*This interview was conducted after the conclusion of the initial traunch of work within the contract for this corporate team. I am interviewing the contract lead and my initial contact who brought me into the organization and managed expectations and all the individuals on the 40 person team.
Mandy: Kevin, first I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time to talk. Throughout the 18 months my company supported your team, you gave me a lot of feedback. We had great communication back and forth and I really felt that I had consistent feedback from you week to week and month to month.
But when I started having conversations with other firms who might be candidates for the same type of support, I wanted to have it straight from the horse’s mouth and not filter words we’d shared over long periods of time and kind of interpret or translate them.
I know we have a hard stop at the half hour so let’s get to it.
If you look at the questions I sent you, I figure we have time for 5 to 7 of those, they can give us a good place to start!
Kevin: Yeah I’m happy to chat with you Mandy. So you want to talk through these or me to fill them out? I can do both
Mandy: If you could fill them out that would be amazing too, but talking through is going to give me a totally different perspective that will be great. How about we look at the first question first – What was the greatest obstacle your team faced prior to when we decided to work together — in a general sense?
Kevin: Hmm. I’m just tracking back to when we started this thing.
Mandy: Yeah that was a while ago wasn’t it haha!
Kevin: Haha. Yes. I knew there was some stuff that I wanted to work through personally and professionally, and I thought that was probably true for everyone on my leadership team.
I was becoming more conscious of the impact those individual blind spots were having on our team. I wanted to become more conscious of those personally, and create an opportunity for the people I had placed in leadership positions to do the same.
If you all have individual blind spots and you’re combining them in a group, you’ll combust.
We’re all asking questions like how to cope, how to establish trust, how to adapt so we’re all rowing in the same direction.
Mandy: That makes total sense. I remember that too. And specifically, what was the problem that you specifically hoped our engagement would solve or improve?
Kevin: The pandemic really stirred people up. It was like a massive collective dislocation. How everyone viewed coming into the office changed.
Before the pandemic, I was going into the office with a completely different level of awareness. It was an assumption that “this is what we do. I go into this space every day, regardless of what the activities are, and we come to the office to slug it out.”
The pandemic threw a grenade into this and blew it up.
Mandy: haha! That’s true.
Kevin: You know? Some people want to put all the pieces back together. And some don’t ever want to come in again. We were individually grappling – we have to be deliberate moving forward.
But we’ve evolved. There are things we need to be in for – like blue sky thinking, difficult conversations, 1:1’s, workshops – but for the rest of it, we’ve developed systems for goals, check-ins and daily work that function asynchronously, virtually.
Mandy: Really cool. I can see that too. Let’s look at question 4 – what was the primary benefit that came from the investment of time and resources into this engagement? Not necessarily “outcomes” per se. But you know, what do you feel like you walked away with?
Kevin: Well, as you know we all did this individually – I worked with you, each of the heads of department worked with you, we all had different starting points, different histories, different challenges, and unique experiences.
For me personally, it helped me where I was at with my journey. It made my blockers more visible, more conscious. I believe this type of work is a lifelong practice, it has to be sustained. But your help accelerated that and is helping me continue to step forward and through it. It made a difference in areas where I had lack of visibility or that were subconscious. It’s hard to do something about things that aren’t conscious.
For me there was this one meeting – you remember the one – that was really the centerpiece of the entire experience for me. There were things we did before that and things we did after that, but that meeting was really powerful. How I felt in that moment – everything that I was dealing with that I was managing in the workplace that was all very real – that meeting allowed it to recede into the background, way into the background. That was a type of clarity that I’d never experienced before. There’s a lot to be said for that.
We usually think of these type of things as “personal”. We say “Leave it at home. This isn’t work related.” But this absolutely has to do with work. Knowing you can set it down is huge. Most people resign ourselves as a practical choice, when we walk in the door at work and we say to ourselves, “I’ll have this corporate experience now – I’ll leave my self at the door.”
Mandy: This gives me so much insight, information I didn’t even have at the time. Thank you so much for sharing this, Kevin. I really appreciate getting your take on that, it’s just very relatable, I would imagine for many people.
Kevin: Yeah, of course!
Mandy: Okay. What about the primary benefit to the team? What would you say that was? I understand the individual aspect and really appreciate getting that insight. What was the benefit to the group?
Kevin: Yeah. This support requires a level of trust within the individual and you, and the individual and the team itself, but it creates trust.
For the team, it gave us a common reference point for acknowledging we’re each bringing our own world views and challenges, and an understanding that we’re each committed to working through those. And until we’re conscious of that, it’s hard to find that deeper rhythm.
What’s changed? It’s hard for me to measure but – The team that’s here now feels much more cohesive than the team that was there before.
Going through a really necessary termination within the team recently [someone you didn’t support] – that was so long over due, and you and I talked about that – but that was really a test of our cohesion as a group. It required trust. And respect. You have to be vulnerable and honest. The Monday after that termination, we needed to meet and address this in a productive way.
If there hadn’t been the trust established in the core group that was there, I don’t know if I’d be here in the same way that I am here today.
Mandy: I feel that. That’s so important. Really appreciate you sharing that.
Kevin: For sure. Yeah it was a good thing.
Mandy: I’m watching our time right now. We don’t have but two minutes and I think you need to scoot. I really want to ask you what could we have done differently to better meet your needs? Is there any way that this engagement could have better supported what your team specifically needed, or something you would change?
Kevin: No, I think we talked about this already. There at the end, this came up. I would have loved to have more of an ongoing roadmap. Take the work we had done, and have more tools to implement individually and together. A structure to continue and grow, a space to build and visit from there on.
Mandy: You know, I didn’t fully understand that initially, it’s like it didn’t sink in at the time. And I think the reason we don’t have great answers sometimes is when we don’t have an answer the reason is when two frames meet. Hearing this again today it has different meaning. I appreciate you sharing that.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your thoughts. Thanks for taking the time, Kevin, it was great to talk to you.
Kevin: Yeah of course. Just talking through this now, reflecting on this was really helpful. If you want to set up another call I’d be happy to revisit the rest of these. Talking through was really different than typing answers out.
Mandy: That would be great, we will definitely have to catch up again soon. I want to hear about what’s coming next for you guys.
Kevin: Definitely. Okay they’re waiting on me in the next room. Talk soon.
Mandy: Have a great rest of your day.
Kevin: Bye, Mandy.