Looking for 2017 work resolutions?
Here are some professional rules to live by
By Anne Doyle
From being the force behind the change she was looking for to knowing that great minds really don’t think alike, Agile coach Anne Doyle shares her own personal and professional rules to live and work by.
Be the change you seek
The more I self-reflect and look at the world around me, it becomes obvious that we should be the change we seek — we shouldn’t wait for some other person or some other time.
Throughout my working career and in my current role as an Agile coach at Skyscanner this has become ever clearer to me; we must be the catalyst ourselves.
‘Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself’ — Rumi
A great example of this comes from my own experience of juggling a busy job, raising two active older children and the demands of family, all with no local family network. While I could have considered working part time, I instead decided to take this mantra to heart: that I should be the change I needed. I spoke to my hiring manager and Skyscanner’s Talent team and presented a working pattern that I’d like to try to maximise both work and home life.
The reaction? ‘You make it work for you’. It was so refreshing and from that moment I’ve paved a non-standard working day where I start at around 7.30 am, have an afternoon school run /taxi service to whatever after school activity my children are at and then resume working from home. It means I can continue to do what I really enjoy doing and make an impact in a fast growing company.
Of course ‘be the change you seek’ is not new and I cannot take credit for this. These words have been said many time before and have come from the inspiring Mahatma Gandhi, whose wise words resonate with me.
The domino effect
Being an active participant in change allows us to have a positive impact on our life and the lives of others. For my part I feel privileged to work in a company that is open to change and new ideas, a sentiment my colleague Sam Baldwin echoes in his blog, ‘Stop Bitching, Start Fixing’.
After sharing the logistics of my working day with fellow attendees at a recent conference, ‘Women in Tech — Silicon Roundabout’, it was humbling to see how this sparked some ideas in others on how they could find a way to continue to manage work/life flexibility. And on the subject of work/life balance: I don’t see them as separate. I have one life and just choose to spend time in different facets of that life. It’s not too dissimilar to how we live in one house and spend time in the kitchen to cook, relax in living room by reading a book/watching TV or time playing with children in the garden.
Don’t be confined by the walls you build yourself
We tell ourselves a story that things are the way they are and that we cannot do anything about it. We make excuses and build walls and barriers that we can hide behind. To try to overcome them requires us to be vulnerable and open ourselves up to possible criticism. However, we should seek to remove those walls, push the boundaries and not be afraid to fail and learn from it. As in fellow compatriot, the famous Irish poet Samuel Beckett’s words: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
You can do anything but not everything all of the time
Everyday we have more tasks than we can handle. We need to prioritise what’s important and be OK with not doing everything. I must admit I’m guilty of this: I have to step back and take stock and consider what the most impactful thing I could be doing might be. It’s a fine balance and one I don’t always get right.
Don’t take on other people’s problems
We all live in a world where people are happy to moan and share why something can’t get done. As an Agile coach I hear my fair share. It is absolutely fine to hear those but don’t be the one who takes on the problems of others. This is energy sapping; be explicit about not taking on their problem but guide them to tackle the issue themselves. One of the techniques I have started to try recently is visualising ‘responsibility’ written across the other person’s head. This change of stance allows us Agile coaches to be able to guide/coach people to surface and resolve issues for themselves.
Identify your strengths and work with them
Sometimes we are too self-critical. We focus on all the things we cannot do and the gaps in our expertise. Instead, turn this around and focus on your strengths and use those as a foundation to learn and build new skills from.
Be aware of your unconscious bias. All of us have an unconscious bias. Be aware of it and how you see others and their actions. Your first impressions of people/situations may be shaped or clouded by your own bias. This is something we look out for as part of the recruitment process at Skyscanner, using data/facts to come to an objective decision.
Continually learn
Increase your knowledge and skills: keep learning and continue to remain relevant in a fast-paced Internet economy world. One of the first management courses I went on early in my career (quite a few years ago) was ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’. This continues to be the book I dip in and out of and I have recommended to many people I have line managed. There is a section in there called ‘Sharpen the Saw’; a carpenter cannot do his/her job without having a saw that is sharp. Neither can we continue to be at the top of our game without spending time on sharpening our skill set and the tools for our job. It is much easier to stay current that fall behind and have to catch up!
Great minds DON’T think alike
We should value diversity and appreciate that we don’t always think the same way. Nor should we expect to as there are many ways to solve any given problem. Having people with a different lens look at a problem is invaluable. It opens up opportunities or solutions that we may not have considered.
Putting yourself out there
Seek new opportunities to share your knowledge outside your organisation. A young engineer outside of Skyscanner has asked me to mentor her. It only takes one hour once a quarter but it’s an honour and amazing experience to be asked to mentor someone and hear how they value your opinion. I probably get as much out of it as she does. I’ve also put myself forward to talk to a local school on what a career in tech entails. It was such a buzz to be able to quash those misconceptions about what it means to have a career in tech and also to hear the feedback from the careers teacher that they have had a spike in girls picking up coding/science subjects. I have been invited back this month to speak to girls making their subject choice which I take as positive feedback!
Make sure the elevator goes back down
It is very common for us to network upwards and build connections with peers or people that are senior to us and we feel are important. That indeed is a very good thing to do. However we should be mindful of new people joining the organisation and trying to understand how things work, the culture and how to navigate their way through an organisation. Seek out those people, network and help them; after all they will be our future leaders!
The nuggets above are a few of the things I keep at the forefront of my thoughts as I serve squads in my role as Agile coach in Skyscanner. It is exciting and rewarding to see how the above can have such a positive influence on individuals, teams and myself.
AccelerateHER Presentation
This is the presentation I am planning to give or would have given by the time you read this at AccelerateHER here in Edinburgh. You may also find useful when trying to make you and your business more Lean through constantly change.
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About the author
My name is Anne Doyle, an Agile coach at Skyscanner, empowering teams in the adoption of Agile principles and methodologies to deliver business value and solutions. Having worked across various industries and in various roles I have gained insights and learnings to help teams and organisation(s) foster an Agile mind-set. During the last year I have had the pleasure to change and move outside my engineering comfort zone and apply those learnings within the Growth side of our business.
