Shifting company strategy and bringing on a Chief of Staff

Elena Hansen, Founder of SWIM Social shares her experience.

Rachel introduced me to team design and the Kolbe Assessment after hearing about how my business was evolving and entering a new stage focused on optimization of a small team. We are at an exciting inflection point with over a decade in business; success and growth are taking on new definitions. 

As a solo founder, I have “figured things out” when it comes to hiring, team building, and management over the years, but always felt like there were valuable insights missing as I tried to navigate workflows and strengths of my team members. You try to get to know people through conversation and working styles, but it can be a big guessing game, and a lot of trial and error. What I have learned is that your ability to succeed depends on the talent you have and how you maximize their strengths and talent within the organization. And if you are requiring the team to endure difficult projects or challenging chapters, mutual understanding, respect and communication are integral to sustaining the work. 

After a challenging first 6-months of the year, Rachel introduced me to team design and Kolbe as tangible methods that could support us. 

First, Rachel’s enthusiasm and acumen for business, combined with her deeply personal and compassionate approach to this work, has been extremely motivating for me and my team. In every challenge, she sees opportunity. In every moment of self-doubt, she counters with an insight that says you’re capable, here’s how you work best, and here’s the path to unlocking that. I mean, is there anything more important than that? 

Second, Rachel brings warmth and clarity to every interaction. Whether she is working with a burnt-out founder, helping them to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or a junior hire that is on-boarding and being introduced to a role for the first time. She sees it all as equally important to the success of the organization — and it is. 

After many rounds of one on one meetings with my team, distilling complex information into tangible takeaways for each member of my team, we met as a full group with Rachel. She prepared a beautiful presentation that made every team member feel seen and understood, and tied this information back to the path towards success in terms of collaboration, workflows, and strengths of the various team members. We identified where there might be deltas, in which certain tasks are more natural than others, and it provided us with a great understanding of how to structure our workflows and communication internally.

It’s hard to make decisions — even the small daily ones — without information. Rachel provided us with information, objective data, and presented it with human empathy and critical thinking that continues to be valuable long after our sessions ended. We often reference the work we did with Rachel, and the insights we gained as a team. And now, whenever we take on a new client or hire a new team member, we will revisit this work with Rachel. She is an extension of our team, and I am very grateful to have discovered her as a practitioner of team design.