Kate Fellows
Head of Learning and Access, Leeds Museums and Galleries
“People assume that time is a strict progression from cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.”
Time’s a bit like life and work, then? I wanted to do the FMA because my working life over the last ten years felt a bit like that wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey ball.
My roles at Leeds Museums and Galleries seemed quite linear from the outside (learning manager to lifelong learning manager to head of learning and access), but the actual work content was far harder to pin down.
Coming out of my Clore Fellowship in 2011, I had clear ideas of the difference I wanted to make in the world and where I needed to be to do that.
But life’s not that straightforward, is it? Programmes snowballed, the team got bigger, I dismantled one service and built better things, got more responsibility, had many challenging conversations, and had a family. Some things were planned for direct cause and effect, others were pure serendipity. I felt like I needed more clarity.
The FMA gave me the time and space to reflect, to take more of a non-subjective viewpoint and recognise (and process) ten years of wibbly-wobbliness and be OK with that.
For me, the FMA process didn’t mean meeting more people, or training in specific areas, it meant giving myself permission to stop and think. I do lots of quick reflection in my learning role about programmes and with other people, but I found that I do little for myself about me.
I mapped out which actions led to what outcomes and how I felt about them, thought about my values and what makes me tick, and whether there was still more to do in my role.
The paperwork helped me see the wider learning in the ‘everyday’ leadership. The professional review conversation was valuable for seeing myself reflected through someone else’s eyes. It was reassuring. It was challenging. It was clarifying.
So, where now? The FMA process helped me to understand that I’m having fun, that I am good at what I do, that I need to do more personal reflection more often, and that being in the same place is not the same as standing still. I have the clarity I needed and I’m ready for the next ten years of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey ball-ness.