Monthnotes – September 2024

Monthnotes – September 2024

It’s five years since I began writing a short monthnote on the last day of the month. Sixty months later and I’ve not missed one.

Looking back at my monthnotes from a year ago, I was grappling a bit with whether being an independent consultant was for me.

I’m naturally quite impatient at work. With the benefit of hindsight, I see that I hadn’t given myself enough time to really find my groove. I was close to deciding it wasn’t for me and getting back into a “normal” job, whatever that means.

Fast forward to this September and I feel very different. I went back to work at the start of the month with both new energy and a clear focus for September to the end of the year. I’ve found a clear niche as an independent COO and am enjoying working flexibly with an interesting range of clients – just what I want from my work.

A plan I put in place earlier this year to take 5 days out to continue my professional development as a coach began to pay off. This month I went on the Human Technics Advanced Certificate in Executive Coaching course and really enjoyed it.

Being able to take five days away from work to focus on learning and practising as a coach was brilliant. I enjoyed being part of face-to-face course with a very knowledgeable tutor and a diverse engaging group. Now I’ve got to get on with the coursework and reflective practice to continue developing as a coach.

I’ve kicked off a couple of new consultancy projects this month with clients as well as an interesting M&A-related project too. My schedule’s pretty busy for October now too and I’ve been pleased to be able to share a couple of new opportunities with other independent colleagues.

I also enjoyed being a panellist at Start Inspiring’s HRD community event in London this month too. It was good to share experiences and get to meet a bunch of interesting new people from the HR/people space. We talked a lot about the transitions in growth and what this means for people teams and working with founders.

Discussions, conversations and chats have also been a strong theme this month. My time tracking shows me that I spent 20.5 hours on networking this month. The “back to school” sense has meant many people are keen to move forward with ideas that we’ve been chewing over for a while, which has been good to hear. My focus for the next few months is to make sure I invest my time in the right ideas that keep building.

Music this month…

On a bit of a harder techno vibe than usual for me this month. Sets like this from Afterlife have been common sonic backdrops to work.

Podcasts this month…

Found a new interesting podcast this month (although I wish I could remember who tipped me off). School of Facilitation has provided a lot of insightful listening, particularly as I develop my thinking about coaching.

Reading this month…

Been reading Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters by Brian Klaas. Not through it yet, but it’s a deep dive into randomness and the way we perceive how the world works. Thought provoking but not sure quite what it all means to me yet.

Cycling this month…

111.2 miles.

Running this month…

47.9 miles.

About SIMON

I work as a fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO), consultant and advisor. I created the B3 framework® for company building and I also write a newsletter called Build for leaders who care about creating resilient and sustainable businesses.