Sometimes Two Heads Are Better Than One
I’m still amazed by how using my intuition to cast my wheel like I explained in Good Friends, Good Times and Better Balance has led to so many cool synchronicities. Including the sequence of these last two focus areas and then the one I’m about to describe. They ended up being related to one another!
One of the most appealing features of the 13×4 model, besides the crossover synchronicities and influences, is its flexibility. It can be used as a personal effectiveness program like I’m discussing in this article series. It can be used to put together a leadership effectiveness plan, a career transition plan, a program to increase sales, a plan to improve relationships, a better approach to parenting, etc. And recently, I met a 12-year old young man who is even using it to set sports goals, as well as goals for improving his grades and for listening to his teachers and parents.
Team Goals
The 13×4 can also be used to set team goals. In fact, the sixth focus area of my 13×4 Wheel™ reminds me of this aspect.
Earlier this year, Tom and I conducted an interactive program with a group of architects. Together, they created and cast their team 13×4 Wheel™. They wanted to blend the overarching goals of the company – the corporate office is located in another city – into their own team’s local goals.
I’m told that they are seeing some positive effects already after 4 months. The 13×4 gives them a chance to remember the bigger picture during the intensity of performing the tasks and deadlines that are right in front of them. The focus areas they chose as a team reminds them why they’re working so hard, and it gives them a common purpose. Gradual, positive changes in their team culture are occurring as each week’s focus area seeps through their busy work schedules and into their awareness on an ongoing basis.
Focus Area #6
F-ocus: Collaborate
A-ttitude: What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?
This is under the Mind domain because… “Sometimes, two heads are better than one.” While, of course, this can be true in all aspects of life, my intention for choosing this focus area is career related. I’ve always enjoyed working collaboratively with others in my field, and I want to continue exploring that in my career.
S-tory: What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?
When I was a recruiter, I partnered with other recruiters on candidate searches. As a career consultant, I’ve had great fun developing and delivering programs, including the online radio show I co-hosted between 2009 and 2011 with other experts. Producing that radio show was a multi-layered collaborative effort because it wasn’t just the co-hosting. It was also the interactions I had with our guests before during and after each show. Each time it was a coming together of multiple minds.
Choosing to focus on Collaborate and underpinning it with my gateway focus of Planning has helped me to envision additional collaborative projects I could do this year. For example, I branched out and did a teleseminar with a colleague, DeAnne Pearson. During this focus week, we did the post event wrap up activities and discussed how fun and helpful it had been to both of us. That week I talked with two people about the possibility of hosting future teleseminars for later this year. And I actually put one on the calendar with Tom Cassidy (that we did later on March 27).
By the end of the week, I’d confirmed the venue for the April 21 workshop that Tom and I had been planning to co-facilitate for a year. This was also the week that I put out the call for a freelancer to collaborate with in promoting the April 21 workshop.
Of course, the whole 13×4 concept is a collaborative effort between Tom and me… and as I’ve lately been reading Ben Franklin’s autobiography, I feel like Franklin has with us in spirit as we co-teach!
T-ool: What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?
I set a daily recurring appointment on my calendar that simply said, “13×4: Mind – Collaborate.” Each day I was reminded to reach out to those I was drawn to collaborate with or had collaborated with in the past while also inviting the possibilities for new colleagues and partnerships in the future.
~~~~~~~~~
Click HERE for the next article in this series. –>
___________________________________________________
Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. http://angelaloeb.com
___________________________________________________
