Yesterday I wrapped up my annual mid-year road trips to spend some extended time with my CEO coaching clients. It’s a ritual we’ve developed as June 30 approaches to pause, get up on the balcony, assess the first six months of their year, and look ahead to what’s going to make the last six months of the year successful.
It’s a process I recommend that all leaders engage in – whether or not you’re a CEO and whether or not you work with an executive coach.
To get the most out of the time we spend together, I send along a short list of questions for my clients to consider in advance of our meeting. Of course, elements of those questions are tailored to their situation but, at the core, there are seven key questions that I want to make sure we discuss in depth. They’re designed to prompt reflection and visioning not just on their professional priorities but the personal priorities that support the professional.
Since it is mid-year for all of us, I thought you as well might benefit from considering my core short list of questions. Here they are:
What’s your mid-year self-report card – personal and professional? What are the progress points and anything that needs more attention or a redirect?
What are your time and attention intentions for the second half of the year? Any pick-up’s and let-go’s? Places where you want to double down or back off?
For the ongoing focal points in your business, what’s your take on progress to date on each? Where, when, and how do you personally want to engage on each in the second half of the year?
Your leadership messaging audit and assessment: What are you happy about, what could be improved, and what are the key themes or audiences for the second half?
On your leadership team: What’s working well? What could be better? Where and how do you want to invest your time and attention?
What are the talent management and development opportunities and priorities for your top leaders? What’s does your engagement look like between now and year end?
What are the top three priorities you want to push between now and year end? What does success look like for each on December 31?
OK, you likely noticed that that was more than seven questions. Guilty as charged. My point is to tee up a core question with some follow-ups that unpack deeper thinking.
And these questions are just a starting point in what is typically a half-day or day-long mid-year conversation. They’re designed to spark thinking and reflection that can take us in other directions that are helpful to the leader. That inevitably happens. So, I hope these questions are both useful and encourage you to undertake your own mid-year review. What other questions would you want to consider and address? I’d love to hear them in a LinkedIn comment or via an email.
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