"Why Am I Unable to Reach My Goals?"
After a long hiatus (and a broken wrist—ouch!) We are back in 2022. The time spent healing was prime time to reset and reflect on the year we had, and the clients we supported. As always, we are in awe of the innovative ways they want their communities to gather, and the forward-thinking initiatives and conversations we were able to facilitate.
As for common themes for the year, our word was progress, and it was extremely fitting. Instead of chasing lofty goals and pivoting on a dime, we set our offerings and worked with the clients that aligned with us. We tweaked, iterated and perfected systems and processes that we had finalized at the end of 2020, and we saw the change it created in every step of the projects we completed.
Many of our clients and perspective clients have the same roadblock that we suffered through the first few years of growth in BLME. Candidly, we grew too fast and took on too much without having proper systems for internal communication in place. While our organizational skills and dedication to our clients still allowed our work to shine through, having a way to communicate effectively and move conversations out of email was an absolute game-changer.
Thankfully, our team is well-versed in all things organization and efficiency, because we were able to learn and implement countless systems throughout the last few years. From Trello, to Asana, Notion, Monday and everything in between—last year, we found our one true software love: Airtable.
After using it with the B.PHL 2020 team, I implemented it our business lightly, continuing to be agile for our clients and learn systems as we went. The more team members I welcomed, the more important utilizing Airtable became. Whether we had a skeleton crew or a full team, the more we stuck to the plan, the more we were able to get done. We iterated, tweaked, and worked hard to understand the nuances and benefits of optimization. The results were astounding: we were getting more done in less time AND with less resources.
When I started with Philly Startup Leaders, we did an evaluation and decided to update and implement all of their project management systems and operational policies. As it turns out, the same effect was replicated. As an innovative, startup-minded nonprofit, we have big goals and high standards. By sticking to this SOP and ensuring that we tweaked it to each person’s learning style and specifications, we created a roadmap of the steps it has taken to reach each milestone.
Here are the ways that it changed our lives—and made our client’s lives easier:
Simplified onboarding process for all event stakeholders—speakers, sponsors, volunteers, partners and more;
Effective communication that allows each team member to choose how they work, with options for email messages, desktop and mobile notifications;
Seamless integration across other critical business platforms, including Google Drive and Dropbox;
Countless configurations for viewing and taking in information, including a grid, kanban, calendar and more;
This all comes back to the question we have all asked ourselves at one point or another, “Why can’t I get anything done?” As leaders, our calendars are filled to the brim with meetings and brain dumps and strategy sessions aplenty. We’ve all been to one of those meetings, where a project is being discussed and everyone leaves feeling empowered by the vision and excited to get started. The roadblock comes in the implementation.
As the CEO of my company, when I leave a team meeting, I leave thinking that my team has a deep understanding; that they are aligned with my end goals and vision and that, once the meeting is over, the doing begins. But guess what? Without a clear plan in place, you’re simply unloading your dream on someone else and expecting them to make it happen. It’s like walking into your weekly stand-up meeting and asking your team to assemble a puzzle with just the external, perimeter pieces. They will, understandably, be paralyzed and unsure of what the first step would be. Each person would start making suggestions about what they think should be done, based on the vision, and at the next meeting, you’ll be having the same discussions over again.
The reason you can’t get anything done, is that you are expecting your team to put together your puzzle without giving them all the tools to do so. They don’t find value in the task, or procrastinate thinking it’s too lofty to get things done. They will offload it to one another, or suggest hiring an outside resource. If you are lucky enough to have a team that will get it done no matter what, you will likely have very little to show for it as far as SOP’s or a roadmap to replicate in the future. You will also have to dedicate much more time to ‘overseeing’ the project, making sure that the vision is truly understood throughout the process.
As a founder, your time is extremely limited and needs to be focused on big-picture. Take it from us: as painful as it can be, setting aside time and resources to evaluate your systems and iterate constantly until it works for everyone is the key missing piece between an outline, a “brain dump,” and a successfully executed project, campaign or event.
If you are feeling like you’re missing key pieces of the puzzle, reach out to us for a consultation. We love turning our client orgs into effective, money-making machines and giving founders their time back, so they can stay in their zone of genius.