By Janel Byrne
As the year 2020 is coming to a close I have many emotions. I’m ready to say goodbye to 2020 and I’m increasingly uncertain with what 2021 has up its sleeve. I also know 2020 brought dramatic change and turmoil, while presenting opportunities for unexpected resilience and growth. It’s been a huge year of learning and, as leaders, learning is life-long and vital to how we show up.
With the hopes of capitalizing on the important lessons of 2020, I contacted a talented leadership and communications coach, consultant and facilitator, Lynnette Ward. I have the privilege of learning from Lynnette for a few years now and she graciously shared her annual process for reflecting and setting personal and professional goals.
As Lynnette recalls, her process stemmed from when she started her path as a coach/consultant and thought back to the importance of sales meetings during her business development roles as a time to debrief the previous year and set new goals. Additionally, for her, it was about the importance of stepping away for clearer thinking. Her first “annual retreat,” as she calls it, was when she went to Australia for just over 3 months after leaving her former career of 12 years. This adventure is where she achieved the clarity she needed to change careers.
She’s since kept the annual retreat as part of her process. It takes place in January to kick off the New Year where she goes “off the grid” with out of office messages up and her phone tucked away. While on her own, she spends her time gaining clarity around next steps and setting SMART goals. These goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant And Time-bound and she has a number of accountability buddies in her life who support her ability to maintain this process and achieve the goals she sets for herself. Plus, she sets quarterly check-ins to track her own progress.
Critical to Lynnette’s ability to reflect and set goals are a series of personal and professional questions to uncover what she has learned and, subsequently, what she wants to achieve. These questions include:
- What went well this year? What did not?
- Where did I excel?
- Is there something I never want to do again?
- What skills/knowledge do I need/want to master?
- What partnerships will I choose to repeat?
- What partnerships will I choose not to repeat?
- What partnerships do I want to build?
- What will I give up to make time to add new skills/knowledge/partnerships?
- What did I learn this year?
- What did I accomplish this year?
- Am I staying on mission?
- Based on these reflections, what goals do I want to set?
- How will I stay accountable to these goals?
2020 has presented some of the most rewarding and excruciating leadership moments for me. It’s essential I understand where my strengths flourished and identify strategies for continued growth. It’s through these lessons and personal work I am able to lead and contribute value to my organization.
As I think about my own annual retreat, time is already protected on my calendar, away from distractions, to dive deep into the aforementioned questions. I also intend to ask a few people to be my accountability buddies to support my ability to take this time to reflect, set and achieve my 2021 goals, Lynnette being one of them.
Don’t let the leadership lessons of 2020 pass you by – pause, reflect and grow!
The annual retreat is one of many leadership tools added to my toolkit by Lynnette Ward. For additional information, tools or partnership, she’s readily available via: linkedin.com/in/lynnetteward or lynnettejward@hotmail.com and be sure to tell her you learned about her annual retreat from this article.
