Field Notes on a career

When I speak with graduates or those beginning their careers, I almost always share this specific piece of information I wish I had been told. You are going to have bad days on the job.

The thing is, when you begin your career, you don’t know what you don’t know. In my experience, people tend toward one of two extremes: overconfidence or no confidence. But whichever end of the scale you are at, you are going to mess up at some point. Probably more than once if you are human.

That first role can feel very significant. It’s the launch pad for what comes next, and when you really care about a job - even if it isn’t your dream one - the bad days start to feel much worse. It’s partly the type of work; manual work and cognitive work are very different. If I mucked up an order when I worked in the deli, it was resolved within 20 minutes and probably cost less than £30. If I missed a project milestone, it put everything and everyone else behind schedule and cost hundreds of pounds.

When I started in Aberdeen, I was so anxious to impress my new bosses, especially since on paper, I wasn’t qualified for the role. That really bothered me then, even if I acted blasé about it. Fortunately, I panic-researched anything I could on the specialist area that I was being employed for before I left - and thankfully realised I already knew a lot. So I wrote it all down in a notebook. I’m old school like that, fountain pen and all.

However, what started out as a repository for technical information quickly became my class transcript from the School of Hard Knocks. KTP projects and Associate roles are pretty unique (that’s what I was doing in Scotland). They are multi-organisational innovation projects that blend academic research and business transformation. When the partners all get along and are well aligned, these projects can be truly transformative for both the business and the field of research.  

Safe to say that my partnership did not get along harmoniously and was not well aligned.

I was a graduate trying to manage a multi-organisational project, with 7 senior stakeholders, 2 significantly different organisational cultures and ‘ways of doing’, on a fixed timeline and work programme, all while trying to adjust to working in an office and applying my design skills. I found it incredibly stressful, and there were a lot of ‘bad days’.

However, I had something to help me. With my design training, I was well versed in reflective practice. So when I had these ‘bad days’, I’d reflect on them. What happened, why did it happen, what could I change next time so I could have a different outcome? Eventually, I would summarise each reflection as a rule of thumb.

I’ve kept this practice up throughout my career. I now have 24 ‘rules’ and counting. In this blog series, I’ll share them with you.

If you have any of your own ‘rules’ that you’d like to share or contribute, get in touch and let’s have a chat.