This was a great question from one of the delegates on a masterclass series I’ve been running on Performance and Feedback Conversations.

They’ve loved the ideas I’ve shared from Conversational Intelligence®, on Cats and Dogs (you have to be there) and more.

It’s a conversation I often have with the coaches I supervise too. (And – guilty as charged – in my early days I often let my coaching sessions over-run).

Anyway – you care about your team members (or coachees) so it’s tempting to just keep chatting – and yet……. It cuts into everybody’s time and means we’re working late to catch up or not getting round to the important or going round in circles.

This is what helps me:

• Be clear on the time allocated for your 1-1 (not ‘as long as we need’).
• Set your intention at the beginning. Something like ‘We’ve got the action list to work through and it would also be great to catch up and...

I've been in full leadership programme/coaching mode of late with a two day in-house programme for senior leaders in a large corporate, my new Lead with Confidence virtual coaching group, a webinar series on performance/feedback conversations in the hybrid world, a sprinkling of new coaching clients and a team event (first one face to face in two years – Yay!).

Whatever the programme, whatever the topic, what do so many of us have in common?

Not enough time.

The hard truth is we all CHOOSE how to spend our time. And it's easy to put those 'difficult' tasks on the back burner.

It's much easier to tick off the to-do list because it gives us that immediate 'hit' of satisfaction. But the to-do list might not be focusing on the things that truly move the dial.

I learned long ago that the only way to get round to the 'difficult' tasks was to recognise what I was struggling with (fear of getting it wrong? Fear of humiliation? Not having a clue where to start?). To own it (it's fine not to...

Much as I hate the nights drawing in, I do love an extra hour when the clocks go back at this time of year.

Just imagine - if you had an extra hour every single week (or even every single day!), how would you use it?

Here’s a challenge for your team:

‘I want everyone to find an hour a day/week to use as thinking time (or something that’s about self-care) without adding any more hours to your day. How are you going to do it?’

Best idea (that is then implemented) wins a prize.

Here’s to creating more time - because although time flies, you are the pilot!