The benefits of other people's shoes

This morning at around 8:30am you may have felt a sudden change in atmospheric pressure. This is likely to have been due to the almighty sigh of relief I gave when our director, Wendy, returned from two weeks annual leave.

During this time, I metaphorically slipped into Wendy’s creative shoes and learnt a few things about the role of others in my workplace.

I’ll admit that the first few days were quite hectic, but by the end of the two weeks, I’m happy to report that I had everything running like clockwork. I felt like I had survived an avalanche, dug my way out and carried on to the summit.

The whole experience has been a truly valuable insight into the inner workings of our design team. As a BDM, there is no better way to understand every step of the service or product that you deliver than to actually deliver that service or product from the job confirmation to the “thanks and come back soon”.

Now, when I’m discussing projects with clients and creating proposals, I can do so with an acute understanding of the work that will go into that project. This is stupendously beneficial from three different people’s shoes:

1. The client’s – I can confidently discuss the realities of timeframes and the limitations of print, resulting in a project that meets or exceeds everyone’s expectations.

2. The team’s – Don’t oversell. When putting the cheese in the trap, always leave enough room for the mouse. Now when I hand a proposal over to the production team, the team can be confident that I haven’t sold the impossible at a budget that can’t be met. This will make me an all round more likeable guy in the office!

3. My own – Confucious said: “What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand.” I understand! Far more than if I simply listened to team members telling me what their job involves. This will really help to develop my career at Hot Pyjama Productions.

So if you really want to make yourself an invaluable asset to your company, dedicate some time to finding out what everyone else gets up to and, even if only for an hour, walk a while in their shoes!