Jonathan's January
So January is nearly at an end and the year doesn’t feel quite so new any more.
I’ve been running several workshops with Environment Agency management teams this month, and its been useful in both cases to review the last year’s activities. With the pressure of immediate demands both teams appreciated the chance to stop and reflect on their successes, ‘dropped balls’ and open issues. This opened up really useful conversations, particularly where one person’s success was another’s dropped ball! I find its always good to help a team understand and appreciate the multiple realities that exist within its members. It also helps people to have a shared understanding of the current context and transition into thinking about the future – a case of learning from the past or being doomed to repeat it.
Reviewing progress was an important strand in a new workshop I delivered this month for the National School for Government. I was asked to design a one day event that would enable participants in the year long Preparing for Top Management programme to review their learning and understand more about career transitions. These folks are seriously bright, all on the cusp of entering the Senior Executive Service and facing complex challenges. The session was well received, with a combination of some reflective guided imagery, input on the different types of network that people need to make transitions, some thoughts around whether the best next step was one of consolidation or progression, and a chance for peer feedback.
I’ve also started work with a new coaching client in the City, and I’m in the middle of facilitating review sessions with another Olympic sport as part of UK Sport’s Mission 2012. With the Beijing Olympics only seven months away things are becoming more intense in the world of sport. Watch this space!
