Reflection Archives - Jo Alcock Consulting
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Reflection

12 Apr

Posted at 17:04h in Events, Reflection by
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I’m currently on my way back from the UKSG Conference 2017 and am busy reflecting on what a great few days I’ve had. The tiredness has hit me harder this time (I don’t know if it’s because I'm getting older, the fact I’m not sleeping well at the moment, or because I was presenting a workshop on a different topic to normal), but despite the exhaustion it’s been brilliant. I’ve vlogged reflections during the three days, and have posted these to my YouTube channel and embedded them at the end of this post, but I wanted to share a few key...

01 Feb

Posted at 15:47h in Reflection by
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I've been self-employed for six months now. In some respects it seems like only yesterday that I was writing my blog post about my first day as a freelancer, and in some respects it seems like a lifetime ago. So what have I been up to in the last six months? Here are some of the things I've been working on: leadership development programmes facilitating action learning sets providing coaching developing and delivering workshops (including the one on statistics; blog post about that to come with some Very Important research findings) analysing usage data evaluating training researching user needs planning...

31 Dec

Posted at 12:15h in Reflection, Uncategorized by
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2016 has received a lot of flak for being a generally crappy year. On paper though, my 2016 has been a pretty good year. We sold our house after a stressful and drawn out process - hoorah! We settled into a new area in a house we love closer to family and friends. I've had some great days and evenings exploring places, discovering new restaurants, and doing fun activities. I came to the realisation that I wanted to freelance so I left my job and I've had a successful first few months as a freelancer. I've strengthened existing friendships and...

27 Sep

Posted at 15:36h in Fellowship, Reading, Reflection, Uncategorized by
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I recently read a book about portfolio careers (I’m coming to the realisation that this seems to be what suits me and what I’d like to do with my freelancing). One of the things the book talks about is the importance of knowing our ‘motivated skills’ which the authors explain as things we're good at, enjoy and are proud of. I’ve done the StrengthsFinder before, but I liked the idea of the exercise in the book to help identify our motivated skills so I’ve been working on this as part of my freelance planning. One of the things I found incredibly...

23 Aug

Posted at 18:08h in Fellowship, Reflection, Uncategorized by
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Given all the personal changes that have been happening in the last few months (selling our home, finding one to rent, relocating, handing in my notice, starting work as a freelancer) it's fair to say my CILIP Fellowship progress has stalled. I had a statement drafted, but obviously this was on the basis of me working in my previous role so much of it is now out-of-date. I'm still keen to work towards Fellowship though, and have arranged to meet with my mentor tomorrow. Being the deadline driven person that I am, I therefore spent today reviewing where I'm at. I...

01 Aug

Posted at 13:53h in Reflection, Uncategorized by
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It's August 1st 2016 and it's a very exciting day. Today marks my first day of self-employment. It's been almost 6 years since I've been in a traditional librarian post, but I've been employed by at least one library every day since August 2005 so today is a big change for me. I blogged last time I changed jobs how strange it was to not have a library. Today I have no library, no employer, no manager, no colleagues, no office (though I do have my home office which is what I've been using for months anyway!). I have no organisation employing...

23 Jun

Posted at 18:56h in Reflection, Uncategorized by
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Nine years ago today, I created Joeyanne Libraryanne, a corner of the web for me to reflect on all the things I learn and share things I'm passionate about. Over that time I've changed job roles, changed organisations, been fortunate to have had a whole load of incredible experiences, learned many new skills, and developed new passions. As I reflect on those things, it seems pertinent to use this opportunity and this space to share my next challenge.  At the end of July, I'm going to be leaving my current role to become a freelancer. This isn't something I've had in...

18 Apr

Posted at 15:00h in Events, Reflection, Uncategorized by
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Last week I attended the 39th UKSG Conference and Exhibition, held in Bournemouth. For those who don't know, UKSG is an organisation that brings together all stakeholders involved in provided resources to users; it was initially the UK Serials Group but has since expanded to incorporate all types of resources (largely electronic). The conferences include both librarians and publishers, as well as others such as consultants and researchers, and it's one of the most mixed conferences I've attended in terms of representation from publishers and suppliers as well as librarians. It also has a number of international attendees. I have...

21 Mar

Posted at 13:00h in Leadership, Reflection, Uncategorized by
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My authentic leadership journey A little over a year ago, as part of my Clore Leadership Short Course, I had the luxury of spending a little over 24 hours reflecting on myself, my strengths, and how to lead authentically. It was tough but transformational. We'd been set some homework to complete in our rooms the night before the workshop, and I suddenly regressed back to a 15 year old version of myself panicking about making it as perfect as I could. After about 4hrs of thinking, planning, and drawing, I came up with my lifeline. [caption id="attachment_2772" align="aligncenter" width="500"] My lifeline[/caption] The next...

02 Mar

Posted at 09:00h in Public speaking, Reflection, Uncategorized by
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Last week I attended a UKSG workshop called 'Make Yourself Heard' which was for anyone wanting to improve their public speaking skills. Public speaking is something I do quite a lot of in my day job, and although I enjoy it and I'm generally a lot more comfortable with it than I used to be, I can still get very nervous. I'd hoped the workshop might give me some tips on how to better prepare and how to manage my nerves. [caption width="401" align="aligncenter"] Speaking at CILIP Conference 2015 (I was unusually nervous at this one)[/caption] Within the first few minutes I...