Celebrating wins
Me in a coffee shop 10 weeks ago, writing the blog post that would announce our new vision to the world
Exactly 10 weeks ago, I was sitting in a coffee shop, writing the biggest blog post of my life so far: the one that would announce our new vision to the world. I remember looking out the window and acknowledging the hugeness of that moment. I knew that once the post went out, there would be no taking it back. It felt scary. It felt exciting. It felt huge.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 weeks since that day. In some ways, it feels like it’s been two years. And in other ways, it feels like yesterday.
I will be the first to admit that I have a hard time stopping to reflect on and celebrate progress. My mind can easily go to what hasn’t happened yet instead of focusing on all that has, and I know it’s not the healthiest way to look at things. That’s part of why I chose “pause” as my word for 2021: I wanted to challenge myself to spend more time stopping to celebrate the wins.
Last week during my Think Week, I reflected on the wins of Q1, and I want to share them with you. Here are all the moments since that day in the coffee shop that I’m celebrating:
We had the courage to announce our new vision to the world without having any idea of how we were going to pull it off and have been authentic about the ups and downs of our journey so far
We have worked one-on-one with our students to create unique transition plans for each of them. We’ve given resume support, done role-playing for interviews, offered to help them find employers who have great cultures, and we’ve been there to support them as they process the emotions—positive and negative—of this change
We have had three all-hands team meetings that were filled with courageous conversations and leaning into the hard stuff
We instituted a weekly meeting as a leadership team to keep us connected during our transition, and I’ve never felt us so aligned
We found two incredible partners who will serve our clients after our May 9th transition, and just like we are doing with our students, we are taking a one-on-one approach with our clients to create custom transition plans for each
We got a second round of PPP funding, which has helped us take care of our people as we continue to navigate the pandemic
We launched a longtime dream of ours—our Human Leadership Program—and more than 100 people have registered with still a month to go
I had 70 chances to serve virtually, including one-on-one coaching, our weekly LIVEs, our mastermind groups, facilitating, and speaking
I had my first in-person event in more than a year
Our leadership team has had three team development sessions—2.5 hours of deepening our connection to one another—and we’ve stuck to them despite being really busy with our transition
We’ve committed to Team Time every other week to make sure we are building relationships and strengthening trust on a regular basis
I stuck to my Think Week
We implemented Zoom Work Parties, where I invite people from all over the world to our Zoom room to listen to jams and get work done
I took a TM Meditation course and set a goal to meditate twice a day. Even though there have been plenty of days where I have not succeeded, I’m celebrating the fact that I haven’t given up on my goal
Our Chief of Growth, Monique, is growing a baby! Baby McHugh will be here in September and we can’t wait. Monique told us during our check-ins in one of our team meetings. She said hi and then said something like, “I’m doing good, and Baby McHugh is making me feel a little nauseous.” It took a few seconds for it to register, and then we all FLIPPED OUT with excitement.
I published a new blog every week, even when it was hard and I didn’t know what to write
When I look at those who lead our company alongside me, I am blown away by the amount of growth I’ve witnessed in 10 weeks, and when I look at myself, I’m blown away by the amount of growth I feel inside
We’ve made it to the other side of our holding pattern and have a really big update to share with you next week—our first big step toward our new vision, made up of all the little (big) steps we’ve taken over the last 10 weeks
What a quarter. What a 10 weeks.
There is so much to celebrate, and this exercise helps me see that I need to do it more. I hope you’ll join me. What are your wins over the last quarter? Tell me. I want to celebrate you too.
Hugs through the screen,
Kristen
PS: Have you heard about our new human leadership development program?! It’s a virtual, live program to help you elevate your authenticity and humanity as a leader, and it’s going down on May 5th and 6th. Learn more and get your tickets by clicking here!
PPS: Join us for our next LIVE on Wednesday, April 7th, at 11 a.m. ET! (I’m off this week for Spring Break with Spiros and Evie!) We share everything from news and stories from behind-the-scenes of our pivot to what we’re learning, what we’re struggling with as leaders, and how we’re meeting this unprecedented moment in our history as a company. And next week, we’re sharing a BIG update! You can register here: https://bit.ly/3kWe2kT. It’s the same link each week. Hope to see you there!
