As a consultant, I work on projects that are limited in length by the client’s needs and budget. They can take between two weeks and three years to do and some are more likely than others to engage more than my professional involvement. I still keep an eye on all things regulation following work for the Better Regulation Delivery Office for example, obsess about the Meres and Mosses of the Marches and can bore you about Grade Point Average at the drop of a hat.
Post Project Lassitude (PPL to sound really trendy perhaps – well that is what consultants do) is an interesting phenomenon and one that has just hit me. I have just finished an intense piece of work related to the management of Higher Education, which sounds (and is) a dry subject. There are some interesting facets however, not least as I was taking an international perspective, and I got to talk to and to correspond with some really interesting people. But now the report is done (apart from the final tweaks for publication), the invoices sent and the payments received, and so I can turn off my Google Alert and move on to the next thing.
And therein lies the problem. There is money in the bank which should last for a while, the sun shines occasionally, I can practically hear the grass and flowers growing in the garden and so the imperative to find the next project does not feel so urgent. For the self-employed and home based worker, motivation in these instances can be really challenging, and this is where getting out, either in the flesh or electronically, and interacting with colleagues, networking contacts, old clients and potential clients is important. In this way, you can build up areas of interest, try to find and get the projects you actually want (rather than the ones that are there) and also update your contacts and your skills.
I had a session on Skype with Sue Fry and Gill Hutchinson this week, and came away from the session feeling really energised. I wrote a cheeky work-seeking e-mail that I would normally put off or avoid. I am writing this blog. I have some materials identified to help me to develop a new area of skill that will be of interest to a number of clients and potential clients (watch this space). I have reminded a client about some work and have some follow up to do on that. I even did some work on a non-fee paying project that had been sitting waiting for me for about six months.
So my learning is that when an intense project is over – yes, take time to mourn or celebrate the project (depending on how I felt about it), but take no more than a week out. Then I need to get talking to like minded people about what comes next. Because the next project could be even better, more interesting and more fulfilling than the last.
Jane Holland
