In fishing school, I learned that I enjoy the act of fishing far more than actually catching fish. I also learned that 'fishing teachers' have many lessons that can expand beyond the water.

For instance: When you cast a line and a fish jumps out of the water to grab your bait out of the air you have just used a “good bit of your luck” and it may be a while before anything like that happens again.

Potentially the best lesson I learned in fishing school was how to properly fall down. Fishing often requires walks through tough terrain, on slippery slopes and through rushing waters.

During our “safety” presentation, we were taught that if you begin to fall you must resist the urge to use your fishing rod to stabilize yourself. Think about walking through a stream, carrying your gear which includes this long, narrow pole. Suddenly, your feet are slipping, it is a natural tendency to put the pole on the ground. This act obviously will break your fishing pole, ruining it. There is no fixing a broken fishing pole.

However, if you put the pole into the air, you may break your leg or ankle: thus the wisdom of “You can fish with a broken leg.”

From a fishing teacher’s perspective, this makes perfect sense. For me….not so much. What’s the difference between me and the fishing teacher? Priorities.

Help us understand your priorities for the upcoming year.

As 2015 begins to wind down, this is a good time to reflect on successes for the year and gear up for next year’s challenges. Leadership OD’s services focus on three primary aspects of building your success:

Find Yourself. We are in an incredibly rewarding profession but it has to fit into the overall life that we live. Finding a career that supports your true reasons for living takes work; but it is worth the effort.
Elevate your Team. Getting a team to “care” about the mission of a practice is essential to building a practice that thrives. Sharing a clear vision and constantly communicating with the entire team is the only way. But how?
Build a Financial Foundation. While money is not necessarily the most important function of the business, it is very important. Good management of financial resources give the freedom to do the good work we are meant to do.

Of those three, which area have you worked on the most this year? How did it go? Will you focus on that again in 2016 or shift your attention to another area?

You can help us get an idea of where we are as a profession by completing this survey about your goals for the upcoming year.

We will use this to fine tune our agenda at the Executive Retreat and to better meet your specific needs in the upcoming year.

Thanks for your help,
Mike