Why workplace synthesis is the formula to flourish

Imagine yourself as a little seed who has been planted into your place of work. Flowers can only grow by photosynthesising to create food which is used for growth. You can only grow by being open to receiving the components you need to create the 'food' which helps you to grow within the workplace.

carbon dioxide + water (+ light energy) → glucose + oxygen

You are now starting to sprout and are absorbing all of the information through your roots, just as a flower does with water. Your leaves are beginning to appear and this is where you will take in the exam support, mentoring, colleague experience and training which will help you to grow. As you can see by the photosynthesis equation, a little energy is required – it's for you to decide how you use the tools you are presented with, but this will determine how quickly you may grow.

Given a little time, the flower starts to blossom, and you – the little workplace seed – are starting to flourish.

Ready to receive

A flower without leaves is unable to grow as this is where the photosynthesis takes place. As an employee, if you aren’t holding your hands out wide ready to receive the support and training which may be available to you, how are you going to grow? Likewise, how are you going to grow if you are holding your hands out and your employer does not offer the support and guidance you need?

Look at your work colleagues around you as fountains of knowledge, each and every person within your workplace has valuable wisdom which will help you to grow; absorb that water.

Night time is when flowers essentially 'breathe' and 'eat', for lack of better terms – they need to digest the food they have produced that day – the respiration is the dining and resting process. In the same way that we need to be able to leave our place of work, go home and digest the day. Work-life balance is incredibly important and I believe that a good employer is able create a work environment in which work-life balance is expected, enabled, and supported – after all, we all need to breathe and eat.

Continual growth

I am incredibly lucky to be part of a workplace community which puts Eudaimonia (directly translated as “Human Flourishing”) at the heart of its philosophy and genuinely cares about employee wellbeing.

At the moment, I liken myself to a little sprout in the world of pensions and employee benefits, I am thirsty for fresh knowledge and holding my leaves out ready for food for thought. I have grown from the very raw seed originally planted in my place of work and am very much looking forward to continuing to grow until I eventually blossom.

Are you synthesising in your workplace?