My 5th Workivirsary at Inspired:

This month marks 5 years that I have been working at Inspired and while it has flown by, I can’t believe I’ve ever worked anywhere else! To say your work is like another family and home-away-from-home, can feel like a cliché and can detract from the professionalism that threads through interactions with your colleagues, and external parties, on a daily basis but it’s hard to find another simile that quite captures the love that I have about working here…

So, to mark 5 years, I wanted to share with you 5 lessons that the years have given me about what it is to work in a great place:

1. The “well done” culture breeds things done well

Sharing your success doesn’t make you arrogant, it just means that you’ve recognised that what you set out to do happened, or happened even better than you planned! Your colleagues probably saw how hard you worked and will be pleased for you and will likely learn from you. Likewise, if you see someone else has achieved something that was important to them, don’t forget to congratulate them. A couple of tiny words from you can make them leave work feeling their work was all worth the while.

2. It’s what you do….

I feel privileged every day that the type of work I am doing is so interesting. Publishing people are among the greatest, I think, and to be constantly meeting with them, learning about them and working with them to build new teams to create more incredible products that readers love is a joy.

3....and who you do it with

For me, working with highly motivated people is essential for job satisfaction and if you’ve ever met one of the Inspired consultants or seen us at events, you’ll quickly know why I get such great satisfaction from this role. There’s nothing greater than hearing people around you also loving what they’re doing, sharing ideas with each other and smiling when they come in in the morning. It can’t be amazing 100% of the time and having people nearby who know just how to pick you up when you need it is the best way to spend more time happy and less time worried about things.

4. Old dogs can learn new tricks!

Never stop training and never stop learning. Being open to listening to someone, whether they are in their first week or have been doing the job for decades, if they have a particular skill for something or have a really successful way of doing something can be a wonderful way of not only learning something new but challenging yourself to question how you’re doing other things. Are you doing something because it’s your old trick or is it actually the best way of doing it? That feeling of frustration of having to learn something new is a phase that you have to go through and ride that wave until you’ve nailed the new way.

5. Know who you are

While knowing your weaknesses is helpful, but knowing your strengths is really powerful. These are what will help you succeed and bring success to your team. Knowing how to make the job your own, within what’s expected and needed of you by the company is a sure-fire way to build fantastic relationships that will stay with you throughout your career.