For a while, I came to the office only once a week.
Our hybrid policy says 40% office. I live outside Berlin, the kids are small, the dog and cats want company. No one controlled me. So I told myself it was fine.
Then I noticed a problem: on our fixed team day, not everyone was showing up either.
I didn't want to be unpleasant, so I raised it kindly in 1:1s. Little changed.
Until a peer colleague told me directly: "You have to be a role model. This is important."
That's when it hit me. I was asking my team to follow a rule I wasn't following myself. Of course my words had no weight.
So I brought it to our team weekly. I admitted openly that I hadn't kept to the rule, and that this changes now — starting with me.
Since then, team day is team day again. Not because I asked harder. Because I showed up.
Have you ever caught yourself expecting something from your team that you weren't doing yourself?
This is part of my "100 Days of Year One" series. Follow along as I share what I've learned in my first year as Head of Data and Cloud.