Thursday's Leadership Insight PartIV Give the Gift All You Lead Want and Deserve: Persistent, Habitual, Reflective Practice and a One Word Guide

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Happy New Year to all. This is a fitting time to consider the final part of our series on the gift all you lead, want, and deserve. That gift is the leader's development as an effective communicator. This is a gift any leader can give to those they lead. It keeps on giving all year, benefiting the entire organization and enhancing a leader's leadership practice. The gift of effective communication is a large gift consisting of four gifts, pillars of communication that work together. A leader developing as an effective communicator develops all of these four pillars. Three of these pillars were discussed in the first three articles of this series. In review, these three pillars are Present Listening, Powerful, Curious Questions, and P.A.U.S.E. Reflective Responses will be shared using the One Word approach by Jon Gordon. This week's Thursday Leadership Insight describes how the fourth pillar brings together the complete package of effective communication in one's leadership practice. The fourth pillar is Persistent Habitual Reflective Practice. This fourth pillar brings together the implementation of the three pillars of effective communication into leadership practice to create sustainable growth and development as an effective communicator—a process as a guide and focal point. A bonus activity will be shared to find your One Word from Michelle Cummings of Training Wheels with permission—a second bonus. Persistent Habitual Reflective Practice is a useful, applicable process for developing any growth initiative of any leadership skill to enhance one's leadership practice.

New Year, New You. You probably have heard or seen this phrase or ones like it many times recently. Then there are ads, emails, texts for diet plans, business planners," free" webinars on how to plan a new life, be thinner, attract the "right "people, more clients, etc. The list goes on and on. These communications take advantage of a very human desire to improve ourselves. Making resolutions is a time-honored practice for those seeking "a New Year, New You." The other thing we have seen over the last week or two is the importance of making resolutions. An article in National? Today? Quitters Day notes, "The tradition of setting New Year's resolutions began some 4,000 years ago with the ancient Babylonians. For them, the year did not begin in January but in mid-March — on the first moon after the spring equinox. An article by Merriam Webster last week entitled , New Year's Resolutions: A Pretty Old Practice ?The habit of breaking them is probably only a couple days younger ?The authors write, "New Year's resolutions?have existed since the early 19th century, and perhaps as far back as the late 17th century. Not only were people making resolutions 200 years ago, but they were also breaking them and using them as excuses for bad behavior before the New Year, much like today it is unclear when exactly we began to pledge to ourselves that in the coming year, we would lose weight, get our finances in order, or leave behind any one of a number of unsavory habits.

Modern lists of resolutions have an interesting antecedent in a 1671 diary . It would appear that New Year's resolutions have existed for quite a long time. A 1671 entry from the diaries of Anne Halkett, a writer and member of the Scottish gentry, contains a number of pledges, typically taken from biblical verses such as "I will not offend more". Halkett titled this page "Resolutions", and wrote them on January 2nd, which would possibly indicate that the practice was in use at the time, even if people did not refer to it as a?New Year's resolution . "

Despite the long tenure of New Year's resolution-making, ??the Merriam-Webster post notes, "Not only were people making resolutions 200 years ago, but they were also breaking them and using them as excuses for bad behavior before the New Year, much like today.' The data supports this notion that New Year's resolutions tend to fade quickly. Jeff Haden, in a 2019 Inc.Article? A Study of 800 Million Activities Predicts Most New Year's Resolutions Will Be Abandoned on January 19: How to Create New Habits That Actually Stick

Research?conducted by?Strava, a social media activity reporting platform for athletes of a sample of over 800 million user-logged activities in 2019, predicts?the day most people are likely to give up on their New Year's Resolution on the second Friday of January. (This year, that is January 12, 2024. ) Strava calls it "Quitter's Day.") The article notes that 80% of those who keep resolutions past quitters day resolutions dropped them by the first week of February.

The article and others point to a problem of oversized initial motivation and unrealistic resolutions. The article also cites the importance of determination in small habits to create long-term sustainable change. Haden is right; resolutions are nearly impossible to sustain without changing habits. The article further notes "While it's certainly harder to?achieve a?massive goal?than a small one, the difficulty of the goal you set isn't nearly as significant as whether or not you develop the kind of?habits that allow you to achieve that goal." However, the problem is that they replace a reasoned, sustainable approach to change.

Authentic change anywhere in hard work, and in the case of becoming a more effective communicator, it is long-term hard work. It requires using the fourth pillar that completes the package of effective communication. The fourth pillar of effective communication is a process of Persistent, Habitual, and Reflective Practice with a guide to keep focus. Consider each term in this Process.

??"When you know your why, you know your way. "

Michael Hyatt

Persistent.

During a recent? Lead Every Day Podcast, leadership expert Mark Miller noted, "The problem with resolutions is they lack resolve." The Quilters Day authors note that the key to not quitting something you started is not just to decide to do something but to be devoted to doing it. Being devoted requires understanding why one must work to be an effective communicator. This follows the writings of Simon Sinek in Start with Why. He calls it the golden circle using Why - How and What. This is, of course, different than the resolution process of Big What First. Like all leadership development, it is an outside process. Leadership expert and author Michael Hyatt notes, "When you know your why, you know your way." You're why, once understood, it creates emotional commitment beyond Quiters Day.

Question

What is your why for being a more effective communicator?

Habitual

Habits are small steps taken in intentional progression to reach a goal of being an effective communicator. These smaller, intentionally planned, and executed steps become daily habits. James Clear in Atomic? Habits refers to them as an "Atomic Habit, "These are small actions that will benefit your daily leadership journey if practiced daily and intentionally. "In considering a leader's development as an effective communicator in their leadership practice, review the four pillars and choose two to three areas to work on in smaller chunks. For example, practice breathing and? P.A.U.S.E. in communication for a set time. The key to success here is to build success by taking small steps.

Question

What habits will you choose to work on?

"We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflection on experience."

John Dewey

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Reflective

Please take time to reflect on your progress. To develop the habits of effective communication using the four pillars. In Smart Leadership. Miller writes, "From time to time, we must pull up deliberately putting some distance between ourselves and the activities of the day if we want to lead well only in the distance can we create a proper perspective." That proper perspective is a reflection leaders choose to schedule time for themselves to think, reflect, assess, create, and plan. He refers to this practice as "Building Margin." In her book, A Minute to Think, Juliet Funt notes that intentionally creating "White Space," a? time to reflect, plan, and think, is crucial to effective leadership. John Maxwell, leadership expert and founder of Maxwell Leadership, refers to this practice as finding a place to think, reflect, plan, and apply insights. He often says that reflected activity leads to Insights for future activity. Paula Farris, a spokesperson for the Global Leadership Summit, refers to taking time to reflect as a "Strategic Pause. "As Miller noted in Smart Leadership, these practices refer to an intentional disciplined practice to think, reflect, assess, create, and plan. Reflection allows dedicated time to review, learn, revise, and apply. The Father of American public education, John Dewey, cited the power of reflection as learning, stating, "We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflection on experience." It is important to note that trusted friends, mentors, and coaches can assist in reflection. John Maxwell provides a guide here. John Maxwell's Guide to Thinking and Reflection

?Question

Are you making time to reflect, gain insights, and learn as a habit to enhance your development as an effective communicator in your leadership practice?

Practice

??Practice is taking intentional action steps to develop and enhance your skills as an effective communicator. Practice brings together and is intertwined with persistence and habitual reflection. Practice doesn't make perfect, as is commonly thought. International Coach Nicki Keohoho stresses to clients and workshop participants that practice makes permanent. The quality and intentional commitment to this fourth pillar will determine any leader's effectiveness as a communicator.

Question

How will you structure intentional practice?

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The journey of any leader to be an effective communicator will always have its challenges and learnings. The four pillars provide a model to start, evaluate, and revise as appropriate. This is a hard word. Mentors, colleagues, coaches, and trainers are certainly ready and valuable resources. Another resource to provide direction in a simple-to-use yet very effective way to affirm your development and growth to build your effective communication habits. Jon Gordon, the author of the Energy Bus, developed a simple affirmation, a compass for any change process, One Word. In his book, Jon explains the power of one word and how to choose and use your personalized One Word. Check his webpage, Jongordon.com check. Michelle Cummings, founder of ?Big WheelTraining www.Training-Wheels.com, is a colleague at Maxell leadership who, in her recent newsletter, shares a "sort "activity to choose your one word in Here are Four Tips on?Choosing Your Word of the Year. ,

Every follower wants and deserves effective communication from their leader. Every leader wants and needs to be an effective communicator. These Four Pillars are intertwining gifts of the bigger gift of effective communication. Your One Word provides the direction and impetus to advance and be the leader all followers deserve.

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My best on the journey is to stay the course, be patient and kind, and keep moving.

Happy New Year