One quarter in to 2007, I thought it would be a good time to air our semi-dirty laundry from 2006. Plus it’s a good reminder for us.
We are a modern company, with most of our work done over the web, while traveling, coffee shopping, or in Emma’s case, gallivanting around central park with English rock stars.
Point being that we don’t get to be in the same room that often, and when we do, it’s a real pleasure.
In the beginning of 2007 we spent about 7 hours debriefing 2006, just the three of us. We started with Swift Kick as a company. We used a simple “opportunities” (for improvement) and “gems” (things we liked) frame that Tom and I picked up from our time at qln.com**.
The
Swift Kick
bullet points looked like this:
Opps:
– Process better Who / What / When (increase communication)
– Deliver on promises (community has taken to long, been talking about it for a year)
– Work/ Play Balance (Tech / People Balance)
– Communication Culture / Process (get consistent)
Gems:
– Brand (people leave messages like “hey Swift Kick”, it’s bigger than us)
– Good interpersonal communication, one year in, we still really like each other.
– Keeping up / trying new. (tech, products, etc.)
– Relationships with advisors. (it’s not cheesy, or salesy, we’re making real friends)
– Culture of High Standards (we are supportive of each other reaching very high standards of quality)
———————
The personal lists were ops and gems related to work. The individual started with a self assessment, then the others in the room helped them brainstorm.
Emma:
Opps:
– Explore technology more, increase comfort (i.e. CRM System, Blogging)
– Final check-in with logistics itinerary (faster)
– New Conferences / Markets
– Push back on K&T define boundaries with workload / task list
– Organization of knowledge w/ questions [I don’t know what this means. Emma?]
Gems:
– Logistics Consistency: T&K got to 100% of our gigs.
– Flexibility in Chaos- Emma finished the critical pieces in the middle of the storm
– Play – Emma laughed a lot and helped others laugh too.
Tom
Opps:
– Work / Play @ Home
– Double check on work, details, spelling/grammar etc.
– Time Management, Plan for Quality (avoid late nights before)
– Stick to Time Commitment (appointments, etc.)
– Dancing [pretty sure this was a joke, but Tom could use more than one move]
Gems:
– Willingness to listen (communication skills, great at “fighting” constructively)
– Adaptability / flexibility
– Ability to handle stress and cope with pressures
– Likeability
– Ambition, always looking to do new things
– Playfulness
Kevin
Opps:
– Time Management/hit self imposed deadlines
– Work / Play / Work outbalance
– Not winging speeches/presentations
– Process of focus (organization/consistency, nipping work or thought tangents)
– Time consistency (keeping predictable hours, at least some)
– Follow through on transparency
– Details
Gems:
– Working on not winging process (Research -> Package -> Present)
– Balance of taking self serious
– Vision (focus of brand and vision)
– Depth of content
– Idea Ping-pong (always something bouncing around)
– Spontaneity / Flexibility
So we promised at the end of that meeting to keep doing the good and come up with personal plans for capitalizing on our opportunities for improvement.
Everyone can do their own scorecard now : )
And if you are reading this on Facebook, feel free to click through to the blog and leave your own ops and gems for us. We like it that way, really!
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