Several years ago, I was in a training workshop for facilitating retrospectives. A retrospective is a space where a group of people come together to reflect and discuss a particular project, period of time at work, etc. Retrospectives are an important space to foster discussion, creativity, and group reflection.
During the Q&A portion of the session I asked about keeping the retrospective on track. Synchronous time together is sacred, and I want to ensure the time is spent wisely while also keeping to a schedule to ensure we cover all stages of the retrospective. When prompted, Kirsten gave this advice:
The thing is, you’re always on time.
Manage energy, rather than time.
In this context, I interpreted the advice as “it’s okay if one section of the retrospective runs longer or shorter than intended. Read the energy of the group, and make a call”. I noted this advice down on a post-it note, placed it on my computer monitor, and that was that.
Little did I know, this piece of advice would resonate with me on so many levels.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve all been preparing for the 2023/24 holiday season. No doubt everyone wants their projects done before the holiday, and there is lots of planning and discussion happening before the holiday break. There is a lot going on, and that’s expected for this time of year. It’s also very easy to feel burnt out, drained, scattered, or all of the above. That’s when this little post-it note cropped up again.
When you find you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a step back and recharge. Even a few minutes away from your laptop can do wonders. Manage your energy rather than managing your time as the primary goal. Of course manage your time as well, though make sure you first take care of your energy. Sometimes this means starting your day early. Sometimes it means starting your day with a particular type of task (in my case, creative writing).
If we start with managing our energy and then follow this with managing our time, the results can be far beyond our expectation.
Leave a Reply