…I am asking my people more questions and am focusing on being in inquiry more than directing. I am asking, “What are we going to do?” rather than telling my people what to do. They are grabbing onto projects and taking ownership and it also is taking the pressure off my shoulders to have to try and control everything.
…This process is affecting both my personal and my professional life. I am showing up differently in my relationship with my wife by functioning in an appreciative way and I am more centered and present with my direct reports. After a recent meeting with one of my people, she reported it was the “best one-on-one we’d ever had” because “you were really here.
…I am meeting my peer coach every week for breakfast and that’s been really helpful. I am focusing on listening more and paying attention to my body language. I now understand when I screw up and can catch myself. I found myself shifting in my chair at least six times in a recent meeting! I am spending more quality time with my peers than I ever have before.
…I am noticing a difference in the somatic side of how I am showing up and am hearing comments from my people such as “you are taking this work very seriously.” I had a successful experience in facilitating my part in a recent meeting as a result of showing up differently in stance and posture with presence and voice.
…I am really enjoying working with my peer coach. I am practicing “squaring up” when I talk to people. I am working with the Appreciative Inquiry concepts and am translating that into concepts that will work with my team and presenting those to them. I am amazed at how much this process is influencing me as a manager.
…I have been focusing on listening and being more engaged. I am reaching out more to my team and giving them the opportunity to speak rather than having to run the whole meeting myself. The team took ownership and took away more this time than the last time we had this same meeting when I led it all myself.
…I am working on doing something everyday that relaxes me and makes me feel good so I feel revived and energized when I get to work. I am also focusing on getting more grounded in myself. I have been working on building relationships by having one-on-ones with my people, especially focusing on having at least one meaningful conversation with someone each day and that has been very helpful.
…I am getting myself into a mode of what does not come automatically. As I begin to center in conversations with others, it starts to feel more natural. I am focusing more on being in an inquiry mode and looking for opportunities to commend other’s work, not just to my direct reports but also with my peers.
…The challenge is to continue to stay in inquiry and let my people come to their own solutions. It requires more time and it takes some adjustments on both sides, in myself in how I show up differently and in my people in changing their expectations of how I’ll show up!
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