Taking Space

By Jo Kennedy

It’s summer. I am not on holiday. Instead, I am doing what I am constantly advising my clients to do: taking the space.

I am getting up half an hour later, and I feel well on it. In the mornings, instead of tending to my emails, I am starting with what I want to focus on.

I have found time to be human and relate, sitting out in the sunshine and having a lunch break with my daughters.

I am developing, too. I responded to an invitation to a course by listening to a podcast by the speaker, Steve Hearsum. It reminded me to be watchful of the need I, as a consultant, have to be right. I will be buying the book, but not the course.

And I am creating. I have been looking back through all our old leadership materials to see what is still relevant to the times we live in, for a new course we are putting together with Francesca Pagni.

It turns out that taking space makes a difference to others too.

Yesterday, in a meeting with a colleague, I found myself focusing on what would be truly transformational for a system we are working in and sketching out ideas for how we could explore that with the team, rather than simply fulfilling the brief we had been given.

My colleague was surprised and excited.

I also have more time to think about when I need to lean in and when I don’t.

A difficult meeting last week stayed with me. I had felt frustrated, expressed myself and heard my words being taken more personally than I intended. Sitting with it for a few days meant that I was able to create an opportunity to re-engage and explain myself more clearly.

Generally, I have found myself listening better to colleagues’ concerns, being more open to different points of view and not rushing to form my own judgement.

I have also felt freer from the gnawing anxiety I often experience in my chest when I feel that I have to do something to make it right.

Thank you, Megan Reitz, for helping me to define the benefits of spaciousness at work.

My challenge now is not simply to find this space in summer, but to build it into every season.