For many consulting companies working with a particular company that shall remain nameless in Redmond, Washington, the spring months are coupled with a bit more stress and fewer hours of sleep than the rest of the year. Questions lurk in the air until we nail down answers as quickly as possible: Will contracts be renewed? When will we know each client’s budget? Will there be a consolidation? What does our second half of the year look like? Just to name a few…
There’s an old business adage that says to visit your clients when you don’t have to. This is akin to Valente’s motto—make sure to include something fun in your day, even when work (or life) gets tough. We add in the fun in meetings by sharing our current read, a client win or something we have recently learned. Occasionally we go offsite to learn something new together. Earlier in the year we went to Glassy Baby to blow glass, and just last week we went roller skating. Yes, roller skating. And the majority of us even dressed up from our favorite decade, the 80’s.
There’s something about pushing comfort zones while also learning together that creates an unbeatable positive energy along with lasting memories. You can learn a lot about people as they conquer something new or get back to an old hobby. One of our recruiters, Vandana, zipped around the rink without an ounce of fear, a couple of us fell then got right back up, but we all gave it our best and laughed a ton along the way.
Was it easy to think about taking two hours after work to roller skate with so much going on? Not really. Did the work and emails disappear? No. Yet the reward for taking a step back to celebrate for the sake of celebrating was possibly the best thing we could have done at this moment.
The lesson? There is always a reason to celebrate. Now go. Have fun.