The Importance of Planning: Lessons of a (very forgetful) Working Mum

Earlier this week, you might’ve seen my post about Jax’s first day at ‘big school’. Having taken the decision to move him at quite possibly the busiest season for needing to remember additional items to take in with them in the run up to Christmas.

Day one, I felt really prepared, his uniform was labelled, he had a list of items that he needed and I felt pretty smug that everything was set. That was until we got to the school gate and his Dad looked at me and asked ‘Holl, why’s everyone else’s child wearing pyjamas?’. Queue the quick dash home and a drop off to reception and he had everything he needed for the themed day. Fast forward 48 hours and I make a coffee in the office, chatting away about how well he’s adjusting and settling, laughing about Monday, when it dawns on me, I haven’t sent him with party clothes for the school disco that afternoon.

I am typically super organised, but juggling life as a working mum, where your calendar is a maze of school pick-ups, dentist appointments, food shopping, and work deadlines. Life admin tasks often pile up, and forgetting one small thing - like booking that dentist appointment - can snowball into bigger problems. Similarly, in the utilities sector, hiring your executive team without careful planning can leave you scrambling, with costly mistakes and missed opportunities down the line.

The parallels between managing life admin and strategic hiring are surprisingly profound. Both require foresight, prioritisation, and adaptability. Here's how embracing the lessons of a forgetful working mum can highlight the importance of planning when building your executive team.

The Consequences of Forgetting Key Tasks

For a busy mum, forgetting to pack lunch for the kids or missing a school memo can lead to last-minute panic. In hiring, skipping critical steps like defining clear role requirements or conducting thorough due diligence can result in hiring executives who don't fit your organisational needs, leading to operational disruptions.

Lesson: Prioritise planning. Just like using reminders for life admin tasks (I’ve bought a planner for my fridge door), create a structured timeline for hiring processes, from drafting job descriptions to on-boarding.

Balancing Competing Priorities

Life admin involves juggling immediate needs (like paying bills) with long-term goals (like saving for a family holiday). In the utilities sector, hiring must balance short-term requirements, such as regulatory compliance, with long-term strategies like sustainability and innovation.

Lesson: Identify and align priorities. Consider both current challenges and future objectives when defining executive roles, ensuring your hires can address both.

Delegation is Key

Working mums often enlist help—from a partner, babysitter, or delivery services. Similarly, utilities organisations don’t need to tackle executive hiring alone. Engaging experts, such as Douglas Jackson for executive search services, can streamline the process and ensure access to top talent.

Lesson: Don’t hesitate to delegate. Recognise when external expertise can save time and improve outcomes, just as a working mum might rely on a cleaning service to free up her time.

Planning for the Unexpected

Life admin often involves contingency plans—having a backup babysitter or an extra change of clothes in the car. Utilities organisations, too, face unpredictable challenges like regulatory changes or cyber threats. Hiring executives who can handle uncertainty requires thoughtful foresight.

Lesson: Build resilience. Seek leaders with a proven ability to navigate crises and adapt to change, ensuring your team is prepared for the unexpected.

Keeping the Big Picture in Mind

It’s easy for a working mum to get bogged down in daily tasks and lose sight of family goals, like planning quality time together. Similarly, utilities organisations may focus on immediate hiring needs without considering how these roles contribute to overarching strategic goals.

Lesson: Regularly revisit your vision. Just as a family might hold a weekly check-in, utilities firms should continuously assess how their leadership aligns with their long-term objectives.

Avoiding Last-Minute Chaos

Procrastination in your home life —like leaving time-bound shopping until the night before—often leads to stress and poor choices. Similarly, rushing to fill an executive role without proper planning can result in hiring decisions that don’t serve the organisation’s best interests.

Lesson: Start early. Create a proactive hiring strategy, identifying leadership needs well in advance to avoid scrambling when a vacancy arises. Most importantly, build those relationships with a search firm that you trust – ahead of when you need them, see a recent video testimonial here as to why this could is beneficial.

Life Admin and Leadership Planning Go Hand-in-Hand

Whether managing a household or building an executive team in the utilities sector, thoughtful planning is the key to success. A forgetful working mum learns to navigate her chaos with calendars, reminders, and delegation. Similarly, utilities organisations can take these lessons to heart, ensuring their leadership hires are deliberate, strategic, and future-focused.

By applying these life admin principles, you can turn chaos into clarity—both at home and in the boardroom.

I help CEOs, COOs, CPOs, HRDs and business leaders improve the diversity, success and retention of their new C Suite, Executive and leadership hires across the Utilities sector, providing recruitment consultancy and Executive Search services. Helping you deliver a much-improved performance and ROI. If you would like to talk more about your unique challenges and to see if I might be a future resource for you, book a call here.