Girl out of Yorkshire

Dear Yorkshire,

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

It’s been two years,

And I have a new job, see you later babes 😀

…as I keep being reminded, you can take the girl out of Yorkshire but something of Yorkshire has now become a part of me.

Yorkshire folk are well known for their tea, fish and chips, flat caps, small dogs and perhaps best for their friendliness and warmth. I can absolutely vouch for all of the above! When I moved here two years ago I felt totally foreign. Although I had always had an affinity for the North I never imagined I would have loved it as much as I have. When I think about how I used to approach situations, this is the thing which has changed the most for me in the last two years. I am still very logical and I still engage mouth before brain, but somewhere in there the compassion I think I always had has become more visible.

This year has been my second on the NHS management training scheme and has been somewhat of a reality check. I hadn’t realised how good I’d had it whilst I was based in the beautiful Dales in a very stable and innovative trust. I spent the first two months working in social enterprise and was surprised when it didn’t tick the boxes I had thought it would. I had imagined that as a third sector organisation it would have similar values as the NHS of authenticity, transparency and purpose I could relate to. It was disappointing when I challenged a project and the response I was met with was ‘yes Alex, but I need the money’. I learnt from this that I love the NHS. Also that the quality I most admire in a leader and aspire to embody is authenticity. As a leader, you can make a bad call but as long as you can be honest about your decision and your response, you’re human. And that’s a quality I look for in a leader; we don’t really need superheroes to achieve amazing things.

I then joined a community trust in the height of massive change.  Before I joined the NHS someone told me ‘the only thing that’s constant in the NHS is change’. This is true, and the way this is managed is everything. I suppose that’s what the grad scheme has all been about. How do you deal with change? It’s coming, it’s needed, it’s inevitable, rock the boat without falling out. And most importantly, look after everyone else sailing with you. Because that’s what leadership is. It’s about collaborating to deliver change together. If you feel like you’re running through treacle, the change won’t stick. As soon as you jump ship old habits will return and what’s the point?

My friends know that I am the overprotective one who is always ready to ‘get all London’ on their loser ex-boyfriends. What I had never realised though, is that as leader and a team manager I am really protective of my colleagues. This is good and bad and the more I understand it the more I am seeing myself let got when I need to. I am also seeing myself as a bit of a cheerleader for the people I work with. I hope this is a good thing, I am slightly wary of becoming a pushy Jewish mother in training! That’s for another blog though…

This afternoon I am venturing back dahn saahf. It’s bittersweet as I leave the beauty of Yorkshire for the smog of London. My identity crisis will no doubt continue, however I am looking forward to understanding what people are talking about when they refer to times and meals of the day – these have seriously thrown me! – Eee Bai Gum!

Yorkshire, it’s been a pleasure. With love always,

Alex

A moment of thought

It was a blustery winter’s evening; a far cry from a romantic Dickensian scene. I was frustrated and impatient, wedged between post match football fans congregating outside a closed train station at the start of my journey back to Leeds.

I asked the helpful man behind the bullet proof screen 'what are the chances of me catching this train?' He shook his head, clenched his jaw and made that face you make when someone tells you about the time the trapped their finger in a door. 'How about the one after that?' I asked. 'And the one after that?' The face did not change.

A few minutes later, having reluctantly rejoined the crowd, the man beckoned me back over to the window. He looked like he was up to no good. He awkwardly drew the blind down and whispered covert instructions into the microphone. I listened with my ear to the speaker and followed accordingly. For no reason other than 'I just didn't want you to get stuck in the middle of nowhere on your own' the man had allowed myself and another solo female passenger to sneak through the train station offices, through a labyrinth of corridors and onto the platform. Meanwhile the mob outside were none the wiser.

As well as putting a smile on my face for no less than a week this got me thinking. It's the random acts of baseless kindness that get us through the year. Particularly during the post Christmas winter, when fun seems to hibernate and the sun has presumably taken his hat to the drycleaners.

Random acts, though tiny and sometimes insignificant, require us to be a little more thoughtful for an extra moment. Thoughtfulness is all it takes. So why aren't we all doing it? Why isn't it the norm? And what happens when we forget to be thoughtful?

In the NHS we expect our frontline staff to be thoughtful at all times. When things go wrong, it's usually because of lack of thought rather than destructive intentions. So what can we do to tip the balance in our favour and avoid the dreaded mediocrity?

Well, I have a plan and I would like you to join me. On the first Friday of every month commit a random act of baseless kindness. Buy a stranger a cup of coffee or share a happy thought with a colleague. Give someone a compliment. Make a pledge for NHS change day. Be thoughtful.