Day 38: Record Keeping For Improvement

I was complimented today on notes I took of a meeting.  You may think minute-taking is a waste of time, but good leaders take notes!  These were for the reflection meeting I wrote about on Day 33.

I noted what people said and concurrently collated a list of priority areas for action and learning, which I put into themes.  At the same time, I worked in partnership with a colleague to facilitate the session to be a safe, effective space for sharing.  A high-quality summary of actions from this kind of conversation is vital to using the outputs for improvement.

Day 37: Life is more than work

Since a knee injury last November, I returned to training with Milton Keynes Rugby Club this week.  I have been active and fit throughout my adult life; both physically and psychologically missing exercise when I haven’t been able to train.

I didn’t realise quite how much I missed training until getting back to it.  Being back with my team-mates felt amazing; training hard, having a laugh, and the sense of satisfaction from pushing myself physically.

Lots of parallels with teams in organisations – through Covid, we’ve missed a lot of the camaraderie and personal contact that brings the enjoyment and fulfilment.

Day 36: Speak Up About Safety Issues & Workload

Today I read the write-up of this study in the BMJ of people working in a busy hospital surgical departments in Ghana.  Whilst this may appear extremely different to a setting that you work in, the principles are totally applicable to many areas, particularly health and social care services in the UK:

1.      People don’t want to speak up for fear of being asked to do even more.

2.      People don’t have time to raise issues and people are too busy to hear them, or act upon them.

3.      Supporting ‘hearer’ courage may be as important as speaking up in the first place!

Day 35: Yes, and…

When people share ideas do you think of reasons why they shouldn’t happen, or problems that may occur? 

How do you feel when you share ideas and obstacles are immediately put in your way?

“Yes, and” is powerful and opens rather than closing conversations.

Leaders don’t say “no, but have you thought of…”.

    they say: “Yes, and if we do that it will help us to…”;

    they say “Yes, and if we do X as well, we’ll make things even better”; and

    they say “Yes, I understand where you’re coming from and we can do that, but not right now”.

Day 34: Authenticity and Integrity

To lead well, act with authenticity and integrity.  Humans are clever and will spot a fraud quickly; it’s hard keeping the mask on for prolonged periods; be yourself.

To act with integrity means using emotional intelligence to tune into your and others’ emotions.  Make the right agreements to serve you, them, and your organisation best.  Take responsibility for your own experiences and inspire others to do the same.

You control your actions, but you can’t control the outcomes.  Communicate well; listen actively speaking with authority about what you know but understand that others will have their version of the truth.

Day 33: Reflection

Time reflecting today and thinking about how we shift culture.  This included considering how we deal with the anxiety of those things we can and can’t control. 

This made me think that we do waste a huge amount of emotional energy and can feel immense anxiety about things we have absolutely no control over.  We need to become more comfortable with the discomfort of the things we can’t control and to focus on those things that we do have at least some control over.

This can only happen with practise and support from colleagues around us in a learning environment.

Day 32: Are You Enough?

How often do you catastrophise, assume the worst, or lack belief and confidence in yourself?  When this happens, flip it; tell yourself you can, you are capable; and the best-case scenario will happen.  How does this feel?

Is this self-doubt, imposter syndrome or a fear of the unknown.  Be careful in assuming it is one of these three; Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey write that we should stop telling women and people of colour that they have imposter syndrome, as it could be systematic bias.  I also witness women apologising for having ideas or thoughts in meetings.  You are enough!