49WORTHERS |
BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018
We realised this was an opportunity to
collaborate with other creative people
we had strong relationships with.
Assembling a team of writers, illustrators
and film-makers, we developed the
software platform and built the
hardware infrastructure around the low-
cost and durable Raspberry Pi computers.
But where “relationship” really begins is
within our own team. We’ve deliberately
developed a healthy culture of supporting
one another, asking for help, seeing
failure as a positive step towards learning,
not assigning individual blame and
fostering a sense of team responsibility.
Our open office environment naturally
supports good communication and
positive team dynamics.
Not only does all of this make for a
pleasant working environment, it’s
ultimately very efficient. Working
collectively results in us doing better-
quality work, because as the saying goes,
our whole is greater than the sum of
our parts. We have weekly training
sessions, and use a technique called
pair coding which allows developers
to work together, applying two sets of
skills and learning from each other.
The team knows that asking for help
is not a weakness. So often the work
culture around us means you can’t admit
to not having the answers – failure is
frowned upon or simply not tolerated, so
people pretend to be someone they’re
not, try and cover things up and blame
others for their mistakes. At Worthers,
we strive for excellence, but the reality
is every person on this team has had
moments when they have failed at
something, including myself.
A vision for the future
Going forwards, I genuinely believe that
to succeed, technology businesses will
have to deliver more than just innovation.
Buyers and decision makers are human
beings after all, as are programmers,
analysts and engineers. Unless we treat
and work with them as such, we will
lose out to organisations that do.
The term “relational” is already
widely used, but often as a marketing
technique to try and get business.
It is in reality investing in genuine
relationships that will set you apart. If
you don’t demonstrate this and follow
it through, it’s just a hollow word.
As human beings, we are designed to
work together. Technology is very good
at trying to individualise and separate
us. Even social media is a sort of
virtual, unreal representation of being
together. While it is a positive and
powerful force in the right context, if
you take the human aspect away from
technology, you lose something.
I think the 11 awards we’ve won over
the last eight years are testament to
the fact that relationship and success
are not mutually exclusive – quite the
opposite. I do not wish to suggest that
we are there yet. Like every business,
we are constantly learning and
improving. It’s an ongoing journey, but
we are committed to our approach.
Our hope is that in the future we will
be able to expand on this approach
by growing our collaborative
working space to enable more small
businesses, entrepreneurs and social
transformation visionaries to work
together within a supportive and
creative environment.
At Worthers,
we strive for
excellence, but
the reality is
every person on
this team has
had moments
when they have
failed at
something,
including
myself
“
“
The Worthers team
are friends as well as
colleagues
Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett
Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles
