While we have just reviewed each step along the CCO journey, we often aren’t aware of all we have personally gained or learned from an experience unless we look at it again with fresh eyes. This is where the practice of harvesting comes in. Harvesting helps us acknowledge and appreciate our own growth by prompting us to apply a structure to observe take-away’s, a-ha moments, and new ideas. Harvesting is a fundamental part of completion and can show you how far you’ve traveled on your learning journey, as well as give you insight into where you might like to go next.
You have likely noticed yourself growing in some or all of the following ways:
- Increased capacity to listen to what others have to say in meetings and to appreciate multiple perspectives at one time
- Increased and more intentional participation in meetings
- Greater self-awareness
- Increased ability to navigate tension and conflict with others
- Less complaining
- More creativity and empowerment around solving the problems in your life or the things you are not happy with
- More process excellence and structure in your meetings and projects
- Heightened skill in working with different learning and conversational styles
- More clarity around your vision for yourself
- More openness, particularly in situations that would have been uncomfortable in the past or that you might have avoided
- Increased trust in your own ability to navigate, to learn and develop, and to rise to any occasion that comes your way
Are you feeling like a Challenger?
Remember, Challengers are those who take a stand. They have a dream and a plan and they typically follow both rather boldly and resourcefully. Challengers are willing to work hard, look for the solutions, and take responsibility for their actions. To do all of this, the Challenger is skilled at navigating complex systems, which requires self-awareness, intentionality around your behavior, and a belief in your capacity to handle a wide range of tasks and situations. You seem like a Challenger to me!
“Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Set aside a few minutes right now for a brief period of reflective harvesting. You will notice this Lesson is short and there is no formal Learning Lab, so please spend the time you would normally allocate to your reading and experimentation to the prompts that follow.
Through my participation in the CCO:
- I am taking away…
- I am so glad / grateful / excited that…
- I was surprised by…
- I am drawn to explore…
I encourage you to journal your responses; give yourself at least 10-15 minutes to do so.
This reflective harvesting is just for you; you need not share it with anyone (unless you want to). You will have an opportunity to complete an extremely short survey regarding your experience in the CCO at the end of today’s Lesson, and that anonymous feedback will be shared with the program’s sponsors at your company, as well as The Essential Group.
Additionally, if you would like, please don’t hesitate to share any of your reflections with me and my team at info@the-essential-group.com. We love hearing from you!
“Make voyages. Attempt them. There’s nothing else.”
– Tennessee Williams