Jobshare Stories - Mhairi Mackenzie and Katie Vollbracht - the 200% club!
Mhairi Mackenzie and Katie Vollbracht, Principal Programme Sponsors at Scotland’s Railway, joined us last year on our Jobshare Stories podcast and shared their experience of jobsharing for the past four years. It’s one of our favourite episodes because of the passion, energy and drive they show working together! In the podcast they talked about the challenges and rewards of managing a maternity cover while jobsharing, highlighting how they navigated the transition, learned to delegate, and found their unique rhythm. Listening to Katie and Mhairi, it’s clear jobsharing has enhanced their skills and teamwork – so much so that their boss calls them the "200% club" for their combined impact!
Mhairi Mackenzie (left) and Katie Vollbracht (right) share the role of Principle Programme Sponsor at Scotland’s Railway.
Together they’re showing the power of collaboration to drive impact in their programmes
Smooth Transitions During Maternity Cover
Not long after starting to jobshare, Mhairi took her second maternity leave and Katie covered the role, alongside a team member who did 3 days “stepping up” into the jobshare role and then worked in the team for the rest of their week. It was great to hear such an innovative solution, and a real opportunity to support development through the mechanism of jobsharing.
However, Katie also talked about the challenges this period presented – firstly adjusting out of working together with Mhairi and then, the importance of the transition back in. She recognised how challenging it was to “let go of control” once Mhairi came back. Katie talked really honestly about these challenges and with real humility about how much she learned from this experience.
Katie and Mhairi’s maternity cover is a great example of managing through change as a jobsharing pair, and a great example of why pair communication is so important.
The Power of Communication and Collaboration
More broadly, Mhairi and Katie credit their successful partnership to clear communication. They stress that continuous dialogue, trust, and a shared sense of responsibility are essential in any jobshare. Their work style involves balancing each other’s strengths and supporting each other to develop their gaps.
This collaborative approach also means they take advantage of their complementary skills to excel in their roles. Their boss calls them the "200% club" – as a real compliment rather than a misguided expectation - underscoring that jobsharing doesn’t result in less productivity, but rather doubled creativity and effectiveness.
Accelerated Learning Through Jobshare
The duo discussed how jobsharing accelerated their professional development. Working closely with someone else in the same role forces them to be open to new ideas and learn from each other's expertise. Mhairi and Katie come from very different backgrounds within the rail industry, so this powerful combination brings expertise from a wider background, but also means that they learn from each other.
The pair have also benefited from pair and individual coaching, which has helped them understand themselves and each other and further amplified their capabilities.
Achieving Work-Life Balance
A common theme from many jobsharers, Katie and Mhairi talked passionately about how that jobsharing helps them manage the demands of a high-profile job while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Each of them works part-time, yet they’re able to stay fully engaged in their roles. They both moved north to Scotland from London to pursue their passion for the outdoors and working in a jobshare has allowed them to continue to indulge in this passion, whilst also having a huge impact in their work.
The ripple effect of jobsharing
Whilst jobsharing clearly enabled Mhairi and Katie to thrive and do great work, it also had an unexpected impact – increasing collaboration within their teams. After leading from the front with their partnership way of working, Katie & Mhairi noticed their team becoming more collaborative – with one non-jobsharing pair even suggesting that they take a co-leadership role on a project, because they’d seen the power of Katie & Mhairi’s brilliant collaboration. This clearly shows that, whilst everyone may not want to work part-time, the benefits of collaboration inherent in a jobshare can be seen and felt by everyone! It’s a real, tangible example of what we often see – that jobsharing and a culture of collaboration can lead to more effective, more productive and all round better teams.
Jobshare: A Model for the Future
Its difficult to do justice to the energy that Mhairi and Katie’s exude in a blog post (you’ll have to listen to the podcast for that!) Their passion for their role, their purpose about driving change in Scotland’s Railway and the potential of jobsharing is infectious! They embody the power of jobsharing and I bet you can’t listen to this podcast without being inspired!
