Meet David Metherell
PeopleTalking Tribe Member Spotlight
What is your Kantor Profile?
My highest preferences are: Bystand in Random Meaning, with my lowest being Move in Closed Power.
My take on this is that I enjoy making sense of the world around me. I tend to step back and consider perspectives before offering a view first up. My Random side shows up in a more spontaneous, less structured (sometimes disorganised!) way of operating, which I try to manage, particularly when at work.
At work, I do put a lot of attention on organising things and structuring my day so I don’t get too distracted and can get stuff done, hopefully with some fun in there too. Simple things like making sure I have an agenda for meetings and calendar activity, as well as meetings, are ridiculously helpful. I’m also not on Instagram or TikTok!
What does a typical day look like for you?
The beauty of it is that there isn’t really a typical day (which appeals to my Random side). As well engaging with our clients I have an operational role in running the business, so there’s quite a variety in all that.
I work from home most weeks and typically am away around once a month, working with clients (usually teams) in person, which I love. As I live on the Sunshine Coast, most of my client work involves air travel. I do enjoy getting away now and again as it gives me time to reflect, and I often see fresh perspectives from a change of scenery and connecting with others. I also get to eat chocolate quite openly without the fear of having to share it, or being judged.
What do you enjoy most about working with clients?
I find the uncertainty exciting and scary. I love the non-linear nature of what we do; one person in a team gaining awareness around something can lead to a huge shift, not just to them, but in the dynamic of the whole group. So much happens in the unseen reality of what we do that it can be quite magical. Though I tend not to mention that in case I might be viewed as a woodland elf.
Earlier in my career I would never have described myself as a ‘people person’. But I know that the thing that brings me the most joy is seeing people come together. Being able to play a role in that fills me up.
I still don’t always find relationships easy, but I do know that they bring me immense joy and fulfilment, not unlike my experience with Vegemite.
Can you share a memorable client success story?
Now and then, people I’ve worked with may play back moments in the work we’ve done together that they feel have been transformative in their thinking or their lives. Whilst that’s very personally rewarding in one sense, in another, I’m aware that they are doing most of the heavy lifting. So any part I have played is just that, a part. It stops me from getting big-headed.
An example that springs to mind is someone who, during some coaching we did together, decided to leave the security of his corporate role and set up on his own as a consultant. It was a big first step at the time, as he defined it, to create ‘a less ordinary life’. More than a decade later, he’s gone on to build a thriving consulting practice and been a pivotal support to his family in very a different way from the path he had been on.
Interestingly, we’ve done some work since using Structural Dynamics, which in hindsight has helped him understand more about why a corporate career really didn’t suit him and why he’s been much more at home running his own business and with the freedom as well as challenges that brings.
What’s one thing you wish clients knew about your work?
It’s not quite as easy as it looks. No, but seriously folks….
With some clients (certainly not all), I wish they could see the value of this work as much outside of the workplace as inside. From my own experience, the ability to reflect on my own behaviour and its impact on others in a model that helps me understand that without judgment has been of enormous benefit to me as a parent, a spouse, a friend, and a workmate.
How does my work help me in my life?
It’s helped me understand so much more about many things, and in particular my most intimate relationship, which is perhaps the toughest and most fun training ground in life. Michelle and I have been together for nearly 40 years, punctuated by nine years of being divorced. I really don’t think we would be together now, be so close to our three lovely kids, and understand each other as well as we do without the benefit of some of the work that we’ve done over the last 20 years.
Fun fact, hobby, or interesting tidbit! Who are you when you are not at work?
A woodland elf. (part-time casual)
What’s your favourite biscuit?
I’m quite partial to coconut macaroons and a great admirer of the dunking qualities of McVitie’s digestive. I’m realising that the older I get, the more I sound like Alan Bennett (or my Dad).
Looking Ahead
I’m looking forward to a break in May to see my daughter, who is currently on an extended visit to the UK…and revisit my old stomping ground in Newcastle, where she’s living.
Would you like to know more about David?
If you’d like to chat with David to hear more about his work with Structural Dynamics or his part-time role as a Woodland Elf, please get in touch with us.