“No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.” – Althea Gibson
In this last phase of my FIVE-STAGE APPROACH to TRANSFORMING IDEAS INTO ACTION, our focus is looking at strategies to maintain our momentum and to keep growing. No one is an island. To keep succeeding we need support from other people. Professional coaching relationships, courses, and workshops can be powerful learning experiences, but they are short term. Continuous learning requires seeking out mutually beneficial relationships.
Personally, I have had several excellent mentors throughout the years. The wise counsel I’ve received from mentors has profoundly changed the way I see myself and the way I show up in my personal and professional life. I’ve also had the privilege of being there for others in the same way. I’ve been enriched and inspired countless ways through mentoring relationships. We need to give back.
The final stage of mastering anything is sharing what you know with someone else. When we mentor someone else, it makes us accountable to really know what we are teaching. Nothing consolidates your learning more than an opportunity to share what you know with someone else.I try to keep this in mind whenever I hesitate to ask someone for help. Real collaboration happens in a reciprocal way because the goal is to lift each other up.
Collaborative relationships are vehicles to leverage our creativity and experiences and keep learning from others. One-on-one mentoring, professional practice groups and your inner circle of trusted friends can all be critical supports to keep growing.
So how will you maintain momentum after you reach your coaching goals? What kind of support do you need to stay on track and keep learning? What kind of relationships do you need to build to sustain your professional and personal growth? How can you keep building your professional and personal community to get and give the support you need to continue to learn and grow?
In this final stage, the focus is on building relationships with others to succeed – and not stagnate. Thinking about your personal and professional life, ask yourself: Who am I interdependent with to succeed? We must keep building a community and find ways to locate the support we need to hold the course and stay connected to our longer terms goals. Look for kindred spirits and remain open to learning from people that see the world in a different way.
“As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.” – Amy Poehler
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