Create Your Own Culture...Be a Consultant!

This is the 12th anniversary of starting my consulting business, Moore than Words , and I want to reflect on how work culture and cultural work have blended together for what I believe is the perfect storm for companies looking to "acquire" and "retain" talent. And those words are in quotes for a reason. A person is not an asset to be acquired or tricked into staying -- each of us is a multi-dimensional, talented person with needs, preferences and goals. Those should align with where we spend our time, and companies should ensure they align themselves with how they invest in "their" people as well.

I'm hearing repeated stories every day about how companies want more from their employees but if they failed to invest in them in the past three to five years, they are coming up short. Too much has changed, and the pandemic was a real veil-lifter -- when it comes down to it, what did the leaders do? How did people with money choose to spend it? How did a company that claims to be like "a family" treat their people? Was location flexibility an option prior -- was it a results-oriented workplace? (or a seatwarmer workplace? or a "we do our best work together around a table" workplace?) I think it's challenging to see the culture when you are in it, and that's part of the corporate conundrum right now. (I'm happy to help, as a consultant, just not happy to join you.)

Freelance Life: Stormy Seas but at least I'm the Captain

I started a consulting business because the work culture I was in was too intense for my life, even though I thought the impact I was making was valuable. I wanted more control over my schedule, as my oldest son was starting kindergarten and I was pregnant with my third child. I continue to marvel at how unforgiving the school calendar is for full-time working parents, and the assumptions made about how families work. I have been able to participate in many more things because of my schedule control, but I have also traded time when I might have been off or available for client travel and deadlines. However, I ensure I am compensated for that, and my previous full time work was becoming intrusive into holidays, weekends and evenings already.

Because of my experience as a freelancer, and working in the entrepreneurship space, I am unsurprised by the current consternation about burnout / retention / acquisition / quiet quitting / talent churn. We have generational shifts in working versus retirement, full-time vs part-time vs contracts, wholeness and belonging vs the ideal worker, and a lack of loyalty by organizations which has led to a lack of loyalty by employees (make no mistake, this is WHY this happened, not the other way around.) There are many choices, and a career doesn't look anything like it used to. Essentially, everyone is a self-promoter, with their own brand, working towards their own goals.

When I have thought about returning to full-time work, it has only ever been because it's an organization that I share a vision with, and my desire to be part of a great team. In looking at full-time work's lauded advantages, like stability, and a regular paycheck and good benefits....this has proven to be nearly as elusive as in my own business, but worse because it comes with a false sense of security. Job monogamy is just not for me.

As a consultant, working with other brave solopreneurs, I also learned that you can charge whatever you like, for whatever services you'd like, as long as there's someone willing to pay you -- and that you can deliver. But one of the glories of being the boss is that you decide:

Do I want to do this? Do I want to do this for this long? For this amount? For this person? With this team?

You can also charge more for things you dislike to do, which seems counter-intuitive, but again...you can set your rates or hours or services as you like. Much of this is of course predicated on being a likable, talented person who does what they say they'll do. (This is...integrity.) I'm working on coaching more people to follow this path, including one of my sons, and it's a remarkable freedom, albeit plagued with decision fatigue. You can decide, but you also HAVE to decide a lot!

You also have to cultivate a practice of self-awareness unlike anything else you'll do in your life -- you are selling yourself. You need to know that, do it well, don't overpromise and don't undersell. It is not for everyone, and I understand that -- but I also wish someone had seen my potential for this sooner. We need to cultivate a culture of supporting creatives, idea-developers, risk-takers and inventors so that they can be the entrepreneurs of the future.

(If you want some help starting your own thing, message me.)

My Manifesto....Yes, Just Like in Jerry McGuire

In looking through my archives, I found a manifesto I wrote for other women about a decade ago. I was looking to form an agency, or referral network -- and you'll see that it isn't about the type of work so much as the style, culture and vibe I was seeking. I'm still open to this, because I think it's the future of work. (If you're interested in learning more, message me, or fill out this link.)

• Create a culture of excellence that allows our work and lives to flourish
• To offer a real place for collaboration and innovation, with commitment to each other and our clients
• To make a difference in people’s lives through the work we do, bringing authentic insights and real solutions to the table
• To care less about who does what when, than high quality collaborative work being achieved successfully
• To do professional work but not be obsessed with work around the clock
• To have flexibility to integrate our personal and family needs into a workplace that offers options
• To engage research and knowledge but also to trust our intuition about the best way to proceed
• To empower each person to work on their areas of interest, with respect for expertise but also room for growth
• To service clients with creativity and dedication but not put up with abusive behavior
• To promote and respect each other’s talents and gifts with cooperation rather than competition
• To go to the source if there’s an issue rather than create silos or divisive alliances within the company
• To set goals and plan for growth but not strive for more just to have more; a concerted and well-thought-out trajectory
• To allow for the ebb and flow of life demands with continually adapting assignments and leadership

A Dozen Years In....

Here's what I know for sure:

• People who are talented and do what they say they will do, will always find work and be successful. I try to encourage them to start their own businesses.
• Lifelong learners who are willing to be humble about what they don't know are better than those with bravado and arrogance. We cannot be experts in all areas, even if we aspire to be!
• We are all capable of great change, and the truth / karma will always catch up with you. Better to be a good, authentic person every day rather than trying to make the buck today and hurt people along the way. Be a good person, someone you'd like to work with, whose successors can admire, and someone you respect. (Corporations are not people, by the way, because they don't have these same needs.)
• Giving to people and causes you care about is always going to be a good strategy, (with good boundaries, of course!)
• Life is long and full of surprises -- do your best, contribute to meaningful work, be ready for anything.
• Life is short and full of surprises -- have fun, laugh, don't suffer needlessly, help others and be kind.