Here is a little story about how we, Alice and Katie - your Heads of Learning - worked over the summer. Those long, warm days might feel like a distant memory, but the lessons we learnt still ring story.
So, it was August and we were predominantly working remotely from each other. As many other working mums, we were both engaged in moving work forward and (just about) holding it together on the home front.
Typically though, just as our momentum began to build, a familiar ebb and flow in the year caught us slightly off guard. Some much-needed time away was in the diary, yet this cycle often felt full of contrasts. Our minds were whirring, while at the same time our inboxes were calming down. Meetings shifted and resettled, priorities moved around, and suddenly we found ourselves in unexpected quiet moments asking: should we have been doing more, or less?
We had a chat about this the other day, and came to the conclusion that perhaps, ambition doesn’t have to look the same at every point during the year. And that’s ok. Especially in August.
We are still ambitious, this month though, it’s ambition with space to breathe: off-season ambition if you like. Off season ambition, we’ve decided, is a brilliant opportunity to stop, reflect and reconnect with the reasons we’re doing all this in the first place.
Maybe you’d like to do the same?
Here are five prompts we’ve been using ourselves so far this August (iced coffee strongly recommended):
- What have I navigated well over the past 6 months? Focus on your own resilience, especially as this year has been so full of change.
- What has positively shifted in me since the start of the year? Sometimes we evolve without even realising. Now is your time to take stock.
- What am I no longer willing to compromise on in my work? Boundaries, values, capacity, do you have others?
- When have I felt most energised recently? Energy is a guide, in and out of work. Notice it, then follow it.
- What would I love to feel proud of by the end of the year? Not a goal. This of this as a feeling. A state. Then it can gently guide what you create next.
We’ll be back next month with another note where we will be sharing more about our autumn learning cohorts, including our progress-making Accelerate programme, which is designed to support women like you who are really starting to shape what leadership looks in their careers.
If you would like to know more now, bookmark this page and start thinking about how AllBright everywoman might be able to support you to make your future into a workable reality.
There is so much industry data showing that without intervention, mid‑career women are likely to plateau. Dedicated programmes like Accelerate have been identified by industry experts to be a key solution to this coasting.
We cannot wait to tell you more. And if you want to secure your spot, as places are starting to book out, you can do so by registering your interest here.
Until next month, and happy holidays,
Alice and Katie,
Your Heads of Learning, AllBright everywoman