Quite Quiet
It was definitely supposed to be a quiet week; half term, not many meetings, the boss is away…
It did feel quiet in the office at times, and there was a sense of peacefulness, with fewer people around. But somehow it was spectacularly not quiet in my head, with multiple things to do and a creeping realisation that I hadn’t completed any of the three big tasks I had on my list for last week. Plus, the important thing I had in the diary for this week wasn’t going to get started until 4 o’clock on Friday. (I had joked that this would happen but didn’t really think it would be quite that bad).
But despite the not-quietness of the week it has been a satisfying one. Often I end the week feeling vaguely panicked, that there’s something important/undefined that I haven’t read or haven’t made time for and that I’ve just been reacting to stuff.
This week is different because I’ve had to think more deeply and more consciously about some aspects of work. I have had to do more background reading, broader thinking and more planning, so that the context of my work has been at the forefront of what I’m doing. It’s so easy to intend doing the background work but then a task gets in the way and the brain work gets lost. Forcing myself to spend time thinking and reading is intellectually satisfying and oils a few creative juices (which don’t get enough of an airing in my head), so this is what is giving me peace of mind, despite the unquietness.
After a year or so in this role, I finally have a much firmer grasp of lots of different work strands. I can see more clearly some of the many different connections and threads of our organisation.
Starting in a couple of weeks, we’ve planned some afternoon sessions with the team to look across work themes using a geographical focus. I think this will be really useful and will give us all new points of view and insight. I guess it will also help with that context /big picture lens. I think this is what we all need in work, a sense of how we fit in, of how we contribute to the bigger picture.
Which brings me back round to my task at 4 o’clock tomorrow. This is all about work threads and how those threads deliver DCA’s objectives. Friday is definitely going to be a hard thinking day.
