Everything I Learned in My First Year at CornerStone Dynamics ~
It was very obvious, when asked about what I would write on for our year end blog, that I would take a look back at my first year with CornerStone Dynamics. Although it has not yet been a full year, the amount I have learned in this 6 month crash course is enough to fill textbook upon textbook. But instead, being the new and improved efficient me, I will bring all those textbooks down into one convenient (and alphabetical) list of the ten things I have learned in my first year at CSD.
1) Accountability – In previous lives I have always felt a slight negative connotation with the word but here at CSD, accountability is used simultaneously with ownership and pride in one’s work. Once a task is given to you – be it planning a part of the strategy for the upcoming year or something as simple as creating a matrix of information on a certain topic – that task is yours so make like Oprah and own it.
2) Balance – At CSD we have been given the greatest of professional gifts and that is the ability to balance our own days. With clear planning guides, strategies and organized to-do lists, you will never find all of our eggs in one basket. What that means is that my life is never scrambled – but poached to perfection!
3) Communication – With one definitive document that acts as our go to communication guide, we are constantly in touch with each other. Each task and action item that appears on this document has been approved as being vital to the operation of CSD; therefore each of the tasks are intertwined and make consistent and clear communication a necessity. Only through this sort of network of shared responsibilities can you truly feel like you are making a difference.
4) Efficiency – Ok this is probably a given since we are “the business efficiency experts” but bear with me. Many work environments will mistake speed, timing or the “just getting it done” attitude as signs that they are efficient, but I invite you to spend one week at CSD where you will discover the dictionary definition of efficiency at work. Here, efficiency means getting the job done in the most logical, most standardized, and clearest way possible – such as a top ten list.
5) Fun – At work, fun used to mean the days when the boss wasn’t in the office. It was the days that you could kind of just veg out. Not at CSD. Fun took on a whole new meaning this year when I got to participate in our Visual Vision Theme Song creation and recording. What is a theme song? What is a visual vision? In a nutshell, they are FUN!
6) Grow – Did you ever get the impression that you were slowly withering away at your job? That is exactly how I felt before I came to CSD. Once my roots touched the soil here at CSD I have thrived – it is the only word that can be used to describe the flourishing I have done here. I expect in a couple of years that I will have grown to mythical Jack and the Beanstalk heights so watch out!
7) Intuition – Did you know I was going to say this one? I was fortunate before I began at CSD to listen to my gut – it was telling me that I was in the wrong company, doing the wrong work, and for the wrong people. When the opportunity to work for CSD came along, my intuition started screaming and only when my gut came to rest at my desk here did it begin to quiet down.
8) Passion – Here at CSD it is not just possible to do work that is inspired by your passion but it is encouraged. The example of our CEO and her development of the Visual Vision Doodle Book and the Visual Vision Corporate Theme Song are both testaments to this. Knowing that it is possible to make your passion work for you and to work for your passion is what has invigorated me professionally. Like a shot of whiskey but passion doesn’t burn as much!
9) Self-confidence – Perhaps the most personal and soul baring of all the lessons that I have learned at CSD, I will tell you that self-confidence was not on my list of strengths when I started. But through constant encouragement and by actually doing work that sought out and enhanced my strengths, my self-confidence level is growing and I am anxious to continue to share the results of this confidence with CSD and our clients.
10) Vision – It is fitting that this list should end with Vision because this is where each of our thoughts, actions and projects are leading us at CSD. Never before have I worked for a company that actually utilized their vision as a tool for business and didn’t just keep it locked away in a box. Like the Swiss Army knife of tools, our corporate vision at CSD allows us to hammer away at ideas, wrench those things that aren’t working out, and screw those things that are working into place. It is the ultimate multi-purpose tool and every business needs one.
My first year at CSD has been like going to Work School. It has taught me what a great workplace looks like and functions like. It has taught me what a great boss and great co-workers are like. And most of all, it has taught me what it is like to be a great employee. Thank you CSD!
Thank you Rebecca for all the great work you do. We love having you on the team!