A Time To Reflect

December is upon us, leaving many of us wondering where the time has gone.  It provides us with the opportunity to reflect on the year that has passed whilst clarifying what needs to be done in 2023 to make it an even better year than 2022 was.

For many, the year has brought new highs and new levels of performance and this is a strong reason to celebrate your performance.  As we enter 2023, it will be a year filled with new challenges and lots of change- both internally as well as in the external environment.  This, however, is no different to any year and it provides everyone with the opportunity to grasp the opportunities with both hands and make it happen or stagnate.  It’s as simple as that.

The English Poet – Geoffery Chaucer – was quoted saying, “Time and Tides wait for no-one”  whilst William Shakespeare was also quoted saying “Better three hours too soon, than one minute too late”

These quotes bring into perspective the fact that we are living in a world of accelerated change and disruption, brought upon largely by technological innovation as well as political and economic uncertainty.  As Business owners, one of our most important leadership roles is to understand the changes that are taking place around us, to develop a plan to deal with those changes and to provide our teams with some level of certainty or planning in order to navigate our way around these changes.

Generally we respond to change in two ways:  It either brings about fear or excitement.  In either scenario, it is our responsibility to understand how each of us typically respond to change and then to develop strategies to counteract either of the these two responses.

One of the most underrated strategies we apply is creating what we often refer to as “whitespace time”.  This is a time to reflect, to apply our minds to obtaining clarity around a particular topic or challenge that we are facing.

I recommend you create “whitespace” time during the festive season to unpack the following:

• What worked over the past year?
• What didn’t work over the past year?
• What do you need to give additional focus on in the new year?
• What has changed in the market or industry that we are operating in that will have a significant impact on our business?
• What opportunities are there in the market that we have missed that we need to consider taking advantage of in the new year?
• What do you need to say NO to in the new year?
• What do you commit yourself to in the new year?
• What personal development do you choose (intentionally) to do in the new year?

As you invest this time, it will assist you to move from:

• Fear to faith
• Uncertainty to greater certainty
• Lack of confidence to improved levels of confidence

In closing, the team at ActionCOACH Southern Africa would like to thank you for your support over the last year.  We wish you, your teams and family’s all a blessed Christmas and a very prosperous 2023 and look forward to helping you grow further as we roll out new opportunities in the market.

Pieter Scholtz, ActionCOACH Country Partner
actioncoach.africa | pieterscholtz@actioncoach.com