A trip to IW for 48hrs was a daunting thought when I have recently been through so much.
I knew Jonna would make me feel welcome and I would experience a lot of fun and transparency. I was interested to see a new culture, one so different from my past nine years. A fab office space, open, full of young energised people. A free-flowing environment where you do not have set hours, can go for a jog, pop into the local café for a coffee, take a stroll around the park and chat. Genuine people who care about people and are interested in your story.
Free-flowing collaborative culture
I shared my journey with many of them, believing that hardships often prepare you for an extraordinary path ahead. There is genuine intrigue from others when you been through such levels of change in your mid life and are still positive, driven, ambitious and so keen to learn and develop. I was open to learning from Jonna and the team, absorb this free-flowing collaborative environment and culture. This was so new for me but certainly refreshing. For Jonna, a very similar character and personality type to me. Dipping in and out of meetings, leading the team from the top. Was so reassuring to see how he worked. This is me and I want this again. You cant help who you are, how you are made and how you work the best. It’s instinct at its finest.
Mid-morning matters
I had not been in an environment where the pure people development is paramount. Everyone has been recruited for the person they are and the openness to learning. The morning consists of a break that is called ‘mid morning matters’. A tea break to catch up, chat and perhaps throw a few ideas around. In a fast-changing, growing and flexible workplace with team members being out on site training, this is a key catch up sociable time.
There is a sense of growth, constant striving to be a better business. Each team is built building profiles to compliment each persons strengths and weakness’s. It’s really clever and makes such sense. I genuinely believe that these people are very lucky to work in this business, be part of this journey and this time will set them all up for their futures in whatever field they push forwards in, pure life skills.
“I would not have had this experience if I had not seen a huge change in my circumstances.”
Finding positives from hardships
This past few days has given me hope, reassurance, encouragement and inspiration. It’s about trusting your team, allowing them to learn and grow. Hardships are part of life, it’s how you take the good from the bad and bad from good. From all tragedy comes a positive. What matters is how quickly you get up off your knees.