I’ve helped organise Deliver Sessions meetup for a few years, and now I try to write a few notes after each one so I remember all the good topics they cover. For this post, we’re trying something a bit different: part of this is a guest post from my co-organiser Chris Burns!
In June 2024 we were hosted at Digital Gurus’ office in Spring Gardens. This time, the topic was: things to think about when you’re starting something new. Whether it’s big things like moving jobs or companies, or smaller things like getting a new team or new piece of work, we all get lots of chances to practice this.
What do you think about when deciding whether to start something? What can you put in place to help the new thing go well and make sure you get the most out of it?
A story of reflection, loss and growth, from Vivi Campbell
Vivi talked about a big change: her move from the BBC, where she’d worked for almost 10 years, to a role at Pip Decks. What prompted that?
Vivi shared lots of personal stories, starting with how much she’d enjoyed working at the BBC, moving through several roles to become head of delivery for BBC Sounds. She loved the product, her team, lots about the job; and tried to dismiss feelings of stress and unhappiness that were building up, as she thought there was no good reason for having them.
This started to take a real toll on her health, and a bereavement in the family added both to her stress and to her feeling that her frustrations with her job were unimportant. Things changed – for the better – with coaching and powerful questions, that helped Vivi reflect on why she was frustrated and on what she wanted to do next, even though change was scary.
I loved the honesty and the useful advice from Vivi’s story. It’s too easy to stick on a path that you thought you wanted, and never take the time to think through and decide on making a big but vital change. The stories of how she’s approached the new role – with curiosity, adaptation, and keeping your personal goals in mind – gave me lots of ideas for approaching any kind of change.
Starting something new … except smaller, from Neil Vass
The next talk was my own – and rather than write about it myself, here’s guest author Chris Burns:
Neil followed Vivi’s inspirational and often emotional talk by explaining his talk would focus on some of the things Vivi described, but on a smaller scale.
Early in the talk Neil mentioned Chesterton’s Fence, a theory that reminds us to look before we leap. This struck a chord with me, as I’d often seen people delve into an existing product and start taking things out, without really understanding why they were there in the first place, often with disastrous results. Whilst I’ve been an advocate for a cautious approach where understanding purpose is key, I’d never heard of it being referred to as ‘Chesterton’s Fence’. It reminded me of Marginal Gains, a mentality to make many small improvements that combine to make a big difference, a practice I experienced first hand whilst working with some of Team GB’s athletes in the late 2010’s, in both cases having a name to describe a theory really helps when sharing with others, it offers credibility and is no longer seen as “that person’s idea”.
Another topic Neil discussed was made familiar by L. David Marquet’s invaluable book ‘Turn the Ship Around’. Too often when people start something new they purely focus on identifying the things that need to change or people want to change. Neil explained the importance of acknowledging where things are good, performing well or simply don’t need to change. When asking people what they’d like to change, it’s equally important to gauge their thoughts on where things are working well – an often overlooked, under used and under valued question.
In a great overlap with Vivi’s talk, Neil spoke about ‘the most precious resource you have is your own time and energy’ he put it on a slide and everything.
Vivi spoke passionately about not realising being in a state of burnout until it was too late, and this was a great reminder to check in with ourselves to make sure we are in a good place and if not, we have a plan to take action to resolve whatever’s going on. As someone who’s experienced burnout this resonated. It made me sit back and assess where I was at that point of time. The next day I booked a few days leave, coincidence or realisation that I needed a break, I’ll leave you to decide that.
More sessions coming soon
If you’re interested in attending (or talking at) Deliver Sessions in Manchester, follow the meetup here: https://deliver-sessions.eventbrite.com.
And for more from the meetup… see Same goals, different roles, and more linked from that post.
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