This time last year I moved from sitting in our open plan office to my own private office at Berkeley PR towers. I did this because I routinely work on sensitive documents and have confidential meetings and genuinely thought this made sense.
Bad decision. One that I regretted quickly and resolved.
I now sit with my team. I have gone from having an office to being the only person in the building who doesn’t have a permanent desk. Instead, I hot-desk and move about. I listen. I advise. I laugh. I talk. I solve. I interrupt. I help. I join the banter but most importantly, I understand.
I know what the team are up-to and understand the issues they face before they become a major issue. This has made me more approachable as most of the team will have shared a laugh or a concern with me at some stage and all know that I will roll up my sleeves to make things right if I can.
I quickly learnt that you win far more respect from understanding and resolving situations that arise within the team before being told about them, than you ever do waiting for a team leader to come and knock on your door.
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