Informal Items of Significance | Themes |
Identification of a potential job share partner | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |
Honesty over previous experience both good and bad | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |
Self-sacrifice for the benefit of the other person and the team | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Initial discussions of why need to be realistic and honest | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |
Acknowledgment of the benefits of having two people doing the job in terms of well-being. | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Acknowledgment that working on your own was problematic and working with the right person in a dual leadership role would solve that. | 4. A job share can make a senior leadership role more tenable by shouldering responsibility and complexity with another person. |
Office set up—shared office, desks re-organised to face each other. | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |
Benefits for each individual needs to be clear | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |
Recognise individual strengths | 1. Play to one another’s strengths at an individual and organisational level. |
Working hard for each other | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Important to both of us to do a good job | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Benefits for each individual needs to be equitable | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |
Lists created to help communication and progress reporting | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Foundations of trust built (implicitly) at early stages because of commitment to doing the hand over correctly | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Awareness of each other’s feelings and a determination to support each other | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Awareness of the benefits and support in a job share relationship | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Shared values and understanding of what is right and what is wrong | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Sense making of an ethical dilemma leading to a significant shift our confidence to deal with the necessary response | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Making time to re-group and reflect key to sense making | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Shared lived work experience enabled a critical friend at a time of need leading to reflection and growth | 1. Play to one another’s strengths at an individual and organisational level. |
A greater confidence in raising concerns and issues | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Two respected female voices having a greater power than one isolated voice. | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Recognition of our own and each other’s ability, competency and experience gained validity | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Having each other to deal with a difficult senior manager enabled us to handle the situation more calmly, rationally and with less potential emotional damage. | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Combined previous experience meant we could handle a difficult senior member of male staff who used bullying behaviour to enact his decisions. | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Similar thought processes and decision making | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Complete trust in one another to make the right decision | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
People couldn’t tell us apart! We stopped correcting people when they got our names wrong! | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Utmost respect for one another, similar work experience, similar ethics | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
We looked out for one another and were confident and went out of our way to promote one another (not being confident to do this for ourselves). | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Played to one another’s strengths (Sarah—finance and detail, Emma—ball park finance and written reports, presentations) | 1. Play to one another’s strengths at an individual and organisational level. |
Shared presentations and workshops built confidence e.g., balanced scorecard and Henley Conference | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Re-applied for role and shared skill set enabled the job share partnership to meet all criteria | 4. A job share can make a senior leadership role more tenable by shouldering responsibility and complexity with another person. |
Division of tasks was done around knowledge of each other’s skill sets without discussion. | 1. Play to one another’s strengths at an individual and organisational level. |
Never tried to outdo one another and always approached the situation with a view to it being equitable | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Never competed with each other | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Never let each other down as it was important to do it for one another | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Pushed ourselves to do new things | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Received the VC award for excellence as recognition | 1. Play to one another’s strengths at an individual and organisational level. |
Comfortable talking about job sharing with media reports, research students etc. | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Lots of laughs usually at own expense to de-stress | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Sufficiently attuned and relaxed to show vulnerability and weaknesses | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Approach any situation with humility and humour | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Giant lists were created and ticked off together | 5. Having empowerment, trust and faith in one another’s ability. |
Huge amounts of loyalty and respect | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Acceptance of who we are and being comfortable with that. | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Emma wanted job share for work-life benefits mainly health related and perhaps the potential for self-employment | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Sarah received slot in of role because of maternity leave which was a benefit for Emma | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Maternity cover role was hard, recognition that a job share was a benefit. | 4. A job share can make a role tenable. |
KIT days at Sarah’s house at kitchen table demonstrating an early permeability between work and home for Sarah and Emma | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Emma chose to have coaching as a way of maintaining balance | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Did not choose to make a formal complaint because we managed the situation | 4. A job share can make a senior leadership role more tenable by shouldering responsibility and complexity with another person. |
Utmost respect and the importance of the work-life balance added to the bond we had | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Discussed the end of the job share and the continuity of our friendship from the beginning | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |
Emma understood that job share needed whilst Emily was a baby | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |
Chicken pox cover demonstrated how we covered for each other when additional support was needed for home | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
We were rarely ill, which was a good sign that we were both healthy and our well-being was good. | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Social activities and helping one another out of work 10. Self-denial and humility | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Emma made Sarah’s children’s Easter bonnet’s for their school competition | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Sarah’s children started to inadvertently call Emma ‘Mum’! | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
After [name of first child] Sarah needed to work for financial reasons—could not face working full time as she had done after first child | 4. A job share can make a senior leadership role more tenable by shouldering responsibility and complexity with another person. |
Feeling of failure as Sarah realised she could not work full time after [name of second child] | 4. A job share can make a senior leadership role more tenable by shouldering responsibility and complexity with another person. |
Determination to work at a senior level and be a good parent | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Sarah did Emma’s washing when her water ran out | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Sarah keen to ensure that the benefits for Emma were as recognised and in place from the beginning | 4. A job share can make a senior leadership role more tenable by shouldering responsibility and complexity with another person. |
Enabled to have career and years with children | 4. A job share can make a senior leadership role more tenable by shouldering responsibility and complexity with another person. |
Process of understanding what was valued most, throughout all that children are a priority. | 4. A job share can make a senior leadership role more tenable by shouldering responsibility and complexity with another person. |
Shared how we were feeling constantly this changed afterwards | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Previous experience of ending a job share had been painful which lead to an early discussion of how this might end | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |
The end started through a combination of factors external to the job share | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |
Both applied for a job share role at Cumbria which was delayed | 4. A job share can make a senior leadership role more tenable by shouldering responsibility and complexity with another person. |
Promised to tell me first about LUMS job out of loyalty and respect | 6. Being humble whilst at the same time being one another’s biggest fans. |
Didn’t meet up much over the summer | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
The last few weeks were a pragmatic denial of what was about to happen | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |
A year later felt less guilty, didn’t go back for a year | 2. Create the right environment physically and emotionally to perform to your best. |
Divorce was at least an amicable separation | 3. Establish solid foundations up front about setting up and ending the job share. |