What are you doing to flourish when we are told to tighten our belts?

The absence of the ritual Sunday Morning blog last week was due to an impromptu trip to France, combining business with convivial socialising over un croissant (or two) accompanied by une bouteille (or two) of the old vin rouge!  Still, I hope you found our first newsletter, which I arranged to have circulated instead of the blog, useful.  I really hope you did, because in the newsletter “Do you have to achieve more with less?” I shared more than a few of my trade secrets: how to get the most out of your training suppliers and consultants!

Sunny Sunday Blog

So here I am back in Blighty, enjoying something even more than I did the French patisserie and beverages:  the English Summer, resplendent in the sunshine.  Settling down in the garden to compose this blog, it has not taken long to be inspired for today’s theme. I see a garden that, despite its pathetic state a few years ago due to wilful neglect by the previous owners, is actually flourishing.  I see strong, sturdy plants and trees, glossy foliage and glorious blooms, brightening the day for anyone who cares to look, full of promise for the months to come.   I love the word ‘flourish’ even more than the word ‘achieve’.  It’s such a positive word, oozing with the promise of success. So what are we doing, to ensure that we flourish, personally, professionally and corporately, against a backdrop of political and economic tightening of belts – more than just a few notches for most of us it seems?

Consider what you need to do personally, not just to survive, but to flourish in these testing times.  If you are a leader, manager or business owner, what people strategies have you in place to positively drive and aid your success?  If you are an employee, how engaged are you with the organisation?  How much responsibility are you taking to help your business truly thrive? How much are you playing, or being allowed to play, to your strengths?

I’d be really interested to hear your views on what we need to flourish. Positive emotions, a clear sense of purpose, value and achievement, engagement with what I am doing and with the people I am working with, and for, do it for me.  Oh, along with a healthy dose of resilience, tenacity and vitality! Most of all, to flourish I need to be permitted constantly to play to my strengths and to be ME. I was recently asked by a great client if I had a ‘mini me’! But that wouldn’t really work, would it?

I don’t know about you, but I also see in myself an insecurity – revealed by the need to always do better.  My husband recognises this and attributes it to my parental scripting (sorry, Dad!)  I find myself becoming a ‘wannabe’.  I am, if I am not careful, constantly on the lookout for further revelations: how to be an even better Mum, how to keep the house even more tidy, how to have more time to walk the five Jack Russells, how to increase my turnover, how to get my website higher on Google, how to get a higher profile with social media, how to tweet more interesting tweets…….etc etc etc.  It is so exhausting!  If I am not careful it will sap my energies and I will fail.  The learning point is this:  to flourish, we need like most things in life, to ensure a balance, an equilibrium.  I can see that in our garden.  It’s much harder though, isn’t it, to get it right for ourselves? 

We work constantly with individuals, teams and leaders to help them flourish and achieve. But development is not just about striving for more, addressing our weaknesses and acquiring new skills.  It is also about truly identifying, honing and building on our existing strengths, and a celebration of individuality. This focus builds confidence, positive thoughts, a feel good factor, self-esteem and a respect for others too.  Its effect can be infectious, radiating through a team and an organisation.  The release of positive energy, vibrancy and confidence can be exhilarating to experience. Conformity can only go so far in the corporate arena, so leaders, and trainers, beware.

So, building on strengths is a fantastic strategy for both the personal and the corporate self-improvement agenda.

To go back to our gardening analogy, consider this Chinese proverb:

“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.  The second best time is now”.

Alison Miles-Jenkins Sunday Morning Blog – 27 June 2010 Blog Number 7

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