In the Lean/Continuous Improvement world we carry out ‘Hansei’ which is Japanese for ‘Self-Reflection’. Hansei allows us to review & reflect on our goals (personal and professional) to evaluate what worked so we can build on the successes and evaluate what didn’t work so we can adjust and change direction.
I have been carrying out an ‘Annual Hansei/Review’ for many years and find it hard to believe this is the 7th year I have published this review online. See Annual Reviews from past years at the end of this blog post.
A large part of me didn’t want to do this year’s Annual Review as I would prefer to look forward to 2020 than to look back at 2019. Parts of 2019 were amazing, and parts were beyond sad. My uncle and one of my best friends passed away in Oct/Nov and everything else that happened in 2019 paled into insignificance.
Losing people you love is hard for many reasons and even if someone has been ill it is still so unexpected and completely unwelcome. It is an inevitable destination for us all but still yet so incomprehensible.
And so, with trepidation, here is my Annual Review for 2019. As always, Mike, my family and my friends are my reason for everything. and the source of most of my happiness.
Lean is a business philosophy that I follow at work & in my personal life and that I write about here on my blog.
I had 3 ‘Lean’ highlights this year,
1. I travelled to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on two trips to teach (and learn) Lean Principles & Leadership to the 2018 & 2019 classes of Riyadh Airport Future Leaders. These groups of young and inspirational Future Leaders taught me more than I could ever teach them. I am grateful to all at daa International for this opportunity esp. my friends Debbie Kearns for looking after me so well and all of the Riyadh Airports Future Leaders for welcoming me to their beautiful country and sharing their knowledge with me.
2. I wrote an e-book on ‘Positive Change’ All going well I will be launching it early in 2020. The e-book is a compilation of blog posts from a blog series I wrote in 2019/2019, you can view the blog posts here ‘The A-Z Of Effective Change’
3. I am fascinated by Japan and all things Japanese and in 2020 I am finally getting to tick Japan off my ‘to visit’ list. I have booked a place on Katie Anderson’s ‘Lean Study Trip’ in May 2020 and will be sharing the journey with you here on my blog and through social media
Similar to 2018, in 2019 I became more aware of the power and necessity of a Lean Culture in business. Respect for & development of people is truly the only way to grow and sustain businesses. Lacking these people focused elements and treating people poorly will ensure your company is one that people cannot wait to leave and are in no hurry to join, leaving your company moral on a downward spiral with your profits following closely behind.
In terms of Travel and Photography, my friend’s Karin and Paula enjoyed a few days skiing in the Italian Alps in February. I’m not the best skier but the fresh air and the excellent company on the slopes was food for the soul!
I visited Riyadh with work twice in 2019. My blog post on ‘The Top 5 Reasons To Visit Saudi Arabia’ was my most viewed blog post of 2019. I cannot recommend Saudi Arabia highly enough as somewhere to visit and now that it has opened to tourism, there has never been a better time.
My Mom and I spent 2 fabulous weeks on the islands of Malta and Gozo in September. I would highly recommend both islands as places to visit, you can read more about them on my blog posts,
The Top 5 Things To Do in Malta
The Top 5 Things To Do in Gozo
I enjoyed working with my gorgeous family and friends on photo shoots this year, it is always a joy to work with those you love.
Like most things in life, the more I learn about social media the more I realise I don’t know. Social media changes every day and so there is always much to keep up to date with.
In 2019 I continued to post about Travel and Photography and Positive Change on my blogs,
‘The Photographer’s Guide To Travel’
Blog posts on ‘The Art Of Positive Change’ were categorised into 3 areas of interest,
- Thoughts On Change – my thoughts on both personal and professional change
- Tools Of The Change Trade – useful tools I recommend for personal/professional change
- Book Reviews – reviews of books I love
Throughout 2019 I continued to post daily positive quotes to various social media platforms which helped me learn more about posting, scheduling and outsourcing on social media. I created ‘The Quotes Store’ on Flickr where you can download albums of these positive quotes for your own use.
I continued to work with the brilliant cartoonist Andy Kefford who created the cartoons of ‘Pinky the Positive Pig’, the star of my 26 part blog post series ‘The Complete A-Z Of Effective Change’ of which my new e-book is based. I look forward to sharing our new writing project with you later in 2020!
I love writing on my blogs and I learned over the past couple of years is that not only do you need to build skills to write content, but you also need to find the time to think about, write, edit, publish and market this content. I struggled to find enough time for writing last year (as I did in 2018) and so this is a real focus area for me for 2020.
I have always been aware of the importance of physical and mental health. 2019, for many reasons, brought this awareness to another level.
Keeping our physical and mental health in peak shape is required for everything else in our lives to function. Working to look after our physical and mental health should be the top priority in our lives and a daily practice to ensure same.
I wish you and your loved ones excellent physical and mental health in 2020.
In 2019 I continued to improve my financial habits by learning from Tony Robbins book ‘Money Master the Game – 7 Simple Steps To Financial Freedom’. Tony is a master when it comes to finance and in this book he not only shares his own wisdom but also leverages the wisdom of many of the world’s finest financial advisors to share their advice, insights and experience. Tony’s book is written in an easy to understand format for all levels of financial understanding which is why I like it so much.
Like all habits, my financial habits are a work in progress.
It’s nice to give back. I have been supporting various charities for many years. Year on year I try to give more to each charity whether this is monetary support or volunteering my time. This is something I will continue with and build on in 2020.
That’s it, 2019 in review, albeit a little less detailed than previous years.
Here’s to 2020, may the New Year (and the new decade) bring you and your loved ones health, happiness and prosperity,
Thanks for reading,
Siobhain
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Note: The system I use for my Annual Review is a work in progress and evolves year on year. When I first carried out my Annual Review I started with a template used by Chris Guillebeau. If you are interested in starting your own Annual Review, here is Chris’s guidelines on How To Conduct your own Annual Review and his Annual Review Template.
My previous Annual Reviews can be found below,
Annual Review 2013 Annual Review 2014 Annual Review 2015
Annual Review 2016 Annual Review 2017
Hi Siobhain, some interesting point in your article about learning when teaching lean. After having praticed for many years Lean Management , being key actor in transforming companies through Lean such as United Technologies, Airbus, etc.. I used to teach lean in some engineering schools in France (Paris, Toulouse). Every time the questions raised by students are so obvious and so baffling that I know more and more that you have never finished to learn !
Thanks for your comments Alain. Absolutely you are never finished learning!! Have a great week 🙂