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Secrets From a Coach - Debbie Green & Laura Thomson's Podcast
Secrets From a Coach - Debbie Green & Laura Thomson's Podcast
186. Set a Skills Fit-Bit to Track and Empower Your Development
This fourth episode in our Redefining Careers series looks at the benefit of reframing how we look at our day to day to track how we are developing our skills. Like how fitbit-type trackers have transformed how we view our daily physical activity through monitoring data e.g. step count, there is a parallel when we apply this to our professional activity. It enables us to view 'the hassle of having to walk up the stairs' to being of benefit to our body and therefore shifts our mindset in that moment which lifts our sense of wellbeing.
Setting up a 'skills fit-bit' enables us to view 'the hassle of having to talk to all these stakeholders' to being of benefit to our career options and therefore shifts our mindset in that moment which lifts our sense of confidence and empowerment. Nothing complicated - simply taking a fortnightly check-in on your skills-count and a quarterly check-in on your skills/time priorities can transform how we view our current day to day. Sometimes the benefit of the difficult work days are not realised until years later when we see how useful that skill or experience was in enabling us.
Curious? Check out our relevant episodes:
Ep.154 Supercharge Your Development With a PDP (a practical how-to)
Ep.167 Keeping Optimistic During Challenge
Ep. 162. Owning Your Success Story
Ep.155 When Familiarity Breeds Contempt - Keeping The Spark In Long Service
Secrets from a coach Thrive and maximise your potential in the evolving workplace. Your weekly podcast with Debbie Green of Wishfish and Laura Thompson-Staveley of Phenomenal Training. Debs, laura, are you all right? Yeah, I'm all right, I'm all right. Do you know what I think this episode? Let's keep it lighthearted, bring in a bit of fun, because what we're finding aren't we, debs? That when we're able to just convert the daily grind into a little bit of spark, you can just feel the environment in that room shift and in your world. I know you do lots more one-to-one stuff than I do. What benefit do you think it brings us humans when we're able to reframe, maybe, what we're doing and just see it from a different perspective?
Speaker 2:oh, it's huge because it stops us going down a slippery slope or just doing the same old, same old, same old and hoping for a different result. So the ability to just look at it from a different perspective, try something new, get creative, do something you may never have done before with it, whatever it might be, it just sparks your imagination and it's fun and it feels like you're playing, if that makes sense, which we all need, I think now we all need to play more, yeah, and do you know what I've noticed?
Speaker 1:So let's say, I don't know, we're running a session, we're doing loads of leadership workshops together at the moment and let's say there's like something's gone wrong. We have to shift rooms or wherever you need to go to, to get to the bathrooms or the restaurant or whatever involves a lot of walking. What I'm seeing is there's a couple of people now in a room who'll go it's okay, I'll get my steps up. And it completely transforms, rather than oh, what a hassle, we've got to go and walk up and downstairs. You then see a couple of people go it's okay, I'll get my steps up.
Speaker 1:And the energy that brings and it's really taught me something the last couple of weeks, debs, about how even the simple things that seemingly seem so small, those things, when they really grate away and they really irritate you, it can really sort of drag you down. And I've learned quite a bit from just watching how even the thing of oh sorry, everyone, it's a bit of a schlep to get to the bathroom and you then see a couple of bright sparks going it's okay, I'll get my steps up. And using that as a parallel, let's say you're dealing with a lot of work at the moment, or someone asks you oh, can you do this, actually, to have that reframe of that'll get my skills up.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's a good catch, so the equivalent of that'll get my steps up.
Speaker 1:if you have to do something that was unexpected physically, that'll get my skills up.
Speaker 2:if you have to do something unexpected professionally, yeah, I love that idea and is that reframe and you can all do it if we just take a moment and think well, rather than go oh, it's more like oh, okay, so it's just looking at it from a different angle. I love that yeah.
Speaker 1:Get your skills up. Yeah, Love it. And on our previous mini series we've done about, you know, renegotiating heavy workload and saying no and all that kind of stuff. So this isn't about letting go of all of those boundaries and just saying yes to everything. But could there be a benefit to our general sense of wellness and optimism if, as you said, that reframe of oh do I have to do this into, I get to do this and what's the benefit to me, not only now but also in the future in terms of my skill set? So we were thinking it might be quite a cute metaphor to you know, rather than calling it a PDP or a kind of, you know, professional skills plan or something, this is your career fitbit.
Speaker 2:We love that Career fitbit Love it.
Speaker 1:Just to bring a bit of light to it. So we'll have a look at what does it mean to have a career fitbit, so tracking your skills as you go, what might be some practical tools to bring it to life? So it's not an admin task, it actually gives you something that you know adds a bit of energy and vitality. And then some recommendations and suggestions for what some next steps could be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, looking forward to that, Laura, let's explore.
Speaker 1:So, debs, the world of Fitbits has become massive, hasn't it? It has. In short, it enables that person to be empowered through data, my biometrics. So when I do this, what impact does that have on my body and therefore, what are some decisions that I can now be in charge of? That enables me to feel like I'm setting myself up for success.
Speaker 1:If we were to transfer that physical health world into that career health world, I guess a career Fitbit is little and often so, not just once a year. Let me just check in on myself and track my data. What am I doing well at the moment? What's causing me a bit of a kerfuffle? What might be some things I want to start, stop or continue? And it enables you, as that person, just like in a Fitbit world from a career point of view, to feel like you are super empowered and to be armed with some information to make some decisions about.
Speaker 1:Do I stay in this job that I might not love, but I can see from a skills point of view, this is really useful for me. So I'm prepared to tolerate today, because I know it's going to set me up in the future. It could be that there might be someone who really doesn't like their role at the moment, but they love the people and that's just what's then needed in their life at that point. So, even though the job might not be kind of ticking your boxes at the moment, you're enjoying it. But are there still some decisions you could make to volunteer or help out or shift what you're doing to keep those skills up?
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, and I think that's really important. As you say, you see more and more people with Fitbits on their wrists now than you ever did before, and they're also tracking it on their phones and stuff. So I think, if you have that same mindset, to go, how am I doing? But for me, in order to do it well, you have to stop and look and reflect. It's no good just having a Fitbit if you're not going to look at it and just see what's happening. You've got to have a way of stopping, pausing, reflecting, thinking about what.
Speaker 2:As you said, what have I achieved so far? Am I still on track, or do I need to do something different? You know, do I need to I don't know add in some extra calories, or do I need to think about the proteins I'm having? Or or or or. It's thinking about what can you do differently in order that you can really get back on track? But you have to build the balls in, because you can't run on empty.
Speaker 2:So, whilst you might get 10 million steps in, if you haven't fed yourself, slept well, all of that lovely wellness stuff, then you're not going to go again tomorrow, well, so it's really important that, as well as keeping check of it.
Speaker 2:You're regularly keeping a check of it, and we know some people do that weekly, some people do it every quarter, some people do it yearly. My encouragement is always to do a bit of reflection, at least once every two weeks, and see if you are on track. I know you do your quarterly, don't you? You do your grid, which I think is a great way to keep on track of where you're heading, and maybe you could share that with everyone, because it's such a good thing to do, laura, because I think it just reminds you of one where you've come from. And, blimey, you've worked really hard and done a lot, and actually I'm on track. And then what am I doing? Setting myself up for the next part so that, building in that pause, you wouldn't go to the gym for 24 hours, and so don't work for 24 hours either, without taking a break and refreshing.
Speaker 1:That's brilliant that parallel, because it just enables you to see the truth clearly.
Speaker 1:If my body and my mind is what enables me to go to work, how do I do that in a way that doesn't cause me injury and sprain and also that I'm still motivated to do it and it brings, you know, all of that sort of good stuff. And for anyone that might be listening in who's having a tough time at work at the moment, I think, like physical health, you know, you might go through a bit of rehab, but better things will come. There has to be that sense of self-empowerment and actually I decide what I do. It might feel like my choices are limited at the moment because I've got some things that I need to kind of deal with, but at some point, all of this stuff I'm doing now, now I can position that as having been good for me. You know, in in terms of that dev, what about? What about last week, when we had that group of leaders and we were asking them to put together a playlist of songs to describe how their year had been so far?
Speaker 1:you know in a hybrid leadership role, and someone pipes up, kelly clark says what does it kill you? Makes you you stronger? And everyone just burst into laughter. And because you know it has been a tough year for you know, tough time for a number of people. But to know you're not the only one. And like any journey, you need two bits of information my current origin and my destination. So, as you said that, where am I at right now? And I'll explain my in the next bit, I'll explain my six box exercise.
Speaker 1:It's a nice thing to start, but even just a simple SWOT analysis where are my strengths at the moment? What are the weaknesses that I think are kind of getting me down a bit at the moment? What are my opportunities, what's out there and what are my threats? So what are the things I might need to be aware of? For example, if you think your organization is likely to be sold at some point in the future, well, with that, we're seeing lots of, you know, comings and goings in terms of organizations at the moment. With that, of course, comes a whole host of opportunities and not just threats. And to be able to put your finger on the pulse pretty much week by week or fortnight by fortnight. What are my skills that I'm practicing at the moment? Because it might be the same role that you've had for 20 years, but the skills you know you might have had to really adapt and evolve those. So it enables you to sort of track that. Yeah, definitely should we look at some practical things about how to put together a career skills Fitbit?
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's do that, Laura.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I guess, from a timeframe point of view, you could, rather than this feeling like something that becomes obsession or you know day by day how am I doing, what are my skills. You suggested fortnightly and that might be a good place to start Just set a reminder on the phone and just to have the final meeting of the week to be half an hour with yourself. You know how am I doing, as if you were your own line manager. If you're blessed with an exceptionally motivational line manager, you might have the luxury, or it might not feel like it, but you might have that time put in that enables some of that reflection.
Speaker 1:If you haven't, well, you could wait a whole career lifetime waiting for a manager that bothers about your self-development, but at some point you have to bother about your self-development, because no one can be more interested in your own development than yourself.
Speaker 2:And I think that's it Law. If you really want to grow, learn, move on in anything, you're going to have to put the work in to do that. I think nothing comes to us given on a plate anymore, you know, I think people who think that are a bit delusional. You have to work at it and if you really want to progress and want to feel better and thrive and feel well and all of that stuff which we know is really good for us, then we have to put the work. You then we have to put the work. You know we have to put the work in and giving yourself not, as you said, overstretching targets which put you into your stress zone and you won't do it because it's like.
Speaker 2:That's why I don't like doing New Year's resolutions, because it puts the pressure on. It's just that I want to do something different and it might be pick one thing, not 20 things. You might have 20 things on your list, but picking one to do and have a go at and then maybe you're layering another one. But you have to. You have to put the work in to be able to get those results back and it's not always easy, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but to feel like you are progressing forward, and that's the benefit of being able to track it. It enables to give yourself a little bit of a yes, actually I did do that. So the six box exercise yeah, talk us through that one.
Speaker 1:It literally is six boxes that you put some time in to do this exercise, but blank sheet of paper or in a notebook, however you like to capture it. And this six box exercise I know we've covered it a couple of times, but I talk a good game about it but I suddenly the other month went oh my God, it's been ages since I've done it and I knew, because we've been so busy, that actually I was getting less and less fired up with what I was doing. And so for me, because I need to connect and join the dots up rather than getting lost in work, to enable to see it for what it is, it's where you're spending your time day to day, and am I spending my time as wisely as I could do when I think about the things that are really important to me? So, six box exercise you've got your six chunks in your table and each of those six boxes has a subtitle, so it might be health, family, friends and hobbies, work, finance, home, whatever those big things are. And it's these are the six things that are important to you on your radar, to sort of hold it all together, and rather than on it being a series of to-do lists because that might not fire you up. It is aiming for maximum three positive bullet points in terms of how you want to spend your time.
Speaker 1:In on that From the day to day.
Speaker 1:You know to sit down and have dinner with the family three times a week that's something that I really want to commit to and then at the end, in sort of every three months, you check back in and go yeah, actually on a whole I've done that.
Speaker 1:So there might have been all the stuff in my inbox that wasn't dealt with but actually enables you to just direct with how do I want to spend my time, what are the skills that I need to then invest in? So those skills are saying no, to then be able to tolerate an inbox that you can hear is pinging but to go. No, it's really important for me to sit here in that moment and it might feel uncomfortable short term, but the benefit of that career, that skill fit bit, is when you sit and go back to that six box exercise you can go. Oh, yeah, I did do that, because the busier you are, the more likely you are to forget the good stuff you've done, because it's the pressing things that you haven't done. That will be potentially on your mind and Debs, when we've been running some sessions, I know for all of our team, for some people just sitting there in that coaching environment, a workshop environment, is the first moment they've had for years some people to sit and just reflect and typically people will then go.
Speaker 2:I'm all right, actually yeah, I'm good, all right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've coached with loads, yeah and then you think, okay, so those, what are the skills you've had to deploy? Yes, brilliant if that got you to here.
Speaker 2:Wow what's going to get you there? Mix of skill, yeah, what?
Speaker 1:could that mean in terms of the skills to propel you on forward? So the six box exercise is a really manual, simple task, but it's taking half an hour out with yourself just to sit in peace and it's not complicated, but it can really, really can then help resolve any dilemmas, sort of later on, and then set a reminder on your phone, or however you do it, to then just check in once a quarter. So where you would suggest a fortnightly yeah, fortnightly check-in? Yeah, what have my steps been? What's my step count? What's my skill count?
Speaker 2:yeah, where am I at, where you know. So you're sort of got it in the corner. You know it's, you're aware of it, um, but it's not overtaking your life, as you you said, so you become obsessive with it. It's just a gentle, a gentle ongoing process that becomes part of your natural rhythm of life, as we call it. So I think it's really important to check in every couple of weeks how am I doing? Yeah, I'm all right. That affirmation of self is the bit that's going to keep you going forward.
Speaker 2:And a couple of clients that I have, a couple couple of them do, as we were talking about this. One of them does their own star chart. So they have, um, they've gone back to school, as they called it, and they've got their star chart and every time they've moved something on, they put another star on and like a sticker, and they feel quite really happy about that um. And one of them will do redo with their life.
Speaker 2:So in coaching we often start with where are you in your life, similar to your six box, and they review that. So they do the whole thing, and then obviously we get them doing a gale at some point. So what are they grateful for? What have they achieved or accomplished, what have they improved upon and what thing have they learned as that check-in? So building in the pause to do that enables you to keep moving forward, but also recognizing what you have done and the good stuff that you bring, that you can take from what you've done into the new stuff that you're wanting to do, is the bit that keeps the momentum going, and it's a rhythm of life that becomes part of who you are, rather than something that you're struggling to do or get bored with or can't do. It's those little steps every day that will make the biggest difference on the whole.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, Beautiful Debs, let's tie this up in our final bit. So just some tips and tricks and just things to kind of get yourself going. Cool, Debs, you reminded me just as you were talking about that kind of daily gale. So that's meditation and reflection for busy people, that two minutes.
Speaker 1:What am I grateful for? What have I accomplished which enables you to value the day even though it might not have felt like an easy one at the time, which kind of ramps up that level of gratitude for that day. And then the improved upon and learned, so the G-A-I-L, which gives a sense of optimism for the next day. So what have I done today? It's moved to tomorrow and it's just reminded me that we used to. We talked about that everyday mental health routine, so just like a dental health routine. So we've talked about fortnightly do a kind of an informal check-in on yourself, maybe quarterly, to do that six box exercise or a wheel of life or just something that looks at how am I doing on all the priorities in my life, but maybe day by day. It's that new atomic habit, as James Clear.
Speaker 2:James Clear yeah, he talks about atomic habits.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Atomic habits and maybe that little atomic habit to build that compound effect is how you talk to yourself when you brush your teeth in the morning, how you talk to yourself when you brush your teeth at night. Why do we brush our teeth in the morning? To get rid of the old stuff and feel fresh for the day ahead. Why do we brush our teeth at the end of the night? To be able to clear away all that debris that's kind of collected. So if we were to do that, whilst we take that moment of reflect, how's the day gone? What have I taken from it to do that gale?
Speaker 1:And not only is that useful from a everyday morale and kind of outlook, but from a skills point of view. It reminds you sometimes the toughest days, the toughest projects, the nightmare clients, the difficult team members, the ridiculous politics that you've got to wade your way through at these awful meetings that just go on for hours and hours and hours. All of that is practicing a skill and shifting it into all the things I've got to deal with in my job, into all the skills I have to practice in my job. And suddenly it puts you in that I'm the agent in my life. I get to author what I do next and, rather than this job being kind of you know, the death of me, actually this job is going to set me up for something, whether it's now or in the future. So I think that skills fit bit just to wrap it up like people have really got into that fitness fit bit it enables you to see the everyday, normal comings and goings is good for my body.
Speaker 1:How can I make good choices to do that more? The skills fit bit is your everyday push and pulls in your job is actually good for your skills. So what might be some choices I could make that enables me to do more of the stuff I like and enjoy and deal with the stuff that I enjoy the less? Yes, definitely Any other practical things. What about for people that don't particularly like writing or list making? What might be some other options?
Speaker 2:I think, just sitting and reflecting, you know, take five minutes pause out of your every day and just mindfully run through what you maybe have done in your own mind. You don't have to write it down, but I think just taking that pause for yourself enables you to just reflect. So for me, that would be the call to action. How are you going to make time with yourself, like you said, to be able to just sit and go? Yeah, what have I done? I've done this, this, this, yeah, cool. And it may be that you just look over something or you remind yourself of something and you just say, yeah, I've done that. Pause, that would be my call to action Time with self to reflect.
Speaker 1:My show the Secret With Bea links on to one of those practical things that you've said, that so many people have said. I do that and I feel better. That smile file.
Speaker 1:So gathering any information that anyone has ever said. Oh, thank you for that. You did a really good job. Collect that all and store it somewhere on a new file folder the smile file, as you call it just as a reminder of.
Speaker 1:Actually there are some of the things that I'm doing. I'm doing all right and from a share the secret point of view, whether this is something for you or something with a colleague. If you're feeling a little bit lost in work at the moment, then what we're looking at is the power of that reframe, very simply. So do you want to get your steps up together? Maybe they're working with some teams at the moment who are doing a big training rollout and they've set an agreement as the buddies that they're going to give themselves feedback at the start and the end of each day, so that there's something for them that's from a skill set point of view and the trust and the rapport that's built up as a result of that. So maybe there's someone that you think, yeah, I trust them.
Speaker 1:Actually, let's run parallel a little bit and give each other some feedback. That is in the pursuit of enabling us to go further and with it, you know, and it all kind of feeling good and your feedback tool that I love keep consider. So tell me about that session or that meeting. What do you think I should keep doing? What do you think should be a consider? So deb's really looking forward to our final part in this careers redefined we're going to be covering next week with a guest?
Speaker 2:yes, so can't wait for that I'm looking forward to it law and having lots more to talk about as a result of this. I love it have a good one.
Speaker 1:Oh, you too, darling, have a wonderful week.
Speaker 2:Love you, love you Bye.
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