SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE FELLOWSHIP

The conscientiousness trap

You’re conscientious.

That means that you’re responsible and hard-working. You do things the way they’re supposed to be done.

It’s an incredibly valuable trait. But for you, it’s an overdeveloped one. Your willingness to take ownership and follow through on your commitments is admirable, but you’ve probably noticed that it can get in the way of other people stepping up.

And if you only commit and never quit, you start to stack up a long list of obligations that crowd out any possibility of choice.

You’re so diligent that you’re actually at risk of missing out on opportunities to grow as a professional and person.

The painful irony is that trying to prove yourself through your heroic effort and willingness to tolerate unrewarding work might be making you progressively less valuable to your organization and less effective in the day-to-day.

Conscientiousness is one tool in the toolkit

It’s time to use your conscientiousness in a way that will generate more benefit to you and create more of the kind of impact you care about.

The solution is to recognize the rules you’ve been following and begin to rewrite them.

To let go of the assumption that more effort means more value.

To develop new capacities -- discernment, assertiveness, resourcefulness -- that can sit alongside your conscientiousness to make you more powerful and effective.

Whether or not you operate in a formal leadership role, these are leadership skills that will make a difference for you in the long term.

Learning through the work you’re already doing

In the Sustainable Performance Fellowship, we use your current work challenges as the entry point to develop useful practices that have the potential to transform your relationship to your work and your colleagues.

Learning within a cohort of like-minded professionals, you will learn not only from exploring your own situation, but also from seeing familiar patterns reflected in those around you.

The work takes place through prompts, live calls, and asynchronous support in a private discussion space over the course of four weeks. The practical, down-to-earth approach means that you will be able to apply what you learn to see immediate improvement in your situation that will compound over time.

Logistics

This program is led by me, Casey von Neumann, an experienced educator, coach, and facilitator.

Registration ends on Friday, November 6.

The fall cohort starts the week of November 16 and continues through December 18.

We will not meet the week of November 23 (Thanksgiving in the United States), so the program will actually unfold over five weeks.

After you register, we will select the time for the live sessions based on your availability and time zone.

The program will require about two hours per week, but you can get a deeper benefit (and get more coaching) by asking more questions and participating in asynchronous discussion.

You can participate by enrolling in the group sessions only, or you can book a one-on-one session, too. Either way, I can’t wait to support you in your work. Let’s go!