Dear , Ciao and welcome from Milan to this slightly longer, slightly unusual,
jam-packed edition of "To Be Clear..." - a refreshing sip of regular coaching clarity in your inbox where I share a couple of brief ideas which I hope that you can apply in your work life. As we enter this last stretch of the year, many of my clients are in a process of planning ahead for next year. I'm sure it's the same for many of you and so I've decided to create something new and a bit different for readers of "To Be Clear..." as well as your friends and colleagues - a one-off ONION® Review & Renew for 2025 session which you can do as an individual or as part of a group.
It's a unique and time limited opportunity to invest an hour or so to make a change to the way you approach 2025 and beyond. There are a couple of options available and you can click on the button below now for more information, or, if you'd prefer, keep reading
and there's a reminder at the end.
This issue addresses one metric and one tool to help you to get clearer at work as you close out 2024 and prepare to start 2025 in the best possible way.
Like millions of people, I watched the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games back in the summer, especially the blue ribbon track events. One highlight was the commentary of
Michael Johnson. As I listened to Johnson, a four-time
Olympic gold medallist, speak with his customary authority, humility and insight, I noticed a surprising metric he used a lot which had nothing to do with times, technique, personal bests or world records. I then noticed how many of the athletes who were interviewed also used this metric, regardless of how many medals they had won. That metric was whether or not the athlete in question had succeeded in running their own race. A gold medallist being congratulated on a PB would say say how thrilled they were with the medal or PB but then might add, "What I'm most pleased about is that I ran my own race." It was a phrase that came up time and time again and it made me think. If a 200m Olympic sprinter spent the entire race looking over her shoulder, focussed on another athlete’s technique or with her eyes on the big screen rather than the finish line, she would not get very far. If a 1500m runner decided to wholesale
adopt the technique of a 100m sprinter with a different physique and objectives, he would have a deeply frustrating race. It turns out that, as the starting gun goes, and even more so as you keep going, one of the biggest challenges if you're an athlete is to run your own race - the race which you came to run.
I’ve been thinking a bit about how this principle applies as I coach clients. To run your own race in your work or business is to focus on the desired Outcome you’re trying to achieve without being unhelpfully distracted,
deluded or disheartened by the actions, agendas or perception of others. I help my clients to recognise and to align who they are and what they do best with how they most effectively achieve their desired Outcome because the only way to achieve sustainable success is by running your own race. Running your own race doesn't mean that you don't consider, listen to, collaborate with or learn from others. It's not about ignoring the broader context. It's not about being arrogant or a lone wolf or an outlying team for the sake of it. After all, pretty much every one of those Olympic and Paralympic athletes has a coach, studies video footage of their competitors, trains
with other athletes and thinks about and adapts to the conditions in which they are running.
What running your own race does mean is that, when it comes to your work or business, you are not so focussed on the actions, agendas, perception, circumstances and even advice of others that you fail to move forward in your own way and on your own terms, running the race you came to run.
It means, as per previous issues of "To Be Clear...", that you don't compromise your own integrity or values or mindlessly ape others, mistakenly thinking that what seems to work for them will automatically work for you. Other people, other
teams, other businesses are not you, they have different strengths, different obligations, different backgrounds, different resources and different desired Outcomes; they operate in different circumstances and under different constraints. Can you learn something from them? Sure! Should you focus on them more than on what you're trying to do? No! In my experience working with clients, moving their focus off others and refocussing them on running their own race liberates them and always leads to growth both internally and
externally. I can think of one client who had become a CEO by a very different route from others in her industry; as I coached her to run her own race and worry less about how others saw her and her approach, she was able to build and then sell that business
and she's currently in the process of selling another bigger business in her own inimitable (and brilliant) way. Another organisational client realised that one thing that was holding them back was applying the same metrics as an organisation that was externally similar but actually fundamentally different
in culture, resources and desired Outcomes. As I coached the leadership team to this insight, one significant impact was that they chose to make their own metrics which aligned far more with who they are and what they are trying to achieve. Since then, they have gone on to grow in revenue, size and confidence.
In arguably one of the most momentous
conversations in history, the resurrected Lord Jesus makes a surprise appearance to his disciples on a beach by the Sea of Galilee. After making them breakfast*, he gives Peter, one of his closest friends and followers, an incredibly instructive lesson in running your own race. You can read a record of their conversation here but, in essence, rather than listen to the words that Jesus (who, at this point, has conquered death!) has for him, Peter obsesses over the fate of another disciple, John. Jesus gently but firmly reminds Peter that he is not John and John is not him - they have different races to run and Peter must focus on running his own race, eyes fixed on Jesus, not on John or on anyone else. Peter takes this
on board and the rest is - quite literally - history. As you look back over the last year and look ahead to
2025, it might help to ask, "Where am I/ we struggling to run my/ our own race at work right now?" And then you might ask, "What's distracting us and how is this holding us back from being clearer and more effective?” The answers may be quite revealing. Finally, think about what needs to change to help you to run your own race more effectively as you close out 2024 and look ahead to starting 2025 with your best foot forward at work. Next up, if you'd like some more help asking and answering those questions
and making a positive change and new start to the new year, keep reading... Looking back to look forward
As they come to the last stretch of the calendar year, many of my clients - and no doubt many of you - find themselves in that place of looking back and looking forward, what I call review and renew. There's a reason that the first month of a new year is named for Janus, the mythological Roman god of beginnings and endings, who, as you can see above, was generally represented facing both ways. There are good and less good ways
of looking back. For sure, as you and your team look back on the year gone by, there'll be things you wish you had or hadn't done - plans and projects you wish you'd pursued and others you wish you'd abandoned sooner; conversations which you could have handled better or ones you should have had; opportunities missed and ignored; time spent in one area which you wish you'd spent in another. As you look back on these things, how do you make the best of the process? It seems that there are two camps into which people typically fall and only one of them leads to the positive momentum, progress and success which I seek to unlock in every single one of my clients. So what are those two camps? The first is a negative, unconstructive process which often leads to frustration, despair and depleted morale and the second is a springboard to learning, progress and success. I'm going to label the first rumination and the second reflection.
To ruminate is to chew something over and over mentally and/or in conversation rather as cows or sheep, biological ruminants, chew the cud, constantly munching and masticating half digested, regurgitated food in their mouth**. Professor Martin Seligman in his groundbreaking book, Learned Optimism, based on over forty years of research on emotional and psychological health and robustness, describes rumination as "a process of obsessive analysis". Based on his research, Seligman goes on to link rumination - along with other traits and behaviours - to depression and anxiety.
We all know people - perhaps in some areas we are those people - who just cannot let certain things go. Ruminators look back constantly, unable to put things to bed. They are held captive in the land of ShouldaWouldaCoulda*** and the kind of recurrent and paralysing regret that prevents them from
moving forward. To repeat a lyric I quoted in a previous edition of
"To Be Clear...", the danger of rumination is that "...the past becomes the present if it's always on your mind." It's worth noting that when things are tough or haven't gone as we'd like, the temptation to ruminate can be especially strong. Reflection, on the other hand, is a healthy consideration of the
past with a view to changing what happens in the future. The reflector carefully casts a mirror on what's passed in order to light a better way forward. In other words, ruminators are held back as they look back, reflectors look back to look forward. The coaching I offer is firmly focussed on future Outcomes, it's why my clients have such high rates of sustainable success, because while
we think about their past, we don't get stuck there. It's why ONION® starts in the future by clarifying and articulating your desired Outcomes before applying the perspective of that desired future onto the second layer -
Now.
So, how can you tell the difference between rumination and reflection and ensure that you and your team are doing one and not the other?
One sign is that ruminators are often obsessed with assigning blame to themselves or others. In contrast, as they look back, reflectors are all about contribution. How did they, others and
circumstances contribute to what happened? How might everyone involved (starting with themselves) change their contribution to change the Outcomes going forward?^
Reflecting involves curiosity and humility as well as an ability to look at your
situation from different perspectives. Reflectors recognise that you can't learn (and make progress) without both looking back and letting go. These are all learnable skills and I've coached many of my clients to develop them. What these clients have found is that one hour, one afternoon, one session spent in positive reflection can free up hours, days, weeks and even months going forward, not to mention acres of invaluable headspace, to do things that really make a difference. One client - a founder - told me that after one session with me, he had done more in the following fortnight to move his business forward than he had in the previous
eighteen months. Result!
A wise driver looks in their rear view mirror enough to ensure that they are moving towards their destination safely but not so much that they crash into obstacles ahead or fail to move forward at all. As you look back at 2024, do you want to use a mirror to make a clearer and better way forward in the year ahead or be a sheep standing in the same field, chewing the same cud in 2025 as you did in 2024, making no real progress at work? If you're still not sure what healthy review - reflecting rather than ruminating - looks like for you, get in touch or go a step
further and consider investing an hour of two and some money and headspace in a one-off ONION® Review & Renew session. - all with the intention of getting you - or you and your team - ready for the best possible start to 2025 at work or in your business. Think ahead to where you'd like to be this time next year at work and imagine the value of investing some of your available resources in that right now. Or perhaps you know a friend, colleague or family member, who you think might benefit from some focussed, guided reflection and review in order to move forward with more intention and clarity at work next year. If so, why not forward this newsletter or the ONION® Review & Renew link to them? You could even do an ONION®
Review & Renew session together. There are various options available, time and spaces are limited - it's first come, first served and the
opportunity closes in a couple of weeks.
There you have it, a metric, a tool and an offer to help you make the most of the remaining weeks of this year and look ahead to next year with greater clarity and effectiveness at work. I'll be in touch before the end of the year to share more ideas for greater clarity at work. In the meantime, wishing you a clearer week
ahead. As ever, Ranti * - He's so kind that he even makes them a cooked breakfast...! ** - I know, yuck - but it's how their digestive system works... ***- As Beverley Knight memorably sings, "Shoulda, woulda, coulda are the last words of a fool..." ^ - More on blame vs.
contribution thinking in a future newsletter; it's a game-changer.
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