Guest Blog – Rhona Carmichael, MD Harvey Nash UK North & Ireland
Reach out
Ah, February, my old friend. The start of a brand-new financial year. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and I’m feeling…..good?
2021 was a year like no other. Home working, home schooling, hybrid working, back-to-back relentless TEAMS calls and change all around us. In every geography, demand soared as our clients raced towards digitalization to improve the customer and employee experience. At Harvey Nash, our people rose to the challenge; you re-invented ways of working and delivered record-breaking results that I’m incredibly proud of. Today, our finance team will hopefully have finished adding up the numbers and will share our incredible year end results and I’d like to thank everyone who helped make them happen. But, it was hard at times!
Weirdly, I think I struggled a bit in the Autumn of last year. The vaccine roll-out has been successful in my part of the world, business is going very well and on paper life is good, so I really didn’t expect to not be feeling my usual positive self.
I’m sure I’m not the only one determined to achieve great results again this year, but with some balance to also enjoy that mythical beast “work-life balance” and have some fun again. Good work-life balance is the highest priority for job hunters, outweighing even excellent compensation and benefits, a recent LinkedIn survey shows.
I thought I’d share a few things that have worked for me in re-setting the balance, and I’d love to hear what’s working for you?
• To quote our Group theme this year - Reach out and tell someone if you are struggling. It’s really nothing to feel embarrassed about. It would be a bit strange if none of us had been affected by the chaos and uncertainty caused by a global pandemic? Harvey Nash doesn’t just talk a good game about well-being, they mean it. I confided in my boss (our CEO, Bev) and a few trusted colleagues and got great support and advice when I needed it.
• Do the things you love again. All those lockdowns made me forget the things that I did in “normal” times to find balance. A bit of a weird one, but a few years before Covid I took up “wild swimming” in cold Scottish lochs (lakes), and I literally dipped a toe back in the water at the weekend. I was lucky enough to go skiing in France in January. The smile on my face in my holiday photos says it all! Book a holiday. Book lots of holidays!! Have things to look forward to.
• The old way of working is history and it’s great that Harvey Nash offers so much flexibility, but I’ve realised I’ve really missed seeing people face to face –I’m looking forward to all the kick-offs I’m attending over the next few weeks and simply spending more time in person with my team and clients this year.
• My diary got filled with back-to back TEAMS meetings. Days can whizz by filled with lots of calls, but I was often left wondering what I’d achieved. I’ve started scheduling my priorities again. Do the things that will make the biggest positive difference to our business. I love a list.
• Be proud of what we achieved in some crazy times. We have had OUR BEST YEAR EVER and there are so many positive changes at Harvey Nash. Not every company did so well - we were resilient, innovative and supported each other through the hard times.
• Look forward. I’m so excited about this year. I’ve loved getting to know my colleagues on the Global Leadership Team better and collaborating across different teams and countries. If we keep getting better at introducing and supporting each other, I think this year will be even better than last year but with much less effort!
Have a fabulous 2022 everyone, and reach out if you need help or can help someone else 😊
Rhona