As we are mid-way through the year, now is a good time to reflect on the progress made so far. I notice in coaching sessions that measuring progress can signify different things for different people, and the metrics can vary too. In this blog I will share some of the different ways of supporting you to review progress.
First we need to define what we need to measure progress on and in this blog I am thinking more about the personal ways of working, rather than achieving your SMART goals set by the organisation. From a work perspective, we typically set goals at the beginning of the year and then measure these throughout the year. There may be other key themes that you wish to measure beyond your more holistic work goals. These can easily be overlooked in place of the specific work goals, and yet these more holistic goals can make us thrive. Here are some examples:
Time Management
One way of measuring progress in relation to time management, is to consider the word balance. Most of us want to have enough time for the most significant people and aspects of our lives that bring us joy, meaning, purpose and satisfaction. We can also overlook the need to have free time. It sounds so simple and yet most of us have full diaries with little free time to plan for the week ahead or have strategic thinking time.
- When you reflect on how you spend your time what can you learn from this?
- Where are you spending your time?
- How does this link to your most important priorities?
- What could be an even better use of time?
- What needs to happen to free up time?
Relationships at home and work
The quality of our relationships with both our colleagues and family at home has a significant impact on the success of our work. When you consider your key stakeholders at work, it is useful to review the time you are spending with them, the quality of the time, and the influence you feel you have with them.
- Who are my key stakeholders?
- How much time have I spent with them this year?
- How would I describe the quality of the relationship?
- What would need to happen for the relationship to be even better?
Growth and Learning
Personal development is a crucial part of a leader’s growth. This can include specific programmes or on-the-job learning. As you reflect on your work over the last six months:
- What are the most important learnings about your role?
- What are you learning about yourself as a leader?
- How have you developed over the last six months?
- What does this mean to the future?
- What else would you like to start developing?
Mental and Physical Health
Our bodies and minds are linked, and so looking at both aspects regularly can help us be at our optimum.
- How have I looked after myself this month?
- What am I pleased about from a physical health perspective?
- What habits do I want to keep doing?
- How is my self-talk? What might I need to pay attention to in how I view myself?
- What would enhance my physical and mental health?
Emotional Intelligence
Our ability to connect with others is about being able to read situations and work out how others might be feeling as well as how we interact with them. It is also about how we manage and express our emotions. When we can do this well, we can adapt ourselves to the person and situation.
- How have I handled my emotions?
- What are my triggers when I lack emotional intelligence?
- What does this tell me about what I need to do differently?
Personal Values
We can also use our personal values as a guide to measuring progress. Our values are the things that matter most to us, they can be our guiding principles in the way we live. Examples of values might include:
- Autonomy
- Respect
- Growth
- Challenge
- Status
- (and many more)
Once you are clear on your values you can then review these by asking yourself:
- In what ways am I living against my values?
- How can I live in a way that is even more in line with my values?
- What activities or parts of my life are not in line with my values?
- Are there any new values that are emerging that are important to me?
Purpose
We typically get up in the morning because of a sense of meaning and purpose to the work we do. Once we connect with that purpose we can then regularly review whether this purpose is being fulfilled in our lives and work.
- What is my purpose?
- In what ways has my work connected with my purpose?
- How could I be even more in line with my purpose at home and work?
- What would need to change?
Ways to reflect
Rather than seeing this activity as a once or twice-a-year review, how about creating regular moments in the working week to reflect more often? Examples might include:
- Booking a longer lunch break once a week to take some time out to reflect.
- Meeting up with a colleague regularly whom you trust and talking through the week’s highlights and lowlights.
- Having one day a month kept completely clear of meetings to use as thinking time.
- Going somewhere nice to do the reflection time – for example, your favourite coffee shop, restaurant or walk along a local river.
- Using a coaching session(s) to reflect regularly.
Top Tips
Below I share some ways in which you can build constant evaluation of the progress you are making into your routine:
- Create time to regularly review progress and build these habits into your working week.
- Consider connecting with others you trust whom you could reflect together.
- Use coaching sessions as a way of reviewing progress.
- Make reflection time a joyful experience, consider the location and activities surrounding the reflection time.
- Build a habit of creating space regularly.
In summary
As you take time to reflect on your achievements this month, I wonder what you are noticing. If you would like support with time to reflect and measuring progress this year, please get in touch to see how executive coaching sessions can support you.