Jul 22, 2016
We are at the beginning of a new financial year here in Australia, and as always Precision Sourcing will reflect on the past year as a business and look ahead via our annual strategy day. The strategy day allows us to reflect and communicate progress, celebrate great performances and the goals ahead as well as the key strategies and actions. An opportunity for insight.
When reflecting on the past 12 months I thought about what I have personally learnt introspectively and below are the 6 points:
Insight 1. Change is inevitable so embrace it
Impermanence is all we can be sure of and the fact that one day we won’t be here. Nothing is forever, not even you, your home, your car or even the business you sit within today.
What can you do? Worry about change or take action, prepare and get a plan to lead change rather than let change dictate you. Right now at Precision Sourcing, we are embracing technology and digital in a way that we would never have anticipated 18 months ago. This change is sometimes a little like going into the unknown for recruiters of habit, but we are enjoying the journey and learning along the way.
Insight 2. Support is invaluable, reach out
Mentors, coaches, teachers, boss, Mum, call them what you like but to have someone or some people that you can rely on that is more knowledgeable than you on specific topics or challenges is invaluable. I am lucky enough to have 3 or 4 people that I can count on to share a problem or situation that you don’t foresee and these relationships are both professional and personal now. I cringe when I look back and consider some of the decisions or choices I have made over the years and think about what I would have done differently if the support network I have now was with me then.
Insight 3. Consider changing yourself before trying to change another
We all have friends or acquaintances in business that we would like to change. They might annoy you because they possibly don’t listen and jump in before you explain something or perhaps they don’t follow a process that you have clearly mapped out. Well here is the deal, try changing yourself first. We quickly accept ourselves for what we are and rarely consider that perhaps if we change our approach, or style that maybe the person will then also change.
People fall into the category of Driver, Amiable, Analytical or Expressive. How you communicate with each of these typical behaviour profiles differs hugely.
Insight 4. Your health is your wealth
I meet hundreds of people every year through Precision Sourcing and my kids’ schools. All ages, professions and backgrounds but the standout people and those that are successful in my view are the ones that have a look of vitality, a spark, enjoyment for what they do, purpose, friends & family that they enjoy seeing regularly and ultimately physical and mental well-being. The balance of achieving this is the challenge while pursuing a rewarding career.
Insight 5. Do not let dirty feet trample through your head
I love this saying from Robin Sharma. We have all had negative colleagues or friends, and the reality is that other than being amusing for how negative they can be they don’t bring any value to your world. Next time they regurgitate their negative energy upon you ask them to keep their dirty feet away from your active and fresh mind. Be careful as they try to disguise it with words like realistic, pessimistic and sensible. Those words won’t be going through the head of any gold-winning Olympian in Rio this year.
Insight 6. Nobody ever achieves anything great alone; team is everything
Neil Armstrong had a great team behind him, Muhammed Ali had a great trainer to guide him, Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Everest for the first time alongside a Nepalese Sherpa (called Tenzing Norgay, but nobody ever remembers that) and we now know what Leicester and Portugal achieved as a team in the world of football.
I preach to the team at Precision Sourcing about the importance we all play together as a team whether it be something as simple as answering a colleague’s line and taking a message or collaborating together on an issue someone might have with a particular scenario. My 9-year-old daughter has said it for many years “teamwork makes the dream work” so it is worth remembering when your barista hands over your morning cup of coffee playing their part in your great day ahead.
I hope you have found this insightful if so share what lessons you can pass on from the last 12 months?
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