I went to Spain to write a book on culture transformation and the aging workforce...

At the end of April this year, I went to Spain for a week, with seven strangers, on a book writing retreat.

Did I write my book while I was there? Nope.

Have I written any of the book I’m writing? Also nope.

So what on earth was I doing?

A lot of people, when I tell them I’m writing a book on the aging workforce, team culture and workplace transformation, ask me how far through I am. The truth? Not very far...

I’ve had this idea brewing for over 12 months now: I want to write a book to help people navigate workplace change and build inclusive team cultures in uncertain, fast-evolving environments.

Longer term I want to influence our education systems, so that our children learn the skills they will need to thrive in a modern workplace. How to collaborate, find a common goal and work together to achieve something much bigger than any one of us could achieve on our own.

I’ve been working helping teams create awesome team cultures for over a decade now, so I know what I’m talking about, but writing a book? I’d no idea where to start.

Then I met Sheryl Andrews, an author herself, but also a coach, helping people access their inner critic. She works with a woman called Karen Williams, author of 10 books and now a book mentor, helping people all over the world write book to help their businesses grow and thrive.

They run the retreat together in Spain, every year. What at first seemed like a huge investment soon because a necessity, as I navigated the reality of working at home with a young family needing my attention - some time and space to focus was just what I needed.

Book Writing Retreat

Karen’s teaching about book writing always starts in the same place - ‘with the end in mind’. She encourages her clients to think to the future before they start writing anything. Do your research, find out what your future clients need and want. Add that to where you want your business to go and what you want your book to say, and hey presto, an amazon bestseller!

Sounds simple! Spoiler alert - it’s not.

I know where I want to go, I want to eventually be helping young people, but that’s not my expertise at the moment, so my conundrum became, what’s the first step? What’s book one?

After a lot of thought and a bit of research, I figured it out, age inclusion. With an aging population and therefore an aging workforce, what are the challenges that organisations are facing? How can I help them to create age inclusive team cultures that value the wisdom of older or more experienced team members, whilst also welcoming and nurturing younger or less experienced team members.

Now I’ve got all the pieces of the puzzle, I just need to fit them together.

That's where Spain came in

I would never have described myself as a writer, I don’t sit down to write, I don’t journal, I tend to process externally, with others, and build in reflection in the quieter moments.

So I went to Spain with a plan. Write every day. Get comfortable with it. And - come away with an actionable book structure.

Being surrounded by authors for a week was truly incredible. Many had been published already, and others were on the journey to their first book, like me. We were brought together each morning and evening to discuss our hopes and goals, what support we needed and to celebrate our successes.

In between, we were surrounded by beautiful mountains and a mostly sunny and warm climate (We also suffered a country wide blackout and had no water, signal or electricity for 22 hours, but that’s another story).

Walks in the mountains, lots of post it noting exercises, writing every day and reaching into myself, to figure out who ‘Valerie, the author’ actually is. Of all the things I learned, what I learned about myself was most significant. Sheryl helped me to bring to the surface what I actually do on a day to day basis with my clients. Sounds daft, but I think a lot of what we do as humans becomes part of the background. I often work on instinct, I do what feels right, I’m not constantly analysing my actions. So taking some time to really dig into that and what it means about me as a person and makes me unique, was really awesome.

And I did write every day, even on our day off! I had two experts on hand to give me the fast feedback I crave.

So what about this book, then?

Well, I returned from Spain completely overwhelmed. With all the things I had to do now and the muddle of things in my head to sort through in order to really succeed at my best.

Truth is, I’ve still not written any of it. Wow I feel vulnerable telling you that.

But I now know I need to get a group of people around me to help. I’m going to gather a group of buddies who are hopefully going to provide the challenge and feedback that I really need to be at my best.

Spain helped me come up with my IMAGINE framework, so I’m going to spend the next few months validating whether that really is true of my experiences.

The IMAGINE framework offers help and guidance for any team or group environment:

How to:

• get comfortable with the uncertainty of modern life

• truly accept (and not change) yourself and others around you

• Experiment and learn on your way to success

I’m looking for HR professionals who would like to have a chat with me about their challenges when it comes to the aging workforce - and potentially try some of my methods  for further evidence that what I’m writing is enough to help people implement what comes naturally to me. The last thing I want to do is write a bad book that doesn’t make sense, with something vital missing from my process! I want to write a book that people can pick up and find something useful on every page, whatever context they are in that day. It’s not about revolution and big plans, it’s about evolution and small tweaks, experimenting and learning as you go.

So I will write the book, and I believe that the right book will emerge over time. So I’m not going to rush it. I’m going to explore, and keep exploring and the book that it formed in my mind, but still a little blurry, will soon become clear.

Sounds great, how can I help?

Well, one thing I’ve known about myself for a long time is that other people make me better. So I’m looking for people to work together to build something amazing with me. Leaders and HR professionals who can tell me where they struggle or see problems in the future, in return for access to me, my methods and early access to the book content.

So get in touch, if you care about the future of our workplaces, for yourself and for others. Together we can make a difference.