By Harshil Shah, LGcomms Future Leader, Waltham Forest Council
When you picture journalling, what do you think of? A modern self-care practice that you may have heard about in a therapy session, with promises to drastically change your life? Or someone writing about their deepest, darkest secrets and locking it away into a nice-looking notebook?
I personally love journalling and try and do it often. So when we were told to reflect and journal at various points during our second Future Leader’s session (a session on leadership development with Professor Paul Willis), it came as a pleasant surprise. I had never done an exercise like this in a work-related workshop before.
I was looking forward to Paul’s session on leadership development, after hearing good things from past Future Leaders and the programme coordinators. Paul is unique in that he’s a comms professional, an academic, and a workshop facilitator all wrapped into one.
The first session with Paul took place in the Carriage Works Theatre in Leeds, with the inside of the building providing a gorgeous view of the Leeds Council offices. We then ended the day with a lovely group dinner, which provided a great opportunity to bond further.
The following two sessions with Paul were held virtually, and we were able to stay just as engaged. Some of the topics in the sessions ranged from reflecting on what type of leaders we thought we were, to characteristics of a good communications team, and resilience in the workplace.
I’m very grateful to be on the programme with such a fantastic bunch of comms professionals from across the UK. A highlight of the journey so far has been how vulnerable everyone’s been with each other during our sessions.
Journalling truly gives you an opportunity to reflect on how things are going. As comms professionals, we’re busy and often thrive in the chaotic and fast-paced nature of our roles. It therefore feels counterintuitive to just stop and pause, even for a moment. But being in Paul’s session reminded me of the value of the practice not only in my personal life, but my professional one as well. Journalling can provide a space to work through emotions in the workplace and process challenging situations. This can then shape and mould you into the type of leader you want to be.
Reflection and journalling can also look different, there’s no set way to do it. It could be a voice note, a written paragraph, a series of words and bullet points or even some drawings and doodles. Try taking some time out of your week, even just five to ten minutes (which we can all spare!). Give yourself a prompt, or just write about your day, your week, or a specific problem you’re having. And if you don’t think you are a leader, shirk that self-doubt away. Leadership takes many different forms, and your ability to influence people in the workplace can be valuable.
So why not give it a go? It could transform the type of leader you are in the workplace.