Running for the mind

It’s –8 d-d-degrees and I am running. Why on earth do that?

I notice that there are far fewer runners than usual. Dziki and I run along the Donau canal in Vienna, and it’s a popular place on a Saturday morning. But today, it is just the die-hards – the ones who are addicted to running.

Many years ago, I read that it is good to do something difficult and solitary. This is one of the reasons I run. It is tough to run 10km in cold weather, or rain, or heat. It challenges you and makes you question yourself mentally, it makes you develop strength of mind and character.

In the last 2 months since the company’s announcement of intended relocation, I have been challenged more than I can ever remember in my working and personal life. Being in the Works Council has been a deep experience, because it has been working on behalf of something I feel truly passionate about – the people who make up the company.

We have been pitched up against a situation where the company’s management have made a decision with what looks like very little back-up or data, which affects 100’s of people’s lives. Moving 233 people’s jobs to another country is not a light decision, and the impact for people is huge. That has put a big focus on the Works Council. All of us have heard at the coffee machine a half-joke of “my future is in your hands” from one colleague, or passing comments in the corridor like “you are my firefighter” from another. The meaning behind is support – a recognition that you are doing something on their behalf – but naturally it has put pressure on.

I felt the pressure as heavily as anyone. I am a Director of the company, and therefore although I was not a part of the decision, I had a chance to influence events so that this move of 233 people would not have been needed. I feel responsibility. And among the 233, there are many friends and colleagues. So it has been hard to separate the personal issues from the task.

Before Christmas, I got out of the habit of running, and realise now that I was very emotional about everything. As soon as I got moving and running again 10 days ago, I was able to look at things in a different light and to be more objective. That has helped me personally, and I believe others in the Works Council had similar feelings. We focused on finishing the job of mitigating the decision, recognizing that no matter what our emotions, we are not the ones deciding, and we cannot control the final outcome. I believe we can be proud of the work we did as a team, and the documentation and alternative business case we have created is professional, carefully worked out, and based on real data rather than opinion.

The best we could do was to ensure our management know what the consequences are, and to represent people’s feelings and circumstances. The reactions from our Management have been a big surprise to me at times – but that is for another time. I realized the best thing to do is also detach a bit from the personal side of things and get finished with the process. Running helped me clear my mind and be strong enough to do so.

Dziki said after 4 km “let’s just run a bit further up here, half a km, then we can turn back” A bit further meant another 2 km in addition to the planned 8 that I had programmed into my Nike+ iPod. When we got home, I couldn’t feel my ears, but inside I felt strong and clear-minded. I know that the running will help me plan my next steps.