7 Lessons for 7 Years
1000 Feathers is celebrating seven years in business this month (June 2023). Sometimes anniversaries like these come and go, other times they are celebrated, and sometimes a particular year feels more noteworthy than others. This is one of those years for us. Maybe there is something about the number seven that seems lucky or even significant (see: seven days of the week, seven continents, and seven colors in a rainbow). More likely, it’s that seven years of being in business has resulted in learning and growth, resulting in significant shifts in how we approach our work.
As a bit of a primer to some of our learnings, we have put together this quick list of “7 Lessons for 7 Years.” If something here catches your attention, reach out, we would love to talk with you more. Regardless, stay tuned. You can expect to hear a lot more from us about these ideas in the days and weeks ahead.
1) Transformation, not transaction. In the early days, we mistakenly believed that growing a consulting firm was about getting more clients and producing more things. We could not have been more wrong. In fact, we are more convinced than ever that the old model of “consultant = producers of a thing” just doesn’t work anymore—for us or for our clients. To be sure, plans and reports, and assessments have value, just not as standalone products. It has become clear that our greatest benefit and highest point of contribution as a consulting firm doesn’t come from completing transactional plans and reports confined to the dustbin of history and then walking away. When we are truly living out our mission, we are moving communities, organizations, and systems through a journey of learning, growth, and change that results in transformation.
2) Relationships matter. Meaningful engagement is required for anything to get done. That is true for us, that is true for you, and that is certainly true within communities. We recognize that our primary purpose as consultants is to serve our partners and clients. We often say, “We work with you, not for you.” That is more than a catchy slogan, it is one of our core beliefs. We often find ourselves positioned as an extension of the team or, in some cases, stepping in as a value-added change agent within a system or community. To paraphrase Steven Covey, our best work—and true change—happens only at the speed we are able to develop, grow, and foster meaningful relationships with those we serve.
3) Proximity matters more. Proximity is an intentional and necessary extension of relationships. This is not a belief unique to our firm but our ability to act on that belief—a willingness and ability to engage voices at all levels of community—is one of our true differentiators. We have learned that engaging those with lived experience and those most likely to be impacted by the decisions being made in social change efforts is non-negotiable. We promise to always listen, value, elevate, and engage a wide variety of voices and opinions on every project. Elevate and engage are the operative words here because many people do the listening part pretty well, but true engagement and inclusion require more. It requires a willingness to share power, co-create solutions, and empower all residents in a community to leverage their collective expertise and ability to create change.
4) Data are necessary and also insufficient. Our firm has always been grounded by strong research principles. Having multiple doctorally trained researchers on our team puts us in a unique position to leverage data, conduct evaluation, and analyze research. We also have learned and relearned that simply having access to data is not enough. As a result, our responsibility to our clients goes far beyond producing numbers and charts and extends to equipping them with the skills and knowledge they need to make data-driven decision-making a part of their organizational approach. Having the willingness and ability to translate data into meaningful action requires both a skill set and mindset often lacking in organizations, communities, and systems. When we instead empower people and organizations to assess and evaluate evidence and connect data and research to meaningful changes in their approach and decision-making, they are on the fast track to success.
5) Disruption is part of the journey. We talk a lot about disruption with our clients and have experienced plenty of it ourselves. The Covid-19 pandemic is the obvious elephant here, but it is just one example of all of us having to be nimble, flexible, and adaptable. The truth about disruption is that it often comes in smaller, more frequent doses, and rarely has the all-encompassing effect of a global pandemic. We have been a part of projects that experienced leadership transition… projects where key organizations in the community close unexpectedly… projects that abruptly end or lose funding for reasons beyond anyone’s control… and projects that seem to change directions with the wind. The lesson here is that disruption is constant in our work (and yours!) and trying to eliminate disruption entirely is a fool’s errand. It is more important to learn how to manage disruption, and that starts with the ability to be resilient. In the current climate, this may be the most important skill for individuals and organizations to have.
6) Collaboration and partnership are keys to our success.
The past seven years have challenged our team more than we could have ever predicted. We have been asked to help solve some of the most pressing social challenges that communities face: homelessness, early childhood education, health care, workforce preparedness, and child welfare, just to name a few. This type of change-making has required two things from our team: First, we must be bold about the way we think, act, and problem-solve. Second, we need to be equally bold about the way we collaborate with others. While we have great confidence in our team’s abilities, the right tool for the job isn’t always in our toolbox. We have intentionally built out a network of Thought Leaders and Core Partners who serve as a natural extension of our team and allow us to expand our capacity in strategic ways. While some may view this group as our competitors, we know that in order for us to achieve our vision (all communities have the strength, resiliency, and ability to reach their full potential), we cannot go it alone. That realization has been powerful and humbling. Just imagine if we collectively changed our paradigm from a mindset of scarcity to a mindset of abundance.
7) Less is more. This is a tricky one, but we firmly believe in the principle of “less is more.” We understand the challenges that come with making the difficult decision to postpone a project or say “no” altogether, but we remain laser-focused on high-impact, high-leverage opportunities that we can implement with high quality. We continue to push ourselves and our clients to do fewer things (i.e., fewer projects, fewer new programs, fewer clients, etc.) and do them better. It takes courage and discipline to turn down opportunities, to walk away from existing work, or to stop doing that thing you have always done. Having an effective and reliable decision-making tool at your disposal helps. We stay centered on our core beliefs and review every new opportunity using a set of internal prioritization variables. What we have learned (sometimes the hard way) is it is necessary to prioritize quality over quantity and to ensure that every endeavor we undertake reflects our unwavering dedication to excellence. This is not always easy to do, but it is always the right decision.