Break Week Roundup: Q3 2023

It’s Break Week!

As you read this, my team and I are off for the week, disconnecting and recharging. If you are unfamiliar with Break Week, it’s something we do at the end of every quarter. It allows us to truly unplug, holds us accountable to actually taking time off, and helps us come back feeling inspired and refreshed as a team. You can read more about how Break Week started here! What is extra special about this Break Week is that next week, our team will be together in person to kick off the last quarter of the year together! We are meeting up in Gainesville for some quality team time—and I can’t wait.

One of my favorite habits we have as a team is reflecting on the quarter. Every week, in our team meeting, we take 10-15 minutes to pause and think about our biggest wins, our toughest challenges, and our greatest lessons learned. We keep a running list so that at the end of the quarter, we can look back and see how far we’ve come.

We don’t only like to keep this reflection to ourselves: We want to share it with you, too! We hope that by doing so, it will inspire you to take some time of your own to pause and reflect on your own wins, challenges, and lessons learned.

Without further ado . . . The Q3 2023 Break Week Roundup!

Kristen & the KH Team

Biggest wins of the quarter

I had 15 in-person sessions and 21 virtual events . . . It was a busy and impactful quarter!
I started this quarter in Greece with my family, where I truly disconnected for two weeks (I didn’t even take my laptop!). It was such a nice, relaxing way to kick off a busy quarter of speaking and events. I enjoyed it so much that I’ve decided I’m going to take two weeks in the summer every year with my family to disconnect!
Our content collaboration process for social media has finally clicked and is working smoothly! If you’ve been following for a while, you know that this has been a challenge that we have been trying to figure out as a team: knowing how to all come together and use our strengths for our content process. For the first time ever, we have gotten in the habit of working on social media content together and scheduling it, which has freed up a lot of brain space for me and has made our content feel a lot more intentional. We’ve also been able to dive deep into our analytics and learn what’s working and what isn’t to inform future content.
We have really gotten into the groove with our branding partner to elevate our website and messaging. A lot of this is behind the scenes right now, and we can’t wait to launch it! We’ve also been working on a new speaking video and have collaborated with several videographers at different events, and it’s been so fun! We are so excited to share it with you when we are ready.
We took the time to be proactive and plan out our 2024 Break Weeks so that they align with our schedules and priorities for next year. We also simplified how we do our end-of-the-quarter and quarterly kickoffs so they aren’t as stressful for us! We had been scheduling important team meetings right when we returned from Break Week, and we learned it was causing unnecessary stress. We decided we needed a week to get caught up before having those meetings, so we arranged our schedule next year to align with that!
I packed the lightest bag I have ever packed for a speech! This might not seem like a win to you, but that might be because you also don’t know that my suitcase weighs 70 pounds on average (and I usually pack two!). I had several events this quarter where I packed only a carry-on, and my hope is to learn how to do that more!
Rachel shared her story on the blog, and we were met with so much support and positive feedback. Your kindness has meant so much to us and to Rachel. I’m also super proud of Rachel for deciding to share her story—it took a lot of courage.
We graduated our 8th Human Leadership Program class and hosted our second-largest Human Leadership Program of the year! (If you want to join us for our next one, it’s happening November 1st and 2nd, and you can sign up a for your pay-what-you-can ticket here!)
Cheyenne, Monique, and I got to spend a week together in Gainesville in August. Cheyenne and Monique live in Gainesville and my parents live close by, so I try to visit at least a few times a year for a significant period of time. It was so nice to spend quality time together, but we missed Rachel, of course!
Cheyenne, Rachel, and I also had the opportunity to meet up in Arizona for a couple of in-person speaking events. Usually when I travel I will bring one member of the team with me, but for this particular week, both Rachel and Cheyenne decided to come! It was fun to create memories and have that time together.
Most importantly, we got to help our clients build more human cultures. We had some big breakthrough moments as a result of the work we’ve done together, and that is the reason we all love our jobs!

Biggest challenges of the quarter

Sometimes, we work with organizations that aren’t ready for or open to the work that it will take to truly strengthen their culture. We are learning that it’s so important to make sure our clients are open and ready before we engage in work with them, and we are learning to accept that not everyone will be—and that’s okay.
We haven’t always been the most data-driven company, so we are challenging ourselves to use more data in our decision-making. This has shown up for us a lot in our decisions around social media and content. It’s a work in progress, though: Even though we know that analyzing data can help us understand the challenge we are trying to solve, sometimes, we skip that step and stick to what we’ve always done, which doesn’t always yield the best results.
Because of the state of the economic landscape, we’ve had to lead clients through really difficult moments, like making decisions about layoffs and downsizing. Even in our own business, we notice that some contracts are moving at a slower pace because of the uncertainty in the economy.
I had a speech in Florida during Hurricane Idalia. Bad weather + travel is always challenging! Cheyenne and I had to figure out some backout plans for travel so that I could get out before the storm. I flew into Florida, gave the speech, and made it out just in time. Moments like these can be difficult, and my heart goes out to all of those who were impacted by the storm.
For the first time ever, we had a major tech issue in our Human Leadership Program! Zoom kicked me out of the program two or three times, which is our worst nightmare as a team (LOL). In those moments, we decided to play it cool and keep it human. Our participants embraced it (we are so grateful) and it was a reminder not to take ourselves too seriously! It will all be okay.
Sometimes, we forget to do things for our own team that we recommend for other teams. It’s not intentional; it’s kind of like the hairdresser who does everyone else’s hair except for their own! This is an area where we want to grow.
We had several client projects this quarter that were very challenging. Culture change work can be extremely difficult, especially in large organizations, and especially when the culture is in a delicate place. At the same time, we love it: The more challenging a project is, the more rewarding and impactful it can be.

Biggest lessons of the quarter

For in-person events, it’s important to strike a balance between spending time with clients at optional activities and dinners and making sure I take time to be at my best for the speaking event.
It’s important to take more time to communicate upfront and get things right in the beginning of a process instead of rushing through the early stages and creating more work down the line.
Setting boundaries and sticking to them is the only way to manage my energy in really busy seasons, even if it means saying “no” to people and things that I love.
Our work hours may not look like other peoples’ work hours, and we are learning as a team to follow our energy and work how we work best!
We don't want to go fast just to get somewhere. We want to be intentional about defining success so that we can get to the best final destination.
Gratitude was a big lesson for us this quarter. It’s so easy to focus on what we don’t yet have, but instead, we are taking time to recognize how far we’ve come, even if we still have farther to go.
We always learn so much when we have travel challenges. This quarter, we learned the power of being proactive and having a plan, even if we don’t use it. This saved us when it came to Hurricane Idalia and finding a way for me to get out before the storm hit.
It’s so important to keep the door open for feedback. We decided to do stay interviews as a team after I facilitated some for a client, and it’s something we want to keep doing in the future. (I have a blog post coming out about this in the coming weeks—be on the lookout!)

Favorite reads of the quarter