Purple Sky Thinking for Leaders - January 2023
Welcome to Purple Sky Thinking for Leaders!
I’d decided to take a little break from publishing Purple Sky Thinking for Leaders in 2022 so that I could focus on some travelling. I’ll be honest, I’ve taken a longer break than I’d intended, so thank you for your patience, but now I’m back at it and in future, you can expect a self-guided learning resource every month!
I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to all our new subscribers!
Whilst I’ve been enjoying some of that extended travel, my husband and I have visited:
Canada - Alberta and British Columbia
United States - Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California
Iceland - we did the whole ring road, it was ace!
Singapore - not our first visit there but we love it.
Indonesia - Bali
Vietnam - Hanoi and Ha Long Bay
Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur
Laos - Luang Prabang
We are now in Thailand and have already been to Phuket, Bangkok, Koh Samui and Chiang Mai. I’ve been continuing to work with leadership coaching clients and I’ve been developing a new leadership onboarding experience and there will be more of that later.
Now, let’s get back to Purple Sky Thinking for Leaders.
Each monthly Purple Sky Thinking for Leaders will focus on one learning or development activity. That activity might be broken into parts to help you work through it in stages but there will be one focus each month. With each activity, there will be an accompanying activity sheet to support you but if you prefer just use a notepad and pen.
There’s no better time to start something new or refresh than in January, right?
OK, I’m not getting into a new year, new you or resolutions zone here but you have to admit, for most people there is something about starting a new year. Whether it’s because there is a fresh calendar, diary or journal or because for most it signals the new business or performance year. It is often a moment when we ask ourselves questions about the year ahead.
I am not going to be asking you to make new resolutions for the year but for the first Purple Sky Thinking for Leaders of 2023, I am going to ask you to Review, Reflect and Re-engage.
Review
Before you get busy with your plans for the rest of the year, it’s time to review what has actually happened.
You can use any time period, activity or situation that is most useful for you. It does not have to be about reviewing your performance year (but it can be if you wish). This is about practising self-assessment and creating time to do that well.
Here are some questions to help you with that review:
What goals did I smash, achieve or miss?
What contributed to those outcomes?
How was I showing up? (what mindsets and behaviours was I demonstrating)
What contributed to how I was showing up?
Is there any data or feedback that would help me understand what happened?
This part of the activity is about understanding, not dwelling.
By exploring what happened, we can look for insights about ourselves that we can use for our future selves.
Reflection
Now, with the review you’ve completed, consider what you’ve learnt from that.
This is about practising self-reflection - based on the analysis of what’s happened, and discovering what you can learn from it. This helps you to consider what you continue, what you might want to learn more about and what you might want to change.
Here are some questions to help you with your reflections:
What am I proud of?
What about that has made me feel proud?
What worked well?
What didn't work well?
Is there anything I would have wanted to be different?
If so, what would I need to do or influence to see the difference I wanted?
This part of the activity is about recognising what you need.
An opportunity to acknowledge your strengths, giving yourself the opportunity to see the things that bring you joy and understanding any further development that will continue your growth.
Re-engage
Now that you have reviewed and reflected - what does that mean for tomorrow and beyond?
Use some of these questions to consider how you turn the insights you’ve created into something meaningful:
- What do I want to see more of in future?
- Are there any boundaries I need to establish or re-establish as a result of my review and reflections?
- What 3 things do I want to highlight as strengths to continue to build on?
- What 1 thing do I need to stop or reduce in future?
- What future goals will be my priority?
- Is there anything else I need?
This is about focusing on the future. Past performance does not determine future performance, so if you want to stay on top of your game, you need to recognise what you are doing and work out what you need to do next - you need to be deliberate.
Here’s the activity sheet I mentioned at the beginning that you might want to use to help gather your Review, Reflection and Re-engage thoughts.
You’ll see at the bottom of the template a section to pull out the key points so that you can have a way to keep these priorities in your mind.
Diarise some time, maybe once a month to check in with what you wanted to focus on. You can then repeat the Review, Reflect and Re-engage whenever you need to. It might be useful after a project but it could be just as useful after a meeting or conversation, this is about giving yourself permission and time to understand, learn and put things that matter into action.
Alongside restarting Purple Sky Thinking for Leaders, I’ve been very busy preparing the launch of Boost, my signature Leadership Onboarding Experience. It is a personalised experience to accelerate new, promoted and returning leaders to success and will be launching next week!!
Keep an eye out and please do get in touch if you’d like to know more about it for the leaders you are hiring.
If you have any feedback or thoughts on this month’s leadership learning activity then please leave them in the comments or get in touch at anwen@purpleskyconsulting.co.uk.