This week I was lucky enough to attend the Society of Personnel Development for Scotland (SPDS) Conference, speaking in my capacity as SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives) lead for leadership and development. I got the chance to hear an inspirational talk from Debra Searle who rowed single-handed across the Atlantic Ocean after her ex-husband and teammate were rescued just two weeks into the crossing. Debra succeeded in her challenge by adopting the motto “Choose your attitude”.
There is lots to learn from Debra’s experience but just a few of the takeaways that I’m still thinking about are:
- Choosing to be courageously positive.
- Keeping a list of the small wins, there will be way more than you expect and they’ll spur you on.
- Habit stacking, attaching a new habit to an existing one. Like leaving your gym bag next to your bed the night before you want to exercise.
- Choosing how you show up at meetings – happier leaders garner more respect and have 23% less fatigue symptoms.
- Having some songs ready between meetings to lift your mood.
These are things we can all try without having to row the Atlantic!
We all know about the phenomenon of people only showcasing the idealised parts of their lives on social media. I wouldn’t want to do the same with these updates, but it would be pretty boring if I talked about answering emails and sitting in meetings – believe me I do lots of that too.
For all of us who spend more time than we’d like ploughing through emails, there are really exciting innovations that AI offers us. Yesterday a number of us had a demonstration of what CoPilot, the Microsoft AI tool, can do to help us deal with some of the more mundane parts of our jobs. It will draft emails, take minutes and create presentations, to name just a few of the tasks it can undertake. Our ICT team are exploring how we could try this new technology and test the benefits it can bring. Look out for more information on this in the future.
Have a lovely weekend and don’t forget to prepare for the colder weather coming next week.
Pippa
Pippa Milne
Chief Executive
