My Year-End Review

By Cloé Caron, PCC, certified coach

As the holiday season approaches, I've been looking back on 2021, as I do every year. And I realized how far I've come, how many twists and turns I've faced, how much adaptation and resilience we've shown, and how much of my life mission is taking shape day by day, year by year. This exercise nourishes and energizes me!

By the middle of the year, last June, my team and I had achieved extraordinary efficiency. We had launched the "Empower your team" Movement in April, defined our team mission (USC), roles, responsibilities, objectives, and key indicators. We had a lot of clarity. But then, unexpected changes occurred. Departures, recruits, integrations, redefinition of roles, questioning of our processes and dynamics... For months, we had to recreate the team, recreate our dynamics together, recreate a new efficiency. The daily lot of many of you!

Now, at the end of the year, I realize that I managed this change with a very clear, strong and conscious intention, which is the reason why I was able to accelerate the return to full team effectiveness.

Here are some concrete examples of what my team and I have been doing over the past few months:

• Generating rich, honest and inclusive exchanges in team meetings.
• Clarifying the purpose of our meetings.
• Redefining our team CSU and team norms.
• Co-creating a new team contract by reviewing our objectives and KPIs.
• Optimizing what we deal with in Teams vs. in-person meetings.
• Frequent individual and subgroup meetings and conversations.
• Reviewing our meeting schedules and agendas to take each person’s needs into account.
• Encouraging informal exchanges and close collaboration on a daily basis.
• Creating opportunities for team members to grow and develop.

Now that the team dynamics and efficiency are back where they should be, I realise that they are not just created through meetings: they are a living laboratory and a reflection of what is happening in my company.

I know the magic happens when the conditions fall into place, when people play at the right level and can bring their whole selves to the conversation. With that magic, there is no limit to the results we can achieve! So as I head into my holiday break, I will leave with the hope that 2022 will be magical! And I will raise my glass on New Year's Eve to the joy I feel when I see the impact that we, the extraordinary women of the o2Coaching team and I, are creating in organizations and in the Quebec, Canadian and international economy. It truly makes me so proud, happy and grateful!