mindset and open-minded approach are foundations to sustaining this healthy sense of self.
The System
The Bank Your Impact (BYI) System is about both developing and embedding self-awareness. Furthermore, the benefits of expanded resilience, connections built on understanding the impact of belonging and an ability to bolster a professional and authentic presence are foundational. Perhaps more than the other two, developing a foundational resilience is critical to with standing that which moves us into burnout.
The current system incorporates 1:1 coaching, roundtable conversations; eventually I’ll add a neuro-social learning experience (currently only available in organizational contracts but will be added to the system for individual engagement in 2021).
My approach is based on the ICF (International Coaching Federation) standards. I’m meeting you (my clients) where you are, both as the coaching agreement begins, and in the moment that exists at the time of each conversation. Progress or growth is not a straight line. The ICA model is the framework for every conversation: Issue/Insight, Choice/Commitment, Action/Accountability. Over the past year I’ve been tightening the model to meet the needs of my clients.
Holding space to support my clients in:
- Developing meaningful insights
- Expanding/deepening perspective on those insights
- Building/designing a practice to try on new ways of being/seeing OR experiment for discovery
- Assessing progress, becoming agile in transfer of learning and application before developing additional insights
An organic experience
The experience is tailored around what you bring to each conversation, in my experience, there are common themes that arise including: self-awareness, mindfulness, mindset, communication, connections, and attitude. Self-awareness stands alone but is also a foundational theme. I have registered upwards of 40 sub-concepts that fit under each of these categories. Furthermore, I bring tools, skills and techniques to respond and guide our work together, informed by positive psychology, neuroscience, and management/leadership research.
Walk With Me, to Where You Want to Be
In April 2018, I was struck by, what felt like, a call of purpose; an insight of sorts. It inspired me to shift the focus of my practice. I’m now walking with 30 somethings. People who are at a pivotal spot in life and career. Whether THERE by age or spirit, I want to walk with people at this place in their life. This is a time in life when we are natural SEEKERS. We’re ready to do some self exploration & find the real meaning of our life? It is also a time when we are more likely to get stuck and make poor choices.
The research suggests people embrace their inner REBEL during their 20’s (the most rebellious after the toddler days in fact). If you are passive in your 20’s you will want to get curious about that too! Most of us slip quietly and comfortably though into ACCOMMODATOR in our 30’s. This documented pattern grabbed my attention and my mission was made clear. Moreover, I’m intent on resurfacing, or igniting, that inner rebel, whose perspective, now shaped with more experience, may offer insights many typically miss when insight and awareness matter most.
In June 2018 I took a course in story telling. I was intent on finding my “Big Why” to help me understand my purpose for shifting my practice. Ultimately, I landed on my story. It spans from my childhood, with a pivotal point in my early 20’s finally culminating in a significant career turning-point at the age of 37. This story revealed an unhealthy pattern while illuminating my new purpose. In fact, I feel motivated when remembering the moment of insight because this transition is difficult. Ultimately though, it adds meaning to my work. Listen below…
Feel like you’re living someone else’s destiny?
If that’s working for you, great. If it isn’t or it starts to be a problem, reach out. I welcome a conversation.
Willing to do the work to find more meaning?
With the skills to unpack the emotions and barriers and triggers and mindset challenges with the skills in my BYI system, participants begin to see the impact in their career and finally begin to discover what matters most to them. The bonus: they begin to see a path to get there. Join me…
My system is intended to be meaningful, relevant, accessible and affordable. With that in mind, there are many ways to engage with me. Below find THREE ways to get started, without spending a dime.
Walk with Me!
- REGISTERfor an ASK ROX RoundTable… TWO LIVE 50 minute engagements available at your desk or phone – the second Tuesday and the last Friday of every month – limited to 12 participants in each and FREE in 2019.
- BOOK a complimentary exploratory 1:1 conversation 20-30 minutes.
- SUBSCRIBE to my mailing list from my home page, receive an interactive exercise helping you cope with stress, and a weekly reflection.
In closing, I’d love to bring my work to your team or workplace, so:
- Book me to speak at your conference or to a group in your organization. My workshops on building resilience, improving workplace outcomes through relationships, and increasing performance are big hits!8