How does your usual day look like?

The shift to a work from home culture has completely transformed my daily routine.

I wake up and spend the first few minutes of my day snuggling with my puppy, grounding myself in gratitude and peace. The first hour of my day is spent drinking coffee, connecting with my family before we all go our separate ways for the day.

I get to my desk by 8:30am and my mornings are typically spent in meetings. These range from external events with other OKR thought leaders, internal coaching sessions, stakeholder discussions, or team planning meetings.

My midday break consists of lunch in my kitchen and a 20-minute power nap to rest my eyes and combat screen fatigue. When the weather’s nice and I am able, I squeeze in a walk with my dog sometime during the day.

I’ve learned to be more intentional about protecting focused blocks of time for deep thinking and content creation (creating PowerPoint decks, building training curriculum, drafting communications, for example) so I typically block chunks of times in the afternoons, often on Thursdays and Fridays when my meeting load is lighter.

I prioritize a mix of family, friend, and personal time in the evenings and I make a conscious effort not to overcommit. As I’ve gotten older, I have leaned in more to the value of rest and adequate sleep so I’m typically in bed before 10pm.

I prioritize fresh air and sunshine on the weekends as a good contrast to hours spent staring at a screen throughout the week. I absolutely must balance work, play, and rest to be at my best.

What are the things you like the most about your job?

I’ve been given the professional freedom to develop a point of view on how I can solve one of the most pressing challenges of our business and the sponsorship to shift from vision to practice.

What are some of the skills you utilise the most in your day-to-day?

Problem solving, listening, coaching, coalition building, teaching, communicating.

What was one of your happiest days in your career and why?

I can recall a particular coaching session where the participants said “this has felt like much-needed business therapy!” and it made my heart sing.

My ultimate goal is to enable light bulb moments that spark growth and yield effectiveness for others, personally and professionally.

What was the toughest career decision you ever made?

I entered the workforce as a newly divorced mother of four. I wanted to go into school teaching, but I knew a teacher’s salary wouldn’t give me and my children the life I wanted, so I entered high tech as a more lucrative industry in my local job market.

What is something you had to learn to become better at your job?

How to navigate difficult people and it is STILL a challenge for me.

How did you get to become an OKR leader?

I pitched my vision to everyone who would listen. I demonstrated success and created a grassroots movement that is taking hold in a major enterprise.

What's your number one productivity hack / when or how are you most effective?

I am most effective with a physical whiteboard, a stack of post-it notes and a handful of markers. I find if I will allow myself to get away from a keyboard occasionally my creative juices flow.