Hello there, Fans of Plans! I don’t know about you, but I think this year’s Strictly Come Dancing contestants are marvellous. I love the weekly dose of sequins and sparkle as the winter nights draw in. But what does Strictly have to do with this fortnight’s Working Well blog? Read on to find out...

Put in the hard graft

The dancers don’t just turn up on Saturday and hope for the best. They have been practising hard. That’s the only way to get better at things. In Matthew Syed’s book Bounce, he tells us that ten thousand hours of purposeful practice is required to achieve being at the top of your game. The key word there is ‘purposeful’. If we switch into auto-pilot on what we are doing and don’t think about it, this is not helping to progress us. Keep focused, keep looking where improvements can be made, and go for it! 

There’s of course going to be an element of failure. We can’t get things right all the time, but we need to learn from these mistakes and not be afraid to try again. I dread to think how many times the dancers have not landed a lift and ended up in a heap on the floor, but they keep going. 

It’s all about the team work

You can really see that the contestants, set designers, choreographers, costume makers, production team etc. have been working hard all week for the prime-time Saturday night show. So much goes on behind the scenes for our viewing pleasure. It’s the same in the workplace – think about all that planning that goes into the smooth running of your business. It’s worth taking a step back to appreciate how all the cogs in your organisation keep everything moving. Tell your team and individuals when they have done a good job – we all like to know we are making a difference.

Being judged

The judges critiques on Strictly can seem a bit brutal (here’s looking at you Mr Revel Horwood!). But if others aren’t looking at where we can be better, then we will be in our own echo chamber. We need to know where we need to improve. 

Our customers will be the first to tell us if something isn’t up to their expectations. In the online world they can do this in many different ways – and very publically at that! It can be hard to not take these criticisms personally. But look for anything constructive within these critiques – where can improvements be made and how can you show this to your customers. Let them know you are listening and taking the feedback on board. 

Two key words… reflect and learn.

Keep Dancing! 

So, Fans of Plans – as you can hopefully see the above three areas are where you can look to keep you and your business in tip-top shape. It’s all about putting in the hard work, working as a team, reflecting and learning. But crucially, keep enjoying what you do… and keeeeep dancing!