I talk often about the word Context and always encourage clients and others to have a Context for themselves and their work at all times. The start of the year is also a great time to take a moment to review, refresh, shift your Context to begin the year.
Modelling this, my first meeting of the year was a “co-coaching” session with a colleague. As a practice, we coach each other, taking turns with roles. This time it was my turn to be coached. We therefore looked at my context for the year, at where I want to focus my work, what I offer to clients, who I want to work with.
Now, at the core of what I do is a blend of coaching and offering insights to leaders, hence I call my role that of a Sounding Board. However, a slight “tilt of the prism”, a small shift in choice of Context, can create a significantly different view of all of this.
In 2021 my Context around my work was the word LEADERSHIP, with a focus on “Elite Mindset” and supporting already thriving leaders on the journey from “good to great to elite”.
In my coaching session what emerged for me was a shift in Context to the word INSIGHT, as I recognise more and more that what my clients seek “cut through” and actionable insights that they can take into their business and make a meaningful impact.
In 2022, then, whilst the core of what I do remains the same, being that Sounding Board, bringing deep listening and coaching, the Context, the focus for myself and those who choose to work with me will be on INSIGHT and, more specifically, on listening to all of data, information and knowledge clients talk through with me (see drawing above), then finding the key insights from that which are then actionable for them and their business.
This will be a blend of drawing out insights from the client themselves, as well as, where appropriate, offering my own “cut through” insights that, I am told, can get to the heart of things incisively and such that the client can take action from them right away.
Am most grateful to have a close core of friends and colleagues for co-coaching and co-mentoring. Just as my clients value my outside perspective and counsel (and yes, often my insights), I too greatly value this for myself, a topic I wrote about in “The gift in seeing what you don’t see” in which I quoted wisdom from both Robert Burns and Maya Angelou.
What is your Context to begin this year?