“This one’s gone quickly.”
I seem to start a lot of monthnotes with that sentiment, which may be something I should reflect upon more deeply, but November’s no exception.
A week off at the end of October meant I started November with a big push for the last eight working weeks of the year. Most of the heavy lifting workwise is concentrated into November and the first week of December, so it does feel like another break is within touching distance.
As my schedule gets a bit more open, I’ve found time to book in a few catch-ups with people that I’ve not seen for a while. I really enjoy hearing about what they’ve been up to and I always learn something from every conversation.
Client work this month seems to have had a strong leaning towards recruitment.
I’ve led recruitment for a Chief Operating Officer, Finance Director and Delivery Director for one UK-based client. It’s been good to see how a well-designed recruitment process can attract a more varied diverse pool of quality candidates than this client might typically get for a director-level hire.
Fingers crossed for getting successful hires over the line in the coming weeks. Then my focus shifts towards onboarding and helping the new leadership team become genuinely effective.
As a senior trustee at The Caldecott Foundation, I’m also leading the search there for a new Chair of Trustees as our current chair is stepping down next year. It’s interesting to talk to specialist search consultants and think about how recruitment processes need to differ when it’s a senior voluntary role compared to a full-time executive hire.
Alongside a lot of recruitment, I’ve been running a consultancy project developing an agency growth roadmap. Run over two non-consecutive days and in collaboration with Jess at Extra Brain, it’s been a pleasure to work in depth with an ambitious agency leadership team to help them bring their vision to life.
I love the intellectual and practical challenge of leadership team workshop facilitation blended with consulting – and enjoy seeing leadership teams make real progress on issues that they’ve grappled with for a long time.
This month I’ve also had a bit more time to spend on developing work for next year. My coaching practice is growing gradually and it’s looking likely I’ll have capacity to take on a new fractional COO role from mid-January onwards.
As a fractional COO I work closely with founders and emerging leadership teams in scaling businesses. I enjoy the hands-on nature of fractional working, leading operational teams and helping solve the day-to-day challenges that rapid growth brings.
Away from work I’ve entered my third ultra run. It’s another 50 miler, this time in the South Downs in early February. I like a clear goal (at home and at work) so having an ultra planned in is helping me get out running regularly over the winter.
I’m also trialling Runna to help get a bit more variety and focus in my training. So far that’s working well and I’ve managed to stick to the recommended training plan.
My choice of image this month was a bit tricky, as it seems there haven’t been many photogenic moments this month. I settled for a picture of our lounge during one of the many power cuts we’ve had during this month’s storms.
Music this month…
Stumbled across DJ Ian Perry on Soundcloud and have been enjoying his “Can U Dance to My Beat” series, spanning nu-disco, deep house, soul and a few big piano anthems too.
Podcasts this month…
Very excited to find a new (to me) podcast called What It’s Like To Be. The format is really simple – 30 minute conversations with people about their jobs. I love learning about what other people do, so it’s a real gem. I’ve learnt a lot about different jobs that are a million miles away from what I do for work.
Reading this month…
It’s taken me most of the month to get through The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté. It’s interesting stuff about “what our bodies are expressing and our minds are suppressing”. It’s given me some useful perspectives for my coaching work. I’ll happily admit there were some bits I had to read several times before I worked out what was actually being said!
Cycling this month…
163.9 miles
Running this month…
58.3 miles
