Thursday, June 22, 2017

Birds of a feather

There is something energizing and exciting when you bring a group of people together who are not only on the same wave length, but get what you want to achieve in your business and are keen to help you get there.

That’s how I felt after our team meeting this week.  Lots of great ideas – not all will happen at once – but everyone seemed invested in what we wanted to do.

After a group discussion about what direction we were heading in and our goals for the upcoming year, I’d split everyone into small groups, drawing on their expertise and areas of interest, and each group was tasked with some questions to answer that would give us some direction moving forward.

Then we gathered together as the large group again to hear what the others had to say and toss in our own ideas as well.  Having run Company of Women for fourteen years now, there were times, to be honest, when I had to bite my tongue as a suggestion came up that we had already done, or were already doing.

But nothing kills brainstorming quicker than someone saying “we’ve done that and it didn’t work.”  Well maybe not then, but it might now.  I also find there are new approaches out there, and perhaps we (read I) need to get with the program and go with the times.

But to be honest that is easier said than done, but I am getting there. I am a work in progress.

The thing is if you want to move your business forward and take it to the next level, you have to:

  • ·      Build a team, a tribe who will get behind you.
  • ·      Listen.
  • ·      Give opportunities for others to grow personally and professionally.
  • ·      Draw on the expertise of others, especially in areas where you do not excel.
  • ·      Realize that you can’t (and shouldn’t) do everything, nor do you have the knowledge and skill set to do so.
  • ·      Understand that letting go is not easy, and sometimes it seems like a necessary evil.


So I am getting there, comfortable in the knowledge that at the end of the day, it is still my business, still my decision.  But I need to take heed to the input of others, otherwise why bother asking for their opinions or input in the first place.


As someone said at the meeting, we are birds of a feather, and we’re creating a caring nest for us all.  Just watch us soar and take off in the year ahead.

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