The Importance of Creating Your Secondary Family
When I was 11, Mom got the call that Gram was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. In that moment, Mom promised that she would never put Gram in a nursing home. Two weeks later, Gram moved in. For the next seven years until she died, we spent our days dressing her, feeding her and chasing after her […]
Throw Away Your To-Do List: Using Core Values to Navigate the Unexpected
Melissa’s TEDx talk was on Saturday. It was Thursday. We were discussing back and forth over whether the word “love” was the appropriate word for her closing line. We were on the verge of a nervous giggle fit, as the English language got less and less concrete in our minds. I was supposed to be […]
Using Spring Fever to Make Your Team More, Not Less Engaged
A few years ago, I saw a funny post on Facebook that said if you leave the office in the middle of the day to go outside, and someone asks where you are, you can say you are “Out-Standing.” Ha ha – get it? OUT? STANDING? So maybe this isn’t hilarious to you, but to […]
Better than a Raise: Connections are the Key to Employee Happiness
“From now on, we’ll use this white board to track every interaction you have had with a client. If you don’t meet your quota, not only will everyone see, but there will be repercussions.” “The funeral is in the morning, so you’ll be back in office in the afternoon, right?” “I heard you did poorly […]
Using State Management on a Team of Zombies
To say we were all exhausted would be an understatement. After nine almost 16-hour days, managing 150 high school students, even the Energizer Bunny would probably tap out. My 20-person staff had one more day of the 10-day program. I needed the team to show up with the same amount of energy they had on […]
Johnny Appleseed – The Ultimate “Party Keeps Going”
Unless you’re in second grade, you probably don’t know this, but today, March 11, is Johnny Appleseed Day! Yes, I was seven the last time I talked about him. But I did some research for this post, and I realized that he is a great example of the following Dance Floor Theory tip: The (Apple) […]
Coming Out of Your Shell During Team Debates
For the past few weeks, we have been working in one room as a team, instead of in a shared space with other companies. The reason for this change is so that Sabina, Tom and Melissa can work more efficiently on writing the Dance Floor Theory book. I’ve been listening in to their weekly meetings, […]
When Employee Engagement Goes Too Far – Scary Sixes
Robyn works at a large cosmetics company where meetings happen every day, all day. Others on the team describe her as loud, excited, and never-ending. In meetings, there is often no reason for Robyn to answer questions, but she does anyway. Many times, the questions aren’t related to her job, and she doesn’t even have […]
Using Slack to Build a Culture of Connection Within Your Team
By now, you probably know that the “quotes board” is a beloved Swift Kick tradition. In fact, we love it so much, we started using the hashtag #SKQuotesBoard to share these quotes with you on social media. Working in a coworking space, however, means that there is no physical master list of these team quotes. […]
Why The Woman in the Window is a Great Company Book Club Read
One of my favorite things that we do at Swift Kick is our monthly book club. At first, I found it annoying because I already read a lot. Adding another book to my list felt overwhelming. But now it is one of my favorite parts of the month. Last month it was my turn to […]