Reflection has always been an important part of our leadership work and of my own personal development and growth practice. Other than finding critical time in my diary to reflect regularly, I have also committed to share my thoughts with you at the end of each quarter. As I sit here pondering what this end of quarter message will be about, I find it interesting to hear and read so many instances of people urging us to do exactly this.
The death of Queen Elizabeth II has been presented as an opportunity to pause and reflect on what this means for us all.
From the PM encouraging “all Australians on Thursday to “pause and reflect” on the Queen’s extraordinary life” to SBS saying “In current and former British colonies, her passing has caused many people toreflect on the legacy of empire.” to many others publishing their own reflections about her passing.
In a similar way, at the end of a project or when we reach a finish line, we find ourselves naturally triggered to reflect. We take stock and remember and praise the positive outcomes we have achieved. But although reflection involves looking at the past and in the best of cases celebrating, it is fundamental that we use it to strategically plan for the future, to build on our learnings and to change.
“We all need to get the balance right between action and reflection. With so many distractions, it is easy to forget to pause and take stock.” Queen Elizabeth II
More often than not, new projects keep coming, work overlaps and leaders are too busy getting on with the work.
These “distractions” mean key post implementation reviews end up postponed or replaced with congratulatory occasions for a job well done. This is one of the reasons we insist on reflecting at the end of each quarter. Even when the projects are ongoing or we have not reached our deadline yet.
- What is it that we are doing well or not?
- What do we learn and take forward?
- What is our plan for the remainder of the year?
A bit of a lengthy way to bring me to what I wanted to share with you about this quarter. We have been working very hard on a very personal project in the last few months and we are super excited about the prospect of showing you all very soon. I say personal because it has been an exercise in taking stock of what the business we have built over the last 10 years should look like going into the next 10. But it is also a project that absolutely involves you, our clients and potential clients, the public, the people that know us and love us and the people that don’t yet. It is a personal project that we are creating with you all in mind as it will be the face of our business.
We are very excited to be 2 weeks out from launching our new website and can’t wait. Watch this space for a link to our new look, new content, new program propositions, all in one lovely, impactful and very special place.