I was supposed to be heading back from Atlanta today, but Snowmageddon had a different idea of me and I was unable to leave NYC after about 30 inches of snow fell in my neighborhood. So I did the next best thing as a Millennial/Gen X-cusper and Skyped in for a two-day board meeting for WIFS, the national organization where I currently serve as the Immediate Past President. My biggest takeaway was the concept of Start Stop Continue, which was introduced to me by leadership coach, Whitney Siavelis.
Such a simple thing really, but I think will be tremendous in both my practice and my board work and I wanted to share it with you! It's a way to be more intentional with what you are doing and realize what is working and what isn't.
Let me give you an example. How do you currently communicate with your co-workers? Each person might be different, based on their personalities. Ask yourself things such as: Which ways of communicating have gotten me into hot water? What would make me more effective? What has been working that I should keep doing?
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Here is a breakdown of how it looks with one of my coworkers, who is a 56-year-old woman:
Stop
- Having conversations via text. The tone gets lost and she receives the messages as being curt.
- Responding so quickly. Oftentimes, she needs more processing time and will come back with follow-up emails after she has mulled things over.
Start
- Putting a deadline in the subject line. She does better with parameters.
- Having one-on-one face time. She likes to have more personal conversations.
- Leaving time for social interaction in the conversation. She needs to feel a connection.
Continue
- Empowering and praising for a job well done.
- Listening. Sometimes, she wants a sounding board.
- Advising and providing direction.How could you be more efficient in your practice if you just focused on the things that you had actually vetted the process and knew worked?
How could you be more efficient in your practice if you just focused on the things that you had actually vetted the process and knew worked?
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