Strong relationships create more opportunities
So says Janet Forsythe in reflecting on the learnings from the last 6 months she will take with her into the future
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If you could go back one year into the past, what advice would you give yourself?
I would tell myself to build capacity ahead of the curve to ensure I don’t run out of energy and resources when I’ll need it most. Building a business that will flourish also means building personal resilience and moments of self-care and reflection. -
What surprised you over the last couple of months?
My team of millennial superstars surprised me by proposing to me, in the middle of lockdown, that we should get permanent office space. Since starting a boutique consultancy 2 years ago, we’ve always worked very flexible hours from home. Their suggestion came as a surprise at a time I thought the world was heading in the opposite direction. Everything in me kicked against it. I wanted to be future-focused, flexible and unbound by working space and time. But they convinced me that the benefits of human interaction and creative collaboration would outweigh the costs and today I am happy that I listened to them. Having a physical space for us to connect and inspire each other made us a team with a shared vision, strong relationships, and more innovative thinking that what I could ever have imagined. -
What learnings are you taking with you into the future?
That strong relationships will bring more opportunities in the future. To empower and trust people around me to deliver projects they are passionate about. To appreciate human contact, walks in nature, and the pure joy of people watching while sipping coffee at a restaurant table…
Janet Forsythe : Fox Consulting
Janet is an experienced HR professional with MCom in Industrial Psychology. She heads up Fox Consulting, a boutique consultancy focused on Organisational Development. She has worked extensively in the food and beverage industry in various multi-nationals and has more than 15 years’ experience in Learning and Development, Organisational Development, Change Management, HR Business Partnering & Strategy, and Statistical Analytics.
Janet is passionate about people and organisational growth, numbers and analytics, new technology, figuring out what makes people tick and playing Lego with her kids!
