The Path to a Successful 2021 Begins Now
A few weeks back, one of our long-time clients wrote us an exciting email:
“As we near the end of the year, leaders will want to do things to recognize and celebrate the hard work (and frankly survival) of their teams this year. In more normal times, we’d see a slew of face-to-face parties. But what about this year?
Could we design a HIVE that we can give to managers and leaders for their year-end teaming? Something super fun, beyond a Zoom Happy Hour, designed to celebrate the year and look ahead?
What do you think? Up for a conversation in the near future?”
And we said, “Yes, please!”
More than Santa Sweaters and Eggnog
As we explored this brief, we learned three things:
Year-end celebrations and rituals are important, because they fulfill real human needs.
They are even more important this year than in normal times, because, you know, Covid-19.
This is not just about the year-end. It’s really about the transition to 2021.
Drawing upon recent research as well as long-standing science identified, described and originated by our Chief Scientist Dr. Troy Campbell, ACE (acknowledge, connect and explore) is a framework and a set of tools to meet these needs.
ACE framework
People need to be acknowledged. They need to be seen for both the challenges and accomplishments of this year. This is about celebration and it’s about recognition.
They need to connect with each other and with their leaders. People are more isolated than in normal times, and some are really feeling this.
They need to explore what comes next. There is less to look forward to in terms of our normal rituals. There is less certainty about what will happen in the near future (and in the mid-term future too) and that is disorienting.
ACE tools
We captured 9 distinct tools to achieve these needs. Like many of our tools, they are fun, highly interactive, easy-to-use, and flexible. Some are tools we have been using for years, tailored for the virtual world, and some are new combinations and inventions from the secret labs of On Your Feet. (This is also where Gary stores his paint for his bots.)
They all have memorable names like Shout Out Deck, 60-second Ask for Help, the Compliment Game, What if and Future Stories.
Another thing they share in common is the goal: less fear, more joy, and better results as we head flip the calendar from 2020 into the still-uncharted waters of 2021.
The Timing
The end of the year is coming fast! If you need help delivering a year-end experience for your team, there’s a HIVE for that.
And these needs will still be crucial as we move into 2021. If you want help increasing your skill and capacity to do this in a large-scale way, we can help with that too.
We are creating Volumes 2-4 of the Distributed Work Toolkit, which will be out soon. Volume 1 (with techniques to have better meetings) is available for free here.
Of course the best way to access these and other resources is to reach out to us. Shelley will be wearing her Santa Sweater collection the entire month of December, which you will definitely want to catch in Zoom.
Sneak Preview
The tools are fun to experience and easy to learn. Here is one, a technique called “True for You”, which is one of our Connect tools. Best enjoyed with Eggnog.
