You’ll find an article on stuff.co.nz that talks about the differences between men and women in marathon running. There’s discussion about negative splits which if you’re a runner you’ll know is when you complete the second half of a race quicker than the first. The other day I was updating my LinkedIn and, yes I should have known better, but I stuffed up some minor descriptions and before I knew it several people had asked me about my new job! I don’t have one, but what I noticed was that I have been at AUT Centre for Innovative Leadership for 2 years 3 months. Time flies!

I’ve been working on my running the last few weeks doing interval training early one morning a week. It’s hard, my speed training pace is what good marathoners do the whole thing at, but I feel I’ve turned the corner on consistency. Last week’s effort was more consistent and my last interval was faster than my first. You might say a negative split.

Aside from my running there’s been a couple of things I’ve been struggling at for a while, but today, they both turned the corner for different reasons. One was a step change where I brought in someone special to deliver a workshop to a group I had been working with. She made a great success of it. The other resolved itself thanks to outside forces. So for both of these, I feel I’m on my way onto the next stage in much better shape. It’ll be a negative split for sure!

Make sure your next move gives you a negative split. Whatever the leadership issue you’re dealing with today, a team cohesion issue, a difficult conversation or innovation challenge, make sure it’s a negative split, second time around. Doing the hard graft, like in running, build up the resilience, treat the challenging experiences as part of a build up and step out for the next go. And make it negative, a negative split for a positive outcome!

Stephen