We're saying goodbye to our intern, Kayla Maxey, this week as she prepares for her senior year at Boston University. She'll spend the fall in Denmark studying sustainability and strategy, and we're only a little jealous. Kayla spent 10 weeks with us interviewing almost a dozen of our past strategic planning clients, and taking hundreds (literally, hundreds) of pages of notes from focus group sessions for two of our current clients -- the University of Richmond and the National Association of Residential Property Managers. We asked Kayla to capture her personal Top 5 from her summer with Floricane.
The importance of inclusion in strategy: This was reinforced through both my conversations with Floricane's past clients and my experience in the room with current clients. The inclusion of employees and stakeholders allows the people who are affected by the work -- who are often the people who do the work -- to have a voice and help shape an organization’s strategy.
The University of Richmond Project: Being able to support the facilitation process on a current project with the University of Richmond’s Business Affairs division was really enjoyable. It’s great to see people progressively open up in conversation and to hear their observations about their work culture.
Understanding the team through Insights: Reviewing our Insights profiles with the Floricane team gave me a clearer understanding of other’s work preferences and personalities. This allowed me to align with their needs while also discussing how we can collaborate more effectively as a team, taking each other's preferences into account.
Insights reflections with John: Having a discussion with John after the Insights workshop provided me with a deeper understanding of my own work style and tendencies. It also helped me identify how those preferences show up for me, and allowed me to set some personal goals for the summer.
A more human approach to consulting: Floricane’s approach to consulting is one I find to be very human-centric, focusing on developing a deep understanding of the organizations it supports and respecting that the people who do the work are often the ones who know the most about it.