Hello, blog readers!
I am so thrilled to be writing for the first time as Director at Velocitii.
After months of exciting chats with Michael towards the end of 2019, it’s great to have finally started in my new role. I’m also delighted that our conversations now are as hopeful, creative, inspiring and motivational as that initial promise.
My plan is to write every so often to share a little bit about myself and what we’re up to here at Velocitii.
In this role I will be helping to grow and strengthen the organisation, with a specific focus on people. I’ll be creating and delivering strategic pieces of work in key areas such as recruitment, engagement, performance and more.
How has your 2020 been so far?
For me, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of learning, training and meeting new people.
As well as getting me up to speed on the people-side of the business, we’ve also been making plans for Velocitii for this year and beyond - including the brilliant people, companies and countries we'd love to work with, and how to hold on to our strengths as a company as we grow. I could write SO much about those discussions that in a couple of months I'll dedicate a whole blog to sharing some of our plans for the future.
Although the core Velocitii team is currently just Michael and I, I’m enjoying getting to know the wider team and talking to them about their roles and plans. There are some incredible expert partners that we are privileged to have as part of the Velocitii family: Jon is doing a fantastic job at the moment in service design, but his skills in emotional UX and as a mentor and communicator are clear to see in the conversations that we have had; Jess is having an awesome impact for our client in building relationships and establishing networks in the PropTech sector; and Tracey and Guljahan are doing vital work in supporting business processes and planning, to enable the client to function effectively and build for the future.
I’m also really enjoying the many interesting, funny and sometimes bizarre things we find ourselves saying, such as:
- “do we really need to have job titles?”
- “it's great we've got such diversity of thought…”
- “how would we go about setting up that sort of team?”
- “oh, they are doing so well, they’ve been getting really positive feedback”
- “I thought I knew what flexible working was but now I realise I really didn't”
- “how can we fix it for somebody to take a bit of a break and come back rejuvenated?”
- “omg your spin class is 90s hip hop - hilarious!”
Lastly, I’m looking forward to trying my hand at writing blogs on the things I’m passionate about, including diversity (specifically LGBT+), contemporary organisational design and effective employee engagement. Of course, if there’s anything else you’d like to read about then do let me know!
Finding balance
So far 2020 hasn’t only been about work for me, and those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that I cherish my work/life balance. These are just some of the other fun things that have been bringing me joy:
Training
After many years of standing on the side-lines as a superfan, I have finally signed up for a triathlon. In between meetings, I’ve been happily hitting the pool/wheels/tarmac in preparation - just this lunchtime I was at my local lido, enjoying some unexpectedly amazing January sunshine.
Quality time with friends and family
Earlier this year I had a lovely day with my family, going for a long walk in the countryside. Despite us all growing up in London, all of them (apart from me) have now moved down to the south coast which means that I regularly nip down to see them. I love a bit of Aunt duty and, as you can see, this walk was a bit of a work-out as I spent much of it carrying both of my nieces!
When life gets busy I’m a big fan of finding time to get out of the city and connect with loved ones.
This weekend, my partner had a rare weekend off work so we went out for the day. We soaked up some culture at the British Museum, going to an exhibition about how Eastern art and architecture has influenced the West. Some of the design was extremely reminiscent of what I used to come across from the Hindu tradition when I lived in India for a couple of years earlier in my career. We also supped on a couple of beers back in our local pub while we planned some trips for the next six months. She’s keen to climb Snowdon so we’re trying to work out when we’re most likely to get fair weather for that but not clash with the peak tourist season - do let me know if anyone out there has any advice.
Until next time
In my next blog, I’ll be sharing some of our future plans for Velocitii and how we’re going about refining them.
We’ll definitely be growing even more this year and will be on the look-out for brilliant, passionate people across the spectrum of digital and technology roles. If this sounds like you, do have a look at our website and get in touch if you like the sound of us and could bring something special to the table.
For those of you who have made it to the end, thank you for reading and feel free to reach out to me on Twitter!
About the author
