Bowhill Engineering has achieved some huge growth goals over the past years. When we set our minds to thrive, rather than just survive, it was miraculous how things changed for the good.
Yes, it’s been hard work and yes we’ve had (and still have) lots of ups and downs, but I feel we are fine tuning and growing our emerging leaders team like we never have before.
Two years ago when I approached Kristian Livolsi to lead us through a strategy review, I never thought that the right influence and accountability could make such a significant change. I used to think I had chains around my neck, that I was intricately tied to the business, busy on a hamster wheel and no end of it slowing down in sight. Don’t get me wrong, I love my work, but it felt all consuming and that if I stopped driving, the momentum would be lost, I was just surviving.
What I’ve learned, is that it’s not about driving or pushing people, it’s about taking them on a journey and telling them the story of WHY, getting them in alignment with the big picture goals and seeing how their individual contributions benefit the business as a whole, so then we can afford to reward.
Having our Leadership Team and Emerging Leaders (19 of us in total) work on 90 day goals, set from our strategic plan, and breaking these goals down into 12 steps (one for each week) – we are able to get momentum quickly – better than I alone could do.
At this weeks TEC (The Executive Connection) session we focussed on our goals. We reflected on 2022 – the wins, losses, struggles and learnings. We talked about what gives us energy. For lots of our members it was about sport, kids, family – but for me, it’s the freedom to work on new initiatives within the workplace. Sounds crazy doesn’t it. I’ve previously been worn down by the daily grind, just getting the baseline work done, just surviving.
Today as I knew I needed to write a blog, and thinking about what it may be about, I realised I was truly happy, and the reason for this, is that I’m working from home, working on new initiatives, having the flexibility to deeply think things through – I’m no longer on the hamster wheel. I have control over my time. I get to choose how to spend my days, and this gives me energy. I just hope it lasts!
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