Sometimes I wake up in
the middle of the night. Fairly seldom, granted, but often enough to warrant
writing a blog about it. Our nightly slumbers are the times when our heads make
sense of everything that has gone on in the day, and while my life is far from
all about work, there is one work-related thought that has a tendency to
revisit me in those moments of insomnia.
The reason that you
cannot sleep is that something is bothering you and you haven’t got a convenient
place to store that thought. For me, it is a thought that I need to keep
working on for the rest of my life, a thought that can never truly be “put to
bed” and dealt with….
I worry whether I am
giving my people at LMA enough.
Just that one word.
Enough.
When “enough” is about
something that can be quantified, it is a simple exercise in rational analysis.
Have I eaten enough healthy food today? Have I taken enough steps? Have I
answered enough emails? You know what a reasonable number is and you base your
judgement on that number.
When it comes to
people, however, quantifying relationships is that little bit harder.
Especially when they
are your people.
I see LMA as my
extended family. Many of us have been through a lot together, we have each
others’ backs, and we were even voted Recruiter of the Year at the Recruiter
Awards last year. That was a good night. We are close because we care about
each other – we do this out of choice, not obligation, but as the owner and
captain of the ship, I feel an extra responsibility of care for everyone. Am I
doing “enough” for them? Whether this is training, development support or
simply regular individual chats, I feel that there is always more that I can
do. The pressures of running a business can get on top of the most
team-oriented leader, and I have the odd days where I definitely don’t give
enough to others.
That is what keeps me
up at night.
When you are not
giving of your best to your work family, you can’t help but be a little
reflective. If success is decided by the collective efforts of the team (it
absolutely is), why wouldn’t I make it my absolute priority to give them all
that I have? Every now and again I just feel that I don’t have enough to give.
It is at those difficult times that my management team steps up a gear and
gives that little bit more themselves. For me, that is what a great company is
all about. We help each other out and fill in the gaps when we need to.
This is a different
blog to my usual writing. I suppose I want to write it to show that I care, and
that I know that we could all often do better. You can never give “enough” when
it concerns other people; there is always more to give. However, on those days
when you know that you are definitely not giving enough, it is great to know that
there are others around you to pick up the shortfall.
I love my team, and
I’ll always try to give them everything I have, even if it might not be enough
all of the time. I do my best, and that is that thought that sends me off to
sleep.