Reinvent

This time last year I was preparing to reduce my hours at work and set up my own business. One year on feels like a good time to reflect a little. There has been a lot of learning, not to mention the small matter of a global pandemic. Whatever line of work you are in the impact of COVID-19 on how we live and work has been significant. I’ve chosen five words to prompt my reflections and I invite you to consider these also, today I considering ‘reinvent’.

Revise

Relearn

Realign

Reinvent

Reimagine

Reinvent ~ change something so that it appears entirely new

Reinvention feels like quite a radical process. I’m not sure that what I’m going to share is radical but there is certainly a shift. Last month I updated my logo, a logo that was only a year old. In some ways it was a small change the removal of the word ‘yoga’. A year ago including the yoga element felt like a safety net, now, I’m not sure why but at the time it did.

I realise now that I can bring all my skills and experience to my business and that I don’t need to hide them, what makes me a skilled coach is all of this. All the years of working as a psychologist, leading teams, leading learning and improvement. I can now say with confidence that I am a psychologist, a coach and leader with extensive experience of working in education. You know what, saying this is actually pretty radical for me!

Over the last few months I have been reflecting a lot on what I don’t want to do and what I really want to. Getting really clear on this has helped me to create boundaries and stick to them, saying no to things that are not aligned to that. Don’t get me wrong, saying ‘no’ to work right now seems a little counter intuitive. Sometimes you have to make space for the work you do want to do, for the conversations you do want to have.

I love getting into the detail of a situation and supporting others to see things differently. I am good at seeing connections and joining the dots, I can help others to see these. In an world that is increasingly complex and requires us to have a deep understanding of our context, organisation and team, we need leaders who can go beyond the surface to uncover the subtlety and the detail. Leaders need to be able to communicate in a way that enables them to be heard beyond the noise, create shared clarity and purpose beyond a goal and to nurture active collaboration. I can help leaders to learn and lead differently, helping them to see the wood and the trees.

I can do this and I can help others to do this too. Being quietly radical, I now have a new consultancy service to support leaders in the public and third sector. (Check out yesterday’s post to understand the quiet reference here).

A lot of small businesses have pivoted during this pandemic. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I have done that and I haven’t reinvented my business or who I am. I have however got really clear on what I want and what I don’t want. This has allowed me to be a bit bolder, to refine my logo and my offering in a way that reflects all of who I am and how I can help leaders to grow their impact in life and work.

Although I started this post saying that I wasn’t going to share anything radical I also recognise that over the course of the last 12 - 18 months I have engaged in pretty radical change.

What does reinvention mean to you? What would it look like in your life, work or business?