I love it in my office. The networking and people focussed culture is one of the things that drew me to the company. I think the richness of solutions you get and the energy behind new initiatives and innovation is massively intensified by involving people and listening to their points of view. I love a catch up over a coffee, a working session in the break out area and love the fact that I can go and perch on someone's desk and ask their thoughts. I get energised by the buzz of this kind of way of working and find it really enables me to feed my creative strength and encourage other people to feed their strengths too.
However, what I've recognised is that there are times when in order to focus, I need to take myself away from the hustle and bustle and give myself an opportunity to remove the external buzz and centre back in my goals and objectives. I can be a little bit like a magpie for the shiny and new! And I'm lucky that I am able to make choices over when I need to do this and am able to plonk myself at home or in a meeting room and crack on with what I have got going on.
This morning, I was due to sit in on a global TC and with a two week holiday coming up at the end of next week, recognised that I need to make sure I am planning my time really effectively. I have made the mistake before of trying to cram everything in before and after a holiday - which often results in the good work of a holiday being undone by the hectic weeks preceeding and following. So, today, I decided to stay at home this morning and get cracking with a plan. To take the time without interruptions to objectively look at what I have coming up and plan when I'm going to do this. Now I'm not a planner by nature. But I've found that by taking this time and mentally committing to things, it enables me to inform others better, make the most well informed decisions on where I spend my time and also allow me to keep on top of my wellbeing too! I really don't want to go straight from work to the airport without having the time to make sure I've had time to pack!!
The added bonus today, was the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the view from my kitchen whilst doing so. There's nothing like a blue sky and seeing a Red Kite swooping around to help with a bit of calm-perspective planning! Here are just a few snapshots:
There really is something special about learning from others. I stumbled across this 2005 commencement speech from Steve Jobs recently and I couldn't agree with his key messages more:
Have faith that if you follow your interests, it'll lead to something great
Love what you do and don't settle until you find what you love
If you find yourself not looking forward to what you've got in store for yourself for too many days in a row; be brave and address it
Follow your heart and intuition
Don't let others' opinions drown out your inner voice
I have a bit of a guilty pleasure…I love snuggling on the sofa and watching a good old talent
competition. Whether it’s X-factor,
Britain’s Got Talent, The Great British Bake Off, Got 2 dance or Masterchef ……
I love them all!
Now I know a lot of people absolutely can’t stand them, can’t
stomach the idea of people who are awful being ridiculed on TV (which I can
completely understand) but I think there’s something fantastic about them that
draws me in.
What is that magic?
Why can’t I get enough of them???
Well, recently I think I’ve figured out what it is. And I’ve realised they closely link into who
I am and what I love to do….So here goes, my list of reasons for my-not-so-guilty-now-I-think-about-it pleasure…. They encourage people
to be brave and put themselves out there to pursue their dreams. There’s no guarantee of success on these
shows. Every year, I am amazed that there
are still people in the x-factor auditions that take my breath away. Surely they would’ve applied before, released
a record already? etc etc. But there
they are, standing on stage, heart pounding with their nan or family nervously
watching on hoping they’ll do themselves justice and people will love them…. And
boy when they can channel the nerves into energy, they can often create
something special! They encourage people
to be authentic and creative. The
most inspiring performances come from people who don’t just copy what someone
else has done before, but the people who really make it their own. Take James Arthur on the x-factor. He channelled his personality, creativity and
personality to take songs and allow people to hear them in a different
way. I love his take on a Marvin Gaye classic...
This authenticity meant people
wanted to back him, pick up the phone and vote so they could get a chance to
see more of what he had to offer. Which
in turn must’ve encouraged him to push the boundaries even further and keep
true to himself. Which leads me onto…. They people to do what
they do best and embrace their style. Similar to the Whether it’s power ballards, rapping, dance or Motown
that floats your boat, you can really tell when someone is singing in a style
that doesn’t work for them. The encourage people
to take the feedback and lessons learnt and use those to make themselves even
better. There are quite a few acts,
those who are really motivated who you see come back again and again, even if
they haven’t been the winner. I get so
nervous when someone comes on stage to audition that’s been there before and
hasn’t won the competition. Sometimes I
find it hard to watch! But, I LOVE it
when they absolutely smash the audition.
The pride and relief on their face is fantastic to see. And you know what I’ve noticed? Usually the ones that do this are those that
say, ‘I took the feedback from last time and it made me more determined than
ever to work hard and succeed; to become even better this time’. It’s not always easy to hear feedback –
especially when you’re disappointed. But
the right feedback taken on board and applied with some fighting spirit can be
so powerful to help people do themselves proud.
A GREAT example of this was Ruff Diamond dance troupe who came back for the second year running on Got2Dance. Although they didn't win, they made it to the final and I've no doubt will go far:
They show the value
of hard work. Practice, practice,
practice! Although some people are
gifted with talents, if you don’t learn the words to the song, or do a trial
run of your Victoria sponge before the competition, you might not get as far as
you’d like. This year on Got2Dance,
there was a massive influx of talent who had spent hours and hours in their
bedrooms learning their craft. The
outcome of this dedication and commitment to do what they loved and perfect
their craft was amazing!
They encourage people
to believe in themselves. Positive
encouragement and feeling that other people enjoy, respect, love or even accept
them for who and what they are is really powerful. And I LOVE seeing people who have been
nervous as anything, unsure of themselves bloom into confident and self assured
individuals, happy to be who they are and follow their dreams and motivations
to make a difference. And when these
people channel their success to make differences to other peoples’ lives, that
makes me very, very happy!
They inspire other people
to pursue their dreams. Like them or
loathe them, the fact that television captures such a large audience, to me, is
a fantastic thing. If just one person
gets inspired to pursue their dreams by the story or journey of the people who
put themselves out there, then that really is special. In fact, I suspect that they touch a few more
people than that.
Here is the Got2Dance 2013 winner inspiring others with his amazing dance to the voice of X-factor winner, James Arthur:
How does this fit in with what I do? Well, I love nothing more than seeing someone
fulfil their potential and seeing the value in what they bring. When I’m assessing on an interview day, I
make it my personal goal to make sure that each and every person I come into
contact with feels relaxed enough to be themselves. I make sure I show them that I’m interested
in what they have to say. I will make
sure I ask the best possible questions to give them every opportunity to
showcase their skills. And what’s more,
whether they’re successful or not, I make sure that the feedback they are given
is meaningful, delivered in a compassionate and personal way and hopefully
encourages them to play to their strengths, develop themselves further and
appreciate the value of their unique offering.
And boy, when I am told that I’ve made someone’s day, or
that they really appreciate the feedback and understand what they do well /
could improve upon for the future, then that inspires me to keep doing what I
do and take the time to make sure that I don’t lose sight of the value this
personal touch that I value so much adds to others.
So, whether you’re off on an interview soon, entering a talent
competition, or just carrying on your day to day life, remember to be true to
you….Remember to Express Yourself. Love this song for capturing the essence of this.
At work, our team have recently embarked on a journey
together. An exciting journey of High
Performance Collaboration. You see we’ve
been through quite a journey already. Since
I joined just over a year and a half ago, we’ve had:
A new direct sourcing team structure and whole
new way of working
3 new roles introduced into our team – 2 Resourcers
and a Future Talent Exec
2 people move within our team – well done on the
promo Helen and so glad to have you as a fellow TAM Chris!
1 person move out on secondment – Jo, we miss
you!
1 grad Sophie move from a 1st year
grad placement in our team out to Marketing – also miss you Sophie and thank you for getting our new process to where it is now!
1 new grad Greg start 1st year placement
in our team – welcome Gregory!!!
3 further new Associates – the amazing Rachel,
Emily and Shereen – soooo glad all three of you are here!
Now, we’re a very lucky team.We’re passionate.We’re team players.We exude positivity and fun.We love being Ambassadors for our business to
the external world and are passionate about offering an amazing service to our
stakeholders and playing our part in contributing to top notch business
performance.We like trying new things
and get really enthused to learn how we can attract those ‘needle-in-a-haystack-candidates’
or future proof our business by investing in and snazzily attracting the talent
for the future.Line Managers have told
us that they deliberately swing by our desks as we’re always so welcoming, helpful,
positive and smile A LOT!
Sounds like we don’t need much more than that hey! Well, we’ve decided we do. You see, with our positivity, team ethos and
passion for results comes a great opportunity.
An opportunity to harness the unique skills and talents that each of us
bring to make an even bigger impact together than we would going it alone. You see we’ve got our sights on making some
real splashes and we’ve identified some great things we want to achieve to make
us more efficient, more impactful and as a result make the business
better. And what’s more, we want it
all! We want to continue to do engage
and attract the best talent, we want to continue to provide a top notch service,
we want to land these projects AND we want to continue to have wellbeing
objectives at the forefront of our agenda.
We want to make sure we leave work at a decent time most days, we want
to make sure we have time to see our loved ones, cook healthy meals, go for
runs, spend time on our self-development….the list goes on. Basically, we want to have our cake and eat
it too!
So, what are going to do?
Thanks to our amazing line manager aka ‘The Mizza’ who really believes
we can have the cake and eat it (in moderation in line with our wellbeing of
course!); we’re investing in finding out how we can harness the power of
team. We’re bringing in the big gun
trainers, such as the 'energetic-and-ultimate-celebrator-of-each-and every-individual', Sara; and the 'selfless-and-ultimate-engagement-for-business-success champion' Liz. And with their help, wisdom, passion and encouragement, we’re figuring out
how we can become the slickest of slickest operations. Where have we started? We’ve started by understanding us and our
strengths. And boy, do we have some
great ones. We have strategic and futuristic
skills, maximiser skills, communication and achiever skills, empathy and
learners. The list really does go
on.
Our first steps on the journey? To really embrace and learn to appreciate the
skills we bring as an individual. Only
you bring what you bring – so we’re learning to love it and BRING it!
To start recognising that it is really very powerful when
you enlist the help of the right people at the right places or time in a
project. We can use our strategists to
help devise the direction in which we want to head. We can use our communicators to engage people
with our mission. We can use our achievers
to make sure we set ourselves milestones and don’t miss off a step. We can use our empathisers to ensure we’re
putting ourselves in people’s shoes and make sure we’re making the right
impact.
So, we’ve started giving it a go. We’ve now got 5 of us working on an Apprentice
recruitment campaign where last year it was just 2. And do you know what? It feels good! We’ve got people taking ownership for the
parts that really play to their strengths and float their boats. And it seems to be working. We’ve been more creative as a result, it’s
well planned, we’ve planned some amazing communication, we’re hoping for a good
result, we’ve already planned to review, capture learnings and fine tune for
next year. But what’s more, it’s giving
us a chance to work together on something great, work on our development and
thanks to the number of us getting involved; it’s not a massive investment of
time. Wellbeing is still on the agenda!
And boy am I glad it is!
Because on Friday those of us who were in the office managed to leave at
4 and go have afternoon tea together in the wonderful and beautiful CowarthPark. It was amazing! I’m so glad we managed to have a go at trying
the unique blend.
In reference to the amazing pianist who set the mood just right, please feel free to take a look at the pics below of our outing to the following feel good track:
So, I’ve been home alone this
weekend. Hubby has been on an amazing work
incentive in Chamonix and I’ve been mooching around, meeting up with my amazing friend Hannah
and deciding to take a plunge and start this blog. I’ve just got a text message from
my hubby which has made me massively smile, so I wanted to capture our parallel
weekends through the medium of text conversations. Here are a few:
Johnny: Love you Me:
Wow! Looks amazing!! You look well happy in that pic. Love you too xx
Johnny: It is amazing here. Forget the sports. The place alone is stunning. You would love it. The temperature in that picture of me was
21c!!!!
Me:
No way!! Woww!!
Johnny: It was awesome.
Johnny: This place is stunning!
Johnny: We had fondue for dinner
Me: That is amazing! Beautiful!
So, million dollar question: what’s
better, grated cheese or melted cheese? ;-) So glad you got to go bubs xx
Johnny: Grated is best!
Me: Too right! And just now...... Johnny: I love you honey
Me: I love you too. Starving!
I’ve got to go hunter gather for myself…boo! What you up to?
Johnny: Went up the mountain
properly today. It was the most amazing
thing. I am going to start skiing. I love this life! Went back to the hotel and had a sauna and a
swim. Shower and a DVD and now in texas
restaurant waiting for ribs!
Me: Jesus Christ, that sounds like
the perfect day! Love it!! I could be persuaded to come with you next
time (obv not on a work one). Bet you
are well happy with ribs on the way too!
Johnny: Bad ribs!!!!! But still an amazing place. You would love it. So there you have it. Looks like I might go off skiing
sometime. Watch this space! In the meantime, two things. Firstly, I can't wait for Johnny to come back and tell me all his stories. To help me tell him mine, here's a few pics from my weekend:
These pics were taken when off exploring with my amazing friend Hannah. I noticed that she had the Amaretto wedding favour still untouched from mine and Johnny's wedding (where she was a beautiful bridesmaid) and it made me smile!! Here's a quick bridesmaid pic for the hell of it...(lovely Hannah on the left and my beautiful little sis Siobhan on the right)
Secondly, I would be really
interested to find out what you think is best: grated or melted cheese? Please feel free to comment!
We’ve already established that I love what I do. Work is like my playground, where I'm lucky I get to
explore new avenues and ideas, be creative and talk to and positively impact
people on a daily basis. Because I do
have so much freedom to be me and I’m excited by the wonderful possibilities,
it’s really easy for me to get carried away and let my work mojo go wild! Which is great! The thing I’m starting to realise though is
that sometimes I’m then in danger of letting my home mojo take second
place. And I really don’t want that to
happen. Because I want to make sure that
I invest the same energy and enthusiasm into positively impacting and
encouraging those I love too. They mean
the world to me. They help support and
encourage me to be the best me I can be.
And I know that I love them for being them. But quite frankly if I’m not spending quality
time with them, then I’m not always showing them just how much they mean to me
am I? And because I want to do both, I can be guilty of then forgetting to take time to re-charge. I always read before bed. Every night without fail. I love it and it's important for me to switch off. Hubby does too. But this is all well and good as long as I'm getting to bed early enough to allow me to really re-charge!
If you or anyone else you know
finds it difficult to stay on the work / life balance see-saw, then I would
highly recommend this book. I’ve been
reading it lately and it’s really helped me get some perspective. For anyone who likes a good toolkit too – it’s
great for that too. I've taken the image from the amazon page, so the link to look inside doesn't work (I just love a visual) but I've included the amazon link below in case anyone fancies taking a closer look....
