Six Things 2021 Taught Me That I Already Knew

By Mary Ahern-Snyder

As we look back at what was a chaotic, confusing, and often frustrating year and look forward with lots of hope and optimism to 2022, there are a few things I realized we should embrace, now more than ever. In 2020 and 2021, we lived our days filled with work while at home, so our work and home life were often intertwined. Regardless of where we do our work, we live these days with a set of values.  How these values manifest themselves is almost organic----we don’t always strategically plan all the ways in which our beliefs come to life on a daily basis.  After the shock of the 2020 and the continuation of even more challenges in 2021, I thought about what might have worked and considered how we can be more effective both professionally and personally, regardless of the circumstances.

1. Life is messy. And life as we know it has changed. Let’s be flexible and get even more creative. The rules of the game keep changing regarding the lockdown, vaccinations, travel and just about everything else that was a daily moving target. Each of these requirements had implications to our business, our relationships, and efficiency. Because there was so little we COULD control, we had to focus on what we could.  That meant doing things like making TEAM’s meetings, including quarterly “all hands” meetings more fun and engaging. We incorporated trivia games with prizes, celebrated work anniversaries and anything else we could think of to create fun. We sent gifts to the homes of all our employees on their birthdays and “Egged” everyone on Easter by sending eggs filled with money and one Golden Egg to a lucky random winner. When we were named a Washington Business Journal Best Place to Work, we had a party for all who could attend and those who could not got a special gift to commemorate the designation. And, we took full advantage of the awesome rooftop party area of our Old Town office by hosting happy hours to celebrate just about everything….from winning a new contract to “it’s Friday”! We also added a monthly newsletter to keep employees connected and acknowledge new employees, birthdays and anniversaries. 
2. Continue to hire great people---then support them and empower them to do their thing.  We've been fortunate to have continued our amazing business growth. When I started this business, I had many “jobs” ranging from recruiter to the accounts receivable clerk. The time finally came when it was no longer a good idea for me to wear so many hats. There were others that were much better at some of these jobs than I could be. This past year, I started delegating and allowing some others to wear these hats. These are people who can excel and be experts in what they do and improve the way we do business. We hired a Director of Operations who is helping keep the wheels on the train but is also bringing a level of organization and structure to our business as it continues to grow. I hired a dedicated administrative assistant who is helping me stay focused on our customers and be more available to staff for guidance and support. We brought on a few outsourced marketers to help define our brand and bring it to life. We created a new position of Chief Culture and People Officer and moved someone to that position who shares my passion for the culture that we continue to build every day. She’s essentially our company cheerleader and morale booster! And, as hard as it is sometimes to let go, it is the best thing I can do for the company. I have learned to allow our experts to do what they do best and I trust them to care for the business just as I do.
3.  Chemistry is the recipe for success. Assembling the right parts and pieces of a team that harmonize together will significantly improve the probability of success. I have seen this happen in so many groups across our company. Building a team is not just finding the right people to join the company but bringing together the right mix of people to collaborate to best serve clients. Teams need a coach, players, and team captains to assist in growing the juniors players. The team member should want to be part of a company that does things the way we do. They need to share and appreciate our values. By being thoughtful about the teams within the organization, we are able to bring a higher value to our clients, and that’s the priority in everything we do. I believe this is driving much of our success and growth.
4. Keep focusing on your strengths. One of my favorite sayings is “the whole exceeds the sum of the parts”. Everyone plays a part in creating the success of any company or organization and the differing perspectives and strengths of each team member must be recognized and appreciated. My passion and strengths are in building positive, trusted, and mutually beneficial relationships.  I know that it is hard for me to be objective about our brand and differentiation, so we brought on outside help to objectively look at what truly sets us apart---our strengths as a company. We learned that our genuine focus on relationships is unique and appreciated. This foundational aspect of our business helps us hire the experts needed by our clients and prospective government clients. The combination of the positive relationships our team builds, along with the expertise we provide, allows us to collaborate and communicate in a way that results in exceptionally innovative and effective solutions. And when you consistently deliver solutions while maintaining positive relationships, you engender trust. Our strengths are not just in what we do, but how we do it.
5.   Don’t forget to have fun and don’t sweat the small stuff. This year we finally had the chance to start to engage with new employees and clients face-to-face, so we took full advantage of it. We celebrated victories and enjoyed the relationships we developed through work and collaboration. We took advantage of opportunities and challenged ourselves. We have confidence when we know we are the best at some things and while we love to win, we tried to learn from losses.  We did not take ourselves too seriously and there were many videos and social media posts out there to prove it! We celebrated being a top company in the region as a Washington Business Journal Best Place to Work for the third year in a row.  But most importantly, we also took time to have fun and enjoy life. We took every opportunity to safely meet with clients and deepen our relationships whenever and wherever we could.  
6.   Stay humble: My father was a small business owner. He always said to me “I never forgot where I came from. There was a time when I was a struggling small business and I will always remember that when people ask me for favors”. No matter what, things can change in a blink of an eye. One minute you are on top of the world winning a new contract, the next minute you are facing the challenge of a lifetime. Appreciate what you have in the moment but never think you are entitled or above reproach. Staying humble allows you to accept and learn from missteps. Continuing to challenge yourself without worry of failure is important. Accepting defeat, understanding your vulnerabilities, and learning from the loss will only accelerate our success next time. Pride is a tricky thing--it hurts to lose but the loss motivates us to win the next time.

I look forward to more lessons learned in 2022. Growth not only comes with increasing numbers but increasing knowledge and perspective. We could all use a little more of that!