HOW TO SET THE TONE FOR A PRODUCTIVE DAY/ WEEK/ MONTH
WE HAVE BEEN REFLECTING ON HOW AND WHY WE INTENTIONALLY SET THE TONE FOR A PRODUCTIVE DAY/WEEK/MONTH . DIVING INTO WHAT ENABLES US TO DELIVER POSITIVE IMPACTS AND PLAYFUL SPACES FOR PEOPLE, THE PLACES THEY LOVE AND THIS BEAUTIFUL PLANET WE CALL HOME. OUR APPROACH TO SHAPING THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT FOCUSSES ON THE CHANGE MAKERS BEHIND THE STRATEGY, POLICY AND PROJECTS THAT DELIVER TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE, CREATING MAGNETIC SPACES WHERE MEMORIES ARE MADE. PLACES THE TEAM CAN FEEL PROUD OF THE LEGACY WE LEAVE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.
Do you make time to set the tone of the day, week, month or year to ensure your team and the communities you help shape understand the vision, priority projects, timelines and outcomes you are set to deliver for the year/s ahead?
Today I’ll be sharing a little of how I do this here at Urbankind and how I’m constantly learning how to do this better as I transition through the seasons of life and business. Over time my approach has changed as I’ve learnt new strategies and refined my approach. It always starts with me though. Getting myself right so I can lead with intention, compassion and confidence.
Do you do this too? Or do you not even think about it? If you do, is it with conscious intention? Do you do it for yourself? Your team? Your business? I’d love to hear what helps you do ALL that you do every day/week, year after year. Sharing tips around what works for each of us, helps short cut the pathway to being more productive and implementing better habits to deliver the change most planners want to make in this world.
Making plans is what we love to do! I’m always curious to hear if other people make time to ensure they are on track with their projects, growing their team and living a life they love along the way (some seasons of life this is easier). Starting a business with a newborn on my lap I couldn’t have imagined that 3 years later I’d be able to do Pilates 3-4 times a week, sit and watch the sunrise and start the day mindfully and connect with our community of changemakers all over the world on the daily learning how to hone our craft and stay inspired that the work we do is meaningful and leaving a legacy we can be proud of for decades to come.
Starting Urbankind gave me the opportunity to live and work the way I want to. Creating the flexibility, I craved and working on bringing a new approach to the market shaping the urban environment to ensure that people can live happy, healthy and more playful lives and deliver positive impacts for all people, the places they love and this beautiful planet we are lucky to call home.
I’ve always led my teams with a personal focus rather than a task focus as I know that happy people do better work and if we create the right environment for each person to thrive, the communities we help shape benefit from them doing their best work. It was my job to ensure the team work program was delivered on time and to a high standard which it always was because my team felt connected to the vision to be changing the world one project at a time and we fostered a team culture of celebrating our wins together and helping each other out when we needed it (because life happens to all of us). I took the time to make sure they were on the right projects for their skill sets, strengths and interest, provided a career pathway right for them and they always knew the priorities for the week/month and communicated early to me if they needed to be negotiated or needed extra support.
Now I do this for myself when planning for the year, month, week and day to day. I give myself the care and attention I was always proud to offer my team members and what set me apart from other leaders in a local government context. I found this had my team firing on all cylinders – we delivered outstanding projects, we worked hard and had fun along the way. We appreciated each other and made time to celebrate the wins along the way.
Over the past 12 months my incredible business mentors at the Owners Collective, Pru Chapman and Krista Jane have helped me realise you can do business your way, you can be a great mum, live where you love and still do the work you love from where ever you are and thanks to Covid and increased understanding of remote working and virtual collaboration our clients know this too. You can have and do it all but not all at once. It’s a delicate balance between getting it done, having the right team and support in place and making time for rest and continually bringing some intention to the day, week and month to ensure that at the end of the quarter/year the progress was strategically aligned and reaching the goals you set. Now this sings straight into my planner heart and our signature approach here at Urbankind - collaboratively set the plan, identify the resources required, communicate it and cheer on the people implementing it (even if for now it’s you!) then review, refine and repeat.
Do you give yourself permission to stop and have these moments to check you are putting your energy in the right place? Aligned with the life you want, the impact your business and projects can have and check if you are feeling happy and weaving some fun into the beautiful chaos that is your life and work? My mentor, Pru Chapman is always giving me permission slips so here I am offering you one, permission to do what you need to today to take a pause and check on if you are setting the tone for a productive day/week/year.
You might wonder what this has to do with Urban Planning but after nearly 17 years of leading multi-disciplinary teams and city shaping projects I’ve learnt a thing or two about how to get the results you need and it’s not working yourself or your team to the bone (hello burnout!). I’ve led high performing teams and still have team members reach out and say they miss the way I led the team and how it’s shaped the way they now lead their teams as they’ve progressed to leadership roles themselves. My heart swells with pride at their success and growth. Always learning and checking in on how you are tracking and what you need/want/can achieve really helps me set the tone for the day/week/seasons/year.
I’d love to hear if you do this too and what helps you, so don’t be shy say hello on e-mail hello@urbankind.studio or get old school and give me a call.
Over the next little while, we will be sharing more about what we do, why we do what we do and sharing some project highlights so sign up to our Urbankind community newsletter where we will be sharing useful insights, project inspiration and celebrating people doing amazing things all around the world to deliver positive impacts in the built environment sector.
If you are interested in hearing more about what we offer here at Urbankind, take a look over the website and you’ll get a flavour of our skills, passions and expertise and then if it feels like what you’re looking for, Book a Call to chat to see how we can help you and your team with your projects, strategy, policy now or into the future. Or we can e-mail you some information specific to your needs so send us an e-mail hello@urbankind.studio and we can put together a personalised info pack for you and your team.
We love to help and would love to help your team deliver more positive impacts and playful spaces for people, places and the planet through the projects you do and help you leave a legacy you can be proud of for decades to come.
We are also growing our list of preferred partners/collaborators so if you are a consultant with complementary skills keen to join us changing the world one space at a time. Get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. We offer a range of ways to partner with us.
Claire Baker, Founder & Director at Urbankind
