Reflections – Emma Sykes

12th March 2025Emma Sykes No Comments

And finally… On Aurora and Leadership

It’s been over a year since I started the Aurora programme so I feel like it’s time to draw this chapter to a close. I’ve talked about my Aurora experience and making the most of the programme so for my final Aurora post, I wondered if I could sum up how I see leadership in the wake of the course and how it relates to me now.

Leadership is… self understanding

To lead well is to know yourself, you strengths, your limitations, your values and with that information give a genuine account of yourself and your actions.

What does this mean to me? I’m very aware that I’m not great at reading myself so this is an area that I’m working on. I find that whilst I still struggle to define things, I’m beginning to notice when I see something that is a core part of my nature. It’s as though shining a bright light doesn’t help, but I can now spot when something glimmers.

Leadership is… reflection

The ability to look back at your past experiences, learn from them and make improvements for next time make for a good leader who progresses, rather than repeats the same mistakes or doesn’t learn from hindsight.

What does this mean to me? During Aurora I did a lot of reflecting on what we’d learned (most of it for this blog) and I’ve been able to carry on that reflection into other things such as my HEA/PRiSE application. I’ve not yet built it into all my work activities, but I do a end-of-week diary which is great for capturing things in the moment and refining this practice.

Leadership is… confidence

Even the most put-together people have self-doubt and struggles that you might not see. Confidence is in the “feel the fear and do it anyway” moments, not just the “I can do this” ones.

What does this mean to me? Seeing “behind the curtain” of some very competent people made me realise that anyone can feel imposter syndrome. The act of being open about these fears is one way that we can help empower others, and build up their resilience in the face of their own uncertainties.

Leadership is… knowing when to take action

Sometimes a leader needs to take decisive action, and others times they need to escalate, or hold their nerve and wait things out. Knowing which route to take is something that comes from experience, but can be the sign of a good leader.

What does this mean to me? The Aurora experience taught me that even though I have no official leadership responsibility in my role, I can still step up and take the lead when I feel it’s appropriate. I have knowledge and expertise that gives me a certain level of authority on some things and since the course I have acted on that on a few significant occasions. This has given me examples to use in interviews and the confidence to start to see myself as a leader.

Leadership is… networks

Leaders don’t spontaneously form, and they don’t manage to do everything alone. We learn and shape our leadership in context with other people and so having networks where we can share experiences and offer advice makes us better leaders.

What does this mean to me? Aurora gave me an instant network of colleagues across various universities and even after the course I continue to meet with my mentor, my Action Learning Set and other Aurora Alumni. Whilst the onus is on me to find my direction, I know I can reach out when I get stuck or hit a problem. Likewise, supporting others with their problems helps me learn about perspectives that I might not be familiar with and builds bonds between us all.

Leadership is… adaptive

A career in leadership is not linear and is not a fixed state. External factors (family responsibilities, work changes, health issues) can impact our ability to lead and we can also choose when to step up and step back from responsibilities.

What does this mean to me? Thanks to Aurora I feel better equipped to manage changes that are out of my control, and know that managing my workload and my own expectations is part of handling my career.

Leadership is… not a thing

There is a school of thought that leadership is a construct that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny and that teaching it is perpetuating this myth.

What does this mean to me? It proves that we should question everything!

Leadership is… a journey

It’s cliched to call any experience that transforms us “a journey” but we shouldn’t be thinking of leadership as “one and done”. It’s how we continue to conduct ourselves through our career, in a way that is authentic, even if what that means for us changes over time.

What does this mean to me? I’ve never been one for lofty ambitions but if Aurora has bought one thing home to me, it’s that aiming for something is not pointless or self-indulgent, it’s a way to guide yourself through your career.

Looking back at my first Aurora post on feeling lost in the woods I realise that whilst there will always be many things that are uncertain, there are things I can do and things I must learn to accept.

To continue the metaphor, I’m now better equipped to head out into the forest, thanks to the lessons and networks I have from Aurora. I can chip away at the things blocking my path by shadowing colleagues and taking on additional responsibilities to build up my knowledge of my destination role. I also understand that if I want to (or have to) change direction I can still use what I’ve gained to help me get there. I’m starting to step out into the forest with greater purpose, a goal in mind and a network to support me.

Forests aside – I can safely say Aurora has been a important career experience for me and I think what I’ve learned will stand me in good stead for whatever lies ahead.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my Aurora blog. Please feel free to comment on any of the posts with your own thoughts on the topics.

10th January 2025Emma Sykes No Comments

Change and Adaptive Leadership

I drafted most of this post last year, but when I realised it was going stale in the drafts I dusted it down and finished it off. It gave me the opportunity to review my notes and refresh my memory on these ideas.

Change can be hard for people and in our Aurora session on Adaptive Leadership we discussed the idea that people aren’t fearing change itself, they’re fearing what they will lose when the change happens.

Adaptive Leadership challenges, as presented to us at Aurora, are ones where we’re looking to change a “hearts and minds” situation, rather than implementing an established change. It suggests that we assess the features of the situation, deciding what to discard and what to keep,

After the session I was thinking about how breaking down these elements of a change can help “show your workings”. If people are struggling with getting on board with a change, letting them see the bigger picture can help them appreciate what’s going on. For example you might want to share:

What we are leaving behind? – Clarifying how the activities we are leaving behind are not serving us anymore and reassuring colleagues that these are what we want to move away from.

What we are doing instead? – Discussing how we’re keeping the good bits, and what ideas we’re bringing in to replace the discarded activities.

What will the new thing look like? – Breaking down the new solution so that people can see where it differs and where it matches previous approaches. Showing what tools will be used and how they work.

Why we are doing this? – Stressing that this isn’t change for change’s sake – we’re aiming for a better solution – we want to thrive!

What will happen if it doesn’t work? – Clarify how people can feedback and how it’ll be reviewed. Will we be looking to iterate improvements or revert to previous methods?

How we feeling about this? – Emotional responses can reveal things that might not have been addressed already. Acknowledging our own fears, and listening to other peoples worries can shed a light on more hard to define issues.

Having experienced bad change management (where an entire department were sent on a course about accepting change, rather than being asked to meaningfully contribute to, or offered a breakdown of, the changes that were coming) I can see how this sort of information would have helped me. However these only work when the changes are genuinely there to improve things, so building trust with your colleagues is really important. They need to see that you are committed to making your workplace better, and that the changes are well thought out.

8th January 2025Emma Sykes No Comments

Making the most of your Aurora Experience

In the talk I gave to the 2025 Aurora cohort, I spoke (amongst other things) about how I thought others could get the best experience. I really feel that you get out of Aurora what you put in, so what can Aurorans can do to make the most of the programme?

⌚ Invest the time

In doing Aurora I was determined to give it my full attention, and for me that meant blocking out my calendar for the full day, and not dipping into work at all. There were certainly some people across the cohort who had to drop out to attend meetings, or deal with personal events during the session, and there were probably many more that checked their messages or dealt with tasks before or after. Whilst I’m sure most of these couldn’t be avoided, I knew that if that was me, I’d not be able to concentrate or focus on the session at hand.

Protecting the time meant that when the session finished at 3pm I could immediately start to reflect on my learning. After one session I went out for a walk in my local park, which allowed me to digest the topic more thoroughly and I really embedded what the speaker had been saying. On other days I used the time to reread my notes and fill in some of the ideas that I’d not completed, or look at the homework for the next session.

👀 Be engaged

We’ve all been in meetings where our focus starts to drift and we zone out a little. It’s hard to spend a whole day actively listening and being fully engaged throughout. To help yourself, have a think about what works for you to help you stay engaged.

I find that if I task myself with making notes, my mind is less likely to wander and I can concentrate on the content longer. As an added bonus I have notes at the end! Others might find that remembering to eat breakfast helps their concentration, removing distractions, or even doodling. The trick is to work out what helps you and equip yourself accordingly.

This leads nicely on to…

🎭 Be self aware

Aurora has reminded me how useful it is to understand your own limitations and work within them. Planning around distractions, motivations and strengths can make anything easier, so listen to your body and brain and think about what you need to succeed. It might require boundary setting and changes to your usual approach, but if you can identify what can help you, you will be able to get more from Aurora, or any activity.

🎁 Take what you need…

Whilst it is tempting to think that you must capture everything, there is so much content in an Aurora session that it’s not possible to absorb every single point. The sessions aren’t recorded so that means that there can easily be even more anxiety about missing things. However, please don’t worry that you’ve missed something. There is so much content that you will always get something from each session.

…and leave what you don’t 🛒

Not everything is going to be relevant to you and your experiences, so being able to recognise these parts and choosing to put them aside is a good way to approach these. You can also use them as a way to understand yourself or others better.

For example, there was a focus in one session on presenting yourself online with confidence, which I know was very useful for some people, but is something I’m familiar with through my Training experience. I tried to concentrate on the things that were new or interesting to me at this point in my career, and also listen to what others said they found hard so I could understand my colleagues better.

You may also find small parts that you disagree or feel uncomfortable with and again this tells you something about yourself. One option for these is to use the end-of-session feedback, or the Aurora Champion in your institution to give your thoughts. The more feedback they get, the more likely they are to improve things.

💘 Don’t beat yourself up

If you don’t do the homework, have to miss some of a session or aren’t fully present for whatever reason, don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s not helpful for your mental health and as most sessions are largely stand-alone, you can always start afresh at the next session.

Early on I realised that the number of topics we covered was making me feel like I was missing things. However I realised that the nice thing about Aurora is that there is no test at the end! Whatever you take away from it, you’ve still learned more than if you hadn’t attended at all.

☕ Take care of yourself

There are times in Aurora where you might feel a little overwhelmed, or vulnerable. The rapid fire chat messages might be too distracting or the guest speaker’s story might resonate too closely for comfort. In those moments it’s important to take care of your needs, even if it means stepping away or disengaging at certain points.

For me that meant not joining the myriad of WhatsApp chats that were set up by Aurorans, and avoiding bringing more personal topics to my action learning sets. Knowing (or learning) about your boundaries allows you to be better prepared to defend them when you need to.

Good luck! 🍀

Hopefully all these tips will allow you to make the most of your time on Aurora. You’ll meet all sorts of people, learn a lot, and maybe even find a new understanding of leadership and what that means to you. Good luck on Aurora, and I hope you enjoy the journey!

Anyone got any other advice for new Aurorans? Please comment below!

20th December 2024Emma Sykes No Comments

My Aurora Experience

Now that my time on the Aurora programme is over, and some time has passed, I wanted to look back over the whole experience. I have already written about the things I learned about during the sessions, so instead I wanted to reflect on some of the things I enjoyed (and some that I didn’t) about the program.

What did I enjoy about Aurora?

The opportunity to reflect

Undertaking the Aurora programme has given me an unprecedented opportunity to work on myself, to reflect and to take initiative in my career. I still don’t find the more introspective exercises easy, but even recognising that is something I’ve learned about myself.

Writing this blog has also allowed me to ponder some of the lessons I learned and build a deeper understanding. Reflection and evaluation often something that gets neglected when we are pressed for time, so seeing how useful it has been has made me more determined to include this in my work.

Meeting people on a similar journey

Not everyone wants to spend time considering their practice, or their career journey so it’s valuable to find people who are at the same point as me, have the same shared Aurora shorthand, and a willingness to develop. Even after the programme, seeing and talking to others who are also interested in their career helps prompt me with ideas and keeps me enthused.

Seeing good practice demonstrated

Some examples of good practice I saw demonstrated during the Aurora programme

Be upfront about my values, background, and interests to help connect with others. This is especially useful when starting working with new people, as it helps build trust and connection.
Compliment and thank others – this was especially noticeable in my Action Learning Set where my groupmates all mentioned something they had observed that was positive about the person. It was nice to receive but also was lovely to see people boosted by that bit of recognition.
Respecting others and speaking your truth – being able to listen to others and talk honestly about your experiences is vital in these divided times. Speaking up can also encourage others who might have felt alone previously.

The encouragement to be proactive

I’ve never been particularly driven in my career, and so have often felt a bit adrift. Aurora has shown that I don’t have to be overly ambitious to benefit from a more curated approach to my work. Seeing examples from other Aurorans and getting encouragement from them was really valuable. I feel more secure in my mid-level ambitions, taking small steps toward my modest personal development goals – without feeling overwhelmed.

What did I not enjoy about Aurora?

Gendered talk

There were a few times where there was mention of “masculine” vs “feminine” traits or things that men do vs women. This jarred with me somewhat. How traits are gendered socially is related to the time and society in which we exist and isn’t fixed or binary. We can use it as a shorthand for what we see in our society today, but we need to establish that they aren’t inherent. It would have been good to have had a clear message at the start of the programme that this is deeply subjective and is being used in Aurora simply as a shorthand.

Lack of acknowledgement of neurodiversity and disability

According to the conversations in the online chat, there were a lot of neurodiverse people in the cohort, but there was very little from the hosts or speakers of what that might mean in respect to leadership challenges. Aurora would definitely have benefitted from more neurodiverse or disabled speakers talking about their experiences in future.

Not enough time

I completely understand that there is a lot to get through in the Aurora programming, especially with under 5 hours in which to squeeze each session, but there were many moments where I would have loved more time to discuss and absorb the concepts that were presented to us. I felt it most keenly in the breakout rooms and certain sessions where we covered a number of theories in just a few minutes.

In summary

Despite these issues I am immensely grateful to the University of Leeds and to the team at Advance HE for for giving me the opportunity to take part in Aurora. The program has given me the chance to reflect not only on my own career, but also on the whole notion of leadership and what that means. As a result, I am more confident in my personal approach to work and career, and happier to consider myself a leader, despite not currently holding a formal leadership role.

Investing my time and focus on Aurora during the programme was so valuable, and having the opportunity to connect with Aurorans from across the University and the UK was a really affirming experience.

A few things that I enjoyed (and didn't) about the Aurora programme.

26th November 2024Emma Sykes No Comments

Bringing our whole self to work

We all have different facets to our personality that we bring to different areas of our life. In Day 6 of the Aurora course, one facilitator suggested that we should be trying to bring our whole selves to work. I saw this as an extension of being authentic and embracing our differences and can appreciate how that builds a better workplace,

Strength in Diversity

Just like the saying “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”, having a variety of strengths across a team means that it is stronger and more resilient. With a diverse talent pool any individual weaknesses can be covered by other people, and allow for a wider skills set across the whole team.

If part of the team excels in business as usual (BAU) tasks, and part of the team excels in generating new ideas, you should get the benefit of BAU done well, but improvements being made where appropriate. In a team like mine that does technical support we typically have some members who have better knowledge of a system than others. By running technical explanations by non-system-expert colleagues we ensure that the customers are communicated with more effectively – helping the team by combining our strengths and viewpoints.

Bringing our whole selves to work might also free us to use skills in our workplace that we picked up elsewhere. I’ve used skills at work that I picked up in my time on a sports club committee which have made me and my team stronger.

Quality in Diversity

As leaders, seeking a diverse range of inputs can also improve the quality of the outcomes that we’re delivering. We should be considering differences in gender, race, culture, disability etc, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because by doing so we are creating something better for everyone.

For example, ensuring written teaching materials can be accessed in audio format is required to accommodate those with a visual impairment. However this is not just a benefit to people with disabilities. Audio format may also work for a part time student who can listen to the content at the gym, or for a parent who is nursing their child, or simply for someone who learns better that way. If this was an accommodation only available to those with a registered disability, then we’d all miss out.

When people speak up about their diverse viewpoints, we can learn and adapt and make our environment a better place for all.

Community in Diversity

If we embrace the diverse aspects of ourselves and exhibit them authentically at work, we will hopefully encourage others to be more authentic too. There is no homogenous “ideal” of a co-worker or leader, so the more variety we exhibit, the more diverse our world looks, and the less people feel like they have to conform.

By being more open about our interests or our thoughts we also encourage connections that help build a community. Workplaces with a stronger sense of community have better employee satisfaction, retention and work, and less burnout than those without.

Not at any cost

There is risk associated with “being authentic” and “bringing our whole selves to work” so we have to appreciate that when considering what we or others disclose at work. Not all workplaces are safe spaces. Even where it’s not deliberate, information that we reveal can be used to pigeon-hole or disadvantage. As leaders we should question our internal biases, and be sensitive to situations where others are disadvantaged because they have revealed something about who they are.

Some people don’t have the energy or inclination to invest greatly in their work lives. Forcing people to engage authentically when they aren’t interested or where it would require too much effort isn’t conducive to a community. An authentic workplace has to be something that is encouraged, rather than inflicted.

13th November 2024Emma Sykes 2 Comments

Becoming “A Speaker”

If you’re in the University of Leeds 2025 Aurora cohort and are coming to my blog on the back of the talk I gave today, then hello! 👋 I hope you found it useful. Thank you for listening and for your thoughtful questions afterwards.

After the Aurora programme finished, I wasn’t intending on speaking about my experience. I felt that I didn’t have much progress to report, so no one would be interested in what it had been like for me. However a conversation with my mentor made me reflect on something I’d done at work in a new light, and helped me recognise that whilst the changes that come from Aurora might not always be big and showy, they still need to be talked about.

I decided to “bite the bullet” and volunteer and the talk was earlier today. I feel like it went well so here are a few things that I believe helped me deliver something that I was proud of.

To script or not to script

I am easily distracted and prone to rambling, so having a script really helped. I practiced it lots, but still read from it and ad-libbed a few bits where something occurred to me. If I sounded “natural” it was because I’d written it in the way that I speak, and talked it through many times.

With a script I was able make sure I covered everything I wanted to talk about, and have the reassurance that if my train of thought had been de-railed, I had something to get me back on track.

If I want to push myself, what would I do next time? There may be cases where I’m not online and having two A4 sheets to read isn’t really feasible. I think jumping directly to unscripted would make me more nervous in my delivery and more likely to ramble. Instead I could try writing a rough script initially, then narrowing it down to a few bullet point prompts so I’m not so reliant on reading it word for word.

In person vs online

I find online presenting much easier than in person. I prefer being interviewed online, deliver monthly training through MS Teams and I am confident with technology so it comes quite easily to me. So when I discovered that the Aurora session I was speaking at would be online I was delighted!

For me, distractions are much worse in person. Often you’re in a new space, with new background noises, and as people are looking at me, I worry about fidgeting or my posture. Having the control of my space, wearing headphones and not having to worry about my presence is really helpful to me.

I made sure that I was reasonably presentable (brushed my hair and put on a smart jumper), that my set-up was working (notifications muted and notes open on screen) and that I had a glass of water. I told my co-working husband that I was presenting and not to be disturbed. I even took off my activity-tracker wristband so it didn’t distract me. These small things made me feel more in control of my environment and more confident on the day.

If I want to push myself, what would I do next time? If I was asked to do an in-person presentation I’d want to visit the room beforehand. I’d wear something comfortable but smart to give me a boost psychologically. I’d also want to be more practiced, so I could manage with just a few bullet points on hand in case I ran off course.

One Aurora suggestion that my fellow speaker employed at an event recently was speaking to just one person in the audience, and I think that would help me from being distracted by a host of new faces.

Story telling inspiration

I actually wrote the main structure of my script very quickly (within a day or two), as I had a spark of inspiration and ran with it. Whilst I didn’t consciously think about it in terms of story-telling, looking back, I can see that I used a narrative arc of being reluctant to speak, then realising why it was important to do so. This gave me a framework to hang my key points in a way that made logical sense to the listener.

What would I do if I wasn’t inspired? I could look more closely at the points I wanted to make to see if there was a theme, then think about what narrative arcs could be used to link them. Perhaps starting in confusion and moving into clarity, inaction into action or reluctance into reassurance.

Preparation time

From the day I volunteered, I had three weeks to prepare. Whilst I wrote the bulk of my script quickly, I chose to take a break from it for a few days, before revisiting it to re-read then edit it. I did this several times which allowed me to come back to it each time with fresh eyes. I also used Microsoft’s Read Aloud feature to read my words back to me to check they made sense. Having longer might have been less helpful as I might have over-edited, or begun to pick it apart.

I met with the meeting organiser the week before, which allowed me and my fellow speaker to confirm that we didn’t have too much overlap, agree speaking order and work out presentation slides. This gave enough time to make final tweaks and reassured me that I was covering the right things.

What would I do if I had less time to prepare? With less time I’d still find it important to write notes, but they’d likely be bullet points of key things. I’d probably have to dispense with forcing a story-telling element (if it didn’t come naturally) and just think about making sure I make sense to the audience. Outside of the content, I’d prioritise things that would help me feel more in control and less distracted, like being comfortable in my clothes and clearing time immediately beforehand to go through my notes one last time and not be rushed.

See the opportunity

One more thing that I believe contributed to my talk going well was that I recognised this as an opportunity. I wouldn’t have enjoyed the process so much if I’d have been forced into giving a talk, or if I couldn’t have learned anything from doing so. I knew that all the attendees were Aurorans, and in a similar position to me, so I figured that they would have wanted me to do well, and not to be nervous. With a supportive audience and a topic I was enthusiastic about, it was the perfect opportunity to practice my presentation skills and push myself out of my comfort zone. I felt so energised afterwards!

And finally…

Thanks again to all of the 2025 Cohort of Aurorans who reacted or posted kind words on Teams and reached out to me afterwards. You’ve made me “a speaker” and I hope that your Aurora experience is a positive one. Who knows? You might be the one volunteering to talk next year!

1st August 2024Emma Sykes No Comments

Aurora Day 6 – Adaptive Leadership

In the last of the facilitator-led online sessions, the introduction by Vajaya Nath reiterated that Aurora should not be about changing us as women, but rather about giving us an understanding of our space in leadership. She also mentioned the upcoming election and that we may wish to do what we can, within our power, to build the society that we want to see.

I made a lot of notes on this session, but it was quite “bitty” in that there were lots of concepts that I felt didn’t clearly lead from one to the other. I felt like the Adaptive Leadership title was a sort of catch-all that meant it was somewhat ill-defined by the end. Again I imagine this was due to time limitations and the vastness of the topic.

Barbara Bassa and Rachel Witton co-delivered the session and started by talking about their background, key values and interests. This helped build an understanding of where they were coming from, and for allowing me to connect where these intersected with my own interests, and values. They also encouraged us to bring our whole selves to our working environment, including things not typically part of our work approaches. We should be trying to use all the tools and identities that are available to us as only we have our unique combination and those differences are key to a varied and balanced workspace.

Adaptive Leadership

I definitely felt like I needed to do much more reading on this to understand the concepts more clearly, but our speakers presented this as a more accessible (and effective) form of leadership. Adaptive leadership (as I understand it from this session) is differentiated from formalised and top-down traditional structures. It is a more social, collective process without a small number of specific individuals holding all the power.

I looked into a summary of Adaptive Leadership and found this:

According to Heifetz, the adaptive leadership process has three stages:

Observing events and patterns.

Interpreting and developing hypotheses.

Designing interventions.

These steps are iterative, so once you’ve completed them all, you repeat the process and refine your observations, interpretations and interventions until you’re satisfied with the solution.
https://www.mindtools.com/a9irp3t/adaptive-leadership

Adaptive leadership utilises a collective purpose to tackle specific types of tough challenges.

Adaptive challenges

Some issues aren’t supposed to be addressed with these adaptive techniques but how we know if this is a an adaptive challenge? In the session, non-adaptive challenges were described as technical, and whilst both may be complex or critically important, they can be described differently.

Technical Challenges

Known solutions.
Available expertise.
Procedures and structures are already in place.

Adaptive Challenges

Can only be addressed through changes in peoples attitudes, habits, etc.
Moving beyond expertise and existing authority.
Decide what to keep, what to get rid of, and what new ways to work.

Tools Of Adaptive Leadership

There were some tips on how we can gather information on a situation to help diagnose and resolve adaptive challenges that need addressing. These are continuous processes that we can use at any stage.

Balcony vs Dancefloor

From the balcony we can get distance from what’s happening and see it in it’s wider context. Observing all aspects of the big picture allows us to see patterns and themes more clearly.

On the dancefloor we become part of the action – we can engage with people who are directly impacted and being up close with the issue allows us to understand it better. We also get more diverse stories and clarity on challenges.

To my mind, this approach complements what I know of Continuous Improvement methodology. Taking a local problem, then giving those who are closest involved the opportunity and tools to take a step back and view it from the balcony. They then suggest small, iterative changes, based on the understanding they bring from the dancefloor.

With this technique we can ensure we’re getting both the hands-on detail and the bigger picture.

Head and Heart Check-in

If we’re going to challenge the status quo, and risk our political capital at work by doing so, then it’s advisable to check-in with ourselves to be sure that we’re not missing any clues.

As well as logically assessing the issue with our “head” (intelligence) we can also check-in with our “heart” (intuition) to ensure we’re not missing anything. We can observe our own feelings for an indicator – how do I feel about this? Am I having an emotional response that might be disguised as something else? If so, what does that tell me about the situation?

We can also do a check-in at a Social/Organisational level. Just like we might run a practical process by a colleague, we could instead ask others for feedback on how they feel about an upcoming change. Or we may see spontaneous emotional responses coming from colleagues that suggest that we might need to give people reassurance or more information, or even amend our approach.

Success

One of the other aspects of adaptive leadership that I liked was the idea that rather than throwing out everything and rebuilding from scratch, we take more considered approach.

Preserving what’s essential, discarding or rearranging what no longer serves the current needs are ways that we can enable a thriving environment. If we clearly communicate this, and involve people in picking out what needs to change, it can help us get buy-in for change.

Exploring Adaptive leadership

There were three elements that we were asked to take away with us about how we continue our Adaptive Leadership journey and I think that these are the same for our more general career paths too.

Don’t do it alone – Being alone can make you vulnerable, so where possible seek out allies with a common purpose.
Resist the leap to action – Often we’re pushed to do something, but take the time to consider and diagnose the issue first. Make sure you’re taking the right actions.
Live life as a leadership laboratory – Experiment and be playful. Don’t aim for perfection – change and iterate.

2nd July 2024Emma Sykes No Comments

Capital at Work

I came across political capital as a work-based concept on the Ask a Manager site. Also called social capital, it suggests that we all have a metaphorical “bank” of good will with our colleagues. One of the commenters on that site phrased it like this:

“You build social or political capital by building relationships and establishing a good reputation and track record for yourself. This type of capital is your reputation, credibility, and value to the organization, which translates into influence and power to change things.

If you are a star employee, you build up lots of capital. So if there are things you want to see changed — whether for yourself, or on behalf of others — you can ‘spend’ that capital by advocating for change. And there’s a good chance that change will happen because the organization wants to keep you happy, or even because people think, ‘If Star suggested it, it must be a good idea.’ On the other hand, if you never get your work done, you’ll be seen as complaining. Even if you’re a star employee, if you argue about every little thing, you’re exceeding your capital and you may start to be seen as a troublemaker. For most of us, we need to pick our battles and decide how to spend our capital.”
CM – Ask a Manager comments section – 20 March 2020

It is a useful concept for understanding some of the hidden politics of the workplace. I’m sure I’ll come back to this at some point, but here are a few initial thoughts on how to build and how to spend your capital.

Building your Capital

You can build capital by generally being a trust-worthy and likeable co-worker:

Do what you promise, or communicate in good time if you can’t deliver.
Only say yes to what you can manage.
Say thank you and acknowledge good work.
Engage with colleagues respectfully

Even when things don’t go to plan, you can help mitigate that by being proactive, acknowledging the problem and trying to fix it. Going above and beyond occasionally may look good, but don’t over-do it as it can start to have the opposite effect.

Good ways to spend your capital

Advocating for others – especially those in minority or disenfranchised groups who don’t always get heard. They can also find it harder to build capital due to prejudice.
Suggesting improvements to working practices.
Challenging poor behaviours.

Social/political capital in the workplace is important at all levels, but especially if you don’t have much influence traditionally (through job title or position). Recruiting colleagues with more capital to join you in proposing a change may get you more traction than trying alone.

Read more on Social Capital on Wikipedia.

29th May 2024Emma Sykes No Comments

Aurora Day 5 – Politics and Influence

Whilst the content for the fifth Aurora session was interesting I didn’t feel that I grasped the content particularly well as we were going through. I think this was possibly a pacing issue, as I frequently felt like as soon as a concept was introduced we were on to the next before I’d had the chance to note things down or even fully appreciate the idea. A fellow Auroran said she felt like it could have easily been presented as two full day sessions and I’m inclined to agree!

A busy workload meant that it took a while before I could revisit my (sparse) notes and the slides. In fact, I’m writing this out of work hours but I’m pleased that I’ve managed to do so as I’m finding it has allowed me to better grasp some of the key topics.

Again, this isn’t a full document of the day, but a few topics that I felt were interesting to me:

The point of politics

In order to make a difference in our areas of work, we need to understand how things get done where we are. In some cases there are explicit processes that we can use, but often there are other elements that are less obvious that might be blockers, or shortcuts to the outcome we want to achieve. Ideally these would all be documented, but realistically we need to develop a sense of the politics in our institution to help us navigate these opaque mazes.

Woods and Weeds – a short hand

The Four Metaphors of Organisational Politics (Jarrett) are the Woods, the High Ground, the Weeds and the Rocks, referring to different positions (organisational or individual) and power sources (formal or informal). These can give us a shorthand for the sort of dynamics at play with decisions that we want to progress, and help us find ways through the political landscape.

One thing I particularly liked with this model was the view that no position was inherently good or bad. For example in the High Ground, an institution having a defined series of committees is great in some respects – people know what to expect and that there is due process to consider things carefully. However if this process prevents action from being taken in a timely manner, and people are attempting to bypass it, then it is actually a barrier. The position isn’t the problem, it’s how it’s used.

Emotional Intelligence

This could have been a whole day session on it’s own, but essentially, Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a skill that allows us to be more influential in the workplace. It’s partly about understanding and regulating our own emotions, but also understanding others and adapting to accommodate them. A key takeaway was that we can improve our aptitude in EI, but sadly there wasn’t time to discuss in detail much about the ways we could do this, or what it means for neurodiverse people. I think there is definitely more reading I can do in this area to help me understand my own strengths and weaknesses better.

Guest Speaker – Jo Martin

Jo Martin had some really great, practical tips for getting people in positions of influence to look favourably on your work. One of my favourites was finding a way to link your work to a specific project or an organisational objective that the person is invested in. Another was when you get feedback on a document, try adding the names of the contributors as an amendment history, so that you can demonstrate the buy-in that you already have had on it. She also had some tips which were essentially good storytelling – giving punchy messages, using simple but powerful graphics, and tailoring to your audience and what they’re going to react to most.

Credibility

Credibility was identified as another factor in how successful a leader you might be. We were encouraged to think about the ways in which we were more or less credible in the workplace. Credibility builds capital which allows us to have more sway with our colleagues. Being reliable, consistent and capable, managing our workloads, communicating clearly, and interacting well with others are all ways that we do this.

Sometimes we may find that our colleagues perceive us differently from how we see ourselves and we need to work to build our credibility with them. One of the ways we can do this is to ensure that our achievements are made known to people – Invisibility doesn’t build credibility.

Networking

The day 5 presenter Vajaya Nath told us that she has a “panel” of people in her life that she uses to help her fill in gaps in her knowledge. She has a young person, a predictor (looking at emergent topics), a critic, and others. She suggested that having a range of people, from cheerleaders to challengers, can help us understand more viewpoints and better equip us to successfully navigate the politics in our workplaces.

For situations where more “cold” networking is required, the suggestion akin to a dance card appealed to me. You identify a few people who will be at an event that you want to speak to, and perhaps reach out to them in advance to say that you’d like to connect. You can also think of some topics that would be beneficial to discuss and go prepared.

What next?

Usually writing these posts is a great way for me to organise my thoughts and absorb the messages from the Aurora sessions, however I think the sheer volume of the ideas has made this difficult this time. My next step will be to take three of the topics: Credibility, Emotional Intelligence, and Networking and work out how I’m going to reflect on these separately. I might do some more reading and then work out where my own strengths and weaknesses are in each area. Then come up with some ideas on where I can improve, and where I can capitalise. I’ll let you know how I get on!

30th March 2024Emma Sykes No Comments

Aurora Reflections – Leaning into Imposter Syndrome

Our guest speaker on day 2 of Aurora was Melanie Eusebe MBE – a great speaker who had a really engaging style. She had three points for us (which I won’t spoil for future Aurorans), which included a suggestion that if we’re feeling imposter syndrome then we may need to see this as a challenge that will develop us further.

I have heard the “fake it ’til you make it” approach to imposter syndrome before, and also how important it is to speak up to help others understand that we all have these concerns. Melanie’s suggestion that we use it as a development tool was a new one to me, and as I thought more about it, I realised that leaning into imposter syndrome does several things:

Helps us identify our strengths

Imposter syndrome is about feeling that we can’t do things that we can actually do. Some of those things are well within our grasp (it’s just a pesky internal voice telling us we’re not good enough) but there are also things that are more difficult but still achievable. If we never stretch ourselves, we will struggle to tell the difference between a self-sabotaging “you can’t do this” voice when we are capable, and a natural caution we feel in trying something new.

If we regularly move outside of our comfort zone into things that are more of a challenge for us, we should begin to identify the difference between the sabotaging voice and the cautious voice. When we can reliably recognise the voice that tells us we’re not good enough, we can start to understand that these things aren’t our weaknesses, and might actually be some of our strengths.

Helps us find and target our challenges

Imposter syndrome flags when we think we’re not so good at something and we can use this to examine our fears more closely. Being able to identify the difference between the sabotaging voice (when we’re doing an activity that’s within our abilities – see above), and the cautious voice (when we’re stretching ourselves) can help us set aside the unhelpful noise and concentrate our efforts on where we can actually improve. When we recognise that we are being sensibly cautious about something, we can then target it with preparation, training or other tools.

Helps us feel more used to that discomfort

Using imposter syndrome to help us develop, isn’t about going completely out of our depth immediately. We should think about it more as building up our resilience to the feelings that we have around challenging work. As we push ourselves towards bigger challenges we’re going to feel uncomfortable, but being familiar with the sensation, and recognising that in ourselves will make it less troublesome.

After just two jobs in 18 years at the University, I felt very much out of my depth in my first few weeks in my new team. I began to panic that I’d made the wrong move and that I wasn’t suited to the role. It was only when speaking to friends and family (who had all moved jobs more frequently than I) did I learn that these feelings were normal and that I should expect to feel that way for at least 6 months. If I’d had more experience of pushing myself into new roles, then I would have understood that these feelings were normal, and worried a lot less!

So it is possible to harness the discomfort around imposter syndrome in ways that can help us build skills and improve our practice. Start by examining it, discarding the noise, listen to what it’s telling you about the real challenges you’re currently facing, and get used to the sensation. That we can see pushing ourselves as a positive challenge to embrace, rather than an uncomfortable one to be avoided.