Weeknote 12.22

If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all – my Mum used to say. She probably still does. But that’s never knowingly prevented me posting a weeknote. 

The reasons this week was one of the most personally challenging I’ve ever had at work don’t lend themselves well to working in the open. Or maybe I’m just suffering from the consequences of an international break. The one that happens just as the season is reaching its crescendo is almost always the cruellest. 

But here are three broad themes that I have found interesting. 

  1. Being a good ally

The Child Q case has affected lots of colleagues deeply and I feel like our internal response has been empathic and comprehensive. Coincidentally, the IT strategy show & tell provided a space to a group of non White men to share their fears and thoughts about what our team could do differently to provide more opportunities for career development and advancement. I’ve been learning a lot about white privilege and thinking carefully about diversity and inclusion over the last 18 months or so. But I suspect I’m not yet a good ally. 

  1. The matter with words that matter

I’ve received feedback, up and down, recently which has made me reflect on words that matter. In particular, how one person’s off-hand statement can be the thing that sticks with the listener for some time after. It’s equally true of emails. I know that personally, I’ve been less careful with what I’ve said of late. A crisis can do that to you but so also can comfort and certainty. As I was drifting off to sleep one night, I reflected: this is the problem with the onset of middle age. You’ve seen enough that you think you know what’s right and you come to decisions quicker. But it also makes you less attuned to other perspectives.

  1. When to observe and when to act

We’ve been observing a problem for some time, and acted decisively this week. For some of our challenges, there aren’t a significant number of options. For example, if you’re tied into a long contract for something that isn’t working both parties know that – other than getting cross – there’s not actually much you can do. And posturing is tiresome. But weighing up the scale of problems and balancing them against the costs of change is more judgement than science. What we’ve learnt this week suggests we did the right thing. I suspect the next few weeks will help us understand if we did it in the right way.