November - WE are Balanced

November 1, 2021 Elizabeth Chrane

Good Morning Team:

I recently returned from our annual Senior Leadership retreat and to say I’m excited about OneDigital and our road ahead would be an understatement. While my enthusiasm for our future has never been stronger, I’m also very aware of the reality that we are in our busiest season, and I understand how hard our teams are working. Working hard on behalf of our clients is part of who we are and what makes OneDigital special. However, there is a fine line between working hard for a company that we love, and stress that rises to a point that threatens our cultural balance and our ability to “do our best work.”

So, with those mixed sentiments on my mind, my message today is about balance. Balance is not a trait or value that I talk about often, but I believe is one of our greatest strengths when we are at our best. We have worked hard over the years to balance our strong entrepreneurial spirit with our need to become ONE company. We have balanced strong opinions and personalities and reached consensus when making important decisions about the company. And, we always strive to drive important changes to improve our business while balancing the needs of our teams and prioritizing our culture.

The great news is that we have strong alignment across our teams on the goals and priorities for our future. While we have lofty aspirations, our leadership team also recognizes that we need to find the BALANCE in our work and these ambitions. This message was discussed at length during one of the most impactful sessions of our three-day retreat as we reviewed our engagement survey results together. We talked about our people, our culture, and the strain that often comes along with growing a great company. I’m grateful that we continue to receive candid and transparent feedback from you which helps to guide our actions. I’m also pleased that our employee engagement scores remain high and well above national and industry averages. However, it is clear, that stress levels can sometimes rise to an unhealthy level, especially in this busy season.

We always ask ourselves “what can we do better?”. Today, I challenge our leaders and our teams to think about “what can we stop doing and/or simplify” to find greater balance in our lives. I’ve heard some great ideas particularly around limiting time spent on internal meetings or finding “quiet hours” to focus on our work and our clients. I’ve also heard suggestions about our communications and the need to limit our after-hours and weekend communications (emails etc…) to find that greater work/life balance. Be on the lookout for more on this as we strive to help put some guidelines in place for the organization to help us all achieve better balance.

I hope you know how excited I am about our future. I also know how important it is to balance these feelings with a clear focus on YOU and our culture. We have a clear commitment to embrace new ideas and approaches as we come together and look to expand our opportunities as a more balanced and engaged team. I look forward to sharing more in early 2022 about the talented team we continue to build and all the opportunities ahead. But for now, please join me as we focus on our clients and find the balance that has made this organization successful for so many years.

 

Adam

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