The cave you fear to enter really does hold the treasure that you seek
It’s a year now since I took the decision after 25 years of working in the public sector to leave my well-paid job to become a self-employed change consultant and coach. I’d thought about working for myself for years before I finally took the plunge but didn’t have the courage to go for it. Part of that of course is circumstantial - when you’re a lone parent bringing up two kids one thing you want to be able to provide for them is security. But as my kids grew older, my feet got itchier and my need to be true to myself became ever stronger (maybe an age thing?!). I can honestly say I’ve not looked back for a single second.
Freedom
My true, whole, authentic self.
I love working for myself. I love the freedom to bring me - my true, whole, authentic self - to everything I do. I love the variety of clients I get to work with and areas of work I get to be involved in. I love the diversity of thinking and ways of working that I’m exposed to. I love being part of a network of other like-minded people who’ve followed a similar path. And I love that people want me to bring challenge and listen to and value what I say. My confidence has grown exponentially and I’m so proud that I found the courage to take what felt like a huge step into self-employment.
I’m a big reflector so it only feels right to take a step back one year on and think about what I’ve learned. When I look back, my journey started a good few years ago and a series of events took me down the path to what would eventually become self-employment. I knew change was happening at a deep level within me but I didn’t have any idea where it was taking me. I guess that ability to embrace the changes happening around me, be proactive in recognising what I was learning and being comfortable with going with the uncertainty were all big factors in me finding the courage to do what I really wanted to. In the language of organisations, you could say I adopted a learning mindset.
I can identify four fundamental chapters in my learning journey that were pivotal in finding the courage to work for myself. The first goes back nearly 10 years when after a hideous marriage break up, I took some time to re-evaluate what matters to me and reconnect with my values. I made a deliberate and conscious decision to lean into my values and live by them in all aspects of my life. A decision that continues to serve me well and which gives me a solid internal staff around which my thinking, decisions and actions revolve.
The second chapter came from my experiences of caring for a loved one with very significant mental health illness. I am one of life's natural fixers and used to enjoy nothing more than riding in on my white horse to put things right before heading off for my next adventure. I learned very quickly that you can’t fix someone else’s mental health for them. You have to listen - and I mean really listen, and support and enable them to take their journey of change - their journey, in their way, at their pace. My goodness, I learned so much. This was one of the toughest periods of my life and maybe unsurprisingly then, it’s the time when I learned probably the most I’ve ever learned - stuff that fundamentally changed how I do what I do. It shone a harsh light on where I’d been going wrong before - achieving short term fixes that seemed to work but crumbled over time as things “went back to normal”. Again, I made a conscious decision to take this personal learning into my working life. I became a kinder, more people-focused enabler who involves the people affected by change in making change happen. I turned my purpose on its head, changing from being a “do-er” or “fixer” to become a supporter and constructive challenger. I developed the art of asking questions and properly listening to what people were telling me. I learned to slow down and take people with me. I learned to create environments where people feel valued, safe, listened to and able to exert influence.
“My goodness, I learned so much.......stuff that fundamentally changed how I do what I do”
Recognising the changes that were happening within me, for my third chapter, I became proactive in my own learning. I took responsibility for updating my learning and thinking. I started listening to podcasts, reading books and actively seeking out pioneers who aren’t afraid to do things differently. I found this whole new world of pioneering leaders and thinkers - people like Aaron Dignan, Brene Brown, Bruce Daisley, Sam Conniff, Alex Barker, the Corporate Rebels and Matthew Syed to name but a few. I became fascinated with how different organisations are trying out new ways of doing things, breaking down outdated practices that had become embedded and no longer fit the modern connected world. I rediscovered my passion in psychology. I had fire in my belly for a brave new world.
Last but by no means least, I started to reach out and connect with like-minded souls. I’m embarrassed to say I used to think networking was a waste of time!! I joined a couple of forward-thinking networks, I became deliberate in spending time with people with great minds who were equally passionate about change. I engaged in conversations about what could be and how we could make it happen. One thing I’ve heard time and time again from people who bring different and which resonates with me is how much of an outsider you can feel when you ask the why questions and bring different ideas. It was a big theme from my Secret Musings of a Change Agent blog series. When you build a network around you, it helps you stay resilient in these more conventional spaces and it gives you space to explore different ideas and thinking.
In common with so many others the pandemic made me step back and reflect on what is really important and what I wanted to do in my life. Finally I was ready and a year ago, I took all that learning, threw it around for a while and landed on Kath Smythe Collective, change consultant and coach. I work for myself, I do associate work and I’ve even started to use associates myself as part of my collective - always part of my plan but not something I expected to be in a position to do within my first year of business.
Leaders need help to create learning spaces
I believe that one of the most important things leaders need to be able to do is to create environments where people learn, everyday and always.
I’ve just finished delivering on a big contract that was all about how we enable people to learn together and learn for life. It means I’ve been talking to lots of people about learning and doing lots of thinking about how we learn. That, together with my own personal reflections has made me think. I believe that one of the most important things leaders need to be able to do is to create environments where people learn, everyday and always. Environments where people feel empowered and enabled to take responsibility for their own learning and to try new ways of doing things. We shouldn’t expect leaders to instinctively know how to do this - we have to help them to learn how. That’s exactly what I’ll be exploring in my new bi-monthly blog series “Lessons in Learning”. I’ll dig into why learning is important, the many benefits a learning culture brings for organisations, the variety of ways that we learn and some practical ways that leaders can create learning environments.
I’ve had a little time away from writing so this is my public statement of intent to get back into it and a way of holding myself to account for doing just that. I do hope you’ll support and follow me.
