| Six
months ago I did something very unexpected: I joined a running club. Admittedly
I chose a very gentle option just for beginners and the first weeks involved a
lot more walking than
running.
As we
progressed, one golden rule remained: you were not allowed to run at a speed
that made you so out of breath that you couldn’t talk to the person running
alongside you. Why was this rule so important? It meant that the weekly run was
a sociable experience to be enjoyed rather than endured - and it worked! By the
end of the program, pretty much all of us could run 5k with ease and graduated
to the group doing 8k
runs.
I have reflected
upon what this experience has taught me in terms of my own personal development
and also helping others to perform better at work.
I
concluded, as the title suggests, that it’s all about making a journey. A
journey where we challenge our ‘comfortable’ status quo and work towards the
goal of a new ‘normal’; a goal that might scare us right now, but slowly begins
to feel attainable.
It’s
about saying that I personally want to do things differently and I’m prepared
to take each of the small steps necessary to build up my skills/stamina/ability
so that I can do them with ease.
The goal of
Managers’ Library is to support managers as they do this for themselves and for
their teams. It is a tool to help you to grow your own skill sets (the Study
Guides and the Hints
and Tips) and also help you to develop your team ( Training
Activities).
I
encourage you to step outside your comfort zone and have a look at some of the
training activities that that will help you and your team. There are plenty to
choose from so here are a few of my favourites: If
you’re feeling really brave then I personally love exercises like Golf
Ball Challenge and Pieland
Fling as a great way to involve your team in exercises where they
can’t help but learn a lot about themselves and their colleagues.
All of this, of
course, requires change, so a good place to start your own self-development
would be our new video, Inspiring
Change. Remember, this isn't just about inspiring change in your team
but in the way you work with your team too.
|