More than IWD. The women that power PTHR: #2 - Kirsten Buck

Last month, I pledged to continue beyond International Women's Day by featuring the wonderful women who power PTHR. Catalina was our feature in the first issue, and now it's Kirsten's turn.

I met Kirsten at a conference in the autumn of 2012. There's a bit of a pattern here. I met a lot of the team at some form of event.

It was just after I'd left my last corporate role and Kirsten was a new member of her team organising and running big leadership events. We were introduced by the company founder and exchanged details and shared some interesting exchanges.

But I remember it SO vividly. Not just because Kirsten and I instantly got on well, but because the event was one with Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner - 2 famous thinkers in the leadership and management arena. This event introduced me to Kouzes and Posner's value cards. I used them to set out my values. During the break, Kirsten and I chatted some more and she did the same. We had near-identical sets of values. I can remember them to this day.

• Autonomy
• Growth
• Happiness
• Hope
• Respect

I'd say they probably still are my values and define my being (or at least my aspired being).

Anyway, Kirsten and I went our separate ways that day and we kept in touch over the next few months as I continued to attend those events and saw some terrific people. I'll always remember Kouzes and Posner (K&P) as it was when Kirsten met Perry (another K&P).

Fast forward to 2018. Kirsten has moved on to a new role and I was 6 years into PTHR. We talked about the possibility of doing some work together having done so intermittently via messages and calls in the intervening years. We really started to talk more about working together when Kirsten was now married, a new Mum and moving to London with her husband's military role.

We met in London as young Sebi was still a tiny wee chap, and it was a glorious sunny day as we plotted research and working patterns over a coffee. And Mr Buck and young Master Buck went for a stroll. And the heavens opened! A torrential downpour meant we headed to the tube station for the family's journey back and mine to the overground train to Northamptonshire.

I was writing The Energized Workplace. I needed some case studies of energized workplaces. And pretty much what you read in that book is Kirsten's work. I'd found my researcher. My ghostwriter/writing partner. And I'd found someone who was interested in progressive organisations, Agile and autonomous ways of working, and self-managed, non-hierarchical enterprises.

We made it official in early 2020. As part of the PTHR expansion, Kirsten was one of the first to come on board. We met again in London as did the entire team and the story told in the first instalment: COVID had us in a lockdown situation.

We were by then remote first anyway and so Kirsten working from home, looking after the new man in her life was a good fit if not slightly challenging in terms of the normal health requirements of a young child.

As we rode the shockwave of COVID and started to (a) rescue the business from the brink of collapse, and then (b) build ourselves up and refine our processes, Kirsten was demonstrating a keen interest in all the work we could muster and found herself on our TLC (The Leadership Circle). As our "open chair" member, Kirsten stepped in with Cata and me to lead our strategy, make the key directional decisions and manage revenue flow, our work allocation and our emerging systems of work.

So good was Kirsten in this space, we made her place a full-time one. And opened up the rotating chair membership to Jess who joined our TLC meetings monthly.

By now it was clear to me.

Kirsten had bags of potential and skill, commitment and creativity and was a keen strategist. So we took the decision to have Kirsten lead on our Sustainability agenda (by now we were keen to renew our interest in a BCorp certification). It seems that younger Kirsten was a bit of an environmentalist before studying politics and economics at University. Good fit number one.

Kirsten had a keen interest in assessing and reporting on our impact. How well were we doing in all aspects of enterprise systems and client benefits. Good fit number two.

Kirsten was also a total advocate for an open, participative and self-managed culture. Good fit number three.

So Kirsten became our Chief Impact and Culture Officer. A role she held until this past few days. More on that later.

What was also evident from Kirsten's application to her work was that she took accountability really seriously. She would offer herself to demanding pieces of work. She would step in and want to learn with me so she could deliver things on her own. I'd found that someone who felt the fear and did it anyway. Having some experience working in Agile sprints helped and Kirsten really is a natural in this area. We quickly became co-deliverers and also we unleashed two more traits of Kirsten: creative and articulate writing plus confident and engaging speaking.

In succession planning terms, had I found the heir apparent to be the next Chief Energy Officer? I think I had.

But in Kirsten's inimitable style, this is the sort of thing that doesn't go to her head. Kirsten is a one-for-all; all-for-one player. So she's always "enterprise first" and has ambition but balance and perspective.

We quickly became co-designers and co-facilitators; and Kirsten started to lead client work in her own right.

Now, PTHR is self-managed. Our one rule. So in this Kirsten has shown a total propensity to really get it and be this. As we don't have managers we pair up. Inspired by Menlo Innovations, we take on the work together in those pairs. We now call it Gemini Working. And Kirsten was my most reliable and avid work partner. We took our work, pooled it and shared it between us. Having weekly stand-up/sit-down check-ins to plot and plan and deliver on our prioritised work together.

Kirsten also stood in her own space with a range of products of her own. Like our yearly Impact Report (an essential part of being a BCorp) and in producing Sustainability and Culture Strategies. No supervision is needed on these as Kirsten is built for strategic thinking and doing.

Kirsten and I also trialled new ways of doing things like learning. With a restriction on childcare hours, we partnered up to share a space on a learning programme about the role of love in the world of work (run by the quite brilliant Helena Clayton) as proxy learners. I did one week, Kirsten the next. So one delegate space is split between two and acting as one. A total success.

Cue later 2021, we then enrolled individually on the Semco Style Institute Self-Management Expert Programme. This was a total joy to be part of. Not only did we validate the self-managed style we'd adopted at PTHR, but we learned about a raft of other practices to help us consolidate and improve how we work in our enterprise. Kirsten still leads on introducing our new SSI practices which have really shaped part of us going from knowing, doing and now being self-management.

And now. Kirsten is still my strategic Gemini other. And we learn and develop with each other. I'm now working with Jess as an Operational Gemini working pair, and we've plans to help with new products, services, and initiatives, clients and partnerships.

Whilst Kirsten and I will still co-create, co-deliver and conspire for our future. This is why we've recently given Kirsten's role a new title.

Our first Chief Futures Officer.

Yes, Kirsten is now taking on our strategy from me, whilst I'm forging ever stronger links to communities and partners, clients and advocates for our bigger impact in the world of more autonomous, aligned and agile ways of working.

Is Kirsten one of the most talented, devoted and applied people I've ever worked with? Not one of, but THE most talented, devoted applied +1 I've ever worked with.

Is our future in safe hands? It most certainly is. Kirsten is currently leading our first spin-out venture - ARC - A Regenerative Culture. And has 2 clients already! Kirsten is also co-chair of BLabs Scotland and was recently featured with the Big B as part of March's BCorp month.

From being a high-achieving teenage athlete in Scotland; to an adaptable and adventurous colleague of mine, Kirsten has no limits to how much she can and will do.

One chance meeting at an event, keeping in contact, plotting the start of something to cement one of the most responsive and dedicated working partnerships there could be. Kirsten Buck is the future of work, now. And another reason why there are women that power PTHR and why we celebrate International Women's Day, every day.

The future's bright. The future's already here. It's in Kirsten Buck's every word, move and action.