Mirror Mirror on the wall…Oh heck

I have had one of those weeks where I can’t quite work out if it went well or not. And as is sometimes the case, this particular concern is based on a difference between my perception of myself and that from people around me who I trust.

And from my wife who I trust and who sees everything.

The issue that has caused me to stop and reflect is how I go about building teams.

From the feedback I have got there is little doubt that the people who work for me understand what I want them to do and actually spend a fair amount of time and effort getting on with it. The question is what happens when I am no longer there. Have I created a team that works well together even if individually people are pulling in the right direction.

Stopping, reflecting and deciding to look at what you do is probably something we all know instinctively we should do but I suspect we find it incredibly difficult to do. I know I do. And I know that my typical reaction to being told something that I don’t understand is to ignore it or take it personally. Or both.

But the word at the end of the first paragraph is key. I’ve got feedback from people I trust and if they are saying something I probably ought to listen. Its taken me a long time to get to this point but I do feel ready not only to listen to the advice but to do something about it.

I think we all know we need to do some things better or differently. No one (and maybe not even me) is that good. But actually recognizing it and then doing something about it is difficult.

Oh goodness this is sounding like a self help blog. Its not its meant to be about business.

Finding people you really trust, listening to them and then acting on their advice isn’t easy. But in business it take so much to just keep going and keeping your head above water that we don’t do enough of it.

And we should do more.

Its a lot easier than looking back and realizing what you should have done.

Let me know what you’ve stopped to reflect on? And what you did about afterwards.