On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me:
12 Ulrich models
11 HR hybrids
10 cookie cutters
9 sourcing partners
8 grads a struggling
7 games a playing
6 things a changing
5 liquid dates
4 changing lives
3 unions
2 finding selves
and a Fairytale in New York

So the 12 Blogs of Christmas concluded this week. As an experiment in social blogging, it was very interesting. I had no idea what I was going to get when I set it up and put no restrictions on the contributors.

Sure, I knew I would get passion by the bucket load. But beyond that, I wasn’t really sure.

I have to say I enjoyed all of the posts immensely. As I said at the outset, the authors are all people I respect and whose blogs I would read if they had them. All were inexperienced, lapsed or first time bloggers but accepted my random invite to take part with enthusiasm. No one turned me down which was the first surprise.

Logistically there were parallels with real work. Some people submitted their piece well before the deadline, some missed it by miles and had to be chased right up to the last minute.

Some wrote it and fired it through without a second thought, some agonized over the content and the quality before submitting. Some asked for no feedback, others needed constant reassuring.

Those of you with a coaching background would no doubt say there is no surprise with any of this and it underlines how everyone’s needs are different when set a task to complete.

What really surprised me was just how humble good people are. Very few of the 12 bloggers to my knowledge actively shared their posts with their own online networks via LinkedIn and Twitter. Some were all over it, but most kept relatively quiet about what they had done. Perhaps that is a Kiwi trait that we lack confidence, or don’t like to talk ourselves up too much.

Anyway, my heartfelt thanks go out to all the authors. The feedback and page views through the series has been fantastic. Christmas certainly came early for me. We had journeys of self discovery and self enlightenment, we had people who have taken their lives and careers in new directions, we had new perspectives on long debated subjects and we had some interesting insight on topical subjects and posts that challenged the status quo.

And then there was Nikki Wilkie. Nikki told a very personal tale of a life changing event that hit her this year. I knew as soon as I saw the first draft it was a truly great post. And within minutes of posting it, it grew legs of its own and took off easily surpassing the most views in one day any of my own posts have ever had. She even scored an invite to talk about the subject with Campbell Live! I’m delighted because I know how much Nikki agonized and questioned herself about saying what she did and how it would be received. She needn’t have feared. People responded very positively as the comments and feedback proved. And just yesterday, she was informed she would be getting some money from the liquidator. Truly a Christmas miracle!

And that’s what it was all about. Giving people a voice who either didn’t know they had one, or lacked the confidence to do it for themselves. My hope is that one or two of them are inspired to put “regular blogging” on their New Years resolution list!

It’s also been a fascinating year for me professionally and personally and I have learned so much and come into contact with so many different and interesting people as a result of this blog.

It doesn’t matter if you have been a regular reader, or just read this one post, thank you for your time, support and feedback/comments over the year. It is much appreciated.

One thing I have taken from this year is the importance of moving forward all the time. I am sure when we all look back on the previous 12 months, it’s important to know that we’ve:
– Continued to learn and grow professionally and personally
– Expanded our networks and thinking through exposure to different people
– Bounced back from set backs with strength and courage

If you can’t look back and say you’ve achieved at least one of those things, well WTF have you been doing with your life? Resolve to do something about it next year!

Have a fantastic Christmas and I will see you again in 2014!