44 - Don't do this in December!
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[00:00:00] Hello everyone. And welcome to the business of executive coaching podcast. I am taking a bit of a deep breath today because we have just closed doors to the corporate to coach accelerator. We have a fabulous group of coaches joining us for all of 2025 and you know, have been having some kickoff calls already, and I'm really excited about what we are going to do together.
So I always ask in the kickoff calls, you know, what role is it that, that they want me to play? You know, cause obviously there are certain things we're going to do anyway. And quite a few of them have said that, you know, one of the important things to them is for me to help them stay focused because they have, you know, no end of ideas and options, but it is harder to sort of stay focused and stay on track.
With just one or two priority priorities that they're working with. And I love that. So I am rolling up my sleeves to be the guardrails as they ramp up. And I think, you [00:01:00] know, honestly, I need that person too, because I'm, I can tend to get excited about having too many options and always look for the next shiny idea.
So I understand, and I'm really happy to be there for them. With the Accelerator, the official kickoff is January, although most of the new members will have free access for December also, including our planning workshop this week, but I can sneak one or two more members through into the program for free.
For 2025. So if you are keen not to miss out drop me a note on LinkedIn or by email to Ellie at lucent org. com. And I'm really happy to have a call to see if he'd be a good fit for the program, if you want to sneak in at the last minute, just in time. Okay. So today's episode is about something that I have heard no less than three times this week from all sorts of different coaches, and I don't think they're wrong.
But I also think it's not the whole truth. So that's why I [00:02:00] wanted to explore it in the episode today. And that is the belief that it's now December, right? We've just hit December. And so therefore business is going to grind to a halt until February because everyone is either too busy or on holidays and not interested in talking about coaching in their business.
So. My first question, if you have also been thinking this, and if it is causing you to put the brakes on, so you're not doing things as a result. My first question is to actually, I wonder if that statement is true. And I would say, you know, from my own reflections, I would say yes and no. So over the last five years, I have noticed that December and January are no longer quiet months.
Thank you very much. So they used to be particularly in the Southern Hemisphere where it's summer, they used to be quiet months, but they are becoming busier and busier. And I think that there is a trend for more [00:03:00] people to work quite intensely right up until the Christmas break and to come back from their holidays sooner.
And in fact, you know, December has in the last few years become one of my busiest months. And I think the truth that there is some truth to the statement as well, though, because you know, actually rather than being checked out or on holidays, I think many clients are just too busy in December for conversations that aren't directly related to a business objective or a goal that they have that has to be completed by the end of the year.
And perhaps sometimes they do struggle to find bandwidth to, to think about or talk about developing their people or themselves. But equally, I would say that many you know, towards the end of the year, many folks in business or for themselves become painfully clear that they have some issues, right?
That they have some problems or people issues that do in fact need to be managed.
I also think that there are some regional [00:04:00] specificities to this. So I would say that in places where it's summer holidays, there may be more of a culture of taking a longer holiday over this time, but in many places, it's still really only a quiet period over a company shutdown period, which is, you know, usually about two weeks.
And usually that's over Christmas and new year. The second thing I was wondering about this belief is. Is it actually helpful to us? Right. So regardless of whether it is true or not, is it helpful? So if I do a little bit of, you know, very basic CBT interrogation of the thought, the thought being that no one is doing business over December and January, and it'll be quiet till February, then, then how does that actually make me feel?
And how it makes me feel is, you know, a little bit defeated. A bit hopeless, a bit helpless. And it's a bit of a swirl of sad, anxious, guilty, or ashamed that, that, you know, I should have achieved more during the year. So it didn't matter now. It might also come with some relief, right? You might [00:05:00] feel a bit relieved if you actually are in need of a break.
It's like, well, this is as good an excuse as any to put down the tools. So. But if we're feeling these sort of, you know, quite tricky emotions, what does that mean in terms of how we're likely to show up? So assuming that I'm feeling, I'm, I'm thinking that no one's doing business and it's going to be a waste of time.
I'm feeling a little bit, a little bit guilty, a little bit anxious, a little bit sad. How am I going to show up? And, and the two things that come up. As you know, what I think is the likely consequence is that either we're not going to show up at all right in that we're not going to bother with our outreach.
We're not going to bother to follow up because we're assuming that the answer is going to be negative or we we are reaching out in a way that is is negative. You know, tentative or hesitant in that way, we're almost preempting a negative response. So, you know, we might write writing might start to be tempered with things like, Oh, you're probably too busy for this now.
Or I'm assuming you're likely too busy until February, [00:06:00] but, and honestly, the, the results, if we're approaching things in that way, it's certainly not going to be locking in meetings. It's certainly not going to be compelling. It's certainly not going to make someone more likely to want to you know, think about, about those things and their, their priorities from a people perspective.
So instead I wonder what would be more helpful. And, and, you know, I think about perhaps a curiosity first approach. You know, so I think about if I'm, if I'm to take a curious, Perspective of this issue. I wonder actually if this is the absolute best time for some folks, right? That some people are feeling you know, the intensity of the need more.
Some people might you know, be quieter and have more bandwidth to think about it. And rather than, you know, Asking whether or not they're interested. The question might be, well, what are people open to at this time of year? So curiosity could be an approach, or you might even try being open to the fact that for some people, the time and space over December, [00:07:00] January is absolutely the right time for them to plan that they like to think in terms of calendar years.
And so, you know, December and January are great times for them to think about 2025 or, you know, if they are working over the holiday period that they have time to reflect, they might even want to engage in their own development where there is a bit of bandwidth. I know for myself, like I really, I really love the quieter weeks to just sort of get a bit more reflective.
So that's definitely, you know, something that might be going on for other people. And also I think we need to be aware that there can be a big flow on effect if we are assuming that December and January are dead months, right, from a business perspective. And if we don't push on and keep up the outreach and keep doing you know, trying to connect with people and even if we might get the, Oh, look, it's not the right time.
Let's catch up in the new year response. Then if we don't get that response then it's likely that you might push it all back. You might start the outreach again in [00:08:00] February, which means you really nothing's going to happen until March. So I would say you need to push on just to give you some you know, some momentum in the new year.
So something to follow up people to check in with a reason to catch up with people again. So, you know, I think there is a risk if we don't do that work. Even if we expect that there will be some negative responses. So what can you do to keep up your momentum, whether or not people are willing to have business development conversations in December and January?
One thing you could do is you could try getting a bit creative. So for example, for folks who are working that day. That dead week after the new year, could you offer something that is a, something supporting their, their reflective processes might they be open to like a one off debrief of an assessment that they've been interested in to do a trial of might they need some support with planning for the year ahead?
Might they need some support? With, you know, a bit of a [00:09:00] career reset if if it's been a tough year you could even encourage things like a business owner or senior leader, you know, gifting coaching as a Christmas or new year gift or an assessment debrief or something, something really helpful like that.
The possibilities are in fact endless. So I encourage you to get a bit creative. And then, you know what, even if you don't get that work, you'll still be opening up conversations that could then become more fruitful during the year. So even if responses are slow there is plenty that you can do as well to ensure a fast start in 2025.
And that includes things like strategic planning, making sure your strategy is in place and that you've got a sort of a, you know, a broad calendar of what you want to focus on over the year. You can use that time to, you know, build up your bank of content. So writing your hero content, thinking about how you might deploy that across other platforms.
You could write some templates for your, for your outreach. You could spend some time getting a friend or a family member to take some [00:10:00] photos of you to use in your posts. And, you know, I don't mean, I don't mean all, all posed. Businessy ones, but even just casual ones. If you're on holidays, because people really connect with those almost more than the professional ones, I'd say you could spend some time setting up your metrics tracking.
You could spend doing some time doing that course you might've signed up for, but never completed or never watched the the curriculum for. In any event, the next two months don't need to automatically be a waste of time for your business. And I really encourage you to think about how you could look at or take a different perspective in order to get the most out of the season.
On another note, I am just preparing my podcast schedule for the holiday period. And I, what I want to do is a series of bite sized practical content for the weeks over Christmas and new year. Is there anything that you would really like me to cover any questions or ideas that you have would be very gratefully received because I want to make sure.
What I put out is relevant to you let [00:11:00] me know and I'm gonna include a form in the show notes where you can submit a question or a suggestion directly to me. So thank you. Hope you've had a, a great, a great day and the week ahead I hope is a, a winner for you with lots of parties if you're a Christmas person or that you know, you are seeing a bit of holiday looming and that that's a really positive thing for you.
Okay, see you later.
