Weeknotes 16th December 2022
I have been wrapping up work for the year this week after another challenging yet generally fruitful 12 months at work. After a year in which work has been interspersed with me twice being diagnosed with and being treated for cancer, I have been thinking about what matters to me and what action I need to take to make what matters to me happen. I know that most of the times I get frustrated it is simply because I care and my choice is either to stop caring or do something about it. Doing the former isn’t going to happen. I can’t not care and I thrive when I am working on things that I care about, so looks like action is the answer.
What matters to me is making a positive difference:
- making a positive difference to health outcomes and particularly in relation to cancer outcomes and prevention. This is something that I work towards in both my paid role and also voluntary work outside of the organisation.
- making a positive difference to colleagues and other people that work in this field, whether that be support, advice or belief in them when they need it, particularly people who are underrepresented, have barriers to accessing careers in this field and those early in their career
- making a positive difference to my family, friends and community
I also know that want matters to me is creating space for others to make a positive difference and being an authentic servant leader. The problem with that can be that you may not always be surrounded by others who seem to lead in that way which can feel frustrating and demotivating. I know though that you can’t lead or work in any other way than that which fits with your values, so whatever is going on around me I intend to keep leading the way I lead and keep focussing on what matters — if I stray, you all have permission to tell me off!
Things this week that helped to make a difference
I had a catch up with someone I am mentoring and talked about influencing, stepping into leadership and creating a vision in uncertainty. I got to reflect on these things just as much as I provided mentorship on them.
I also finalised a plan for inclusive design work that will start in the new year and caught up with another health and care body to talk about UCD maturity, supporting them to benefit from our work. Helping other areas out helps you remember how far you have come, how much you have learnt and appreciate where you are now. I also worked on a couple of pieces of procurement that will bring in some specialist capacity to do more of the work that makes a difference.
I had a great catch up with Sam who is new to the UCD ops team and so was able to give valuable perspective on the work we are doing and potential future direction of it. He also posed a number of questions and challenges that made me think about where the edges of UCD ops scope lie and where it might interface with areas of the wider health and care system. I also had catch ups with Tom, Tero, Eva, Alison, Chiara, Tim, Rachel and Sara, attended the senior leadership community call and a workshop about we work together with other parts of the new NHS England.
I booked in a chat with a more senior colleague that I value and trust who I thought could give me an alternative perspective about the things that have frustrated me recently. As I expected they did and as I also expected, they also pushed me to take some alternative actions that I may not have without that conversation. It highlighted another thing that matters to me, honesty, trust and belief in others, particularly of and from leadership.
Highlight of the week was the Women’s Network end of year celebrations hosted by the fantastic Rachel and Molly. This was where network members, our Exec team and CEO and many other colleagues heard about the fantastic work that the network has done this year to provide safe spaces for colleagues to support each other, discuss difficult issues, remove barriers, make positive changes to our work environment and recognise and celebrate the success of the amazing women we have in our organisation. It was a really uplifting session and a great end to my working year.
This final working week of the year when cancer came knocking on my door, I also thought about who has made difference for me personally. There are so many friends and colleagues and people that I might not even know or work closely with included in these thoughts. I have felt incredibly supported, cared for and valued and whilst we would all be here till 2024 if I listed every individual in this weeknote, I do intend to make sure people know about the difference they have made.
Wishing all of us a happy and healthy 2023.
Things I intend to do in the next couple of weeks to make a difference
- Spend time with family and friends
- Make sure that people that have done things that made a difference to me this year, know about it
- Switch off (no work or weeknotes).
