How to make next year awesome for your career - part 3

Well, ok, some of us are back at work, so really I should be saying "How to make this year better".

Last time I asked you to gather the data in whatever categories of work life, home life were meaningful to you and list down what worked, what didn't, and what were the contributing factors.

The next step is to take each thing you've written down, whether it's something that worked or something that didn't and make a note of who else was involved.

Push yourself into their perspective.

Do you think from their side, this would have been considered to be something that worked, or something that could do with some improvement?

After a fair bit of work, you're going to end up with a list of things that may need some change from your side, and may need some change from somebody else's side.

There are a few possibilities for each situation.

1. It was good for you AND good for them.

2. It was good for you, but not so good for them.

3. It was good for them, but not so good for you.

4. It wasn't really very good for either of you.

Here is what you do with each of the possibilities.

• If it was good for you and good for them, talk about it. Discuss why it was good and how you can both benefit from doing it more consciously going forward.
• If it was good for you, but may not have been so good for them, think about the conversation you need to have to see how together can make some changes so that it's good for both of you. The blame doesn't all sit with one person.
• Likewise, if you think it was bad for you, but good for them, what's the conversation you need to go and have? How will you share how you feel and what you experienced without getting stuck in the blame game. How can you describe your experience from a non-emotional perspective? Think through the specific behavioural observations you can share, not the interpretations of that behaviour you may be holding.
• Your final category is things that didn't go so well for you, and in your estimation and speculation, probably didn't go well for the others either. The conversations you need to have about this need to go to the top of your list for that is where your change for next year kicks in first.
• Join me next time for part four of how to make the coming year better.