Recently, TES sat down with Key Account Solutions Architect Jordan Woodward, who has recently celebrated his 10th anniversary with the company!
Jordan expressed his admiration for the rest of the team, and how they helped him gain a foothold in the business, allowing him to grow in confidence and thrive. Read on to find out more about Jordan’s thoughts after 10 years with TES.
The first couple of years were very much learning about the working world, the business and its services, whilst trying to take in everything from the vastly more experienced people around me (both in terms of general life and working experience).
The middle section of those 10 years then saw me finding confidence in the work I was doing and delivering for customers day in, day out. There were also a few position changes within the business in attempts to try and find “my true place”, all whilst maintaining my learning trajectory and taking on more responsibility.
The latter stages of those 10 years have been spent really sharpening and applying my technical and functional skillset to drive results for customers, whilst also offering me the opportunities to really emphasise focus on the softer skills of the job, such as handling difficult situations, recognising and interacting with different personalities, and seniority of customer users. Whilst doing so, I’ve also tried to help other colleagues and the new apprentices by sharing some of my experience and knowledge as the members of the TES board have done, and continue to do, with me.
With all that said, in summary, I’ve had a very steep and consistent learning trajectory, with many projects and deliverables, and a variety of changing roles with some difficult times, but plenty more fantastic times. Not only did I find a career, but I found people that were more than able and willing to help shape me as a person going from 18 to 28 years old.
When I started at TES, we were a very small team. If I remember correctly, there were seven of us, myself included. We all had skillsets allowing us to do a bit of everything and anything as and when needed (certainly no dedicated Consultants/Developers/Project Managers resource categories). We didn’t have our own office immediately; we would work on customers’ sites for every project each day. We did not have documented processes or quality metrics, Continual Service Improvement programmes etc.
But look at us now! We’ve almost multiplied our staff count by 10, we’ve got dedicated business areas with specific skillsets, learning platforms and clear views of what we could be in the business and how we go about getting there. We have our own dedicated office. We have formally documented and structured processes, which are reviewed and quality checks placed around them to ensure compliance. We have a literal programme of Continual Service Improvements that every aspect of the business is involved in achieving.
We’ve gone from a group of people doing “whatever needed to be done that day”, in a very reactive business, to a business that now has structure, is proactively managed and is actively pulling in the same direction with a common well-known set of targets to achieve. We’ve lost some people along the way, but we’ve gained plenty more and kept the same consistency remained throughout. We are one coherent team.
The TES Company Kick Off 2022 was a proud moment.
I was able to look around the room during that event and see people that have been on this journey with me for up to nine years. People for whom I sat in their interviews, and whom I had a part to play in them joining the business. I have been a friend and mentor to them throughout their time here. To see those people still on this journey with me after all these years, seeing what they’ve become both personally and professionally, it brings joy and a sense of pride more than anything.
My favourite project was upgrading the National Gallery to NAV 2015. It was my first upgrade project, on a customer site I knew quite well and had an in-depth knowledge of.
There was a steep learning curve for me in this project and plenty of challenges along the way, but I really enjoyed the challenge and the process of learning throughout. I particularly enjoyed working with the people at National Gallery and building relationships with them during the project. This experience then enabled me to interact with those stakeholders on future projects over the following years.
I am aiming to play more of a leading, influencing role within the technical aspects of the business. I would like to drive initiatives within the technical department for service improvements, new products, improvements to existing products and to influence the direction of technical activities within the business.
Finally, I’m hoping to hit the 20- and 30-years milestones with TES!
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