Before the start of every coaching assignment, I invite each individual to reflect on some questions.
- What do you want to focus on during our time together?
- What goals do you want to set for yourself?
- What do you want to be different?
People come to coaching because they want to make changes in some part of their professional or personal life.
Everyone is different.
Sometimes changes happen fast and sometimes not.
Sometimes they are huge changes and other times they are smaller.
However, the mark of success is a feeling.
A feeling that there has been some forward movement with learnings along the way that allow for a more fulfilling professional and /or personal life.
When we come to the end of the coaching assignment, we always take some time to look back at where we started to see how far the person has come.
As lockdown restrictions are slowly relaxed over the coming weeks, I was curious to know how this approach might help people focus on the learnings of lockdown – to take time to acknowledge not just the challenges and the difficulties but the highlights.
- What have clients been learning about themselves during this time?
- What do they want to remember about this time?
- What did they not miss?
- What will they do differently?
For some there has been loss, letting go, disappointments, fear, anxiety, and frustration. For some a need to be courageous, creative, and innovative.
There has been a need to adopt new ways of working, communicating and simply learning how to be around their families all day.
There are things that people haven’t missed. Travelling up and down the country to visit clients, the daily commute, the weekly 2-hour meeting (that now takes 20 minutes!)
My own lockdown experience hasn’t been without its moments of feeling disconnected, fearful and overwhelmed yet it has also left me with many unexpected highlights.
Leading a simpler life, remembering what is really important, saying “no” to things I really don’t want to be doing and appreciating what I do have rather than yearning for what I don’t.
I will leave you with this highlight – pictures of my daily walk across the fields to watch the sunrise
What are your lockdown learnings? What are you bringing with you? What are you leaving behind? Answers on a postcard.
