How do you and your business cope out of your comfort zone?
It’s been an interesting start to 2020 and the year continues to be unique due to world events affecting us all.
At Aide de MD we adapt and stretch ourselves through various self-imposed challenges to make sure we are “on our game”. I commenced the AICD Company Directors course in October 2019 with a week residential in Byron Bay. I always said if I was going to do it, I was going to do it in a great environment where I could immerse myself in study.
It was excellent, I loved it. I chose to study to broaden my knowledge, test my skills and enhance my technical abilities to benefit my clients. Additionally, I met a fabulous and clever group of people and increased my own self-awareness. That’s a whole other blog.
Briefly, apart from learning the content of Governance, Finance, Strategy & Risk and Legal, I gained so much more. They say that board work requires high self-awareness as you’re working with a group of people who are there to serve the organisation, not individuals. It requires high EQ and judgement, so it was a shock to recognise my own weakness in planning and executing on some sections of the course. I was over-confident in presuming that my “learning ability” was the same as it was when I last wrote papers and did exams over 20 years ago.
My naiveté in assuming my skills in planning are as good for myself as they are for others was surprising. After a bit of a shake up and some strong self-talk, I managed to find an extra 10 – 15 hours per week to study and completed the assignment, exam and multiple-choice quiz. I successfully graduated at the end of January. Recognising the role for external accountability reinforced my belief in Aide de MD and what we do.
Since September, Australia has suffered bushfires and drought, and I have been working with the Manly Business Chamber to provide thank you packages to the RFS volunteers. I’ve also done a quick trip down south with clothes and returned with a car full of produce which I hope to do again soon. We also supported Drought Angels throughout Christmas.
Over the last month I’ve been to the UK on holiday and Singapore for work, just managing to scrape back into the country before overseas travel became more difficult due to COVID-19. I hope the panic dissipates quickly and the concerns about supplies settles. Perspective is important.
Overall, the recognition of the importance of managing the unexpected and risk mitigation where possible, as well as having a sufficiently agile business to allow for the unexpected are critical. If you would like to discuss how to implement strategies to improve your business management, please call me. I’m keen to share.