Last updated on 8/30/2024
I was pleasantly surprised this morning.
When I arrived at the office, I found the HUGE “Thank You” card shown below.
As part of our continued effort to demonstrate how Conscious Capitalism work, we host technology-centric meetups in our Dallas Improving office.
During the evenings, our classrooms become meeting space for groups that range from the Entrepreneurs and Innovators Council (which focuses on tech in start-ups) to M3+ Mutual Mentoring.
M3+ celebrated 3 years meeting last evening. Being able to support groups like M3+ is a delight because it shows Improving’s commitment to community building.
Building community leads to creating, maintaining, and sustaining person to person connection.
In product development, we are people solving problems for people.
Staying connecting is essential to business, community, and product development success.
It feels like I’m having a Monday on Wednesday.
Yeah, it started as one of those days. Funny how wrapping up yesterday felt fulfilling.
Dinner with my wife, conversation about our daughters’ travel, and a good night’s rest.
I woke up ready for this morning, or so I thought. A series of small annoyances popped-up as I was getting ready to go into our Dallas Improving office.
As a result, I decided to get some “elevation” and perspective on the day.
We have a patio on the top floor of our office building. It was the right place for me to reset my expectations for the day.
I don’t know about you, but when things start going sideways, it’s difficult to break the momentum.
The choice I made to reflect for a few minutes while enjoying my coffee has started to pay off. A few emails have been sent, reviewing a PowerPoint deck for new client work, and writing this post are part of the pivot.
It’s not easy to rise above annoyance, when opportunities are in my face to get down into the petty, unproductive dirt they bring.
But, I’m an Improver. We choose to be different, to rise above the circumstances, and ask questions like, “How might we . . .?”
My question for you is, how do you “elevate” when it feels like events are pulling you down?
When was the last time you said you were proud of where you worked?
I find myself saying I’m proud to work at Improving more often than other companies I’ve worked at in the past. It’s not that we’re perfect, it’s because we consistently live our name.
I was assisting our team with taking photos of some recognitions that highlight our success and collective involvement. They’re worth sharing as they represent the type of organization Improving works hard to be.
Being ranked on Inc. Magazine‘s 5000 list is not a small accomplishment. Making the list for 14 years and counting is mind-blowing to me.
Here we are at Improving, we have a wall to remind us of where we’ve been and to inspire us to do better for our clients, customers, communities, and stakeholders.
Each day that I show up for work, I’m reminded that I should finish my day better than it started. Taking our tagline to heart, “Improving – it’s what we do.” has become a lifestyle for me.
Yesterday’s post showcased my painting and our collective “Come Together” experience in the Dallas Improving office.
Today’s post highlights the art work in progress. As well, it celebrates Amber Leese‘s instructional leadership for the event.
At times, it seems like we SHOULD NOT HAVE FUN at work.
Why?
If we’re spending 1/3 or more of our days for 5 days a week at work, why not have fun?
Why not build connections with colleagues?
Why not become friends?
Why not create community, internally and externally?
The answers might be found in our perception of what business “is” versus what it “could be”.
My preparations for facilitating a conscious culture workshop are challenging my long held beliefs. The more I review John Mackey’s and Raj Sisodia‘s books, I discover opportunities to change business for the better.
Posting here, on LinkedIn, creates transparency around the challenges business and companies face.
When those challenges are person to person, the complexity increases. There isn’t a “one size fits all” let alone a “one size fits most” solution to building, maintaining, and sustaining a healthy, conscious culture.
Tools that are in use and ones yet to be discovered have limitations and need to be used contextually. Specifically, in product development, not a single tool will achieve all desired outcomes.
The good news is we have enough tools that we can bring Conscious Capitalism to more businesses and companies. We can bring organizational change into a culture that respects all the stakeholders involved.
The most important in all of this is that we can be human and have fun while we’re crafting a culture that makes us all better.
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