Mid-Year Reflections: Looking Back to Look Forward

Happy Memorial Day! It’s nearly the halfway point of the year and a really great time to reflect and have a mid-year check-in. In this episode, we share questions, and some of our own reflections, that you can use to reflect on how the first six months of the year have gone, and perhaps how you hope that the next six months will go. These questions are pretty simple, but they’re great to answer both on your own and with your team. Enjoy!

Mid-Year Reflection Questions

This is an activity that we’ve used on our team in the past, and we’ve even shared it here on the podcast way back in 2019, which feels like decades ago at this point! We’ve found that it can be done in as little as five minutes, and you can expand as much or as little as you want. Use these questions for personal reflection, then try this activity with your team or loved ones.

Looking Back: Reflections on the First Half of the Year

• What has gone well?
• What have you been surprised by?
• How are you doing?
• What stood out to you?
• What are you wondering about?
• What do you need your colleagues to know?

Looking forward: What do you need for a successful second half of the year?

• What does success look like for you?
• What will make for a meaningful second half of the year?
• Who could be the most helpful to you?
• Who would you like to partner with?

Our Mid-Year Reflections at Leadership Vision

Brian and Linda recently finished up five days working in Northern Minnesota. Every year they take a week in the spring to reevaluate how the first half of the year has gone, and to look into what’s going to be happening for the next half. They came up with several key reflections from the last six months of the year, and how we, as a company, hope the next six months of the year will go. Here is what they learned:

• Context. What stood out for us was the need to be in another context. Outside the normal work environment is a great place to reflect, think, and plan.
• Opportunities for fine-tuning. In the last year, there has been the opportunity to do some fine-tuning of who we are, how we show up, and what we do best.
• Growing aspirations. Some of our dreams are not aspirational anymore. There are actual clients that we work with, opportunities that we have, and things that we have coming up that feel very true to who we are now and who we will grow into.
• Individual impact. we have come to realize that investing in the individual so that individual can have a shaping impact on their team, is at the heart of what we do.
• Team focus. Even though we focus on the individual, it has always been for the sake of the team. It starts with the individual, helping them be healthy, and inspiring them to be their best selves which then leads to them being better team members and contributing positively to the healthy dynamics of a team.
• Future plans. We also spent many hours thinking about the rest of this year and the future. Had a moment to meet with Justin and Nathan to design some of the things that you’ll be seeing in the future. Part of it is a continued focus on how we can use the team engagement platform to engage our clients, as well as investigate how we can make our materials and resources more readily available and accessible to individuals.
• Clarity in work. Working on the business brings the kind of clarity that as I’ve reached out to clients this week, um, I feel like my voice is more refined. I feel like I am more settled.

Your Mid-Year Reflections

Use the questions above to reflect on the last six months and the next six months ahead. What resonated with you in the questions above? Were there any big ah-ha moments? Share in the comments section below or connect with us at connect@leadershipvisionconsulting.com. We’d love to hear from you!