I received Annette’s inspiring and engaging story in response to the request ‘have you got a story to tell’ in early September. Annette wrote to me that she had sought out the FED site and had read the post by Martin Carter which had given her additional commitment and resolve during the past week. Annette recently returned from work following a number of months away being treated for Leukaemia. On her return she determined to take the opportunity to re-connect with people within her directorate from the heart and wrote a letter to everyone as part of a weekly internal work update.

She wanted her story to help others embrace uncertainty and to focus more than ever on building relationships during challenging times in order to continuously deliver. The response from her colleagues has been overwhelmingly appreciative and supportive. Here she shares her letter – only slightly edited – to her directorate with us. In addition what is so great is that not only does Annette share her story, and commitment to make every day a good day, she also asks all her colleagues to give her feedback by way of support and challenge.

Annette Davies-Govett

Dear All

Firstly my very sincere thanks for such a warm welcome back to work and the kindness expressed. Also my thanks for such overwhelming support during my time away from the office, and indeed for all the excellent work that has continued during this time.

During my time away there has been much opportunity for me to reflect on many things, some of which has been very sobering and enlightening, however above all else an increased self awareness of the impact personal strength, engagement and attitude can have on how we face challenges and engage with each other.

I would like to share with you a profound example of how I became more self aware during my time away from the office.

Some of you may have seen the MacMillan posters which state ‘Today is a good day’, this resonated with me clearly during this difficult and challenging time. I quickly learnt that when my day was good I could not afford to waste any of it; grabbing every opportunity to extend the day, enjoy those around me, not sweating the small stuff (did it really matter that my husband had not unloaded the dish washer!), spent time ‘really’ listening and engaging with my daughter, talking to my family and friends and taking time to look around me at what was good, as I knew there was every chance tomorrow would be a bad day. My good days were spent squeezing as much out of the day as I could and building my strength and energy to face what was to come.

At this point you may be asking yourself what this has to do with us? Well a lot! As I drove to the hospital on one particular day in front of me was the MacMillan poster blazing the words ‘Today is a good day’, also on my mind was a major desire to talk to my consultant about when we could discuss a return to work. However as the words ‘Today is a good day’ continued to jump in front of my eyes I saw them in a different context: In undertaking my role I realised it was not good enough to have the odd good day I needed to ensure that I could make as many days as good as possible. I had become very conscious of the impact making the most of my good days had on my family and friends, and how through being at my best on such days what lay ahead, however daunting, was embraced more positively by all of us.

Reflecting on this I knew there have been times when I have not been at my best at work, not engaged as much as I could have been, taken time to understand colleagues concerns, listened more, engaged those around me and been explicit about our future aims and objectives spending most of my time focussing on ‘just getting the job done’. My steerage needed some work and it dawned on me that if I could ‘make every day a good day’ the impact on my colleagues would change for the better, just as my impact on family and friends had changed how they coped with my illness.

Having said this I also wish to highlight the commonality for all of us. I strongly believe irrespective of our level, or roles we all have a leadership role to play so that when we look to our colleagues to support delivery, bring their knowledge and expertise we are all leading through engagement, listening and treating each other as individuals, involving and supporting our colleagues to achieve our shared vision and aims. We may not always agree on everything, indeed we would become unproductive if we did, but our joint commitment to engage in this way and be more self aware of our impact on others will build relationships of unity and support.

I will also not shy away from referencing delivery; ultimately we must deliver consistently, it is what is expected of us and why we are here, however recognising we need to undertake this through increased engagement, clarity of where we are going and what is required and through collaboration and supporting each other.

Leadership reflection: Take a moment to identify how you can adapt your leadership with colleagues within your work area and across the organisation to ensure that your individual, and unique contribution, is having a collective and positive impact that we are all seeking.

Finally I commit to do everything in my power to achieve all that I have shared above . . . if you see me slipping do not be shy in coming forward to let me know.

By Annette Davies-Govett