A Visual Map for your 2015 Planning

Happy new year to you for 2015!

To help you on your way - no matter what you're doing with resolutions, resets, reviews or renews .... here's a visual map to plot out some 2015 intentions. 

This is the visual map I use each year and this year it's a gift to ya! 

It's a one-pager for a reason. It has the 'big picture' in one visual snapshot. Once I've completed it for the year, I put it up on the wall in my office or have it as the screen lock or screen saver on my devices. I want it to be there in front of me to act like a display or dashboard or map to remind me what I'm doing this year. 

A big distractor for us achieving what we want is ... well.... distraction. Lack of focus is .... oh look, a cute dog running along the beach .... yes, that's me, I'll turn my head at the first fluffy jumping four-legged dog I see. Whatever your distraction is, let's get some focus in front of that distraction via this visual map. It's a quick and clear tool in the war against distraction. 

Get focusing on this visual map each day, at times throughout the day, to get it embedded in your mind so that soon you'll know what it looks like without looking at it. 

How to complete the Visual Map

Here's how I use it - of course you can put whatever you like wherever your like - or create your own:

1. I print it out and get myself a nice black marker; (yes for those that know me, it's probably a chisel tip marker!) ;-)
2. Starting with the yellow circle-y - cloud shapes I write in my big 'WHYs'. Why do I do what I do? What's important to me? Is it family, health, freedom, independence, giving... think about what is important to you. These are written in first for me to look at and I know they are always part of why I do what I do. I write one in each yellow shape. You'll see the centre yellow one is bigger - that might work for you with one being above all others. So why do you do what you do? What's important to you?
3. Below the big '2015', in the blue cloud shape I write a key word for focus. At Thought Leaders Business School, founder Matt Church suggests setting yourself a 'big word' to give you context and focus for your year ahead. Write it in there. Maybe it's about growth, productivity, clarity, love, balance, community - what's the one word that you're gonna be about this coming year?
4. Along the road between now and the horizon, there are four grey segments. Think of these as 90 day blocks or quarters for the year. Set some goals for those 90 day blocks. What's the key word for each of those? What will each quarter be about for you? What do you want to achieve, think, feel, do, have, be? These spaces are purposely not too big - I don't want clutter and confusion there for you. There's space to write some key goals and targets and some key intentions. Sometimes, I keep it simple and then fill in more details for the latter 90 days as the year progresses.

OK, get going on it...!

How are you feeling about committing some of this to paper? 

Sometimes I take the time to be quiet, listen to some music, sit at the beach or under a tree and complete this visual map as a real planning session. Other times, it's a quick and clear brain dump of what I've been working on and thinking over recent weeks. 

Relax... it's not set in reinforced concrete - it's flexible, changeable and maleable.

Use this as a kickstarter, a hack to get you focusing on what's important and why you do it, and breaking down the year into manageable chunks. 

Let me know how you go... email me photos of your Visual Maps; I'd love to see them and know more about what you've got your sights set on for 2015.

Diversity Input : Innovative Output

Eleven men, three women - all aged 50+ - and from the same industry. That's about all I can tell from their photos and titles.

This is the composition of a leadership team being charged with leading and creating a dynamic and vibrant community project.

What are they thinking?

Where is the diversity that will give them the innovation that the project and region needs?

Where is youth? Where is the diversity of talent, skills, thinking and backgrounds? Where is the lateral thought, from related or totally different fields? Where is the willingness to learn? Where is the leadership?

In an inspiring contrast, yesterday I spent a thrilling day at the Future of Leadership event in Melbourne. 

Several presenters spoke about leading without a title, without a position and simply doing what needs to be done. 

Most of all, our current world, climate and communities need different ways of thinking and working to solve the challenges we face. 

A key lesson is that you must get diversity plugged into the 'input' part of your project, program or event to ensure you get innovative responses in 'output'. And leaders can make this decision, source the diversity and encourage it. 

There are long paths to travel for many communities and organisations, where diversity hasn't been considered or thought of or it's simply been forgotten. Sometimes people get allocated to leadership teams from the positions they hold, rather than the experiences and diversity they will bring.

We need to encourage teams, communities and groups so they think, invite and act with diversity, are not afraid of it and see it as an opportunity to go further and do better than they have before. 

That is what will bring a dynamic and vibrant result to that community or project!

It's an Education Evolution

Education is Evolving from Lynne Cazaly on Vimeo.

The way we're learning is changing; education is evolving. Whether you're in a business in the learning and development or capability area, in organisational development, or in the business of providing advice, training, coaching or mentoring… this shift is already affecting you.

Thought Leaders Global founder Matt Church and business partner Peter Cook are heading up the newThought Leaders Business School in Australia. They spoke recently about how education is evolving. Mysketch video this week is a visual take on their comments.

Be sure you're on the right side of the evolution!

Commercial - with Care

A colleague of mine is struggling financially at the moment. 

She works in her own business and is often very busy... her weeks are filled with lots of meetings, workshops, consulting and providing advice and help to clients. She cares so very much about helping people and organisations through change, conflict and communication.

In short, she's doing what I'd call 'important work'. And she cares so very, very much. 

A big focus of her work is with community and not for profit organisations. But she also offers coaching advice to well-salaried executives. 

Money-wise, on the 'commercial' side of the balance sheet, she is doing it tough. To shift the whole money mindset thing, Peter Cook's "The Money Workshop" would be ideal for her!

But I'm seeing an even bigger picture here and that is this model of Commercial With Care. I think every business, every practice, every entrepreneur has this model literally in front of them when they're working on their important work. 

The two axes are about commercialism and care. When people are care-less and they're not taking a commercial approach to their work, they'll be struggling for years. They're not doing good work and they're not earning a living from it. They serve no one.

If still they care-less but have a strong commercial focus, they make the big bucks but there's a trail of injured souls lying on the roads behind them. Ruthless, self-serving and self-centred - it's not a pretty picture.

Shift up to where people really do give a hoot about others, and you'll see they're so very, very care-full. They give and serve and do important work. But if they're not commercial, they'll struggle. In a sense, they will over-serve; they keep giving without due return. Whether this is their own mindset at work, the way an industry has evolved or the way a market is, it's a disappointing situation. Such great work - but not appropriately remunerated.

The goal is to get to the position of being able to serve all. You do great work, you are care-full and you realise that when you commercialise your thinking and your services, you'll be able to serve yourself as well as the people you care about. These people can be family, friends, clients, colleagues, volunteers, organisations, causes, charities.

You won't be able to serve anyone if you don't take a commercial approach to the brilliant stuff you know. You can have both. You can be commercial and do wonderful, care-full work.

Don't apologise for the great work you do. And certainly don't decide it's discountable before you've even put it 'out there'.

You end up serving no one - least of all yourself. And if you're not serving yourself, you'll never be able to do important work for others.