Hello there! I'm brand new to Facilitator Club and of course felt compelled to diligently follow the suggested activities (who doesn't love activities right?!) and write a little introduction to myself and how I have come to be in this wonderful place with all of you wonderful people.
Some career/work-related facts and stats:
- I have worked for 1 company my whole career (17 years and counting!)
- I have held 5 different 'job titles' in that time but in reality have probably done 10+ roles
- Most of my roles have been IT-related, from the helpdesk, through software development and PM'ing to Head of Data and Analytics and all in the UK arm of the company
- My current role is where I pivoted slightly from IT and moved into digital transformation across the global supply management function
Some me-related facts and stats:
- I am super creative and have an inordinately long list of hobbies
- I can't get enough of learning about new things, and I LOVE hearing other people talk about the things they know and explain them to me with passion. Like their love for their subject is like a song for me.
- I am a mother of 2, age 5 and under which makes work-life balance... interesting but has lead me to have a strong word with myself and make sure that the work I do (and need to do for myself) is something I really love and that really speaks to my values of connection, making a difference to people, making them feel valued and moving them forward.
- I work from home (with all its pros and cons) which is near Manchester, UK
What brings me to this wonderful place?
When I returned back from maternity leave to my current role and didn't settle back into the daily grind I knew it was time to seriously rethink about what my values, passions and strengths were and start on a proper journey towards them - and although I have never had any official job title of facilitator, or coach, or workshopper or anything like that the areas that I always find myself drawn to and the experiences I remember most fondly generally link back to the beginning of projects, or starting committees, or leading groups on a short-term project (basically, new shiny things at the beginning of their life).
I think I have always known really that I love running workshops and I get a huge boost out of feeling that people get to the answers they are looking for or feel like they have made progress on their journey as a result of what I have facilitated, but I always just assumed that was just a me thing and there wasn't a big demand for that out there - despite being a participant in MANY a car crash workshop where I have had to sit on my hands to not take over (and some where I couldn't help myself and just pulled out my multi-coloured pens and post-its and let loose 😂 - you lot have all done that right?!).
What is missing for me now - honestly, it's probably confidence to get out there are just do what I love, and to gain that confidence I think it's probably about arming myself with a few tried and true techniques (and reinforcing the ones I have instinctively used in the past that time has dulled somewhat) and trying stuff out in a safe space.
If you got to the bottom of my intro-ramblings, thanks for hearing me out and from everything I have read so far in the community I am really looking forward to learning from and growing with you all!