Reflections on Growth & Change at Leadership Vision

This episode is a bit of a look back to look forward. In 2023, Leadership Vision is going to be shifting and getting more clear about what we do, what we offer to our clients, and how we help people understand and express their beauty and their brilliance. We had a whole episode mapped out about our new direction when we realized that we should pause and take a moment to reflect back on how we got to this point. In doing that, we came up with three questions for you to consider as you think about what your contributions are to your team. The first question is what stands out about this past year? How have you grown in the past year and what contributions have you made?

This is the first episode in a four-part series on what is new and what is changing with Leadership Vision. In the next few episodes, we’ll discuss the direction Leadership Vision is taking and the process behind that direction. We think you’ll find some really actionable and valuable tips and resources for all kinds of leaders as you’re envisioning what you want your year to look like. Enjoy!

What’s New at Leadership Vision?

What we’ve been working on lately has been really identifying the direction and the changes at Leadership Vision in 2023. In this work, we have recognized that there are significant changes to who we are and to what we’re doing.

We thought, wouldn’t it be helpful if people got a chance to know what our journey was like; how did we get here? What was happening in 2022 that introduced us to this idea of what is next for the company? And then looking ahead into 2023, what are some of the things we’re expecting to happen and some experiences that we’re planning? Then, really what are those changes?

Three Reflection Questions on Growth & Change

We have three questions that each of us will answer in the context of 2022 because as we mentioned, we have big things that are coming, but how did we get here? These are questions anyone can answer and we invite you to go through this same process for yourself or with your team.

1. What Stands Out?

What experiences stand out as meaningful and shaping?

Think of all the experiences and the ways that you’ve grown, and the contributions you made in 2022. What were those experiences that really stand out for you as meaningful in shaping who you are as a person, family member, and professional?

2. How Have you Grown?

How did you grow, and more specifically in what areas did you grow? How has this growth changed us?

Consider all of the different areas of your life and the ways you’ve overcome challenges or taken advantage of opportunities. What are some of the things you left aside? What are some things you’ve incorporated into who you are?

3. What Contributions have you Made?

What contributions did you make to the lives of those we love?

Who are the important people in your life? They could be family members, co-workers, friends, clients, etc. Who are the people in your life that you could humbly say, because of me their life is a little bit different than it was before?

Reflections from the Leadership Vision Team

We spent time reflecting on the questions above. Here’s what we learned about growth and change in the past year:

Linda:

I think the experience of moving from being mostly virtual to being in person really allowed me to grow in a lot of different ways. I didn’t realize how much I rely on my physicality to present or to speak, and when we’re doing that together on Zoom, I’m just sitting there and I don’t use all the energy. I don’t walk around or interact. Even being in person and hearing people speak to one another was so shaping for me. In a lot of ways, it allowed me to be who I am as a host in conversations and a facilitator with groups of people.

I was able to realize that I had grown in ways that I’ve become more responsive and less reactive. Just noticing things that I hadn’t before because in some ways they were new to me. I was noticing how many cups of coffee this person was having when they would go to the coffee bar on the side of the room during the facilitation. I think that my growth then began to shape the two of you in ways that you could rely on me or even how it began to structure different meetings, that we have.

As far as the contributions that I have made to the lives of those that I love, those that I work with, and those that I live with, I just realized in some ways where my light has been able to be shown more into the world that has allowed people to discover their own light. We had one of our participants in the Strengths Communicator Training who said, “you are keepers of the flame. You shine light and you reveal the light but you don’t steal ours. You help our light shine brighter.” And that’s the contribution I want to continue to make.

Nathan:

This was technically in 2021, but on Christmas day 2021 I had my appendix taken out. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but it hit me how precious life is and how at any time, any moment, something unexpected can come up that can totally derail your life. I started 2022 with this in mind. How do I want to be spending time? And is it worth it? Our life is so precious and every moment is so valuable. How are we spending our time?

This has really stuck with me, especially as we’re rethinking how a third of our life is spent on or at work. Is the work that we’re doing at Leadership Vision meaningful and valuable and delivering as much as it can in a post-pandemic world?

When I think about how I have grown, it’s really been about maximizing my time and maximizing the things that we’re doing for our clients. One of the contributions that I’ve made, and I’m kind of just blending all three of these questions together, is we spent some money speeding up our website. I know this is sort of basic but it has really helped as we’re delivering more content online. I think about some of the things I’ve done with my family; all my kids learned how to swim this year, and my youngest can now ride her bike. Some of the skills and life lessons that they will never forget. And how that has to do with Leadership Vision and the direction that we’re headed.

Brian:

The experiences that stand out to me when I first began to ponder this several weeks ago, I felt really frustrated with myself for not being able to identify some of these experiences that I thought I should be able to readily. I’m a mountaintop and canyon kind of guy. I have these really big experiences and these really dramatic lows and I couldn’t identify them for the past year.

The reason why is because of the one experience that does stand out for the entire year, and that is that I’ve been seeing a mindfulness and performance coach every week for the entire year of 2022 and part of 2021. This experience has been life transformational for me and I think that everything else that has happened in the last year is kind of in the background of that experience and how that affected me. There was a tremendous amount of professional growth that I experienced throughout the year in a lot of the things that we were creating, writing, and delivering.

There are a lot of personal and physical changes that I was going through as a result of the work I was doing with this coach. These two things together represented a type of growth that I haven’t experienced before. It was professional, it was personal, it was emotional, and it was spiritual. It was all these things coming together, and the level of growth that happened for me over the year was unlike any other year of my life.

So that to me is the experience and the growth and the contribution. That one is hard for me because I feel that there has been a way that I’ve been present with people that maybe availed more of myself to individuals that I was aware of. A lot of times, I wasn’t aware of this because the types of comments that we’ve been receiving back from clients have been different than they have been before.

To me, this is a reflection of a type of contribution that we are consciously attempting to make that’s different as well as this other side that I’m really not aware of, but that we’re just being received a little bit differently. I feel that that contribution really stems from being able to love and accept myself in a different way than I had before. It has impacted every other area of the way that I live my life, the experiences that are meaningful, and how I’ve been growing.

Your Reflections

Once you’ve gone through this exercise, we encourage you to share it with someone else. Sit down and share some of the things that you’re learning about yourself through this exercise. If you’re working on a team, introduce this activity to them. Give others a chance to do the reflection and share out some of the meaningful and challenging experiences, areas of growth, and contributions that they’ve had over the past year.

We’d love to hear about your reflections on the past year – connect with me at nathan@leadershipvisionconsulting.com.