Time to think

I am never happier than when I get the opportunity to spend time with colleagues. Chris Tilley, our CFO, and myself were asked to spend some time this week with this year’s colleagues on the Future Leaders programme.

We were asked to talk about what we focus on in our roles, where we prioritise our time and the kind of things we work on day to day. It might seem funny to say this but when you are asked to talk about these things you really do think about these points.

Take a moment

If you take a moment and think about your own role, you may find that you think about the work you have ahead of you and how you will get this done, you will think about your goals and priorities and what you will need to do to achieve them.

How often, I wonder, do we take the time to sit back and fully reflect on our roles, how we can be successful and what comes next for us?

Taking time to do this is a such a powerful thing. Dedicating some time, even once every three months gives us the opportunity to really change how we spend our time, make sure we are focused on the really key things that will make a difference.

To take the time to think about what is missing from our skills and if we had these skills how much more fun and interesting things could be.

Questions to think about

I know I really valued time I would spend with my manager over my career, in regular review meetings we would discuss operational things of course and there was always time to talk about what I thought I should continue doing as it was really working, what I would want to change as it wasn’t working as well and what I wanted to stop doing because it absolutely wasn’t serving me well or helping me succeed in the role.

These questions really got me thinking each time and I know that for me I valued the time my manager gave me to think through these things with me.

I make sure at least two or three times a year I take the time to do this for myself these days. It is all too easy to keep doing the things we do, in the way we do them relentlessly.

For some people this can be a really successful strategy but I have to ask myself if I did this myself would I continue to learn, to develop and to really enjoy my work life?

Learning everyday

So, when Chris and myself were asked to join our colleagues as part of this year’s Future Leaders programme I was so grateful to them for their curiosity, for asking their many questions which caused us to pause and think.

I know that I am really blessed to work with so many talented colleagues, I learn every day from people all across our business. I am endlessly intrigued about how we all do our work and how I can adapt what I do to have an even more enjoyable life.

There is no greater setting to learn than from those we work with.

As we go towards the weekend I wish you time to pause and reflect. Keep safe and well.

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