This year (2020 for those reading this later) I set about to send a weekly email to share articles I have read and found interesting, evidence-based research I thought useful, and thoughts on various aspects of leadership and coaching. It turns out I managed to send 47 posts.
Those of you who know me know that the number 47 holds a special place in my life. However, the number of posts this year was purely accidental.
There have been times when I have found the process of writing and publishing these articles onerous, however, I have always been pleased with the result. The thing that has kept me going as I come up hard against the deadline for publishing is a comment I once heard Stephen Fry make about his Twitter followers. I don’t remember the exact quote but the gist of his comment was that as long as he had one follower, he had a responsibility to publish for that one person.
I hope I have met my responsibility to my subscribers this year.
Below is a summary of this year’s writing. You can click on the link in the date to take you to that email. As you go through the list I wonder if you will reflect on 2020 in a similar way to which I did.
Enjoy.
10 Jan: Recommended reading lists, sleep, and burnout.
17 Jan: Creating habits, looking in obvious places, and the difference between happiness and wellbeing.
24 Jan: Equifinality, self-control, and mentoring.
31 Jan: Embracing change, slow decision making, philosophical questions, and walking meetings.
7 Feb: Sleep, the power of “I don’t know”, the costs of being a caring manager, and person-centred coaching.
14 Feb: Open-plan offices, why coming third might make you happier than coming second, mentoring, and curiosity.
21 Feb: Setting ground rules early, overcoming being (or feeling) overwhelmed, dancing like an idiot, and being worthy of a coach.
28 Feb: The benefits of boredom, employee engagement, writing about business, and coping with success and failure.
6 Mar: Imposter syndrome, employees with depression, habits, and an inspirational suicide prevention play.
13 Mar: Coronavirus, procrastination, and goals.
20 Mar: Reassurance, COVID-19 strategies, anxiety and depression at work, and the benefits of curiosity.
27 Mar: How to avoid shaking hands, confinement, taking small steps, and conflict at work.
3 Apr: Managing remote workers, coping with uncertainty, connecting when we’re apart, and the importance of stability during change.
10 Apr: Stress, and some thoughts on uncertainty and control.
17 Apr: Female leadership, digital miscommunication, the impact of COVID on global sleep patterns, humility, and informal leadership.
24 Apr: What good leadership looks like in a pandemic, making zoom meetings meaningful, a CEO reading list, and the stages of change.
1 May: Personality, introversion, experiencing multiple emotions, and stages of adult development.
8 May: Leading in a crisis, a world without air travel, the science of helping, and self-determination theory.
15 May: Expecting the worst, reflection, the ‘new normal’, and problem vs solution-focused questions.
22 May: Being supportive, taming your advice monster, practising courage, and ethics in coaching.
29 May: The impact of stressful jobs, zoom fatigue, and identifying with your organisation.
5 Jun: Remote learning, leading through anxiety, listening to others’ stories, and improving meeting effectiveness through coaching.
12 Jun: Peaceful protest, experience vs memory, teens and self-worth, and the delayed effects of leadership coaching.
19 Jun: The paradox of choice, what stops people asking for help, mastery, and the benefits of combing 360 feedback with coaching.
26 Jun: Building a stronger memory, saying “no”, opening digital doors, and the power of reflective writing.
3 Jul: Reducing screen time, disagreeable people, employee burnout, and cognitive behavioural coaching.
10 Jul: Psychological flexibility, needing each other, corporate athleticism, and character strengths.
17 Jul: Cognitive dissonance, crisis leadership, managing your energy, and the potential positive impacts of the pandemic.
24 Jul: Automatic negative thoughts, why workers don’t take breaks, disagreeing productively, and self-distancing.
31 Jul: Stopping, narcissism, stress, good feedback, and workplace conflict.
7 Aug: Vulnerability, trust in the remote environment, the difference between worry, stress and anxiety, micromanagement, and expectations.
14 Aug: Reading things for the ‘first time’, CEO leadership, supporting mental health, remembering names, and the roles of irrational beliefs in perfectionism.
28 Aug: Perspective, quarantine envy, low-cost employee development, mental health breaks, and addressing uncertainty.
Up to this point, each email was a random collection of articles and research that I found interesting or insightful. I hoped you would too. Starting with my email of 4 Sep, however, I started to build each email around a central theme. It was important at this point that my thoughts, each curated article and any research link to this theme.
4 Sep: Journaling.
11 Sep: Conversations and the power of language.
18 Sep: Trust and vulnerability.
25 Sep: The ‘spotlight’ effect and attention.
2 Oct: The dealing with, and acceptance of, uncertainty.
9 Oct: Various aspects including the downside of strengths.
16 Oct: Mindfulness.
23 Oct: Projection and seeing our own faults in others.
30 Oct: Power and leadership
6 Nov: Resilience.
13 Nov: Assisting others with difficult conversations.
20 Nov: Giving and receiving advice.
27 Nov: Delegation.
4 Dec: Getting distance from your emotions.
Thank you for reading, leading and helping humans be human.