Intro teaser

[00:00:28] Becky: So we deal with really tragic incidences that sometimes how much help you give someone you can't change the outcome, but all you can do is be there in their moment of need and do the best thing that you can for them.

[00:00:39] Becky: I'm 44 now and my Mum was 34 when she passed away and every opportunity now, I just think" what would she have done? What opportunities, what things would she have loved to have done?"

[00:00:50] Becky: I definitely thought I wasn't good enough. I thought that I needed to be better educated or I needed to have, lived different experiences to take on these roles and it's nonsense, at the end of the day, if you have a good work ethic, you work hard, you truly believe in what you're doing and you look after people, then, these things will happen for the right reasons.

[00:01:11] Scott: In this episode, Becky shares her leadership experience, running a department of over 500 people, dealing with life and death situations, how she gets in the right mindset for an unpredictable day and taking a big step out of your comfort zone.

Main show

[00:01:26] Scott: hi, Becky, welcome to the Rebel Diaries podcast.

[00:01:29] Becky: Hi, Scott. Thanks for having me. 

[00:01:31] Scott: So for the benefit of our listeners, would you mind just introducing yourself a bit of background, career history, who you are and what you do?

[00:01:37] Becky: Yeah, of course, I am Becky Tipper. I am the Head of Command and Control at Avon and Somerset Police. So that looks after the teams that take all the 999 and 101 calls into the control I've been with the force for almost 21 years. And I started as a call handler, an emergency call handler dealing with the 999 emergencies.

[00:01:56] Becky: And I've literally done every role in the control room, up until the Head of Command and Control. 

[00:02:00] Becky: It's a very dynamic workplace, brilliant people, a great place to work and a really rewarding role. 

[00:02:05] Scott: Great. And how many employees do you have working within your department?

[00:02:09] Becky: So in Command and Control, there's just over 500, about 530 people. And that spans five teams. So they work earlies, lates and nights, 24/7, so 365 days of the year. Doesn't matter if it's Christmas day, the team's in ready to take the calls and dispatch out to the emergencies. And I also look after our incident assessment units, that's like a desktop investigation where we don't necessarily need to send a police resource, but we can still investigate that crime. 

[00:02:33] Scott: Wow. 500 people. That's quite a lot. Do you know everybody's name?

[00:02:37] Becky: I like to think, I know most people we do change quite a lot of roles within the contact centre. It seems to be the kind of foot flow into the organization. So people come in, they get a really good grounding, spend a couple of years in the control room and then sometimes they'll move on through and become police officers or other police staff members.

[00:02:54] Becky: But yeah, it's really important to me to know my team and know a little bit about them.

[00:02:58] Scott: And I guess it helps that you've done, as you said, it was every position pretty much in that department before becoming the person in charge?

[00:03:07] Becky: Yeah, I've done every position in the control room. So it definitely helps. It gives you a really good tactical and operational knowledge about what people are doing and the roles and what they include. And I've got a mixture of police staff police officers. So there's a real range of roles and people within that team as well. 

[00:03:22] Scott: Great. And what's a day in the life like for you then heading up all of that, what can you expect or what kind of surprises are you dealing with?

[00:03:29] Becky: I think one thing that's constant is change. You never know what you're going to get. So you've got to be on your game and ready all the time. So we take roughly about 3000 to 3,500 calls a day into the control room. And that's a mixture of 999 and 101 non-emergency calls. And you really don't know Scott, what you're going to get.

[00:03:47] Becky: So that first call can be a real emergency. Sometimes people do call us on 999 when they shouldn't so we still do get people calling up about the football scores or can they order a taxi, etc. But you've always got to be ready because that next call could be the one where you save someone's life. 

[00:04:02] Scott: What's your involvement then? So are you the coordination? logistics? What's your actual involvement? I'm guessing you're not taking calls?

[00:04:10] Becky: So I do a bit of everything really. I look after and lead the team, obviously make sure that they've got the tools, got everything that they need to support them. And I'm also looking at what's coming next. So public contact has changed massively since I started, I joined in 2001, it was the day before 9 11, and I remember 9 11 happening and there being one television in what we called the restroom of the control room and I remember in the town centre, people were outside of Curries and Dixons trying to watch in the windows. And that's massively changed. Now, if you think now everyone's got mobiles it's social media, etc. So when an emergency happens where it's shared millions of times within minutes of actually happening, so we always need to be thinking about what the next thing is what's going to happen. 

[00:04:59] Becky: So my role is to support the team day to day, make sure if we've got major incidents that they've got everything they need, but also look at what's coming next and making sure that as a police service, we're ready to cope with that. 

[00:05:11] Scott: And how do you keep on top of what's coming next? That's applicable to any leader isn't it really beyond policing as well. Do you use data quite a lot to help with decision-making?

[00:05:20] Becky: I think data's really important and is something that we use every day within the control room. The force is really data literate. And I think, I've been a part of creating a lot of the data dashboards that we have within the apps. And I don't class myself as hugely data literate or certainly wasn't, but what I think our team have done is we've been able to use business leads to really engage and understand what data we need so that we can use it to effect. So if you think about years gone by whereas a leader, perhaps you're, Monday morning you got a load of spreadsheets in and you really don't really know what you're looking at or how to make best use of it.

[00:05:55] Becky: Being able to use data now in a way that allows you to make change make positive influences that's really helped us. So we use data every day to look at demand that's incoming whether there's changes in that, the thematics of the demand and how we need to change our services to be able to most appropriately service that. 

[00:06:14] Scott: If your team dealing with 999 calls, they must be dealing with some pretty difficult stuff. How is that to lead that team? It must be quite distressing for some of the staff. I know they'll be highly trained I'm sure. But as a leader, how does that impact you?

[00:06:29] Becky: Yeah, I think you can never train anyone enough. So we have a really comprehensive training. That starts when you first join the control room and you have five to six weeks in a classroom, then there's a tutorship and until you're able to go solo, but you never know what that next incident's going to be.

[00:06:43] Becky: And you actually, you never know how it's going to affect you. It could be an incident that you don't think is going to affect you and personally, it really upsets you working with such a team, you deal with the highs and the lows that come with policing and they do become like your second family.

[00:06:57] Becky: I think it's my job to look after them, make sure that they're supported and they've got the tools it's about going to making sure if someone has taken a difficult call that they've got that time, that space, that hug and that caring word, just to look after them and make sure that they're supported.

[00:07:12] Becky: But the team itself, they really look after one another as well, and we call it a comms family, and it really is the control room really a special place to work its hard work, but it's really rewarding. And the people there, they become like your second family.

[00:07:27] Scott: What are the difficult leadership challenges that you've been faced with over the years? Anything that stands out for you in terms of leading, a big department with a lot of really serious stuff?

[00:07:36] Becky: I think you've got to learn to really trust your team as well. I'm able to set a vision for them and create that buy-in of that vision, I've got a team that they want to achieve, they want to do well, they want to be there for people. But I think. It's difficult when you've got so many people and you have to identify really great leaders within as well and trust them that they're going to look after things as well.

[00:07:58] Becky: I think the sign of a good leader is knowing when to take a step back and let your team lead by example. And the control room is in very safe hands, whether I'm there or not. 

[00:08:07] Becky: It's a challenge with so many people and also so much attrition. As I say, the control room team they come through the control room, they move on to other roles normally within the organization, but sometimes externally as well.

[00:08:19] Becky: So you've forever got new people coming in and it's about, them then buying into that way of working that vision, etc. And they all then lead by examples themselves.

[00:08:30] Scott: If you've got quite a change in staff that must present some cultural challenges or is the culture pretty much embedded and the new people that join just pick up that or do you see that changing over time?

[00:08:41] Becky: I think there's a really strong culture of togetherness. Policing is a team game and I think that a lot of people they've got their own lived experience and they want to join the police to make a difference. I think within our team, we've definitely created trust and openness and honesty.

[00:08:57] Becky: So people feel that they can bring their true selves to work. They've got a voice they can help shape and influence how we do our ways of working for example, and that builds a togetherness and a chance for people to really, to really be part of that team. There's nobody in that team, regardless of role, that doesn't have a voice, isn't able to share their ideas. And a lot of our best ideas and initiatives come from those actually doing the roles. They know what the challenges are day to day on the floor. And they'll feed into, myself and the rest of the leadership team. And we'll try and enable that and to unblock some of the challenges that are real pain points for them every day. 

[00:09:33] Scott: That's going to ask, how would you manage that with 500 people? If you're dealing with a small team you're having those conversations, you get that feedback. How do you make sure that everybody has a voice, presumably you don't have a 500 department meeting every week?

[00:09:47] Scott: So how'd you manage that?

[00:09:49] Becky: That'd be chaos. Can you imagine? No, I think it's about having your every morning, we have a daily huddle with the supervisors that are on duty and they'll feed in ideas from the team. We attend briefings and our training days, there's always an SLT (Senior Leadership Team) slot so that we can make sure that, not only are we giving good news and making people really proud of what they do, but we're also looking for ideas.

[00:10:09] Becky: We've got the people surveys and various initiatives that we do within, I think sharing ideas and people being able to ask for help and support it's definitely a learning culture. And you're never going to get everything right so we learn from our mistakes and we make sure that, they're not repeated and that we can, improve our services with them.

[00:10:28] Becky: And I think a lot of it as well, it is also built on not just trust and openness, but also kindness, I think that's built really strong relationships throughout the team. We've got a team spirit that is really strong and it's really trusting. And I think when you've got that at the heart of any organization, people have a shared purpose, they have a shared vision and they want to work together to do the right thing. 

[00:10:48] Scott: And how'd you keep on top of that learning? it must be, say quite chaotic, coming in if you're in an environment where you just literally don't know what's happening next, do you get time to get headspace as a leader too, we talked about the data and using that to inform decisions but how do you keep on top of your game?

[00:11:05] Scott: Do you look outside policing for inspiration, for example?

[00:11:08] Becky: I think it's something I've definitely learned and struggled with through the years. So I'm quite a doer. I have, I've always known, I wanted to make, do a job where I could make a difference. And I've always had, I guess the leadership traits I lost my mum when I was nine, I brought up three sisters. I was the oldest of my sisters.

[00:11:26] Becky: And so I always took control and try to look after others. And so sometimes that can be really time-consuming and you can get caught up in the day-to-day operational things, but you do need to be able to have that time and space just to reflect and make sure that, you're doing the right things and looking at what is coming next to making sure that the team are prepared for that and know that you've got good people, doing the day to day business. 

[00:11:54] Becky: I think it's been really important for me, not just to look inside policing. So we do share best practice with other police forces, but also with other contact centres throughout the UK, both private and public, even though our businesses are very different, the challenges are very much the same.

[00:12:09] Becky: And so it's really important to share those ideas, learn from each other, and we've hosted different days, both within our organization, but also going out to other organizations and actually I've been, it's one of the things we're part of a Southwest forum. Private and public contact centres in the Southwest, sharing their learning, sharing their mistakes, sharing, what's worked well for them.

[00:12:32] Becky: And I've been really impressed at the level of honesty and the level of helpfulness, that people have shared with each other. To make, each other's organizations better. So it's been it's been really good to share I just think you always need to learn. You can never get complacent.

[00:12:47] Becky: And we're lucky enough that in our control room, I say lucky we've worked really hard as a force and as a team to provide a great service. But just recently, we came out on top for our 999 performance, but you can never get complacent with that. You've always gotta be thinking about, what's next?

[00:13:02] Becky: What do we need to do? And making sure that we look after our team so that they, in turn, they can look after the public. 

[00:13:08] Scott: How do you start your day to prepare for the challenges?

[00:13:11] Becky: Well I have a bit of a drive to the control room. So it's about just under an hour's drive for me. So my secret Scott is to play out some tunes and just have a complete song. I think I'm Beyonce in the car, but actually, I'm nowhere near that. I have a listen to the Spice Girls or to something that just makes me feel really good.

[00:13:30] Becky: And just helps me to think about things. And then the last 10 minutes, I just start in my head planning my day. So I'll always walk into the workplace with a smile on my face. It doesn't matter what kind of morning I've had, how much sleep I've had. It's really important to me to lead by example and to go in with a positive mindset so that the team start their day off with a positive as well.

[00:13:49] Becky: There's often a lot of challenges. It's no secret that our demand will often outstrip our resources within policing. So there's always challenges, but going in with a positive mindset, how are we as a team going to, take the day and grasp it with two hands and make the most of the opportunities is really important.

[00:14:05] Becky: And I think for me personally, I've always found that there's always opportunity within those challenges. If you look hard enough, you'll always find opportunities. Yeah, the secret is a bit of Spice Girls and a tune in the car. 

[00:14:17] Scott: And of course, there's a great podcast I can highly recommend if you get commuting time!

[00:14:22] Becky: Exactly. Exactly that! 

[00:14:24] Scott: You can learn in half an hour. It's great.

[00:14:25] Becky: Do you know what, in all seriousness, I've started to listen to podcasts and they are a really helpful way. when you talk about time and having time when I'm walking the dog when I'm, just have a moment just 20 minutes or so I've got an egg chair in the garden, which I'll just use as a time to relax.

[00:14:41] Becky: And sometimes if I can't zone out completely, I'll listen to a podcast and it massively helps. So yeah, podcasts all the way. It's the way of the future!

[00:14:49] Scott: So who has been your inspiration and what memorable lessons have you learned from them? Whether it's someone in someone at work or someone outside of work?

[00:14:58] Becky: I think both really, I think from a young age, for me, it would have to be my grandma. She's 101 

[00:15:03] Scott: Wow. 

[00:15:04] Becky: she definitely taught me that life's for living. She's always been really positive, an inspirational figure in my life for as long as I can remember. And she's got this philosophy that, life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets.

[00:15:15] Becky: It's about positivity taking opportunities. Grandma's certainly lived a lived a full life herself. She served in the women's Royal Air Force. She was a Mum to five and just a few short years ago, she was travelling the world, body boarding and playing football with their great-grandchildren in the park, she's definitely slowed down in the last couple of years, but she's still got a great sense of humour.

[00:15:35] Becky: And she's living proof that if you have a grateful heart you surround yourself with positive like-minded people, then you're only as young as you feel. So my Grandma's definitely somebody in my personal life. That is definitely helped and influenced me. 

[00:15:48] Becky: And then I think work-wise our former Chief Constable Andy Marsh he had a really positive impact on me. I think Andy is a really kind leader. He shares his vision, but he allows his team to shape and influence that change. And in turn, he created the buy-in. So Andy and our new Chief, Constable Sarah Crew, both really hard-working team players and they bring out the best in their teams.

[00:16:10] Becky: They're definitely examples of what I hope, also, I bring out in my team.

[00:16:13] Scott: Do you think it's important to support others to develop now you're in a senior leadership role? So presumably you've 500 people, there's going to be some that are happy doing the job, but there are some I'd imagine that are quite ambitious and want to, progress up through the ranks, whether it's in your department or move on, as you said, somewhere else in the organization, or even beyond?

[00:16:31] Becky: Yeah, I definitely think, I think for us all as we navigate our way through life, we all need a helping hand at times. And I remember clearly those people that have helped me along the way, they've given me a chance. I was at a part-time working mom for nine years when I first started and I'll always remember the person that, allowed me the chance to show my potential, but still get that work-life balance of being able to go home to my family. And I think nurturing talent and drawing out people's strengths and focusing on those strengths, giving them roles that they enjoy and that they'll thrive in is really important to me.

[00:17:05] Becky: As you say some for some people that's not about the next promotion. It's not about the next rank, for example, in policing, it's about enjoyment and fulfilment in their everyday lives. And sometimes that can be getting involved with other things. 

[00:17:18] Becky: I've got call handlers and dispatchers who also help out with recruitment or help out with the tours when people come in and see what goes on in the control room, that gives them a great chance to, be really positive about you know the work and what, why they love it, but also it allows them to add another string to their bow.

[00:17:34] Becky: So I think learning for me, what motivates others, coaching them, helping them to perform at their highest level and helping them to be their best selves at work as well. I think that's really important. There's so much hidden talent that with a team of 500. Often unless you scratch the surface you don't know about, and it can only make us better as a team.

[00:17:52] Becky: And I think I've been lucky enough as well, Scott, to mentor, several fabulous colleagues throughout the force. And I get as much from those sessions as I hope that they get too, it gives yourself a reality check as well now, and again, and sometimes the advice I'm giving I often reflect on that and think, am I doing that for myself?

[00:18:08] Becky: So that really helps. And, I think feedback sounds cheesy, but feedback is a gift. If you use it wisely, it can massively help you. 

[00:18:15] Becky: I've also been given the chance to speak to others, we have something called the springboard initiative, so it's for females within the fire and police service.

[00:18:24] Becky: It gives me a chance, to, allow other people to an insight into life experiences and lived experiences in order that it can also help them and hopefully inspire them to know that, I wasn't particularly well-educated. I had no formal qualifications. I've worked hard. I've really enjoyed what I've done and I've really believed in making a difference.

[00:18:46] Becky: And I'm no different than I was when I was a call handler. My values are aligned to my organization's. I don't think I could work for any organization, which didn't share or align to my values. And I've never compromised that. And I think that's really key as well, is that, stay true to who you are and work hard and believe in what you do.

[00:19:05] Scott: And that leadership approach and your that you've been talking about, it's clearly paid off. If you've got that kind of performance level, you talked about being the top force in the country was it for 999?

[00:19:17] Becky: Yeah, it was. And I think I think, no one joins policing really for money or for. Financial rewards or any kind of huge rewards other than it's the right thing to do. You're helping people, you're saving lives. It really is hearts and minds and people, it doesn't matter what role you do.

[00:19:33] Becky: It's about being incredibly proud of that as well. I think when you get a team who share that. Who want to be there for the public, who want to help people as much as they can, but also understand that sometimes you can't change the outcome. So we deal with really tragic incidences that sometimes never how much help you give someone you can't change the outcome, but all you can do is be there in their moment of need and do the best thing that you can for them.

[00:19:57] Becky: And I can't think of one day, even after a really tough shift where I've walked out of the office and not thought I've been able to make a difference today and that counts for more than anything.

[00:20:07] Scott: What about the difficult times? Have you had any particular challenges within the team, 500 people working together not all at the same time, there must be some challenges there around, people falling out and tensions and, or they all generally happy. Is there, anything that sticks out for you that you had to deal with, a tough thing as a leader?

[00:20:25] Becky: I think there's been some really challenging times, I've spent over two decades in the control room. The good times definitely outweigh that. But as a leader, I've faced some challenging times when I first got my first supervisor role. 

[00:20:38] Becky: I was put with a team of really challenging leaders. I was newly promoted. I'd been promoted hopefully for all the right reasons for, what I could bring and, my values. And I was faced with some really difficult times, I'm not ashamed to say I went home in tears quite a bit. But I stood true to what I believed.

[00:20:58] Becky: And also what it taught me was the kind of leader I didn't want to be. 

[00:21:01] Becky: And it would have been really easy to just have conformed to that. But actually, I knew why I'd been promoted and I knew what, I knew what my values were and I was able to change that.

[00:21:11] Becky: I've always fallen into the roles because I've wanted to be able to shape and influence the future of what the department looked like.

[00:21:19] Becky: And I think as you go along the way you learn from those people that you don't want to be like just as much as you learn from good leaders and good examples as well. So, you take the bits of the great ones and you make sure you're never like the bad ones

[00:21:30] Scott: What are some examples of those bad behaviours that you saw? Without naming names obviously!

[00:21:35] Becky: I think it's about, it's about fairness. We'll all go to work and work with some people that, you could go for a beer with after work or a dog walk, but actually you're never going to be friends with everyone. But when you're at work, it's about being able to treat everybody fairly, to give everybody the same opportunities, even if some don't want those opportunities.

[00:21:57] Becky: It's about being able to start on that level playing field. And also being able to draw a line, I've had to have lots of difficult conversations in my time within the control room, but actually, we've had that difficult conversation. I've drawn the line and hopefully, that's the end of the matter, I think when you turn up to work, especially as a leader, you have to turn up 110% every single day.

[00:22:17] Becky: You have to have that positive outlook on the day ahead and a willingness to get in the weeds with the team and really support them when the going gets tough. And I think when you've got leaders that are not interested in that, or it's about self-gain, then for me, that is not the spirit, of being a leader or being a team player. 

[00:22:37] Scott: I like that ethos, but there's also something for me around vulnerability and being open when you're not having a good day yourself, if you show you're vulnerable and you're not having a good day, that can help them feel comfortable as well.

[00:22:50] Becky: Oh, absolutely. That I wear my heart on my sleeve. And whilst I have absolutely got that positive outlook and I'll I leave my own problems at the door. I'm definitely someone that will share how I'm feeling or my life experiences to help other people. I think it's really important. I think, leaders go first and if you can show a little bit of vulnerability as a leader and show that you are human and you understand that.

[00:23:16] Becky: You create again, that trust with your team to know that you get it. And you don't always know exactly how they're feeling. You haven't always got the answers, but just knowing that someone can resonate with you and understand that, you know what you've been there as well. It plays a huge part in any team ethos.

[00:23:35] Becky: And I think the pandemic was a really good example of that. I was asking my team to put on their uniforms and be operational every single day, whilst the rest of the world were really being asked to stay at home safe indoors. And we all were going through that at the same time. So showing my own my own vulnerability and my own angst at that.

[00:23:56] Becky: Also enabled the team to understand that we're all in it together and lock down definitely as a team, felt we were close before, but it brought everybody even closer. Because we were all going through something at the same time and we also, you know, we were having different experiences with it. So for some people, they had people at home that were shielding and some of them, our own team needed to shield.

[00:24:18] Becky: I, myself lost my mother-in-law in the first lockdown. Very suddenly we're unable to see her. So that grief played a huge part of what other people were also going through. So I think being able to share that and also leaning on the team, I'm as much part of the team as the team means to me.

[00:24:35] Becky: I've definitely drawn strength and I feel the love from them just as much as hopefully I give it to them as well. 

[00:24:41] Becky: I think when you genuinely care about your team, it's really powerful. I keep talking about kindness, but for me, Scott is really important and kindness and leadership is key. If you can be somebody that cares about your team, it definitely, it definitely shaped me as a person.

[00:24:56] Becky: I had some really kind people when I was growing up through a really tough time and it helped me get through those times. So I feel incredibly lucky to work with an amazingly kind team. I've said it, but the work family, they really look out for each other. They lend that caring ear after really tough incidents.

[00:25:11] Becky: And they show kindness and compassion to each other. And that's really important. I think we even do things like, for the team raising money for charities really important. So a couple of times a month we'll have a dress down day. Everyone would get to wear their own clothes.

[00:25:24] Becky: They'll all bring in a pound. We raise hundreds of pounds for charities of the team's choice and it means a lot to the team. And a lot of those individuals have put those charities forward. 

[00:25:33] Scott: So you said you'd been there 21 years? 

[00:25:35] Becky: 21 years.

[00:25:36] Becky: Yeah. I get my long service award next week actually. I'll take my husband and two teenage children with me and I'll receive that with immense pride that, everything that even as someone sets afforded me, but also hopefully the service and the public service that I've given for the last few decades. 

[00:25:52] Scott: So 21 years are you gonna do another 21 years or have you got different plans?

[00:25:56] Becky: Well I've actually Scott just decided to take up an external opportunity. So this was a really tough decision for me. And it was something that presented itself to me outside of policing. It's still in the public safety arena. But it's going to set me a new challenge in terms of supporting blue light control rooms and the wider kind of public safety organizations through technology.

[00:26:17] Becky: So we talked earlier about technology and data, and there's so much opportunity to enhance what we deliver through that improved technology and just seeing how it can resolve so many of our long-standing problems and pain points. It really excites me. 

[00:26:31] Becky: After 21 years, I'm going to push myself out of my comfort zone, try something different and also allow someone else to take the helm and deliver some positive change to the control room.

[00:26:40] Becky: I'm really proud of what we've achieved there and the vision I set for the team. When I took over as Center Manager in 2015, I leave it in really good hands, but it's time for a change in time to try and help in a different way. 

[00:26:52] Scott: Great will you be managing as many people? Or will it be quite different?

[00:26:57] Becky: So I won't have such a big team but I will have a team. I'm really excited to meet them and see what they're all about. Find out about them and hopefully again, bring those all their skills and all those leadership qualities to a new team and support public safety in a different way. 

[00:27:14] Scott: What, one bit of advice would you give to someone who's listening who may be thinking about taking the next step or changing roles? 21 years is a long time to stay in an organization. people tend to switch a bit more frequently, but any advice for anyone in this position?

[00:27:29] Becky: I think it's really important to try new things like to take opportunities when they present themselves and not to have any regrets, life is a one-time gig and we need to use it well. So I think if things are go just generally believe that things happen for a reason. And that, we'll all go wrong along the way.

[00:27:46] Becky: We'll all have some setbacks, but it only makes the successes more sweeter. And I think life itself can be bumpy. It can be cruel. But if you don't let those times consume you or define you, you let them shape you let them influence how you are as a person. And just grab opportunities with both hands.

[00:28:02] Becky: I'm 44 now. And my Mum was 34 when she passed away and every opportunity now, I just think, what would she have done? What opportunities, what things would she have loved to have done? And so I think also don't don't let those imposter feelings as well, stop you from trying things.

[00:28:18] Becky: So for a long time, I definitely thought I wasn't good enough. I thought that I needed to be better educated or I needed to have, lived different experiences in order to be able to, take on these roles and it's nonsense, at the end of the day, if you have a good work ethic, you work hard, you truly believe in what you're doing and you look after people, then, these things will happen for the right reasons.

[00:28:44] Becky: So my advice to anyone is if you're thinking of doing it, put your hat in the ring, put yourself out there and see what the future holds for you. 

[00:28:51] Scott: Great. Yeah. And that's where the growth happens is when you push yourself. 

[00:28:54] Becky: Is it scary, it's scary, especially when you've got comfortable doing something and, especially when you work with brilliant people and you think of so many reasons not to push yourself and try something new, but that is where the growth happens. And I'm excited for it. 

[00:29:09] Scott: Thank you. So one of the things I ask all my guests is if you had one book you could take to a desert island and be stranded there for the rest of your life, what would it be?

[00:29:20] Becky: Oh, this is a tough one, Scott. I really like to lose myself in books, sometimes where I can just, a chance to unwind and relax. I think if I had to pick something, it would be some kind of journal. So somewhat think that I could read and capture thoughts and memories that maybe someone would see.

[00:29:36] Becky: It would be reliant on me having a pen um, is that allowed? But I think if it was, I would love to be able to, think about the things that have happened, capture them and then hopefully allow someone else to read that story down the line. 

[00:29:50] Scott: So you'd take a blank book and create your own story. 

[00:29:53] Becky: I would. 

[00:29:54] Scott: I like that. Excellent. Thank you very much.

[00:29:56] Scott: Becky it has been great. So if anyone wants to get hold of you, how do they do that?

[00:29:59] Becky: Yeah, I'm really happy to speak to anyone. If they want to. I'm on LinkedIn, so please feel free to connect and we'll have a conversation. Thanks, Scott. 

[00:30:07] Scott: I'll put the link in the show notes for everybody. Thank you, Becky. It's been absolutely great having you on the show. 

[00:30:12] Becky: Thank you.

Outro
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