here we are, almost at the finish line to 2022! May you have a strong conclusion to 2022 and a start to 2023 that includes relaxation, reflection, and quality time with family and friends! I wish for you to have a year of health, happiness, and prosperity!
I am seeing so many posts this week on social media that this time of year brings about thoughts of setting new goals and identifying the things we want to accomplish in 2023, personally and professionally. To achieve these goals and aspirations, we need to be better at short and long term planning and goal setting, as I call it, taking time to see the forest for the trees. I have been working with many of my clients recently to set clear and actionable personal and team Objectives and Key Results (OKR’s) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).
From a professional perspective, I had a recent conversation with my close colleague, Carol Fink, who is an Executive Coach and works with corporate executives. We both identified that so many of our clients struggle to set real goals and improve their strategic thinking. This is achieved through forward thinking and forward being, two of the most valuable traits for today’s leader. Unfortunately, these two traits are most often put aside when day-to-day demands compete for their attention. As both of these traits are worth a deeper exploration, Carol is open to sharing further perspectives and strategies for leaders to improve in these areas.
Forward thinking is being able to look beyond the here and now to anticipate what’s coming in the near and more distant future for your team or organization. By knowing this, a leader can adjust today’s approach and strategy to accommodate the future instead of ignoring it for later, which then becomes reactive fire-fighting and task management. Does this sound familiar?
Forward being is your ability to position yourself to adopt a new mindset that sees from the future state. This enables you to look at today’s state from the future viewpoint, and recognize themes and patterns that will, and will not, bring your team to that future state that you are visioning.
How does a leader eliminate fire-fighting and become a forward thinker? To move beyond the fire-fighting requires making choices today with intention to eliminate future fires from starting. Just like any habit a person wants to adopt, we need to create a new way of thinking that starts with making and protecting time each day to pause and take notice of the themes and patterns, and the state of the team. To start, this may be as small as five minutes each day. Try this, during those five minutes, commit your mindset to leaping forward to a future time. How well does your future state align with your current state? What gaps do you see?
For another exercise, look ahead one week from now. From that perspective, what would you like to see yourself and your team being from today and six days from now? Now, look back to today’s state, what are you noticing in how you and your team are being versus how you need to be in the coming week? How much of your and their being is reactive, proactive, preventive, or anticipatory? What is one thing that you can take action on?
This is a new, interesting, and not common, way of looking at things from a forward thinking and being perspective. Cultivating this leadership capability allows a leader to view their organization strategically through a broader time horizon, allowing the time and space to explore, anticipate, and mitigate situations vs. a short time window that limits a leader’s options and critical decision-making.
Essentially, when we are different, we think different, and we do different. I hope these insights and exercises help you to improve your forward thinking and being skills. Upon your return to work in the new year, how might some of these insights improve your planning, goal setting, and forward thinking initiatives? A new year, a new leader in YOU!
Email: carol@growthspurtz.ca
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachcarolfink/