We’re half way through the year! It’s time to take stock, adjust course as required. Here is a simple framework for leadership reflection.
Reflection is an essential leadership practice
BE: Quality of Energy
To take stock, I always start with Energy. If this is sluggish, the entire system is weak. Here are the reflection questions around energy:
Energy: Overall, how was my energy day to day? How would I describe it? How would I rate it on a scale of 1-10?
Habits: What habits did I track? How successful was I in sticking to my commitments to these? What got in the way? What worked? What needs to change? What change to my environment can I make to encourage consistent better choices? (e.g. to focus on drinking more water I have my water bottle on my desk, top off, ready for drinking)
Commitments: Have my choices added energy to my experience or detracted from it? What are energy boosters? What are energy drainers? What do I need to add? What do I need to scale back or ditch?
Leadership effectiveness needs solid thinking
THINK: Depth of thinking
I love to work with leaders on depth of thinking. Helping leaders see in layers and systems is crucial for being able to make wise and compassionate decisions.
Learning: What new insights have I gained for my leadership practice? What experiments did I run? What were the results? How have I applied those insights?
Reading: What books have I read that helped me to develop new insights and strategies? Who did I share these with? How have I applied what I learned?
Self knowledge: What have I learned about myself? Who did I ask for feedback? What insights were useful for me? What aspect of myself do I wish to develop more of? Which aspects do I want to let go of? Where can I be more kind to myself?
What we actually do determines our leadership effectiveness
DO: Effectiveness of Action
This is where the rubber hits the road. Did we actually get the results we intended?
Results: What were my measures of success? How am I tracking against these? Were my expectations reasonable? What do I need to adjust?
Inputs: Where am I focusing my attention each day? What distractions are getting in my way of performing better? Is there anything I should be delegating? What do I need to STOP doing? START doing? KEEP doing?
Outcomes: What am I proud of? How am I better now than six months ago? A year ago? Who have I helped? How? What am I grateful for? What’s fabulous about where I am, right now?
