Transitions, Opportunities and Lifework
by Janet Skeie October 23, 2008
Life is full of transitions. Starting school, entering high school, starting college, the first job, the first big promotion, the list could go on. Taking on a new leadership role later in your life is just another transition. This stage of life can be productive and rewarding, but like other transitions in life it requires planning to successfully make the transition.
At the first ALVA class, Mayor George Latimer said that fear was a great motivator. For some it is, for others fear can be paralyzing. The challenge is to know yourself, and if fear motivates you, great you’ll take some action. If fear does not motivate you, then you’ll need to take some additional steps to get yourself moving forward again. What works to motivate you? The ALVA framework of know, plan, act, and evaluate is designed to help participants work towards the goal of learning leadership skills for the common good. This framework would work for any transition that requires us to take some action.
Assessing your values requires effort. I found it thought provoking because these are not ideas that enter my mind on a daily basis. Going through a transition is a good time to review your values. The review may help you get started in a new direction or confirm that you are headed in the right direction. A new leadership role based on your values is a great start in a new direction.
If assessing your values required effort, writing a lifework statement requires even more thought! I find it hard to think about values and lifework sitting at my kitchen table. A nice walk is my favorite way to do some heavy thinking. How or where do you get in the right frame of mind to think? Perhaps it is time for me to revisit my life plan. How are you coming on yours?
Comments
Mary Kowalski - 2008-11-01 21:14:28
In revisiting the Life Work question I find myself focusing on this third phase of my life. I'm really challenged by the leadership question. I've been in leadership situations all of my life-but this time makes it a different experience. I can choose the situations and I can choose the style I believe will be most effective. The tricky part is "the practice" of my chosen style and the consequences of it.
I believe that collaborative leadership is generally most effective. I choose to practice it but, many times my practice is not as effective as I would like it to be.
Collaborative leadership also requires that I'm effective at leading in an environment were others pick up tasks and follow thru to completion. It requires a great deal of trust-building and leadership from the heart, For me the challenge is truly sharing responsibility, careful listening and hearing. It requires commitment to the people and projects I'm involved with-without the pressures of an organization to keep me going. It requires a serious belief in the work at hand and the people doing it. That's a big order for a retiree. Am I up for it?