Ridge Insights - February 2007
The Importance of Follow-up
Ridge Insights
A monthly e-brief from Ridge Training
Date: February 23, 2007
To subscribe: www.ridge.com/insights.htm
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What We're Thinking About This Month - The Importance of Follow-up
Last month we invited you to turn one of your New Year's resolutions into an Agreement with yourself (http://www.ridge.com/insights/ins2007_01.html). Perhaps you were one of the brave souls who tried it. You thought through exactly what you wanted to change, why it matters, what obstacles might show up, and what next action you could take to set yourself up for success and hold yourself accountable.
The more specific you can be about any performance expectation, for yourself or others, the more you're likely to get the results you want--for a while anyway. As much as we'd like Agreements to be a magic wand of change, people don't work that way. We try and succeed, then hit a rough spot, then falter a few times, and then get stuck. With any resolution or Agreement, the key to success is follow up. Agreements and resolutions are a work in progress, and following up is how you foster progress.
So take a moment to check in with yourself on any Agreement or resolution that you have. Is it still going smoothly? If so, congratulations! Take time to recognize yourself or the other person involved. Have fun with it! Try out our Appreciation Alert. (http://www.ridge.com/appreciate.html)
If you're like most of us, your best laid plans look a little battered right now. It's easy to give up if you see the resolution or Agreement in black and white terms of absolute success or failure. The good news is that you shouldn't look at a resolution or Agreement in this way. Rather, consider these efforts to be works in progress. It's not too late to get things back on track!
Go back to your Agreement or think it through right now (www.ridge.com/downloads/ResolutionAgreement.pdf)
* First, focus particularly on the What If. What obstacle did you hit? What could you do to resolve it? What support do you need?
* Now focus on the Why. What other priorities came first? What choice would you want to make now?
* Also pay attention to the What. Do you need to be more specific about what you're expecting? More realistic?
* Finally, look at What Next. Do you have a good process for checking in on the Agreement? What would work better?
Following up is not a sign of failure--it's beating a path to success. The more often you can do this kind of a reality check on the Agreement or resolution, the more you can fine tune it to make it really work for you.
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Copyright 2007 - Ridge Associates, Inc. - All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2008 Ridge Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.