What counts as work?
Job titles aside, I’m a professional dot-connector. I can consume large amounts of information and I find the trends, tie ideas together, and make sense of it.
Read on to see the dots between my work life as a speaker / facilitator and my personal life as a parent.
The work part:
In 2021, I had the privilege of working with a large team that included the Early Childhood Educators(ECE’s) and team members from a variety of departments throughout a University. Knowing that much professional development is geared towards leaders and executives, I pitched a plan where we focus on the experience of front-line team members.
I developed a training model involving small cohorts of people from different teams and departments, with the purpose of looking at how our work, our roles, and our team dynamics changed during the peak of Covid, and how we get to reconsider what work looks and feels like. Once a week over six weeks I guided them through a series of prompts and activities, all while agreeing that to “go back to how things were” was not an option. We explicitly shared all the things that sucked about our Covid experiences, the ongoing changes, and the uncertainty. We looked critically at how we actually spend our time, how we want to spend our time, what we are best at, considering: are we actually having the impact we want, based on how we behave? Everyone had an opportunity to reassess what they do, how they do it, and the impact they can have.
We focused a lot on redefining “what counts as work?”.
Reading a book or listening to a podcast that helps you connect with your clients counts as work.
Having a conversation and making decisions over coffee instead of by email counts as work.
Tidying your space and making it a workable environment that you feel good in counts as work.
Opening up the definition of what counts as work was a game changer for some of these team members and for me and my own work. Every so often, I fall back into old habits - thinking that the only thing that counts is sending emails, booking appointments, scheduling calls, and sending proposals. Naturally, I’m more miserable when this happens.
In my office, on my amazing sofa, reflecting on what work matters most to me. Photo Credit: Amanda Gallant Photography
The life part:
Every morning, my husband Robin and/or I take an almost-two-year-old Dottie to her childcare centre. We go in the main door and within three steps, on the right hand side - an always-open office door. Every morning, we make a pit stop and chat with Mackenzie, the Curriculum Coordinator, and any other ECE’s in the office.
Mackenzie says good morning to Dottie, greets Cedric (her giraffe) and Toast (a stuffy shaped like a piece of toast), and chats with us about the morning, Dottie’s outfit, asks questions about her morning and shares what books / activities / tiny human friends are waiting for her in the room.
Our magical family, featuring Toast. (Cedric not pictured) Photo credit: Fiddle Leaf Photography.
NOW: With nearly 50 children in the space, and knowing what I know about toddlers and their toddling (sample size = 1), that’s a LOT of stops at Mackenzie’s door. Lots of dawdling, toddling, checking in, fashion commentary, and engagement with parents and littles.
For the record, she does not sigh, avoid eye contact, or give any signals of “I’m too busy, I don’t have time for this” or “get outta here” In fact, she looks up, visibly takes her hands off the keyboard and turns her body towards you. Sounds simple, but how often do we actually give someone our full attention when interrupted? As the recipient, it feels so GOOD.
One tough / full / busy / stressed morning after drop-off, I stopped at her office (again!) to chat.
Our conversation went like this:
AW (miserable and stressed): I imagine that all the people who stop and talk to you is a big interruption in your work day. (The irony of stopping at her office to share this ideas is not lost on me)
Mackenzie: Amanda, this is the work.
AW (wheels turning): Well, I guess so. You’d close your door or sit somewhere else if you needed no interruptions.
Mackenzie: The work is talking to families and learning about their lives. It’s about engaging with children. If I don’t do this, I don’t have any emails to send or projects to coordinate or teams to lead and support. You taught me this, that I can reconsider “what counts as work” and it means that these “interruptions” are what matters.
This is the work.
HELLO A-HA MOMENT. MY OWN WORDS SAID RIGHT BACK AT ME!
Connecting the Dots
There was my slap-in-the-face reminder that we can re-think what counts as work. We are quick to assume that all our work is about grinding, producing, and being able to have a traditional measure of what we’ve done in a day/week/month. The impact of what we do
If work is just aspiring to inbox-zero and non-stop production, is that the work I want to do?
Is it really what I’m best at? Does it let me have the impact I want?
I want to answer the question “how was your day?” with stories about people, sharing who I sat across from while we each worked on our own things, in what doorway a decision was made that saved us five emails, or a celebrating a milestone or win. I want to take the extra 60 seconds and tell someone I’m happy to see them and that they’ve been on my mind and to watch a video of my mentor share her big ideas, and send her one back with more enthusiasm than you can imagine. I want to write the card that tells a former client I’m thinking about them.
I still send emails. I have to create proposals and send invoices. I do “discovery calls” and spend time in my Zoom room. I weave together keynotes and slide decks and update the copy on my website. I make video content, and I send notes and feedback to my clients. Part of my work is to develop thoughtful team meeting agendas and activities and I committed to publishing 40 things on the internet this year, so that means lots of writing, editing, formatting, and publishing.
AND: My emails have gotten shorter. Sometimes I opt for a phone call instead (even as a card-carrying millennial I make phone calls!). My proposals went from 10 customized pages to 4, with only a handful of custom elements. My keynotes and slide decks are getting tighter each time, and if my website copy sits for another day, I’m okay with that. My notes aren’t nicely transcribed and my agendas aren’t fancy. They are handwritten PDFs from my iPad. And formatting what I write into the most visually appealing fonts and little boxes and call outs sounds REALLY nice – but it takes up time that I’d rather spend on other things – that also count as work.
The things I love most (Speaking! Writing! Learning! Connecting with others!) often have the highest impact.
They are no longer an “if I have time” bonus.
They are what make up the work.
Speaking, writing, learning, and connecting with others is the work.
What a gift it is to think critically about our work and how we spend our time. And what a gift to know that when the thoughts creep in that we shouldn’t have had that coffee meeting or lingered at door, we can echo the beautiful reminder: This is the work.
If you or your team need to re-think what counts as work and what impact you want to have, put me in (you could even phone me!). I live, sleep, and breathe helping ambitious entrepreneurs and leaders do great things.