The "Plan"
You may want to know more about what exactly we’re doing. That’s great, because we have a plan! And it’s a plan shaped by the people who are already here.
So, this plan does come with a caveat on co-designing (see ‘About this plan’, near the end).
This year, our paid membership is focused on:
Getting clear on who you are - Getting to know yourself really well.
Mostly who you are at work…but we’ll learn about ourselves outside of that too.
Because you can’t work your own way if you don’t know how work fits into your broader sense of who you are. Which brings me to the Work Your Own Way alignment model:
Work Your Own Way’s Alignment Model (Credit: You Can Hub / Lou Shackleton) We’re exploring the key strands from this alignment model.
Who you are.
What you do.
And what difference you want to make.
This is something we’ll come back to time and again over the year. You can see more about the alignment model in the section on what work is on the about page.
In the paid membership, we’re doing this through our Book Club in our community calls, and through prompts and activities I set.
Some of these are based on the book, and others are complementary to the activities in the book - drawing on my toolkit from all the one to one work I’ve done over the years.
Getting clear on what your work is.
Spend some time looking at your current job description, and updating it based on what you actually do. This is such a useful asset for conversations with your team and for working out what’s next for you.
Telling more accurate, inspiring stories about yourself.
By following the exercises in the Book Club in Q1 and Q2, we’re playing with different stories we can use to answer the question, “What do you do?”
We’re writing or ‘scripting’ one or more stories about ourselves. And practicing saying them out loud (or putting them into practice in some written content such as your about page or LinkedIn bio).
Showing up online: in your CV, portfolio, and/or website.
In Q3 and Q4, we’re turning what we’re learning about ourselves into visible, tangible ‘objects’.
Objects are helpful place-markers, way-finding tools, and signs to show other people. They help other people to know what kinds of opportunities to bring to us, what kind of problems we can solve, and what to say about us when we’re not in the room.
These objects include:Your website.
Your portfolio.
Your CV.
Your LinkedIn profile bio (or any other social media bios).
Community Calls
Connecting with each other.
One of the main things we discovered in the very first listening exercise is just how lonely it can feel working away on your personal and professional development (and, perhaps, your ‘career’) on your own.
So a big part of community calls is talking to and supporting each other. Getting to know other people whilst getting to know yourself better. We’re doing this throughout the whole year.You can bring your progress on activities and we work through some activities together too. Show and share, feedback to others, get inspired!
Community call schedule
Call dates for this year are all on Fridays.
January 21st 2025February 14th 2025March 28th 2025(No call in April)
May 23rd 2025June 13th 2025June 27th 2025July 18th 2025August 29th 2025
September 26th 2025
October 24th 2025
November 28th 2025
December 12th 2025
Calls are from 10am to 11.30am (UK time*) via Zoom. All paying subscribers get invites to the email address they subscribe with. If you think you should be getting an invite, and you don’t see it, send me a reply to any of the emails from me. Thank you!
A note on time zones. UK time means that we switch time zones - we have daylight savings time for part of the Spring, Summer, and part of the Autumn. In the winter we are in GMT, and the rest of the time we are in GMT+1. You can check which timezone we are in at any time by asking your search engine for ‘what is the time in London UK right now.’ And when you get your invite to the call, the calendar programme will show up in your calendar at the correct time. If you think there’s an issue, respond by emailing the organiser of the calendar invite - that will come straight to me.
About this plan.
This plan has come from conversations and listening exercises with prospective and current members of Work Your Own Way.
So this plan comes with a caveat:
Whilst planning is helpful so we all know what we’re doing and when, I’m also using co-design here, so things may shift in response to what members need. We have a plan. And we adapt it when new things come to light.
Join us.
Ready to join us? Come on in. We’d love to have you.