Four Career Tips Embryo Have Taught Me

The first week of January 2021 marked my two years anniversary at the company (two extremely fast years I might add). So, I wanted to discuss some of the key things that I have learnt in my role as Operations Manager at Embryo that can also be applied to any role in business. 

Go above and beyond

One of our core mottos at Embryo as a team is to go above and beyond every single day, whether this is for our colleagues or a client. Each morning, we all nominate either ourselves or a team member and explain what we/they did that day to go above and beyond for someone else (that falls out of their usual job role). Given the current situation in lockdown 3.0, this really keeps up our spirits and allows us to celebrate our hard work and achievements together as a team. I think that is a really important message to promote right now in order to keep people motivated and positive. I believe that this is what sets us apart from others and allows us to grow consistently whilst delivering great results for our clients. 

Practise what you preach

It is really important to set the bar for your team and make sure you are also following the same standards that you expect from them. In 2020, I launched our Manager Development Programme for our team as well as our Delivery Team Development Programme. As I explained in my previous blog, these are primarily to help our team members push themselves further to that next step, to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses and to ensure they are all doing as much as they can to better themselves personally and professionally. Not only does this benefit them as individuals, but it also benefits the company as a whole. As a team, we are always encouraged to read outside of work, there are thousands of books out there that can have a massive impact on improving our weaknesses. Whilst we encourage the team to actively keep up with this, I have learnt that it is extremely important to practise what you preach and ensure that you are also demonstrating this yourself. Some of my favourite books that I have read over the past two years that I feel has made a huge impact on my professional career are; the five dysfunctions of a team by Patrick Lencioni, mindset by Carol Dweck, get your sh*t together by Sarah Knight, the five-minute manager by Spencer Johnson, and who moved my cheese also by Spencer Johnson.  

Get out of your comfort zone

We are fortunate to have two directors at Embryo that really push as hard in order to get the best out of us, and this is not something I have found to be common in previous jobs. We are always being encouraged to put ourselves forward to do things that place us out of our comfort zone. One thing that I have actively tried to do more of in 2020 was public speaking, something that makes me very nervous to even think about never mind actually doing it! However, I knew it was important for me to progress and for me to get to where I want to eventually be in my career. So, the first thing I did was find a book I thought would help me; ‘how to own the room, women and the art of public speaking’, this provides some really inspiring stories and tips from famous female public speakers all over the world. Next, I signed up to become a Digital Her role model and took part in as many educational speaking events as I could in order to become accustomed to 1) talking to people I had never met before and 2) feeling comfortable actually talking about myself and my professional journey so far. Now that I feel comfortable running educational talks, this year, I plan to find more speaking opportunities for a different industry and purpose, in order to overcome the next step in my fear of public speaking. 

The progression of your team is just as important as your own

I thought I would save this one till last as I think it is the most important key aspect that I have learnt in my two years as an Operations Manager at Embryo. Throughout 2020, I really wanted to place an emphasis on spending more time with our line managers in order to support them with their team members as much as possible. As our team grows so quickly and people are promoted to head of departments, I thought that management training and guidance would be really beneficial for them, especially for those who have perhaps not managed a team of people before. I have worked with people previously where their only mindset is about them and their personal gain, however, one thing I have noticed is that if you switch your mindset to become more about the company and your team as a whole, you will notice a much faster improvement for both yourself and the company, which in turn is a positive for everyone. If you carry this message every single day, I found that it also helps to establish a much more positive and supportive, hard-working culture, which is exactly what each company needs throughout the current global circumstances that we are all going through. 

I hope you found my tips useful! I would be really interested to hear what your key findings are that you have learnt throughout your career and how you feel it has shaped your progression today. Alternatively, If our company and work ethic is something that you would like to be a part of, check out our current vacancies online today and you could be our next Embryo team member within our digital marketing department.