Monday today - quite quiet for me. Not too many meetings - no journeys to make. Very nice. Aaaaahhh - a bit of peace....
Not for long...
Tomorrow and Wednesday are my 'In conversation with Emma' Days.
What on earth are they you might be asking?
Well - I think they are a little stroke of genius. Remembering right back to when my company was really small - just a handful of people - and all the chats we had - and the fact that so many ideas came from the casual conversations and simply bumping into each other over a coffee - how do you still get that stuff when the company grows to more than 2500 people?
You create 'in conversation' days. Days in which 150 people are invited to my house for the day ! Everyone arrives around 10.00am - we kick off around 11.00am with me banging on for a bit about where i am coming from - what i stand for etc. We have some lunch and then people ask me anything they want about anything! If people are too scared to ask me stuff - they can ask someone else or write it down. It is great - the ideas that flow - the problems we attempt to solve - the varying opinions - the characters that emerge and the people that meet who never would in an ordinary day - it all adds to feeling like a small business again.
On top of these days I do 'tea with emma' - a day when 15 people are chosen randomly to spend the day at my house. We really put the world to rights on those days!
Strange how the biggest problem that people always mention is that old bug bear communication - I hear - 'I did not know, no one told me, they tell you nothing, I never get the chance to meet anyone.' The poor people who say this have a tough time - when I ask them if they have read the company newsletters, the blogs, the intranet, attended all the meetings - or even bothered to meet someone new in the meeting they are actually attending at that moment - they start to realise that communications is two ways - you actually have to do something to communicate. Sad but true - I think there are people who are naturally nosey - and will always find stuff out - and then there are people who are not interested in stuff - but will have a moan and blame someone else. I am almost resigned to this - human nature. If anyone knows how to overcome this bit of human nature - let me know.
So - I will keep going - horse to water and all that - hoping that people choose to take a drink. I know that the more people I bump into - and listen to, the more I read, the more I enquire, the more i challenge, the more I just share my thoughts, the better things will be. So thanks and keep in touch.
Emma