Post by Liz Finneron

"You're doing well there!" That was a comment from a total stranger who shouted across the road last night as she saw me walking with my beautiful Black Lab, Arnie. Bit of context, we were crossing the road and Arnie was following commands and staying by my side. The smallest comment having a huge impact on me and of course true to form, I unpicked feedback. Well, first off, I think it is lovely when you get a nice comment. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱. 😊 However on a deeper level, it was good to see how well behaved Arnie was, after 2 years of being a typical excitable labrador who just wants to get everywhere, quickly! I've paid thousands of £'s with expert trainers, desperately needing help especially when Arnie is pulling my arm out of its socket. Searching for answers that will save me being pulled into the canal by a 35k bundle of joy. None of which have solved the problem completely but it has been good to get their knowledge, experience and advice. What has helped is persistence ,consistency and reflected learning. Always trying new ways, flexibility in my approach and never giving up. There have been times when I thought we would never get it. Two years of walking him at least 3/4 times a day and in all weathers. Run ins with other dogs, terrible recall and just not seeing any improvements. However, we never stopped training and I moved my focus away from expectations and started to relax, go with the flow and above all, making sure we fun. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱. 𝗬𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗼. 🐾 Relaxed, having fun and just enjoying our walk. And it got me thinking how much my two years with Arnie resemble progression in our careers as leaders. Sometimes we don't see how far we have come until we reflect and realise the progression we've made. I've been privileged to work with 100's leaders and organisations who have gone onto achieve. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀. Stay willing to explore new approaches, especially when the usual ones haven’t delivered the results you need. Never give up. Stop chasing perfection and relax. Keep moving forward, even when the progress isn’t yet visible. Open to learning from experts in their field. Consistency brings confidence because you know you are showing up. Increase your focus on what you can do as well as what skills you are learning. And the most important point - having fun along the way! I would love to know your thoughts on today's post. How do you maintain progression when the results aren't coming in? #leadership #progression #development