5 Things We’ve Learned Over 5 Years
Brokat is turning five next week!
It has been quite the journey to reach this milestone, full of high points and low points. There is a great deal that we have learned in our time, and not all of those lessons were easy or pleasant to learn. But, learn them we have.
Join us today as we reflect on these lessons.
Lesson One: How To Find Good People
No matter how much you love your job, the wrong team can make you resent it. Even hate it. Finding good people, not just qualified people, to join your team is one of the core lessons we hold close.
We are a small business. Our team has to work closely together, and one person’s mood or attitude can easily affect everyone — a tense work environment results when personalities or work attitudes badly clash.
Learning how to find good people means looking beyond their qualifications and at their attitude, at how they approach their life and work. While it’s impossible to grasp someone’s personality in a single interview completely, we’ve fine-tuned our process to the point where we can get a solid feel for how someone might integrate into the team.
Always remember that attitude is just as important as ability.
Lesson Two: Appreciate The Little Things
Learning to appreciate the little things may seem like a no-brainer. But, this is often a lesson that we need to remind ourselves of continuously.
A win, no matter how small, should be appreciated. But there are things beyond wins that we can appreciate. For example, a gift from a grateful client, Friday drinks with the team, or a pleasant but productive day are all things that we sometimes forget to appreciate.
Recognising these small moments for what they are and appreciating them goes a long way to keeping morale healthy and vibrant. It’s these moments we often think of during more difficult times.
Lesson Three: Working Together While Working Apart
Okay, we know the title for this lesson is a bit cheesy, but it fits! The pandemic taught us many things, not just about ourselves but how we work together.
We’ve always been capable of working online. However, lockdowns and capacity limits truly pushed that capability to new levels. It changed how we had to communicate, how we collaborated on projects, and made us realise how dependent we were on each other.
Given how suddenly snap lockdowns can appear, our ability to shift everything online at a moment’s notice is a valuable lesson.
Lesson Four: Knowing When To Let Go
Knowing when to let go… it’s a hard and inevitable lesson that every business has to learn. There is a point where we must decide to call it quits and let go – on a project, a campaign, a client, a team member, a supplier, and so forth.
The tough decisions are rarely pleasant, but they are necessary to grow. We learned that it’s okay to accept that something isn’t working, and that letting it go is the right way forward.
Lesson Five: The Value Of Team Outings
Team outings are a great way to celebrate the wins, overcome the losses, and take much-needed breaks. We’ve always enjoyed them, but understanding just how important they were didn’t occur until a few years into our journey.
Stepping away from the computer and letting our hair down for a relaxed BBQ or heading out for dinner and drinks with the team is important for morale. Beyond that, outings and shared experiences are valuable for team bonding and letting everyone kick back and have fun.
It can be hard to close the office early or take a long lunch, but it’s a well-deserved reward and important to do on occasion.
Lessons Still To Be Learned
We at Brokat are incredibly fortunate to have reached our fifth birthday. We truly appreciate the people that have helped us along the way – friends, clients, suppliers, team members, and all the rest.
Learning is a lifelong journey. We fully expect to experience ups and downs that teach us more valuable lessons, and we are excited to see what happens next.
