7 things we know now (that maybe we didn’t know before)!
It’s hard to believe that The Art of Work is celebrating our 7th anniversary. When we set out back in 2012, this was always about creating more than business. We wanted to challenge the status quo and not just adopt old ways of working. Being agile and creating a thriving community of practice were vital to us. Building somewhere where our clients, partners and our team really wanted to work together to develop something unique and importantly, modelling the themes of the future of work.
Our 7 values have always been at the heart of our practice as we wanted these to represent truly who we are and to keep us grounded in the more challenging times! So have we lived our values? We hope so, and by sharing our musings we can perhaps give others the benefit of our hindsight. So, as we reflected on this, we asked ourselves - are we still……?
Absorbing – For us, this has meant staying fascinated and inquisitive about what’s around us. We’ve discovered the importance of curiosity and looking ‘up and out’ to generate fresh thinking and keep us ‘in tune’ with the wider world. Our Future Forums are as much about us immersing ourselves in a topic and learning from our community as it is about putting our own ideas out there. We’ve learned rarely to spend time attending the more obvious learning and development events, but have found we are far more in tune with futurist events and activities to feed our enquiring minds and souls. All of this has informed our own practice but also has made sure we’re linking everything we do back to the changing world around us.
Real – We’ve learned that we must never lose sight of the difference we want to make. This is obviously the case for our client work, but also how we work with the wider communities we support. By focusing consistently on those who will be impacted by our work and the value we want to ensure, we always continued to ask the question ‘so what?’ to make sure that whatever we are delivering hits home and is of immediate and practical use.
Tireless – For us, being tireless has been about a willingness to stretch and challenge rather than stay in our comfort zones; and this isn’t just about the work we do, but also those ‘moments of choice’ when we’ve known that the right thing was to be brave and challenge a viewpoint rather than just blandly accept it. Admittedly, there have been times when this has been tough to do, but having the courage of our convictions has been important in showing who we are and what’s important to us.
Wholehearted – Our business is all about relationships and giving our time without thinking about what we receive in return. This means it’s also based on an abundance mentality, mutual trust and a generosity of spirit. Even when this has proved challenging (and yes , there have been many times), we’ve learned the importance of appreciating someone else’s ‘lens on the the world’ and finding a way to positively work together. Sometimes this has meant holding to our own truth too, even when this have meant making difficult decisions.
Off-beat – Along the way, we’ve learned not to be afraid to challenge the norm, to step outside the lines and to inject some energy into what we do. It’s easy to take life seriously, particularly when the pressure’s on, but we’ve seen that sometimes, it’s important to be irreverent. It’s so easy just to follow the crowd but we know that our best learning and innovation has always happened when we have allowed ourselves to think differently and find a fresh perspective.
Rousing – We still believe that our core purpose is to be a catalyst for change in everything we do. These may seem like fine words, but through our work we have always tried to inspire others to reach their potential or to deal with challenge and change even if this has involved taking a risk or two. We’ve also learned that to do this, we must never forget to bring our own personal energy and passions to everything we do as we know it’s what truly what brings our work to life.
Kindred Spirit – Our growing community remains at the heart of all we do. Built on the relationships we have developed along the way, whether it’s our central team, our practitioners, partners or clients, we have repeatedly seen and heard that we are in it together. The lines we draw around our organisation are sometimes blurred, but in a good way! But it’s that spirit of belonging that’s been crucial to creating a creative and supportive space for us all, and we hope that it will continue for many years to come.
On balance, we think we have tried hard to really ‘live’ our values so they are more than just fine words. We have made mistakes but we have also learned from these. Sometimes it’s a challenge and it’s certainly never dull. For those of you who have been part of this journey, we thank you – every day you still bring us fresh insight and if it all ended tomorrow (which we sincerely hope it won’t) we wouldn’t regret one minute of the time we have spent together trying to help others to ‘Master the Workplace’. Our focus this year is on being 100% human at work which, for us, is about seeing all of our values in action for next 7 years and beyond - wish us luck!
**Sandra and Julie
The Art of Work **
