Every year, we experience some natural “fresh starts.” As we come to the end of 2024, we are on the verge of a fresh start. Start the new year with a new 2025 desk calendar, and start fresh with other goals and activities too.
Deciding What’s New
For two decades, our world centered around school. We saw late August/early September as a fresh start in so many ways. As we started the new school year, we got new school supplies, new clothes, a new teacher, and maybe even some new friends.
As adults, “new” seems to align more with the calendar year. This works for some people, and if it motivates you, lean into it! This could be the perfect time to try a new tool or resource for working efficiently and leading effectively.
If January 1st just sounds like another day to you, that’s cool. Maybe signs of spring signal new starts for you, and you’ll try something new when the flowers bloom.
Who is the “New You”?
Let me be the first to say, you are pretty great already. Don’t go changing too much! That said, we all have some opportunities to improve. There are a few ways to identify these areas of improvement. First, you can do a self-assessment. What do YOU think needs some attention?
Next, you can get input from others. Ask a trusted colleague for some feedback. This works best if you offer up a specific scenario. For example, “I’m reflecting on how I run the weekly team meetings, and wanted some feedback. What do you think is working well, and what recommendations would you have to change things up a bit?” This allows the conversation to stay focused on the particular topic. You can also include language like “I’d love for you to think about this, and we can discuss in a few days. I’ll send you a calendar invite!” This takes the pressure off someone providing feedback on the spot. Just remember to stay open minded, and thank them for their feedback (even if it’s hard news to swallow).
Finally, if you want more formalized data gathering, MPG partners with client organizations to administer assessments. Following the assessment, we have certified interpreters and executive coaches to debrief individuals on the results. The most popular assessments are:
Hogan Personality Index
The Hogan Personality Inventory is an 18-page report. It is a measure of normal personality that contains seven primary scales and six occupational scales used to describe a person’s performance in the workplace, including how they manage stress, interact with others, approach work tasks, and solve problems.
Hogan Development Survey
The Hogan Development Survey evaluates 11 forms of interpersonal behavior. Behaviors associated with elevated HDS scores can be strengths, but when overused can derail relationships and careers. Individuals who understand their performance limitations have more successful careers.
Hogan Motives, Preferences, and Values Inventory
The Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory describes people’s core values, goals, and interests. This is crucial for understanding the kinds of jobs and work environments people find congenial and will help them make better career decisions.
What Will You Prioritize?
Once you meet with a certified Hogan interpreter and executive coach to debrief the reports, the work begins. In one-on-one coaching, we set goals for the length of the coaching engagement (usually 6 months) and then we have smaller, more actionable goals for each coaching session. For workshop clients, we help you plan and prioritize, then you are on your own for making progress.
While those action items and priorities look very different for each leader, here are just a few topics that might resonate.
Committing to Stronger Communication
The way leaders engage with their teams is directly connected to how they organize and manage their own thoughts and ideas. If you are constantly remembering things and sharing them ad-hoc, your team may feel peppered with disconnected bits of info, and struggle to prioritize tasks in a meaningful way.
If you take the time to get organized, and build some systems around how you disseminate information, you’ll see improvements in how the team interacts and operates.
Getting Organized
As you advance in your leadership journey, the complexity, scope, and scale of your work continues to increase. Sometimes the same methods that helped us stay organized in school still work! Did you have a red folder for Math, blue for English, and a green folder for Social Studies? This was a visual cue that helped keep assignments organized.
Color coding can serve you well if you are visually oriented, and need to keep numerous projects straight. This article on color coding goes into more detail.
Going Back to Basics
Many organizations have standards around how to do certain things. If your company is using Microsoft products, you probably need to create presentations in PowerPoint and send emails via Outlook. But when it comes to your own note taking, planning, and organization, make sure to use systems that work for you. Digital note taking might not work for you, or maybe you prefer a paper calendar to visualize the week or month. Hang on to those ‘basic’ ways of doing things, if they serve you! My favorite way to incorporate color-coding AND hand-written notes is with the RocketBook Erasable Notepad and Pilot FriXion pens (they also have markers and highlighters).
Saying ‘Yes’
If you’re trying to bring about change, or address something that isn’t working, consider saying ‘yes’. There are countless times throughout the day leaders need to say ‘no’ and it can get in our head. By approaching things with the improv technique of “yes, and” you can keep a conversation going longer, collaborate on solutioning, or open yourself up to new ideas you hadn’t considered.
This might lead you to delegate work you previously assumed could only be done by you. This might mean a junior team member gets to weigh in on a decision. This might be creating more neuroinclusive or ADHD-friendly meeting environments, or even saying ‘yes’ to a Rainbow Walk to reset after a hard meeting.
Doubling Up
Sometimes what stands in the way of greatness, is a surplus of side quests. If you’ve ever set out to do one thing, but found yourself ping-ponging around to other tasks, leaving a heaps of unfinished projects in your wake, this tip is for you. Sometimes we need to keep everything for a particular task in one place. That might mean buying duplicates of things like earbuds, scissors, or other office supplies. Check out this article on “Saved By The Duplicates” to learn more or check out the podcast where this was first discussed!
Doing Less
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “you’ve bitten off more than you can chew!” listen up. Many ADHDers, and ambitious folks in general, can commit to more than they can handle. This is due to a few different things. First, there’s an element of people pleasing. Someone asked, and we just couldn’t say no!
Then, there’s the concept of temporal discounting. Temporal, or time, discounting focuses on the relative valuation placed on rewards. Many ADHDers will choose to start a new project because it is novel and exciting (reward!) instead of continuing to work projects in various stages of completeness.
Taking on too much can have serious consequences. It can impact how we view ourselves, and how others view us and our team. Set yourself up for success by accurately planning for how long things take. Maybe this sounds like “I’d love to help with that new project, and I will have the bandwidth in 4 days.” It might also include asking questions to better understand other people’s capacity. Different people may need different amounts of time to complete the same tasks.
If you’ve felt discouraged about work that isn’t done, or projects that never end, try to think through what is left to complete, and break that list into smaller steps that can be done in shorter stretches.
Cheers to the New Year
As you approach this new year, Mullins Professional Group would love to support you! Are you looking for ways to create a more inclusive or neurodivergent-friendly office culture? Whether building inclusive leaders on your team, growing your Neurodiversity ERG, or ready to tackle company-wide leadership & inclusion initiatives, MPG loves working with clients to create powerful experiences for all. Reach out and let us know what is on your mind. Let’s build something great!
0 Comments