The Work That Never Ends — and Why That Might Be the Point

I’ve stopped pretending this work has a finish line.

Not because I’ve lowered my sights ,not because the work has beaten me down ,but because experience has stripped away a useful illusion.

In this sector, the most important work does not conclude. It returns. It reshapes itself. It asks to be held again, often by different people, in a different moment, under different pressures. That does not mean we are failing. It means we are dealing in things that matter.

This is not resilience theatre ,it is not hustle dressed up as virtue ,it is the long view, taken seriously.

Work that was never meant to be completed

What I see, time and again, are leaders exhausting themselves trying to complete things that were never meant to be completed.

Cultural change does not settle ,financial stability does not arrive and stay ,trust with communities is not secured once and for all and care for collections , places and our people has no end point.

These are not projects you close ,they are conditions we tend.

Early in my career, I believed good leadership meant solving problems decisively and moving on. I now think that was only half true. In this work, leadership is less about resolution and more about return. The willingness to come back to the same ground, again and again, without irritation or ego.

Projects that circle back

Projects circle back because context shifts.

A capital programme reopens questions you thought were settled ,a funding model needs re-articulating because the external world has changed and visitor expectations evolve, then reappear wearing different clothes.

Each time, there is a temptation to feel weary. To ask why progress never quite sticks.

But progress here is rarely linear. It is layered. What you put in place years ago still matters, but only if you are present enough to adjust it now.

The work compounds slowly, almost invisibly. You feel it in stronger judgement, clearer conversations, fewer sharp edges.

That is not stagnation , It is accumulation.

Conversations that need repeating

The same is true of the conversations we repeat.

I used to feel a quiet frustration when familiar issues returned to the table. We talked about this. We agreed this. Why are we back here again?

With time, I have realised the repetition was not a failure of leadership. It was a signal of care.

People change. Boards rotate. Teams carry different pressures. The meaning of a decision shifts as circumstances shift.

Returning to a conversation is not regression. It is maintenance. It is how trust is sustained and understanding deepened.

Leaders who refuse to revisit decisions often mistake firmness for strength.

Systems that move at human pace

Then there are the systems.

Governance. Estates. Procurement. Skills pipelines.

They move slowly because they are designed to protect people and places over time. Speed is often the wrong measure here. Urgency can be useful, but it can also bruise judgement and fray trust.

The work is not to force pace where it does not belong, but to stay attentive without becoming brittle. To care without hardening. To hold the line without rushing the ground beneath you.

This kind of patience is demanding, especially in a sector under constant pressure to justify its existence.

Presence as the real work

I’ve learned something similar through climbing.

The summit is rarely the moment that stays with you. It is the rhythm of movement. The patience to keep going when the view does not change. The discipline of attention when the work feels repetitive.

Leadership is much the same.

Presence is the work. Being visible when morale dips. Holding standards when energy fades. Returning to the same issue with calm rather than resentment. There is no applause for this. It does not photograph well. But it is the work that holds organisations together.

Why this matters now

This matters now because the sector is tired.

Not disengaged ,Not resistant.

Tired from pretending that transformation is fast and that progress is clean.

What people need is permission to work at the pace of care.

To say, honestly, that some things take time. That some questions will return. That being unfinished does not mean being lost.

That honesty builds trust.

What I look for in leadership now

When I work with boards and executive teams, I am less interested in momentum decks and more interested in steadiness.

Do you show up consistently?
Do you hold the same principles over time?
Can you stay curious when answers remain incomplete?

These are quieter signals of leadership. They endure. They create room for people to breathe.

Lets sit with …..

Where are you pushing for completion when what is really needed is commitment?

What would change if you stopped chasing “done” and focused instead on staying present?

This belief sits at the heart of Even Keel. A steady hand. Calm judgement. Ethical care. Work that never truly ends — and, perhaps, was never meant to.

Jamiejohn