Week 10, 2024
Another big week. The pace doesn’t look like it’s going to let up now we’re heading full throttle towards the end of the Financial Year (traditionally quite chaotic) - and this year we also have the school Easter holidays starting April 1st, so it’s going to be an even bigger peak of work as we try to get things done before the break. Reflection: yikes, that caused a cortisol spike, perhaps focus on one week at a time Audree?
Work
I spoke at the SDinGov conference about “Designing in the dark: the invisible matter than makes or breaks our projects”. I gave this talk for the first time last year and it was well received - I really pleased because I’d spent days writing, iterating, memorising, and rehearsing the talk, wanting to learn it by heart so that I could focus on connecting with the audience. This time round the performance felt just as effortless. Reflection: given the initial effort invested I owe it to my past self to share this presentation with many more audiences - and I owe it to my future self to invest the same amount of energy in new talks to come.
I wrote a blog post about how men in the workplace can support the impressive women around them by giving them the platform, and by being their hype men. You can read it here. https://www.audreefletcher.co.uk/blog/2024/3/8/walking-the-talk-on-lifting-up-the-women-around-you I wrote it because every International Women’s Day I hear men online saying they don’t know what more they can do - despite there being plenty they can and should do. We need to get specific and practical about what needs to be done to make it harder for LinkedIN Larry to continue paying only lip service to lifting up the women around him. Reflection: I don’t have much patience for excuses and like to dismantle them so people can’t keep hiding behind them. It’s a tactic I use all the time, including at work when coaching clients. It’s important, though, to always consider whether you need to call out the excuse-making directly to achieve your goal: sometimes you might need someone to consciously recognise what they’re doing (and so it’s worth the risk of their defensiveness derailing the conversation), other times you just need to give them the constructive, specific alternative. Lead with kindness, whichever approach you take.
I had a conversation with a woman in a mid-level role who desperately wanted to step into a leadership position. I told her she could lead from where she is (because we all can) - her response was that she’s already burned out doing everything, and she couldn’t possibly imagine “doing it all”. We talked some more about her perception that leadership requires that - and the advice I wrote in my blog post was my advice to her https://www.audreefletcher.co.uk/blog/2024/3/8/want-to-lead-do-less. When I shared it online, it got quite a bit of traction from people who “needed to hear it”. The same thing happened with another blog post - this time on risk-taking - because it’s something that frustrates delivery-focused leaders every day. Reflection: bite-sized coaching tips can have an outsized impact if they’re shared with people who need it when they need it. Even if it’s a point extensively covered in leadership advice books, I should share these thoughts more often - because it’ll be exactly what someone needs to read at that moment. It may be obvious, but it’s not necessarily unwelcome. [Bonus reflection: reply-guys will always be there - ignore, confront, block, mute, delete, do whatever you need to - but don’t let them annoy you into silence]. [Bonus bonus reflection: I was quite write-y this week (I know it’s not a word). That’s because my work stress levels dropped just enough for my brain to switch out of fight-or-flight mode. Occupy this space more please future-Audree]
I ran a taxonomy session and I love nerding out with other people about taxonomies. We had a Teams break-out room fail so the session didn’t go quite as planned. But, as is always the case, the session yielded invaluable insight, contributions and buy-in so we’re in a great position to take this forward. Reflection: always check the tech in advance, and always have a specific plan for tech failure. And, yup, I still hate MS Teams. There was a moment there when I thought I didn’t - but I was wrong.
I took part in a couple of really great retros. One for a project that has been a bit of a bumpy ride so far, another on a project that has been such smooth sailing that we’re all still waiting for other shoe to drop. I came out happy and excited about what’s next for both. Reflection: these retros were great - for different reasons, but both great nonetheless. And I can see I’m learning more from the bumpy rides than I can from the smooth ones: I need to use this as a source of positivity and motivation to tap into more regularly on those tougher projects. I’m going to think about how I, practically, to do this. Perhaps through my weeknotes?
I had one of my regular career coaching sessions. The things I wanted to dwell on: making our engagements more fun for everyone; getting better at controlling the scope of long, thin and slightly vague projects; and creating the conditions for me to lean into my superpower. I’ve come away with loads of ideas and positivity - and my boss is better positioned to help me with some of this stuff now that he knows what’s on my mind. Reflection: in past workplaces my career coaching conversations have usually been focused on career progression and what I need to be able to demonstrate to move up. I’m not particularly looking to climb the ladder in PD (the level above me involves being spread thinner, being a step further from the problems to be solved, and spending a lot more time on business development). When I do eventually move on from PD I hope to return to Government, under a Labour administration, to do something epic. I’m a public servant at heart, always have been, always will be. In the meantime, I’m loving the chance to have career coaching sessions that are focused on whatever professional and personal growth I’m seeking right now.
Personal
I saw Catherine Bohart at Soho Theatre on the opening night of her tour on Monday. She was absolutely hilarious. Highly recommend. I also saw Sarah Millican on Friday night at the Hammersmith Apollo. Also hilarious - but my takeaway from that evening (sorry Sarah) is how stunning the building was. Of all the art movements I love Art Deco the most, and this was an amazing example of it - so much so that I’m going to start experimenting with it as a style in some of my home art/crafts projects.
I organised karaoke after our work on Thursday. It was so much fun. Reflection: We don’t really have that many opportunities to socialise outside of work as a group - not ones that allow us to so fully shed our professional personas/self-consciousness, be a bit silly and have a laugh. It’s precious - a category of bonding experience that leaves our relationships so much stronger in a way that after-work drinks simply can’t match. My soul needs more of this. (Is this just friendship? I don’t have enough of it in my life)
I got a new haircut. I really should have done this before the public speaking. Apparently it’s a “90s bob cut”. It feels weird to be old enough to see hairstyles come back into fashion.
Health overshare - I have a hypermobility syndrome and it makes me especially vulnerable to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). I went to the gym on Friday and the pain that arrived on Sunday night had me near convinced I was having a heart attack. Turns out I’d pulled one of my pectoral muscles near my sternum. I didn’t return to the gym until Friday again - when I told them about the full week of pain I’d had. The trainer there quickly showed me a “Theragun” they now have in the room - a couple of minutes using it and the pain was gone. Reflection: don’t suffer in silence. The people around you might have just what you need, if only you’d tell them. They’re not psychic. This is true for life lessons more widely, of course. Oh, and every little helps when it comes to strengthening joints - I’m only a few weeks in and my knees are no longer clicking.