Risky Business

parker gates
Nov 4 · 2 min read

Anna and I spent this past weekend trying to design some sanity, balance, and sense of support back into the lives of our team. We turned a critical eye towards compensation, time-off, benefits, and balancing workloads.
We’ve learned over the years that so-called “best practices” are merely starting points. They are rarely finished ideas that are ready to be put in place and stay there for any considerable length of time. Since we began to build a larger team, we have continuously iterated and evolved our points-of-view on these areas, as well as the practical application of them with our team.
We’ve also learned that presenting these new ideas to your team can feel like risky business!
In the past, it used to hurt our feelings when Anna and I would spend hours and hours coming up with something we thought our team would love and think was innovative and human-centered.
We’d come in excited, and when they saw it, they’d be distraught and question our motives, and it felt terrible for everyone! Then Anna and I would go through stages of anger at the team for acting like entitled children who could never be pleased. Then we’d flip the lens of frustration on ourselves and feel completely incompetent to run a business or lead people. Doubt would creep in where once there had been confidence and excitement.
Over the years, we’ve learned not to hold on too tight to that first draft of a new idea. To not take it too seriously if the initial reaction to something we’ve created, even with the best intentions, is disappointing. We know that we’ll have to keep making turns on all of these ideas and policies and structures we have in place. It’s not the team's fault, and it’s not our fault, it’s just the process.

You all know this already, and it’s all very cliched, but it is, in fact, all about the journey, not the destination.

photo cred: Patrick Beaudouin

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