Our COO Gill Johnson reflects on her first year at OG
For our wonderful COO Gill Johnson, her one-year anniversary at OG is the same as that of a family tragedy that has wholly shaped her last year. Here Gill reflects on a year marked both by her extraordinary achievements as COO and, at the same time, by grief.
Day 4 as the new COO at Opportunity Green is one I will never forget. I was sat at my desk reflecting on what a brilliant first week I’d had (one of the things I love about OG is our really progressive benefits for staff, including being a 4-day week organisation) and really looking forward to getting properly stuck into my new role.
Then my phone rang. It was a doctor in France telling me my sister had had an accident and was in hospital, and that it was serious.
It was pretty difficult to get the facts but by the end of that evening, after the word ‘dangerous’ had been repeated several times by the doctor, I found myself calling Aoife, our CEO, the next morning, to say I needed to go to France and would need some time off the following week. She was brilliant, told me to go, not worry about work and just message her when I could.
To cut to the very painful chase, my sister died the following week.
They say it takes 6-9 months to settle into a new senior role. Or that the first 100 days are the key ones where you set the tone for the rest of your time at a new organisation. But what happens when just 4 days into those first 100 your world is turned upside down?
My first year at Opportunity Green has been inextricably linked to, and shaped by, grief. Grief. It’s like the children’s book “We’re going on a bear hunt” – you can’t go over it, you can’t go round it, you’ve got to go through it. Just get through it in any way you can, and whatever form it takes that day. The initial sheer overwhelmingness of it, sometimes a calmer, but ever-present sense of sadness, sometimes a turbulent flare-up sparked by something random.
Gill and her sister Andrea
But one of the many stand out things about this first year has been the kindness, empathy and understanding from my colleagues. From supporting my choice to come back to work straight away (but on reduced hours so I could deal with the mountain of admin that a death brings, on top of the emotions), to forgiving my awful choice of Secret Santa gift, to sharing their favourite quiet green spaces near to the office if I just needed to get away from it all, or accepting me being there, but not really present sometimes. Oh, and the utter patience and care from Aoife who thought she was getting a COO who would hit the ground running, and instead got – well, all this. The wellbeing of staff, whatever the circumstances, is not just lip service at OG. It is a deeply engrained part of the culture.
And despite the circumstances, enjoyment, happiness, excitement and pride have all featured heavily too. As COO, I have the privilege of overseeing several aspects of OG spearheading our expansion into Europe and opening a new entity in Belgium with all the complexity that brings; taking on the challenge of an IT migration; evolving our finance and people systems as we rapidly grow, with equality, diversity and wellbeing truly at the heart of our recruitment and organisational policies. It an exciting time for sure!
I’ve been lucky throughout my career to have, mostly, had jobs that aren’t ‘just a job’ to me, but that I feel passionate about both the role that I’m doing, and the broader work of the organisation. OG is no exception. It is a brilliant place to work that is inspiring both for the way that the team is tackling some of the most entrenched issues and sectors in the climate space, but also because we are bold enough to challenge some of the norms around how organisations work and operate.
Have I settled into my new (or not so new now) role? Yes, and I’m loving it. But more than that, having a great job to focus on and something positive to work towards also helped me through the grief. All I can say is I’m looking forward to many more (really happy) years at OG.
