Like many, I’d wondered what 2020 Christmas ads were going to bring. Were they going to be focused on raising a laugh, a tear, a smile; reflecting on the tough year we’ve had or instilling hope for the future? Here are my thoughts on a couple of ads out this week...
I’ve noticed a number of my connections on LinkedIn have posted a wonderful message to offer their help and support to those they’ve worked with in the past during this time, which continues to be turbulent for many. I’m fortunate enough to be doing some exciting consulting work at the moment, but I’m also having conversations about permanent roles, which is my long-term goal and continues to take up a considerable amount of my focus.
Like many, I am active in the job market at the moment, searching for a CMO or Marketing Director role. Over the past few months, I’ve been exploring opportunities and have been in processes with a few different companies. Some have been good experiences; others have been disappointing.
The idea of using coaching as a leadership style to drive and navigate change is all well and good, but some of the fundamental principles of coaching (e.g. questioning, using silence, not providing answers or direction based on experience) don’t at first seem conducive to leading a team through ambiguity. Many organisations have a desire to be coaching-centric in their culture or leadership style, but the reality is that managers often find themselves ‘too busy’ to use a coaching-style and default to micro-management or a more dictatorial approach when navigating change at pace.
At the start of April, I resigned from a permanent CMO role after just 4 weeks and very mindfully entered into a job market which was uncertain, to say the least, in search of a CMO or Marketing Director role. I’ve been extremely fortunate so far in my career, in that I’ve never had a period of not working, and I’ve moved from role to role seamlessly, so the experience of not working and at the same time looking for work is a brand new one to me.
I’m training for a marathon, my first ever marathon, but it’s just been cancelled. However, that’s not going to stop me. My training has been going well, so rather than defer my place to 2021, I’m almost ready to run a virtual marathon instead (which means I cover the distance myself, but I run the race alone, at a time and date to suit me).
I’ve noticed that sometimes, when leaders progress through their career, skills which were once important to them seem to disappear. Senior leaders often feel that they must know all of the answers, no longer have anything to learn (or can’t admit to what they would like to learn) and become simply 'too busy’ to respond to emails or support others.
Back in August 2018 when I decided to set up my own business so that I could consult as Interim Chief Marketing Officer at ClearScore, whilst formally learning to be an executive coach, qualifying seemed to be a long way off…
This week I attended a two-day (virtual) Positive Psychology course, via the British School of Coaching. As I’ve developed as a leader and coach, so too has my interest in Positive Psychology, so it was great to dip my toe into the water and hear about some of the principles behind it from an expert in the field, our course tutor, Ana Nasif.
Earlier this week, I resigned from a Chief Marketing Officer role after only 5 weeks. Resigning from a role, with no immediate job to go to, as the world slumps into a recession is a bold move. The reason I made the decision is not only personal to me, but irrelevant to this post. However, I’ve reflected on it with some pride, as it’s not a decision I would have had the confidence to make a few years’ ago.