My Working Day: CEO

Where I can, I like to use public transport. In the morning I treat myself to a coffee (during lockdown I found not buying coffee translated into quite a meaningful saving each month!) and listen to a podcast on the train. I like ACEVO Leadership Worth Sharing, How to Fail, Reasons to be Cheerful and Woman’s Hour.

One of the things I love about my job is how busy and varied it is, so a ‘typical’ day in the life is difficult to pin down.  I always start the week with a check-in with the management team – see how everyone is, hear about our team and understand everyone’s priorities for the week.   I do like to be organised and usually try to be able to visualise what the next 4 weeks are looking like, so inevitably that means a small part of my day involves work planning and diary management.  I find this helps me get the most out of my days.  When I get into the office I always make a point of saying good morning and having a quick chat with whoever is in.  I’m one of those people who likes being around others and I found the lockdown hard.  Zoom and Teams are wonderful tools, but they are so efficient and leave little room for creativity and connections – things really important to me.

I usually have around two meetings in my calendar each day and will spend time planning for these and developing actions that come from them. We’ve recently launched a Workplace Training offer to build the skills and confidence of employers to be able to support colleagues who have experienced domestic abuse.  This week, I have meetings with a legal firm and a department store.  I meet regularly with our funders and keep a watching brief on new funding opportunities that support the areas we really want to grow and develop. I really enjoy the opportunity to meet with other organisations in the sector and build partnerships, I get a lot out of peer support.

Our Board of Trustees meet every other month and I spend time developing the priority areas and actions from this – this week includes organising Inclusion and Diversity workshops, ensuring all our Trustees have signed up for Safeguarding Training and chairing a group to review our policies.

On the way home I’m usually too tired to concentrate on another podcast so I’ll listen to music, at the moment it’s Joni Mitchell, Michael Kiwanuka, Spandau Ballet or Moses Sumney.  If I’m working from home I’ll go for a walk after I’ve finished work.  This helps me relax and marks the end of my working day which helps me to maintain healthy boundaries.