January is more than half over – 2020 has really started! Most people are back at work. Kids are nearly ready to return to school.
As a leader, and an individual, now is a good time to look back on the last twelve months and reflect on the following question: What did I learn in 2019?
It is important to take time to look back and reflect on what went well and what, maybe, did not. Doing this allows you to start out the new year in the best possible way. It also allows you keep building your leadership toolkit.
Questions to Think About
I strongly recommend that everyone who wants to improve their leadership skills in 2020 (and grow as a person) should ask themselves the following questions:
- What am I proud of from 2019?
- What do I wish I had done better?
- What is the most important thing I learned in 2019 about myself?
- How can I apply these learnings in 2020 to become a better leader?
Watch Out for the Easy Answers!
If you tend to avoid uncomfortable things you might gloss over the important details and pretend everything is fine and that 2019 was the perfect year. If you tend to have very high expectations of yourself you might be prone to beating yourself up and exaggerating what went wrong in 2019. To remove your bias and to get a different point of view you might like to ask your supervisor or a colleague to also answer the questions above about you. Their answers may surprise you.
And What’s Next?
Take what you have learned about yourself from 2019 and apply it to the new year. Where might things be difficult for you? What behaviour do you need to watch out for so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes? How can you repeat the successes of 2019?
It’s only once you do this that you can be really ready to plan a for the best 2020 – a successful year as a leader!
What did you learn in 2019?
Melody
PS: Coaching can help you to learn from your past successes and failure and use these learnings to improve your skills as leader. Please contact me for more information.