Mid-Year Check-In: Are You Achieving Your Resolutions?

Written By Allison Pollard

Photo by Palomaleca

Inspired by another blog, I decided I could benefit from a mid-year check-in.  Back in January, I chose a one-word resolution for 2014: astonishing.  My intent was to amplify the goodness of 2013, learn more, laugh more, live more, give back more, and make a bigger impact in 2014. 

In the spirit of a retrospective, let’s move on to gather data.  What have you achieved towards your goal or resolution over the last 6 months?

My “astonishing” first half of 2014:

  • Learn more:  Registering for CTI’s classes was a bold step for me, and I’ve learned so much about myself and about coaching as a result.  That knowledge and the opportunity to assist ACI’s 3-day Coaching Agile Teams gave me greater understanding and appreciation of what coaching can do for agile transformations.
  • Laugh more: There have been a number of changes going on at my client’s organization, which means many people have become increasingly stressed.  I have been talking to people more one-on-one and using my gift-giving appreciation language to lighten the mood, provide reassurance, and share a laugh.  Plus Star Wars-, Winnie the Pooh-, and super hero-themed gifts are fun.
  • Live more: After I was promoted to principal consultant, I held a dinner to appreciate the people who helped me achieve the promotion.  It was a lovely evening with delicious food and good company.
  • Give back more: I mixed my fraternity world with my professional world: one of my Improving Enterprises colleagues gave a great presentation to the Texas A&M chapter of Theta Tau Fraternity that was well received.  I see similarities between the two organizations’ values, and I’m happy I was able to connect them to one another.
  • Make a bigger impact: I co-presented at the Dallas PMI Agile CoP, Keep Austin Agile, and Scrum Gathering New Orleans; taught a PMI-ACP prep class (our first class offered evenings and weekends); and made my first Open Space offering at Agile Coach Camp Canada.

Looking over your achievements, what insights do you notice?  Unsurprisingly, coaching plays a large role in my accomplishments, but I’m also recognizing a theme of connecting to and appreciating people.

Are you making progress on your 2014 resolutions? Share your accomplishments in the comments.

Allison Pollard

Allison Pollard is a coach, consultant, and trainer who brings the power of relationship systems intelligence to go beyond tasks, roles, and frameworks to create energy for change. She engages with people and teams in a down-to-earth way to build trust and listen for signals to help them learn more and improve. Allison focuses on creating alignment and connection for people to solve business problems together. Her experience includes working with teams and leaders in energy, retail, financial, real estate, and transportation industries to help improve their project/product delivery and culture. Allison currently volunteers as program director for Women in Agile’s mentorship program. Her agile community focus is championing new voices and amplifying women as mentors and sponsors for the next generation of leaders. Allison earned her bachelor’s degrees in computer science, mathematics, and English from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), a foodie, and proud glasses wearer. Allison is a prolific speaker at professional groups and international conferences, including Scrum Gatherings and the Agile Alliance Agile20xx conferences. Allison is co-owner of Helping Improve LLC.

http://www.allisonpollard.com
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