It makes perfect sense to consider this post pandemic time as an opportunity for “rebirth” – for a new beginning so to speak. While life (personal and business) was turned upside down during the pandemic its culmination signals a time when each of us can start anew and with a “blank slate.” Think of it as an opportunity to build new habits and fresh ways of achieving success — and yes new levels of happiness too with a renewed appreciation for self directed learning and development.
Dr. Katy Milkman a Wharton School professor and author of the new 2021 book How to change: The Science of getting from where you are to where you want to be states “I think this fresh start is really a big opportunity . . . I don’t know when we’ll have another one like it. We have this blank slate to work on. Everything is on the table to start fresh.”
Work during the pandemic was rough, with challenges like working virtually, losing one’s job, or taking on new and different responsibilities at home or at work with insufficient help or support. There was no time more likely for you to think—”I wish I had my own coach”—and you were right!
No matter how difficult the challenge, many found new ways to support themselves during very trying times. Some struggled more than others but many took the first steps to getting the support we all need. Trial and error? Of course – there was lots of that but with effort and focus people found ways to help themselves, engage in self directed learning, and provide help to others in need.
Even those who worked in highly structured environments where self directed learning was once not considered essential chose initiative over apathy. When obstacles stood in their way a commitment to self directed learning opened the door to effective work-arounds. When colleagues called in distress they found time to help them discover a better way. Many found they had more flexibility and resiliency than first imagined – and more motivation to seek out help from sources they may not have previously considered. Being focused on self directed learning wasn’t just a nice “concept” folks talked about — it had become a necessity.
So what does all of this have to do with you?
Plenty!
Think about what you just went through.
- Did you have challenges, doubts, questions, concerns?
- Were there times when you were uncertain, felt lost, wished you’d had a helping hand?
- Did you demonstrate a commitment to self directed learning where you took the lead to exploring new development opportunities and resources?
- Would you have like having a source you could go to with sage advice based on in-depth workplace experience helping others overcome the same or similar obstacles you faced?
How many times did you wish you could just have the answer? More than once? Likely! We all felt this way.
With this shared experience in mind, we think now is the perfect time to consider dramatically improving your commitment to self directed learning and the skills needed to successfully support it. The skills you and many others began to demonstrate over the past year. The skills born from the Pandemic and the new ways of working required by it.
The Pandemic may be coming to an end but your need to continually improve your performance isn’t. Here’s what’s important to know: You can exponentially improve your ability to perform at work and demonstrate new levels of confidence and balance by taking the self directed learning skills you’ve already begun to develop and taking them to the next level with QwikCoach. With ever expanding online coaching content you’ll have online access to the next level of coaching support. And here’s what makes QwikCoach even more powerful, you can use it to coach yourself or to coach others.
With QwikCoach you’ll get high quality workplace coaching content (updated and revised frequently), advice, direction, support, resources, tools and concrete help—with no advertising and easy to use formats and forms — all for less cost than your daily cup of coffee.
With an impressive array of proprietary coaching content supplemented with a wide range of curated external resources, QwikCoach is your online coaching destination. With QwikCoach you’ll find:
- Thousands of proven coaching Tips and Techniques – clearly thought through approaches based on years of successful coaching interactions.
- Hundreds of coaching questions to challenge your current thinking and get you on a new path.
- A diverse set of curated resources from external providers — from podcasts and videos to books, articles and more.
- Hundreds of practice ideas to build your skills and put coaching suggestions and new behaviors to work.
- An array of self-assessment tools to help you identify and target improvement opportunities,
- Ways to easily get and process 360 Feedback.
- An on-board Individual Development Planning Tool to help you create your own improvement roadmap.
All of these resources are focused on providing proven strategies to help you be your best in today’s technology and team-based workplace. Become someone anyone wants to work with or for and is everyone’s choice for a terrific collaboration partner or teammate. When people “pick sides” they’ll want you on theirs!
We’re sharing some of our content below because we believe once you start helping yourself (with some important and previously unavailable support) you will enjoy not just better success, but the process of working on yourself—taking real concrete action—to be your best self, by coaching yourself or someone else.
Jump start your development efforts with these QwikCoach resources designed to help you TAKE ACTION around 2 critically important topics:
Topic 1: Active Listening
Are there ways to get people to listen to you?
Yes. The best one is to listen to them.
Before you start making your point (or points), give the other person – or the group – a chance to make his or hers by saying something like: “Before I tell you what I think about this, I’d like to understand your point of view first. Please explain it to me, so I can understand what you think about this issue. Once I have your thoughts, I’ll tell you what I think.”
See what happens, and let QwikCoach know when to come to your promotion party!
Other techniques that work . . .
Be more organized.
Generally, people find it easier to listen to and understand information that is presented in an organized and logical way.
Be “audience focused.”
Telling others what they want to hear or need to know is a sure way to get – and keep – their attention.
Speak “to” your listeners – not “at” them.
Maintain good eye contact with your listeners as you speak to them. It’s the best way to stay tuned to their non-verbal responses – so you can continually adjust your tone, pace, content, or style to keep them interested and attentive.
People say I don’t listen well. What should I do?
People are probably right. Most of us listen very poorly, so you are not alone. But, if you want to do well professionally, you can learn to be a better listener, and you’ll be ahead of the game. How?
Start here.
- First, pay attention to what the other person is saying by improving your ability to listen actively.
- Second, focus on what’s important, and not on who’s to blame or what you disagree with.
Next — try these two techniques.
- When you want to be a better listener, it also helps to rephrase and repeat people’s key points to show them you are listening and to ask people to “say more” about their point rather than making yours quickly before they even finish.
- Another way you can improve your listening is by letting others know you’re aware that you have trouble listening and asking them to help you by confirming that you understand their point.
Finally, here’s one more suggestion.
Empathic listening is something you might also want to try if you’re serious about wanting to improve the way you listen. Basically, it means trying to see the situation through the other person’s eyes. When you do that, you’re more likely to pick up on the speaker’s feelings as well as his or her words, and in that way, “hear” more.
Being an empathic listener doesn’t mean that you have to agree with the other person – or feel the same way he or she does. But it will make you less likely to overlook important elements of other people’s messages.
Believe QwikCoach, if you take some time to improve the way you listen, you are going to see remarkable results in no time. No one ever complains that people listen to them too much!
Here’s a book we think you’ll find helpful:
Topic 2: Getting Your Priorities Straight
What’s the difference between Time Management and Priority Management?
Priority Management focuses sharply on establishing what’s important. Time Management focuses on allocating and managing time to accomplish what is determined to be important. Priority Management therefore provides the foundation for effective Time Management. Here’s a deeper look.
Priority Management
Priority Management helps people understand and clarify their priorities and goals and determine what’s really important at any point in time. The clear vision of what you want to accomplish that comes from Priority Management can help you to decide the best way to use your time in order to turn your vision into reality and accomplish your mission. What’s more, when you use your time in a way that is consistent with your priorities, you are also more likely to feel good about what you’ve accomplished.
Consider Your Values
In determining what’s important, Priority Management should include consideration of your values — including a determination of which values are most important to you at any given time in your life. What’s important can therefore be influenced through a deeper understanding of what you value during any stage or phase of your life.
Consider Your Roles
Another piece of Priority Management is understanding the affect that “roles” have on determining what’s important. We all play different roles — team member, group manager, volunteer, father, spouse, son, community activist, etc. — and each role may pull us in a different direction when it comes to determining what’s important. As a result, there are times when you simply have to focus on one role or “role-divide” your time when competing role-based commitments are of equal importance. Knowing when and how to do this is key.
Put It All Together . . .
There is a richness to modern life for those able to move beyond survival that defines in a very broad sense what it means to be leading a “full” life. It includes a variety of roles like parent, spouse, team leader, volunteer, as well as individual contributor. As mentioned earlier one’s values and goals connect with one’s roles. Nothing can beat the feeling of moving from being the hamster on a wheel or the exhausted person who is always “short of time,” to feeling like a person whose efforts are guided by one’s values, clear goals, and a deep appreciation for the range of roles always in play.
Thinking and acting this way works at every stage of life because it provides focus and clarity to what needs to be done (what’s important) and flags easily what is a waste of time (what’s not important). It dramatically helps to eliminate burnout or other stress related diseases and it provides a true sense of peace and stability in a world filled with anxiety and pressure. That’s the benefit that effective Priority Management delivers.
Time Management
Time management on the other hand relates to planning, organizing, and scheduling one’s time each day, week, month or year. Applications/tools for these types of activities have proliferated and are sometimes hard to keep up with.
Learn More About Applications and Tools
Doing the required thinking and planning that goes with setting priorities can help make the choice of which tools to use more objective and targeted when it comes to selecting just what is needed to meet your priorities effectively.
There are many long-time tested time management “rules” — like handle each piece of paper or email only once and always begin with the end in mind — that make managing time easier, but without a deep sense of one’s real priorities, time management tools, rules and/or apps will consistently fall short of expectations and in many cases reduce your ability to accomplish what’s really important.
Scheduling will keep your day full but no matter how well it is done it will not bring you any closer to accomplishing your goals and priorities if priority management is neglected.
Remember, if Time Management is the house, Priority Management is the foundation. Don’t build one without the other!
What are some of the things I can do to get started with Priority Management?
Begin here.
Start by thinking about who you are and what your values are. What’s important to you? What would you want people to say about you if you left the company or (perish the thought) died? What do you hope to achieve in your life? These types of questions get you thinking about who you are and what you want to do—about the “vision” you have for yourself. Your company has a vision, and you should have one, too.
Along with your overall – or long-term – vision, you may also want to think about some shorter-term visions or goals. For example:
Next, consider where you’d like to be at this time next year . . .
- In graduate school?
- In a relationship?
- Getting settled into a new job because you’ve been promoted?
- Able to handle more responsibilities in your job?
- Having more time off and more fun?
Answering these questions can help you to identify shorter-term priorities that are consistent with your overall vision.
Finally, look at what’s happening in your current workplace with respect to (1) Priority Management and (2) Time Management
By doing a bit of research in your own organization you may get some additional insights into the relative importance of priority management in your organization. It also might be useful to understand how you personally manage time so you can consider some improvement strategies.
With respect to Priority Management, ask and answer these questions about your work place:
- Do “important people” often talk about “the vision” and discuss how specific priorities are related to achieving the vision.
- Do these same people work to make sure people are focused on achieving priorities — even if it means other things don’t get done?
- Are important tasks scheduled and planned so that time and energy get focused on achieving them in the best ways?
- Do you sense that people know time is very valuable and consistently respect your time — and the time of others?
With respect to Time Management, try this:
- Keep a calendar for two weeks of all you do at home and at work.
- If it helps, use shorthand or symbols to represent key activities.
- After two weeks, look at what you’ve recorded and determine if what you were doing and how you were spending your time is consistent with your priorities and what is really important.
What you learn should provide valuable insights with respect to priority and time management. With these insights in mind, commit to learning even more about the subject and using this information to improve your abilities when it comes to Priority Management.
Here’s a Podcast we think you’ll find helpful:
Align Your Calendar to What Matters, with Nir Eyal