Dear ,

 

 

The break was occupied with wrapping up one of the largest client projects I've yet done, attending to family things and (see below for more on this!) a significant move. The project finished encouragingly with my client - a world-leading organisation - delighted with a new strategy and vision which is already beginning to bear fruit for them.

 

So, as per the Easter installment, this feels like a time for fresh starts at work. Wrapping up a large project means I have some capacity for new client work (although it is filling up...) so feel free to get in touch or put me in touch over the next couple of weeks with anyone you know who might benefit from a conversation about working more effectively. I also have more capacity to focus on developing new material in collaboration with my clients, my readers and others. Watch this space for some upcoming exciting news about ONION. 

 

Finally, it's been great to get so much positive feedback on "To Be Clear...", one great way of expressing that is to pass the newsletter on to others and encourage them to sign up. It's been great to see readers grow organically over the past few months and it would be great to connect with and provide a sip of regular coaching clarity to even more people.

 

After that longer than usual introduction, this week's issue offers a key way we can all develop and grow at work as well some perspective on your professional perspective.

 

 

 

A big part of my role as a coach is to help my clients - whether they're an individual, a team or a whole organisation - become more aware of how they function at work and, in so doing, choose to take more effective action which helps them to make better decisions. The first part of that - raising awareness - means learning how to notice more effectively - whether that's noticing patterns and unspoken assumptions, reactions to situations and people, how they work and who they are at work, or simply noticing what is going on right now. 

 

I think I've quoted him before but the renowned novelist, James Baldwin, writes, "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced” - and learning to notice more effectively is part of that process of positive progress and change.

 

Most of my clients are pretty successful and incredibly busy, so stopping to notice - or even learning to notice on the fly - requires practice which our meetings together provide. When a client says to me, "I/ we've never noticed that before...", I know that we're at a positive and fruitful turning point in their progress. 

 

I've been reminded of this recently as I've continued my CPD study in Gestalt theory. Although I'm by no means a pure Gestalt practitioner, Gestalt's emphasis on "the what is" has definitely informed my coaching approach.**

 

What would stop you taking the time to notice more intentionally at work this week? Busyness is no barrier, in fact it gives you more to notice! Whether, you're in a new place or a familiar one at work, maybe try once a day over the next week to intentionally stop and notice something at work you've never noticed before - in your environment, in the way you interact with a colleague, in your physicality with or your unspoken responses to people and situations. Just notice it, without judgement. We'll talk about how awareness turns into action another time but, for now, give yourself the present of the present by giving yourself permission to stop and notice. It can be for thirty seconds or for five minutes but try it and see what happens.  

 

If you'd like to develop your noticing and you're not so into books on Gestalt theory and practice***, this short New York Times article is a good way in or may I recommend The Year I Stopped to Notice by Miranda Keeling (see above)? It's a lovely book of illustrated observations that will inspire anyone who reads it to pay more attention to what's around them. In her introduction to the book, the author writes, "Days can feel long, and years fast. Our lives are full, yet at the end of the day, when someone asks us what we did, we can barely remember." Learning to notice more effectively helps us positively change that pattern in the place where we spend most of our time - our work - and that is what makes it such a worthwhile pursuit.

 

Next up a question of perspective which could make a difference to your work.