DS Consulting

By nature, I am a forward-looking person, excited by the future, new opportunities and experiences. What reflection does is help me acknowledge all the stuff I’d forgotten I’d had done. I know from these periods of reflection that I get nice surprises, rude awakenings and both deserve a bit of focus!

Recently I was preparing for a business pitch and thinking about the client’s circumstances and how I could best help them.  I love my work and the purpose that drives me, which is honest and compassionate leadership.  Leaders who create psychologically safe spaces and cultures for everyone to thrive are great leaders.  Just loving your work though often isn’t good enough…

Time for reflection. 

This brings me to reflection time. Not only does reflecting help you become more aware of what you have been doing, it also draws your attention to the effort, energy and impact to make it happen.  Self-reflection has its place and yet it may create a flawed impression of reality.  Personalities have default lenses.  Lenses that might focus on positives over negatives and vice-versa. That is why it is important to sense check with trusted others, to challenge versions of events that occur in the workplace.

When I’m coaching, reflection time is a big part of the session-to-session process.  It’s not unusual for clients to ‘brush off’ what they have done, to chastise themselves for their progress (or lack of it).  Others may be delighted with their efforts, and not see that an opportunity has been missed. A full reflection of ‘what, how and why’ can make a big difference the next time a similar situation occurs.

It’s all about memory.

We rely on our memories to guide us in life.  We use what we recall in terms of actions and felt emotions to steer our responses in the future.  Analysing our activities allows us to re-assess how we have recorded the memory and if needed, adjust it.

A case study in reflection.

A client had a staff member, on probation who wasn’t performing well enough.  My client believes in giving everyone a chance, in fact numerous chances.  Some gentle conversations on attendance standards were had, with reassurances from the staff member that they would be addressed and there was no reason for them not to be.  But they were still late, or ‘decided’ unilaterally to work from home on a day when they were meant to be in the office.  My own thoughts on the matter were: If this happens on probation, what does it say about the individual’s commitment to the role? 

My client, with some guidance, took the big step. They told the staff member they were not going to pass their probation. Our reflection time revealed and explored the ‘pain’ of having to do this, of wishing that they could have ‘saved’ this person, of having so much ‘hope for their potential’ and how they felt they had failed. 

Now, you can leave it there or you can re-evaluate the experience and add it to the memory. The learning, opportunity and broader impact of the actions taken. In doing so my client now has a memory to draw on that acknowledges the emotions experienced. But they also see that as a result of the decision, there have been many benefits for the wider team, their reputation and their understanding of where taking individual responsibility for actions sits. 

Reflecting can build confidence and resilience.

Reflection that resets memories to include learnings is a tool to build courage for future challenges.  Leaders who are honest and compassionate can help create a culture that allows for safe reflection and personal growth. To understand more about effective leadership and building resilience based on past experiences, contact me today.

I have been associated with The Wellbeing and Performance Company for over two years. We are a coaching collaboration and we all believe in assessing and improving individual wellbeing. In doing so performance and profitability goes up at a corporate level and staff are both happier and more engaged.

Business leaders have a lot on their plates at the moment. Managing return to work, adapting to hybrid/flexible working and making provision for staff wellbeing.

A team that is well cared for can be high performing and that’s good news all round. I’m pleased to be a member of this collaboration that has put together wellbeing packages that can be accessed remotely and on-demand to help bring your teams back together as a cohesive unit. You can read more about the “Wellbeing in a Virtual Box” here or why not watch our introductory explainer video!

As lockdowns have come, gone and come again, how have you used the time to evolve or change?

A page on this website quotes Charles Darwin – ‘It’s not the strongest of the species that will survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones responsive to change.’

Evolving and growing with change, rather than railing against it is how people and businesses survive and thrive. Anticipating and planning for change is a threat for some and an opportunity for others. Embracing change is easier said than done.

Change means challenge

For the brain, challenge means facing fears, taking risks and shifting commitments.

I have been fortunate to have remained working with some great organisations and people during all three lockdowns. But life has been far from perfect; things have been put on hold and business is generally quieter.

My reaction to this situation is what is important to me.  My reaction was worry, naturally enough. After all income is important – it pays the bills and spares anguish. But after some thought, I realised what I was worrying about was not actually in my hands. I can’t control lockdown, its severity or how long it will last. For me, my worries very quickly became ‘action focused’ and I found ways to be pro-active in such challenging times.

Finding positives from a negative situation 

I deliberately found time for a short period of reflection. I considered my purpose; what I do and how I do it.  This highlighted to me the need to be clearer about my purpose and be proud enough about it to ‘shout it from the roof tops!’

“My purpose is my passion for leaders to be skilled and motivated to create psychological safety that engenders high performance, fulfilment and commitment.“

My fascination with how our brain works remains undimmed. Increasing our understanding of neuroscience opens a whole new level of work opportunities for me. It led me directly to gain qualifications under Dr Sarah Mackay, in both neuroscience and brain health.  But clarity on how I applied this new knowledge to my work with clients was needed. I hadn’t always put the benefits across in way that was easy to understand.

The outcome

A new logo and an evolution to my coaching programme.

Neuroscience and applying that to leading, and leading well, is what I do. Out went my previous logo, replaced with this one above and immediately I became more connected and focused to what I offer.

With the confidence of a new logo, I re-worked my existing coaching programme. Again, better clarity was to the fore and when we settled on the title of ‘The Headstrong Coaching Programme’ the pieces started to fall into place. A coaching programme with an upward flight path that explains simply the route map for improvement and greater belief among my coaching clients.

I am grateful for the support, expertise and humour of Nick at Sixth Sense Marketing. He helped the creative process and provided words and structure to my ideas and thoughts. We made a good team!