Goal Setting and the Master Mind Partnership

As part of the follow up to this leadership course we have been given partners (or in my case two partners) to help us in accomplishing our goals visions and intentions. They do this through weekly meetings, support, questioning and clarifying of goals and ensuring that ultimately we win. It is a reciprocal relationship and I am just as responsible for my partner's successes and failures as I am for my own.


This brings me to goal setting. There were some ideas that stuck out to me from the two day meetings that I want to record here in order to help me clarify what I would like to achieve.

In order to effect change in your workplace and in your staff you can't take people too far out of their comfort zone at once - rather you have to gradually stretch their comfort zone so that they don't even realise you have taken them out of it.

• The way we listen delivers a message - what message do I want to be delivering?
• 4 leadership qualities: Flexibilty, Adaptability, Creativity, Innovativeness.
• Quantam leaps are based on a firm foundation of the fundamentals.
• It is impossible to lead without a philosophy of leadership
• You win some, you lose some - do the best you can with what you have at the time.
• Clarity check your definitions within your team - make sure everyone is on the same page.
• Learn to read the signals from your team-members and use them.
• Prepare and your chance will come.
• Strengthen your own talents and use them to make the team better.
• Credibility builds trust. If you give your word then keep it - or change it responsibly.
• They may not remember what you taught them. They will always remember how you made them feel.
• Don't ever drain your relationships - fill them up.
• Observe the energy in the room - Did you raise or lower the energy - are you giving or taking?
• Teach people to go to the source and talk about it. Open communication is important.

These are just a few of the things that I thought were important to record and revisit from time to time, however there were a couple that stood out to me - things that resonated with me because they are things that I feel are shortcomings in my own leadership and it is these that will inform where I go from here.

I guess these three below are my long-term leadership goals. The ones that I am going to try and keep in mind as I work day in and day out:

• Listen to understand - really listen to the people around you, particularly when people are coming to you for advice or leadership and don't listen from a place of judgement - listen to really understand where they are coming from.
• Credibility builds trust. If you give your word then keep it - or change it responsibly. Follow through on all the things you say you are going to do - or be careful before you promise something if you don't think it is something you can achieve.
• Following on from this, this includes for me following through on all the little things that I am responsible for. I need to make sure that I go back and cross every t and dot every i because too often I fear that I lose those tiny details at the end of one task in the beginning of the next task. I focus my attention too often on the next deadline and don't stop and refocus and work out what needs to be finished off and tied up. I don't want the forgetting of a few minor details to detract from the bigger picture of the work I am doing.

The following are the things I want to achieve before the end of next week:

• Organising the Year 8 Chant-off day down to the last detail.
• Completing the BYTES website.
• Organising Guest speakers for BYTES.
• Set up a lunchtime BYTES discussion group to organise the next unit.
• Follow up Cyber Safety.
• Meet with BYTES team leaders to touch base and organise next unit.

Not sure if this is what I should be doing but I think these are the things I need to do to get myself on an even playing field. Then I can think more proactively. Tonight I will meet with Imelda and Julie and we will discuss!