Why This Year Was Better Than You Remember

After turbulent times—as the last 12 months have been for many—it’s tempting to shut the door on the past and focus only on the future. But according to PRHSB speaker Liz Tran, pausing to reflect and reset after challenging periods is essential to set ourselves up for success. We spoke with Tran, a sought-after executive coach, speaker, and author of The Karma of Success, about why this practice is so powerful and what steps leaders and employees can take to reflect and reset effectively.

Start by addressing burnout. “The first thing I'll say is that it's really important not to move forward into the setting of goals and future processes until the past is thoroughly dissected and understood,” Tran says, “because it's not helpful to go into the year-ahead planning still feeling the effects of burnout.” In fact, burnout, per Tran, can impact the very skills that make us successful at work, like creative problem solving, analytical processing, and the ability to assess situations clearly. “You want to make sure that all those symptoms of burnout are cleared out so that you can head into next year's thinking with all of the cognitive processes firing the way that they should,” Tran says.

Take time to identify what worked, not just what went wrong. According to Tran, another major symptom of burnout is “a decreased sense of accomplishment.” She points out: “They say that the brain is like Velcro for negative experiences and like Teflon for positive experiences. What we did wrong, where we failed, that becomes a memory instantly. The brain doesn't have to do anything to store it. It's just the way that we're wired. But for the things we do well, the positive experiences, our strengths, the brain actually has to focus for several seconds before it becomes imprinted as a memory.”

To counter this, Tran recommends leaders and employees go through their calendars month by month and ask:

• “What was the most challenging part of this month?”

• “What were wins?”

• “How am I proud of the way that I showed up?”

“By going through in chronological order and looking for the good, acknowledging the bad, and clearly articulating how you showed up for the hard parts, the feeling that people come through with is, ‘Wow, I can do anything,’” Tran says. “Especially if you went through something extremely challenging like a layoff or restructuring, knowing that you were able to move forward through changes and challenges helps you build the identity that you can do it again.”

Tran also encourages leaders to do this exercise with team members individually to help them process change and recognize the “individual insights, strengths, and abilities [they gained] over the past year.”

Create a memorable team moment to recognize and celebrate accomplishments. “Team dynamics are just like any relationship,” Tran explains. “For every one negative memory, you need to be building multiple positive memories with the team to offset that. So the end of the year is a leaders’ opportunity to have some sort of tentpole moment with their team. It can be as simple as a breakfast or sending your team a small gift or a letter thanking them for their year,” she says.

Provide space to discuss challenges and changes. “If the year has been very hard, even if those events happened months before and you're thinking everyone's moved on, it's important never to make that assumption, because the repercussions and the emotional impact of big changes at organizations can really stay with people, and there's never the chance to fully repair around what happened,” Tran says. “During times where there's a lot of turbulence and change, you want to show up and double down on that connection with your team. Your major asset is listening to them, understanding them, and therefore having a really accurate perspective of what's happening.” This also helps leaders address “any remaining morale or disengagement issues with your team,” according to Tran. She recommends creating a constructive forum where employees can express themselves, such as an employee survey, 1-on-1 meetings, or a town hall with questions submitted in advance.

Once individuals, teams, and leaders have reflected on what was and resolved any outstanding issues, it is time to look ahead. As part of mapping out future goals, Tran suggests the following:

Set company goals, create transparency, and get everyone motivated. “Looking at the next year ahead, it's a balance of two things,” Tran says. “We all know there are business metrics that start at the very top of what any organization is planning, and it is important that every single person on the team knows exactly how their contribution is going to impact those metrics-driven goals.” That said, as she points out, it is crucial that employees not only know “what to do”, but are also “excited to go and do that.”

Shift to a more agile mindset and accept change as a new constant. As Tran explains, "It's really important to adopt the mindset shift that we are going to be consistently living in a time of exponential change, both from a technological standpoint as well as a geopolitical standpoint. The key is to not just try to say, ‘OK, things are going to settle down at some point,’ but to say, ‘You know what, it's going to be choppy. There are going to be lots of waves, and I'm just going to learn how to become really great at surfing them.’” Here are three tools Tran shares to activate this mindset shift:

1. Create “anchors” to navigate challenging times. Among her clients who have mastered how to be agile through periods of rapid disruption, Tran has noticed the first thing they do is create or identify what she calls “anchors”—things, practices, and/or people that bring stability to their lives—and then lean into those. “That can mean through certain habits, like your daily routine,” she notes. “It could mean your exercise plan. It could mean your community that supports you. But the more change there is, the more we need to be intentional about creating stable places that we can hang on to.” Leaders should try to do this for their teams as well. “Let's say there is a reorg happening at your company. How can you as a leader create more stability for the team so that they have these steady, grounded support systems to hang on to during that?” she asks.

2. Trust in your ability to handle change. “The second tool is starting to think of yourself as someone who can handle anything that comes one’s way,” Tran advises. “It's so important for leaders to adopt this as well as to help their teams adopt this identity.” The good news is, weathering constant change is part of innate human nature.

3. Proactively schedule times to reflect and learn throughout the year. Tran recommends team leaders and employees put moments to reflect and reset on their calendars in advance. She often advises her coaching clients to do this on at least a quarterly basis. “My rule of thumb is that if you think you don't have time for that, it's actually the moment when you probably need it the most…. So use that as a kind of barometer.”

Tran also notes that for fully remote or hybrid teams, these kinds of reflections and resets are even more important, as working remotely can put employees in a checklist mode where they’re focused on completing goals or tasks as quickly as possible and moving to the next. “Make sure that the time is expressly devoted to this type of work because Slack and email and phone calls are not conducive to reflection,” she says.

Last but not least, Tran emphasizes that the reflect and reset process shouldn’t be a top-down approach only. Instead, she actively encourages leaders to seek out ideas from their employees about how to approach new opportunities and challenges ahead. “There's so much wisdom and value from building this from the ground up [with your team],” she says. “Because it's not just about setting goals for the next year. It's about a cultural shift so that everyone feels really competent and capable to hit those goals.”

An expert on unlocking employee potential in the modern workplace, Liz Tran is redefining what it means to be an exceptional leader. While working as the only female executive at a top-tier venture capital firm, Tran developed unexpected mind-body-spirit practices to find success in her career, which she now uses to coach the CEOs and founders of the world's fastest-growing tech companies. Today, Tran brings engaging and interactive workshops to startups and Fortune 500 companies, speaking to employees about how to avoid burnout, build unshakeable confidence, and unleash their Inner Genius.

To book Liz Tran for a speaking engagement, click here.