Weeknote S2E8: old friends and new
In which some acquaintances are renewed, some are made anew
Looking back on this week, I’ve enjoyed meeting (virtually, of course) old friends, and getting to know new ones. I’ve found a GIF for each occasion.
Strictly speaking, the group of academic experts and leadership practitioners my team has convened to advise on our research are more professional collaborators and partners than friends, but our meetings are always convivial and friendly. I’ve always valued critical friends — those who you can trust to point out when you’re getting something wrong, and challenge you to go further with what you’re getting right.
Good governance
Our research expert friends do just that. We met virtually this week, for the second time since lockdown began. This fact really made me think — having been at home since 16th March, we’ve already started a new cycle of quarterly thinking since coronavirus hit our daily lives. It was a joy to reflect with our research panel on how much my team and our allies have delivered under difficult circumstances.
Governance and byurokrasy are often dirty words — they evoke negative connotations of friction, control, and disempowerment. To me, provided they’re not excessive, governance and bureaucratic processes can be opportunities to check back on the volume and quality of your own work, to hold yourself to account, and get an outside perspective. It certainly helps when challenge is both robust and friendly, which in our case this week it was.
OK maybe I’m just odd, but I even enjoy writing project initiation documents, something I ended my week doing — when proportionate and appropriate, rather than for its own sake, such things help counter my tendency to overthink, and to structure my otherwise chaotic thinking on complex issues.
All good things come to an end
This week, a big thing our team and partners were invested in came to a— hopefully temporary — pause. I won’t write about the details, but by talking openly amongst colleagues about why, and about all the positives we’ve learnt, I feel we’re getting through an otherwise very difficult terrain with maturity. I may be being glib, as such decisions have affected others far more than they have me, but I got the sense that the team has rolled with the punches really rather well. Friendship and work don’t often go hand in hand, but the team that worked on the things we’ve had to pause really are friends now.
And some not-so-good things come to an end as well. It hasn’t been easy for my and colleagues to completely transform our entire team in the space of hours and days, during the COVID19 crisis. Some of the acute responsive work we’ve been doing is tapering off, allowing many us to think once again about the work our team was created to do — in my case, research into leadership. I’ve welcomed the chance to reacquaint myself with social research, after a brief hiatus — and look forward to getting back into the swing of it even more in the coming weeks.
New friends
Two new colleagues joined our team during lockdown. Bringing colleagues on board, and joining a new team, can be hard at the best of times — doing so without meeting in person is uniquely difficult. But our new teammates made the whole experience an absolute pleasure. After a really positive year building up our evidence base and network of allies, ew now have enough expertise in the team to take our leadership research to next level. This should allow me to focus on some of the fundamentals required for high-quality research, such as data and analytical quality, standards, working in the open, and translating research into actionable content. Looks like we’ll make a balanced, effective team!
Their expertise does mean a familiar feeling reappeared. I think I’ve mentioned before the joys of working in a high-performing team with colleagues who really know their onions. One side-effect is to reveal my inner imposter. More than once this week I hesitated mid-sentence, lest those listening laugh at my attempts to use technical terminology or suggest a way forward. Gail’s powerful post reminds me to be kinder to myself.
Here’s to the weekend, and to friends old and new.