Starting 2022 with Intention - Tips Episode

In this episode, I recruited 5 coaching friends to share their thoughts of starting off the new year win intention.

Transcript

Hi Agile Academic listeners, I hope everyone is doing well. Welcome to this new year tips between-isode. For this episode, I reached out to some coaching friends in my training program for higher ed coaches and a coaching work group I belong to to share their thoughts and tips for moving into the new year with intention. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m working toward my coaching certification through the International Coaching Federation, and I’m almost done! So I want to showcase a little bit about what coaches do and how they support clients in any number of areas such as job and career transitions, leadership, values, and writing, to name a few. In this episode, 5 coaches share a little bit about their coaching practices and trends they are seeing as they work with clients as well as a tip or two for moving into 2022 with awareness and intention. I’ll wrap up the episode with some of my own tips.

Our first advice comes from values coach, Dr. Chelsea Hetherington. She talks specifically about identifying values and what to do with them. Here’s Chelsea.

Chelsea 

My name is Dr. Chelsea Hetherington. I am a coach for early career PhDs in career transitions. I specialize in working with PhDs, working inside academia and outside of academia, helping folks to find the career path that align for them and their values and their goals. The last year and a half has obviously brought lot of challenges with COVID and, you know, different social movements that have been happening and different changes. And frankly, some things that have not changed within academia and within higher ed. And my observation as a coach is that it led a lot of people to really think differently about work and the roles that they want work to play in their lives, um, or the roles that they don't want work to play in their lives. So I think that this has been a time of a lot of people really thinking differently about how they want to structure their days, their lives, their goals, the things they want to accomplish, what values are really important to them, and maybe how those might not align with the current environment that they're working in. 

And so naturally from that, there comes kind of a drive for change and transition looking elsewhere to see where can I find an environment that maybe is more aligned or will help me reach my goals in a different way for some folks to, it means making changes within the environment that they're in. So finding different ways to set boundaries on their time or even just on their mental and emotional energy. So I think that this has really been a time of reawakening and, and reconsidering where you are and kind of where you want to be and what steps that you can take to get to a place that is more aligned with your values and your goals. 

The first step in finding alignment with your values is to know what your values are. Values can be things that kind of change and shift and morph over time, but generally they are pretty stable across different areas of your life. So there are, are lots of exercises you can do online, or that you can do with a coach to kind of get clarity on what values are most important to you. And to kind of see how those show up in your, in your work and in your life, once you do know your values, or if you do already know your values, something that can be really helpful is to do some kind of cross-checking or cross-walking to see, you know, where is this value showing up in my life and what areas of my life is it showing up at work? Is it showing up in my family life? How is it showing up? How is it not showing up? This can also kind of inform, you know, any goals you might want to set for the new year by looking at, you know, if this value is not showing up, how do I want to help it to show up, what are the activities I can work towards that would help this value to show up more? So there can be lots of different ways that those values can show up in someone's life and can help to shape what someone might want to do in the, in the coming year. 

RPR

I really appreciate Chelsea’s focus on alignment when it comes to values work. If you haven’t listened to last week’s between-isode on values, I’ll put the link in the transcript. Chelsea’s advice takes what I talk about in the values episode to the next step when she suggests “cross-checking” the values with your life and work right now, in this moment. The beginning of the new year is a great time to do this, as you are thinking about goals or even just little changes you might like to make to enrich your life.

Our next piece of advice comes from Dr. Kim Burns. Kim spent 25 years in administrative roles in the Massachusetts community college system. In September, she made the move to work independently as a coach and consultant. Her mission is to support women in higher education to be brave, bold, and authentic at work. Kim’s advice connects values and career in this changing environment.

Kim

Hi, Rebecca and listeners. I'm recording this on December 30th, 2021. And I've been thinking about what is to come in 2022. I work mostly with women come college administrators, and I expect the themes in my coaching and consulting from the past few months to continue into 2022. Many of the women I work with are disappointed and frustrated with college leaders who lack empathy and are not providing them with the sense of safety and flexibility. They need to be productive at work and also support their families. Many of my clients are interested in setting clearer boundaries to prevent or address burnout. And I see that the college administrators who lead with empathy and offer employees flexibility, will be able to retain their employees, keep up morale and still get the important work done to support faculty and students. And people will be flocking to their institutions, they'll want to work with them. 

So I expect that a lot of my coaching and consulting over the next year will be supporting leaders to demonstrate that empathy in ways that are authentic while also maintaining boundaries to protect their own emotional health. So we've heard a lot about the great resignation, which economists are debating, whether the data really supports the attention, the media giving it. And I read an article in Forbes, and the author argues that what's really happening is a great contemplation. And we should really be worrying about the alarming number of people who are thinking about making their next career move. And he warns us to buckle up for a talent war in 2022. So I think career coaches and consultants will be really busy over the next year. 

A lot of the work I do with coaching clients is gaining clarity on their values and goals so they can pinpoint their next career move to ensure that it's aligned with the work they want to do, and also who they want to be. And it is so exciting to see smart women do this work and gain the confidence they need to pursue the careers that they are meant to be in and do the work that they're meant to do. I think the highest compliment for a woman is to be considered a badass. And I have to say that I have some clients who are really connecting with their badassery. 

So my wish for listeners is that you get clear on what's really important to you. You speak up when needed and know that you were worthy of being treated well. It's really, really important to nurture networks of like-minded colleagues, whether you're contemplating a career move or not. We need to find those humans who share our goals and values, and we need to hold onto each other for dear life and support each other to be authentic, brave, and badass because together we can make a difference. So thank you and happy new year. 

RPR

I appreciate Kim’s overview of what we need to see in our leaders this year and how being “badass” is something women could embrace more. It’s inside all of us, and I love hearing about how Kim works with her clients to bring it out.

Our next coach is Amanda Swain who, like Kim, reminds us that connection matters when it comes to working toward goals and achievements.

Amanda

My name is Amanda Swain, and I help faculty and higher education professionals find authentic scholarly and career pathways, generate resources and navigate academic systems. And in particular, I work with recently tenured and mid-career faculty, as well as academics and higher education professionals who want to transition out of academia in academia. We recognize the accomplishments, not the work that goes into making those accomplishments happen because of that, we often feel like we're the only one who's applying over and over for fellowships or who has two half written articles and two rejected articles with reviewer comments that we don't want to face, or that we aren't quite sure what we want our next research project to even be. And the silence around the process creates isolation and even feelings of failure. 

As you go into the new year, encourage you to take, to talk to one person within academia about how your work is really going to have one person you can be honest with about what's not going well about all the hard work that goes into the accomplishments that show up on your CV, not to have a joint pity party or to comply, but to have that support network of someone who has a similar experience and who really understands what it means to struggle with those reviewer comments or to feel like you can't quite get a handle on that search question that you're working your way through and discovering that person and having the ability to be honest about that, whether it's someone you met on the committee or at a conference is really going to help you move forward with intention in 2022. 

RPR

Amanda reminds us that we have common experience, even if it might look like the people around you are more productive or well-published or well-liked. We never know what going on with someone unless we talk to them as she recommends.

Our next coach, Laura Pasquini, acknowledges too that many of us are exhausted, having that common experience, and that many are thinking about making transitions this year. Her advice for reflecting is important.

Laura

Hello, my name's Laura Pasquini and I'm a career and executive coach. That means I help people find their way with their talents, their skills and their abilities, specifically working through transitions in their work life and career. So a lot of my clients I've been coaching this year has been for people interested in making a pivot or transitioning to something new and finding meaning in their work. I found that a lot of these transitions, whether it's before, during and after require some thinking through of spaces. So a lot of our conversations have been connecting to their experiences, their expertise to work towards the full potential and how they really want to show up in their world of work and life. Because those two are definitely intertwined. A lot of the conversations I've had, the clients have been around their professional or what I call working identities. And who are they now versus who they were then? 

So many people are thinking about a new season of their career as an executive or a leader in their office. Or they're thinking about taking on a new challenge opportunity or starting something of their own. So those are the kind of big themes I have seen. 

So for my advice, for any of your listeners, I think it's been a year. Uh, the joke is it's “2020 won” meaning it's not been an easy year, much of the same things happened during the pandemic and COVID this year is we're seeing people really flat out and, and exhausted. If you're feeling burnt down, tired, hi, pull up a seat next to me. I totally get that. My advice is to take some time over the new year, whether it's the winter break now or the holidays to rest and reflect, I've offered some good coaching questions that you could sit by the fire with care and take some time to ponder really thinking about what you learned this year, what, how you've grown and what are some opportunities you're looking forward to into 2022. So I'll leave a list of these questions for you to ponder, because I know I'm going to be thinking about that myself. Good luck, and Hey, we have another year, and we're going to move forward again. So let's do that together. 

RPR

I think Laura’s attention to professional identity here also fits with the values work we’ve heard from other coaches. I’ll link in the transcript to the blog post of reflection questions Laura mentions as well as a link to her awesome coaching podcast. Some of her questions include

• What did you learn? How have you grown?
• What were your small and big wins?
• How will you give yourself grace?
• What would you like to make space for?

Our last coach, Susan Hrach, talks about how she uses powerful questions to reflect regularly, not just at the beginning of the year.

Susan 

Hello, agile academic listeners. My name is Susan Hrach, and I am a co-founder of the Create You coaching program at Columbus State University, which is in the University System of Georgia and as part of a, uh, coaching collective groups, the support group that I belong to with your host, Rebecca, um, she offered us the opportunity to talk about starting this year with intention. And so I just wanted to share my own personal strategy for starting 2022 with intention, which is to get curious about my own responses to things and use a coaching mindset to ask powerful questions, um, of myself and others in, um, as many situations as I can. 

So some examples of powerful questions that I've already started to get some results from just stopping and asking are what makes this important or what is this about really, which is helpful when I'm having a really strong response to something, um, and to press further, you know, what else, and asking myself these kinds of questions has, um, allowed me to get under, underneath some of the really strong responses or maybe initial responses that I have to situations or other people. And I'm hoping just to bring a more curious and open, um, attitude towards challenging situations this year, um, and give myself kind of the, the permission to take the time to process them. So I hope that's useful for others and I wish everyone happy new year. 

RPR

A lot to chew on from these coaches. I like Susan’s reminder that we can ask ourselves questions to understand our reactions, get curious about what’s going on without judgment or shame. I’ve found the act of slowing down, pausing to think, OK what is really going on here? Why am I initially reacting this way?” to be really helpful. It slows down my natural inclination to catastrophize or all-or-nothing thinking. Susan reminds us that it’s OK to take some time to process before reacting or speaking. We can all use a little more patience in average times, let alone today. 

To wrap it up, I said I’d offer my own tips on starting the new year with intention. Before I do that, I want to acknowledge that right now is HARD. The pandemic continues to impact every aspect of our lives, and we are tired. Exhausted, really, from the ongoing trauma. Saying “it’s OK to not be OK” might be cliched, but many of us are not OK. Higher ed isn’t a place that welcomes vulnerability most of the time or talking about mental health. My hope for you is someone to talk to – colleague, friend, therapist, coach – so that you aren’t keeping it all inside. We are all dealing – or not dealing – with this experience differently, but connecting compassionately with others can help release some of that strain and exhaustion. I’m grateful you are here and listening, and am always available, as a coach or colleague, to have a conversation if you need it.

Going back to intentions, one thing we didn’t do yet is define “intention.” The standard definition would be “a plan” or “approach one plans to enact.” But I think that’s too productivity-oriented here. When we talk about going into the new year with intention, from a mindfulness approach, for example, it could be a mindset or a guiding principle we take with us into everything we do. 

Some people choose a word for the year – mine for several years working through the burnout was “enough.” I even have a necklace and a tea mug that have the word on them. I’m thinking “healthy” for this year. Or it might be a phrase like “write up” or “amplify impact.” That’s one way to define an intention.

Some people choose a value or set of values they want to enact in their lives and put those values on a sticky note on their computer for the year. Or you could write a sentence using this formula: As someone who values X, this year I want to Y so that I can Z.

Maybe for you it’s an image or a quote or a poem – whatever it is, it reminds you of your intention as a commitment to yourself for the year. It can help you make decisions, big and small, serve as motivation, and just remind you of who you are or want to be. As you set your intention, I hope it brings you inspiration and enthusiasm for the year.

So happy new year, listeners. Thanks to my friends Chelsea, Kim, Amanda, Laura, and Susan for their contributions – you’ll find links in the transcript to learn more about them and their coaching practices if something they said specifically struck a chord with you. I’ll also link to my coaching page if you are interested in learning more about coaching with me as well. Thanks for listening, and as always, take care and stay well.