The Pandemic Pivot: week 14 in lock down

Pivot (verb)

To change your opinions, statements, decisions etc. so that they are different to what they were before.

[Cambridge dictionary]

Today marks the end of week 14 in lock down in the UK.

This week was by far the most challenging for me as a C-suite leader and a mother during this period.

It really brought home to me how much we have all had to pivot and adapt to working within our current situation in lock down.

Our home and work lives have had to integrate and intertwine like never before.

We are completely reliant on technology and wifi.

Despite best laid plans, both my son and I were stretched beyond measure with severe workload pressures on us both.

Here is a flavour of how last week panned out:

1. It was the busiest week for me all year in terms of sheer workload and meant working through the night thrice due to high demand for my consultancy services alongside ongoing studies.
2. The most ridiculous scenario was having to record a short, 2 minute inspirational video for the online celebration of a landmark event at a top girls' school - at 3 AM!
3. I was actively participating in/ speaking as a panellist at several live video summits, webinars and podcasts.
4. It was year 12 exam week for my 17 year old son who is fortunate to attend an outstanding school. His school has demonstrated exceptional leadership throughout this period. Due to social distancing challenges, parents were asked to (effectively) invigilate the year 12 exams from home. My son had 3 papers to sit (i) a 3 hour Chemistry paper in 2 parts (Tuesday) (ii) a 2 hour Computer Science paper in 2 parts (Wednesday) and (iii) a 2 hour Maths paper (Friday).

5. I had to invigilate all 3 papers from home - alongside actively participating in live video summits, webinars and podcasts and providing consultancy services to my clients.

6. Our neighbours decided that Tuesday (Chemistry exam day) and Wednesday (Computer Science) would be the days that they would continue their ongoing major re-construction work on their house - breaking down and laying down concrete slabs in their back garden. The drilling noise was deafening, would start in the early hours and continue until the evening. This posed a real challenge for us in terms of noise disturbance.

7. Our 13 year old shower pump chose Thursday to finally give up the ghost. Instead of doing so quietly, the pump chose to add to the noise disturbance by being permanently switched on, meaning that the whole house and piping system was shaking. The noise levels in the house made it impossible to work indoors.

8. We weren't able to switch off the mains electricity because we both needed wifi access to work.

9. As I was logging into a webinar in which I had to actively participate, I also had to source an emergency plumber. Our enthusiastic plumber arrived promptly - and started having a conversation with me about next steps - just as I was asking a question during the webinar. I had to sign furiously to him to stop talking, failing which the whole webinar audience at a top set of barristers chambers would have heard chapter and verse on our plumbing situation.

10. My son and I having to very quickly adapt to working on our phones using 4G because the only way that the plumber could stop the noise from the pump was to switch off the mains electricity, meaning we had no wifi access and no laptop or PC access.

11. The pump issue led to further work flushing out the pipes and needing to replace our boiler.

12. Realising that our plumber would (i) need payment in cash and (ii) that I had no cash at home meant me going to 3 different cash machines whilst still attending a webinar as an active participant with my Zoom video meeting (thankfully) automatically switching to audio.

Suffice to say that getting to close of play on Friday was no mean feat!

Leadership lessons learnt

As a leader, I always try to draw out important lessons learnt, no matter what the situation.

Having now had the time to reflect on the week further, I would summarise my top 3 lessons learnt as follows:

1. Focus on your goals but be flexible about your methods
2. Accept that it is impossible to control everything as a leader
3. Be mindful of self care - you cannot give from an empty cup

I continue to wish you all well during these challenging times.