Last night was a very special night for Retail inMotion’s People Success Team.
It’s been quite a tough few years for us.
We have been striving to provide a baseline of warmth and emotional strength whilst our colleagues are battling uncertainty, loneliness, burnout, and many major family issues.
We have been learning and trying to support the business to provide a response to a whole host of new terms that don’t seem to have existed two years ago:
- Zoom fatigue
- Decision overwhelm
- Cognitive dissonance
- Burnout
- The great resignation
- Hybrid working
- Etc
People hope that their HR Team hold the magic wand that will make their pain go away, yet our own HR Teams have been struggling under a huge mental load.
Therefore, I secretly entered a few of the Irish HR Champion Awards, without telling my team, in the hope that if we were shortlisted, we could have a great night out and an opportunity to soak up the positive stories in a room full of likeminded people – soul food.
I was not prepared for a win, no speech written! I’ve since seen the video of what I said and its not as bad as I had originally thought, but for someone who gives out my appreciation to my colleagues all day every day, thank you ‘s were sadly lacking.
We began our employer branding adventure because we had a huge recruitment ask and no one knew who we were. We also had no budget – not a bit. What we did have was a bunch of in-house storytellers.
Firstly – a huge thank you to all my bosses and peers in RiM who allow me to do my thing with our employer branding. It’s always been a safe place to play with concepts.
Secondly – our HR Team (People Success) are a bunch of passionate, credible professionals who implement ruthlessly. When we decide anything to do with Branding and candidate experience the consistency from my team brings the concept to another level. They understand what I want to achieve and then contribute and implement the story I am trying to tell.
Next , I live for the collaboration with our Graphic Design Team. We dream big. In that team I include the most amazing videographer, Steve McKenna. I tell him the emotion I want people to feel when they see our content and he delivers beyond my expectations every time.
Finally (I think) We are now a grownup company and with that status we have a Communications Specialist. Gabriela Micu-Motroc and I collaborate in a very special way. We both love telling true stories in an engaging and entertaining way. We unblock each other’s creativity and I leave every meeting with Gabi feeling inspired.
To Donna and the sponsors – thank you. You created a wonderfully warm space last night. As I keep saying – awards like these are not a vanity project. They are an opportunity to recognise what we can influence in a world of change. They are an opportunity to celebrate our amazing teams.
They are to remind ourselves that we are good people doing good things. We are also good people doing hard things, it’s easier to do hard things when you remember that you are good people doing good things.
I speak at conferences about our Employer Branding journey, calling it “Zero to Hero”, creating a brand that’s authentic but one that people fall in love with as soon as they touch it. That Journey reached its peak last night with this award.
Here’s to doing more good things together.
