All for one: and one for all!

Ah! The blessings of having a good team of colleagues to share an office cannot be over-estimated.

The office I share at NMIT is full of excellent people: they are funny, insightful, and sometimes totally off the wall.

There are projectiles flying, hilarious messages being posted on our whiteboard, shared coffees, deep and meaningful philosophical debates, commiserations, and much, much laughter.

The quality of the conversation is excellent, and we all learn something, every day.

You know you are in good company when, as I repeatedly drop the f-bomb, nobody turns a hair. My colleagues regularly ask me to give them technical advice on working with Microsoft products. The communications expert in our office is asked for advice on moderating and clarifying our emails, and provides excellent feedback on the spot. Our office members have gratefully formed the taste panel for a new range of consumer products, and have fed back on branding perceptions and meanings.

We are a team of individuals, who come together as a tight five: and that's rare. And precious.

And it is something to do with all of us being willing to have fun, and to put our egos aside. It is about us all being willing to hear the truth from another's perspective, and to suck that up.

It is about dignity and respect, but it is also about us not taking ourselves too seriously... and about appreciating our differences.

Long may that last!


Sam

References:

• Dumas, Alexandre (1844). The Three Musketeers (2006 edition, translated by Richard Pevear). UK: Penguin Classics (p. 89)
• John, Nic (2016). 0800 Quote. Nelson, NZ: personal conversation