You Need to Know What’s Red, Yellow, and Green

This is not about traffic lights.

It’s about where you spend your time and place your energy.

This is an exercise I ask all new executive coaching clients to complete: review your calendar and think about what’s red, yellow, or green.

• Red = you dread it; you don’t like the person; this person/event/task drains your energy; you feel exhausted/angry/frustrated when you see this event/interact with this person.
• Yellow = you’re unsure how you feel about this person/task/event; this is something you feel comfortable with yet somewhat hesitant; you have minimal emotional reaction; it’s something you need to do, and you check it off your list without thinking about it.
• Green = you feel light when you see this meeting; working with this person energizes you; when you see an email about this project/task/from this person, you say, “YES!”; when you work in this area/on this project, you feel as if your hard work, years of experience, training, sitting in airports being delayed for hours was all worth it.

Once we use the stoplight with the exec’s calendar, we then move on to use the thinking in other ways.

It’s shorthand for making decisions and choosing what to do and (more importantly) what not to do. What to leave to the side.

What’s red, yellow, or green for you? What will you choose to do—and how—as a leader?

This exercise is too easy to brush off. Please try it—and let me know how it goes.

Reminder #1: This Thursday’s Free Workshop is About Bad Managers

Last call to register for tomorrow’s free monthly workshop. I’ll discuss:

• The 3 types of bad managers,
• The BAD coaching framework, and
• More things you can put into action asap.

It’s free, it’s one hour long, and if you attend live, you have a chance to win a free coaching session with me.

I hope you register. You’ll receive a workbook in advance to use in the workshop.

Yes, it’s recorded if you can’t make it live.

If you already registered, thank you—and you’ll get your workbook in a few hours.

Reminder #2: Ask Leila Anything Starts February 22

Next Tuesday, February 22, is the first “Ask Leila Anything” session.

Once a month, for one hour, I’ll be in my Zoom room, ready to hear your thoughts on your good and bad leaders.

It’s February 22 at 8:30 am PT/11:30 am ET/16:30 GMT/17:30 CET. Download the invitation if you want to make sure you don’t miss it.

Please stop by to say hello.

OK, See You Thursday

Lead with ease,

Leila

PS I owe you all some things I mentioned two weeks ago, and thanks to the 12 people who reached out and said, “Where’s the free Awesome Manager lesson?” or “Where are details for open enrollment?“ Thanks for holding me accountable (being serious, not snarky), and that’s all coming soon. I have to use the yellow light more myself, eh? Learning all the time . . .