When I first decided to start my own blog, I spoke to one of my dear friends Cheryl who told me to go for it but the biggest piece of advice she offered was “to be myself” so I thought it would be a great idea if I started from the very beginning so you can get to know me a little bit better.
Believe it or not my drive and motivation stems from July 1996 when the Spice Girls shot to the top of the charts, I kid you not!
They inspired me; I adored their music and I literally wanted everything from Emma Bunton’s wardrobe! But the one thing that really stuck with me was the hard work they had put in to conquer the world, it seemed, overnight.
Upon researching their story I realised that they had sacrificed their education, employment and even lived on the dole for two years in order to become the most successful girl group of all time. Can you imagine Victoria Beckham collecting her dole money in Maidenhead town centre? No neither can I….
You’re probably thinking; what on earth does this have to do with HR? This formed the basis of my determination to be the best that I could be, as Karren Brady said in her autobiography “even if I was a cleaner, I’d make sure I was the best cleaner I could be” and I make sure I keep this at the forefront of my mind every day before I go to work.
One of the biggest hurdles I faced when I first started going for HR interviews was a lack of HR experience. I was a strong administrator with customer service experience and bags of determination, after nine interview these were the qualities that my first employer spotted and offered me the HR Administrator position on the spot. Many would be disheartened after nine interviews, but I had channeled my inner Ginger Spice! The Spice Girls had sacked their first manager, and not one for missing an opportunity; Geri Halliwell’s determination to work with a hugely successful songwriter, Elliot Kennedy (who went on to produce their second number one “Say You’ll Be There”). He was reluctant to work with the girls due to the lack of management but soon came around to Geri’s way of thinking after seeing how much passion she had to make the group a success. 
Each Spice Girl was different, and let’s face it we all had a favorite! But by being unique and having individual contributions allows diversity and creativity to shine. They taught us all that it is okay to be different which helped women boost their self-confidence to get them “out there” and be proud. It takes a lot of confidence to push yourself forward and stand out from the crowd, but this is how I have managed to create a successful career, now I am using my experiences to inspire and motivate others, all whilst doing a job I adore!
One thing we could all certainly learn from Scary, Sporty, Ginger, Baby and Posh is that a small team can accomplish anything when supporting each other and that is why it is so important to ensure we support each other in our work and personal lives. Making time to help our friends, family and colleagues is a HR strength, we should play to it and use it more often.
HR is all about support, we need to support the needs of an organisation, we need to support the employees but we also need to support the needs of our own teams. When a HR department is in tune together, large projects don’t seem so large and a heavy workload seems much lighter. The key thing is to stick together and identify viable solutions to the challenges that each HR team faces; one thing that is certain is that you will succeed as long as you work through the challenges together. It is these challenging situations that keep us focused and allow us to develop ourselves, embrace them!
If you are new to HR and want to push yourself, think about what you want to achieve, how you can bring this to your role and always remember to keep sight of your goals, it is only you that can hold yourself back.
Swing it, shake it and show them how good you are!
Natalie Ellis HR 