In this week’s digest Caitlin looks back over the past couple of months working at #NRG. (Yes, can you believe its been 2 months since I introduced you to Lewis and Caitlin, my amazing kickstart-ers. Time flies when you are having fun.)
As part of their experience with #teamNRG I wanted them both to make sure they recognise what they achieve, understand what they are learning and how they have grown whilst working with our organisation. I couldn’t believe the 3 things Caitlin picked out….especially “Postcard-Gate”. Have a read!
Hi, I’m Caitlin and I have been working for Nicola for nearly 2 months now, as a Social Media assistant. In college I studied Interactive Media and Graphic Design. I have definitely used these skills in the last 2 months, but I have learnt so much more from Nicola and just doing the job. That is why I wanted to share with you 3 things I have learnt while working for #teamNRG.
Attention to detail.
This sounds like a small thing but, its important. I always remember on my first day, Nicola gifted Lewis and I a bag with stationary inside, a picture frame and one of NRG’s postcards with a little handwritten note welcoming us to #teamNRG. She had made a comment about how we could put the postcard in the frame. So, we both did, only we didn’t think the process through we just popped the postcard inside.
The frame was slightly bigger than the postcard so you could see the cardboard on the other side of the frame through the glasses and the postcard was in the frame at an angle. At the time this didn’t seem like a big deal to either Lewis or I, but as soon as Nicola saw it, she had to say something, which I’m glad she did. She made us take them out and put a blank piece of paper behind the postcard so the cardboard could not be seen and made sure the postcard was straight inside the frame. She said about how this is only something small but is the attention to detail she wants to reflect on her business. These frames sit on Lewis and I’s desks as a reminder and the now referred to as ‘postcard-gate' was a very good first lesson learnt.
Do not crowd page.
I’ve done a fair bit of design work for Nicola and one was designing a logo for The UniqueNRG Collective, an upcoming resource from #NRG. (I am sure you’ll hear more about it soon.) In college when we did design sketches, we were taught to just have a page full of idea sketches that you would then from there pick a few favourites and then develop them further.
However, in college there was no client, so I didn’t have to send the sketch pages to anyone to get feedback - I was making all the decisions. Therefore, when I had finished my sketch idea pages crowed with logo ideas, I send this to the client. Now, I know that they didn’t need to see all my ideas. (especially not the bad ones!) The client only needs to see the best of what you have, and it also means that the designs will be bigger, and they can see it in more detail and compare one design with another design easier as they won’t have to zoom in and out. I have continued to use this lesson learnt.
Google school
As I only work for Nicola part time, we thought it was a good idea to do some further education. I decided it was beneficial for me to look at digital marketing courses at my local collage to further my understanding of it but unfortunately, they were all full up.
So, after looking on online courses I found out that google offer a bunch of free courses on their website Digital Garage. I decided on the ‘Fundamentals of digital marketing’ which is a 40-hour course that you can do at your own speed and once you complete it you get a certificate that you can put on your CV. I’m only about 40% thought the course but I have already learnt so much about SEO and SEM and business strategies that I can apply to working as a Social Media assistant for the Nicola Rylett Group. They have a load of other free courses on the website that I’m thinking about doing once I have finished this one.
Thanks Caitlin. As I mentioned above I’m not so sure I wouldn’t have picked the 3 things Caitlin reflected on. She’s learnt so many other things during these first couple of months.; how to build brand guidelines, using business systems, new tools etc. There are so many practical things she has taken on board over the last two months. Makes your mind boggle.
It goes to show a couple of things:
(1) that sometimes we don’t know the true impact of our actions on others, even the smallest ones.
(2) You must always stand up for the standards you believe in.
As managers and leaders we need to remember not to just dump projects, tasks, work on our teams without first making sure they understand what you stand for, the quality of work you want in your business and whats important to your clients/customers.
So what have you learnt so far this year? Who’s inspired by you? How can we pass on our knowledge and expertise to the next generation for business leaders?