To all: We continue to move through quick changes in our team. You are not seeing all the changes, since you cannot see the bcc list for this email—I do.

And I have mixed feelings about it. Mostly, it is a very good thing. We are more closely aligned—together, toward company goals—so when a fit isn’t right, it is known very quickly. If you’ve ever had a relationship problem that just seemed to drag on forever you’ll understand what I mean. If you’re not quite sure I’ll just summarize with: it is abundantly better to have happy surprises and to be in the position of growing others’ strengths. These “Wow!” emails are a lot of fun for me. And since they are about your strengths—thanks!

So on to this week’s “Wow!”…

This week I am honoring a person that has just made it through the 30-day review hurdle. There is considered scrutiny during this period by me, and usually also by at least one other team member. Even though we employ “at will,” it is important to me to find people I’d like to stick around for a long time.

These 30 days are not an easy time for some because I do everything I can to get the mis-alignments out into view. In fact I hired two people at the same time and only one made it… and so….

…This week’s “Wow!” goes to our newest team member, ———.

Here’s our “wow” for this week: I am sending to you a “WOW!” because you proven yourself to be a team player, accurate thinker and you bring skills to this team that we need to realize my Strategy. You’ve even been teaching me in a manner that I can quickly synthesize and act on. And you’ve readily accepted my direction, asking questions where needed, to ensure we are on the same page.

Why is this “wow!”? There are a couple Wow!s here. First is the getting through the 30 day look. Yes, I’m always “looking” but this early time can be disconcerting for some. Second is an ability to manage up (to me) and across (to peers) without being together in-person in addition to being “the new” person. I look for someone who takes their role seriously and expects to add value (nothing less) in exchange for reward. If errors are made I expect full responsibility to be taken and a solution offered. He did indeed face a hurdle at first—a diversion from scope—and overcame it by asking for help from a willing team member.

Why is it important? We are a small and growing company. We’ll be growing very quickly over the next 12 months. Also, I am a leader, a mentor…and should not be a supervisor (for reasons of speed as well as fit). It is important to me to bring a person in, have them quickly learn our ways while proving their skills and that their values are aligned with mine. Within the first 30 days I need them self-managing, while also communicating well with the team to get stuff done. We can only grow, profitably, in this way.

Congrats!
-Lori