TILTED: A RVA SMALL BUSINESS UNCONFERENCE

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FEBRUARY 23, 2013  |  RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH BUILDING

As a small business owner – or an employee in a small business – you know the value of innovation, transformation and being part of a thriving creative community. You also understand that there are harder, more serious and more essential elements to launching and building a great business.

Let’s leave the long speeches, drab PowerPoints and passive networking behind. Join us on February 23 for TILTED: A RVA Small Business Not Conference. TILTED challenges the conference status quo with a hands-on forum for small business owners to learn, share and connect – all served up with a large side of awesome, provided by the knowledge and experience you and 224 of your small business peers will bring into the room.

From small group sessions and interactive workshops to a food truck lunch rally and crowd-sourced discussions, TILTED is built on the belief that when the right people are in the room, the right knowledge is in the room. We learn the most when we are part of conversations that matter.

Get ready. TILTED is going to help you rethink your business in small, explosive ways.

TILTED is a co-production of the following #RVA small businesses: Elevation Advertising, Floricane, Fraser Design, One South Realty, The Hodges Partnership, TMI Consulting, Work It Richmond and Zuula Consulting.

Your registration includes:

• Admission to the full-day conference
• Free parking in our secure, downtown deck
• A comprehensive bio book of all presenters and participants
• Loads of free snacks and beverages from local vendors
• Access to the lunchtime Food Truck Rally
• Dozens of opportunities to teach, learn and connect with 224 other RVA businesspeople
• An invitation to the Tilted After Party
• And more...

REGISTER TODAY. (We ask that no more than five people per business or organization register so that we can welcome a diverse group to this limited capacity event!)

Playground Perspectives: Hold That Note

We continue to overestimate the capacity of our small child to remain still in environments where she doesn't have the slightest interest in what's happening around her. Like, for instance, a visit to her grandmother's house, a quick trip to the grocery store, a five hour driveto Charlotte, or an afternoon with the Richmond Symphony.

Leave it to Thea to loudly whisper, "This is BORING! Can we go now?" ten minutes into the Symphony's annual "Let It Snow" concert. When we're sitting five seats away from the Symphony's executive director. And into the ear of an older gentleman clearly interested in the music being performed.

Granted, the first half of the production largely consisted of older, traditional holiday music. The sort of music that doesn't pass the muster of a prima donna newly obsessed with dancing to the Cyndi Lauper, the Sugarhill Gang and Pomplamoose. Anything, really.

We did what any sane parents would do. We took a break. A 45-minute break until intermission had passed, and the program for the afternoon moved into the theoretically safe territory of the family sing-a-long. Fortified by a large gingerbread cookie and armed with a small, red bell on a string (and a small drinking straw), Thea returned triumphant into the grand Carpenter Theatre. She was -- to paraphrase the modern wrestling parlance -- ready to jingle.

After conductor Erin Freeman instructed the audience on the safe use of jingle bells, the Symphony and its chorus rolled through at least 37 variations of "Jingle Bells". Just to get Thea comfortable with new approaches to old themes. She jingled steadily. Even in the non-jingle moments. And she conducted mightily with her drinking straw, attentively watching the conductor's moves and intently mirroring them.

But it was the "12 Days of Christmas" that sealed the deal. You see, we started practicing that little number weeks ago. And Thea had perfected the art of holding some seriously off-key vocalizations at key moments. Like when Erin decided to be tricky and adjust her cues to the audience -- creating space for young, loud voices not trained to pay attention to cues to really shine.

There was the young boy at stage left with his preemptive, "five gooooooolllddeeen rings!" And there was Thea hot on his heels with very proud, sincere and elongated homage to that damned partridge and his pear tree. It hung in the air for long seconds. It attracted stares of genuine admiration, and more than a few bemused glances.

But that's what makes life with a four-year-old so sweet and special. They exist in this precious, precarious cocoon, balancing between full throttle and kindergarten (where she'll be forced to throttle down). It is exhausting and delightful to watch Thea move through the world, and through this holiday season, with new-found awareness and verve. I'll be sad when it's gone. But I'll also be less tired.

December 2012: Letter from John

In 2006, my engagement with the Richmond region went from passive to active -- thanks to my participation in the first Greater Richmond Challenge.

Created by Stephanie Kirksey and her team at the Greater Richmond Chamber, the Challenge was a reverse play around the traditional InterCity Visit. Instead of heading out to see how other cities create success, the Challenge invited a hundred-plus Richmonders to explore successes in their own back yard.

I found myself on a small team exploring some inspiring work in the realm of affordable housing. What we discover ed during our 24 hour blitz was eye-opening and inspiring -- organizations like Better Housing Coalition and Virginia Supportive Housing that are transforming the way our region deals with serious housing issues.

But the Challenge's real lessons weren't strictly educational. They were relational.

Earlier that year at a Creative Change Center event, I had my first introduction to Andy Stefanovich. (Some of you know exactly how much "Wow!" can be packed into a first encounter with Andy.)

Andy said something that night that I've carried around with me for seven years now. "Look around the room," he said. "There are people here who caught your attention. Give yourself permission to have a business crush on someone in the room tonight, and write them a business love letter. Ask them out for coffee or lunch, and get to know them better."

For an introvert like myself, Andy's invitation to be extraverted had remarkable power.

I was just looking at the business crush list I compiled at the end of the 2006 Challenge: Stephanie Kirksey and Betsy Borders Mangum, Robert Dortch, Sam Rugg, Scott Sutton, Lawson Wijesooriya are all now serious, essential friends. I never would have connected with them without Andy's permission to have a crush.

As I head into 2013, and year five with Floricane, it feels like a good time to identify a new batch of inspirational, amazing people with beautiful spirits - and to fall in love all over again with people who make this community sing. I've started working on my business crush list for 2013. I'll leave a few slots open on my calendar for a business crush blind date or two.

Go fall in love with amazing people. The magic never wears off. (Though someone needs to tell Kirksey she owes me lunch...)
 
Happy New Year, Richmond. You rock, and I want to hang out with you.

Getting Educated About Substance Abuse

Like so many people, I don’t have to look far to see the impact of substance abuse and addiction on our society. I’ve experienced substance abuse and addiction firsthand with family and friends, and I see its impacts on the streets of Richmond daily. Its one of the most visible scars in our community – so visible, we barely see it.

Fortunately, there are organizations like the the Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery Alliance – called SAARA of Virginia for short.

SAARA of Virginia is what is called a peer-based, or consumer-based, organization – it exists for and is largely run by people who are recovering from addiction and substance abuse. The organization serves as a bit of an umbrella for a host of counseling and support programs around the state, and works hard to support these groups even as it advocates for changes in policy and legal areas.

We spent a couple of Saturdays this fall working with SAARA’s board as they began to focus on where they needed to go long-term. In addition to putting some clearer definition on SAARA’s purpose, we began mapping out some specific steps the organization could take to increase public awareness, strengthen its board and be more sustainable.

After Planning Comes Implementation

The nice thing about developing an awesome plan? Implementation.

That’s because a truly awesome plan is usually well on its way to being implemented by the time it gets approved. That is certainly the case with a Virginia Oral Health Coalition project we’ve been supporting.

Designed to dramatically increase medical/dental collaboration across the state, the project has brought dozens of medical and dental providers (and educators, insurance providers, policymakers and more) to the same table to discuss a simple challenge: Helping health providers of all stripes treat their patients from their teeth to their toes.

This past year, we facilitated the awesome work of VOHC’s Sarah Bedard Holland and Katherine Libby as they convened groups and hammered out an aggressive plan to change the way Virginia schools teach oral health, the increase continuing education opportunities for established health professionals, to bolster early childhood dental care and to improve the use of technology solutions to simplify care.

In August, they submitted the plan to the DentaQuest Foundation for implementation funding. In September, funding was approved.

When we reconvened the project team earlier in November to discuss implementation, we were all delighted (but not so surprised) to discover that significant chunks of the plan were already moving forward. As we move into 2013, Floricane’s work will be fairly straightforward as we help keep a focused team focused, and guide from the side as a group of experts go about the business of changing the health care landscape.

It’s work we can sink our teeth into. Pun intended.

Insights Discovery: New Insights Into Team Effectiveness

More than 700 of our friends and clients have utilized the Insights Discovery® self-awareness tool to explore their personal effectivenessat work, and we continue to introduce the instrument to organizations throughout Richmond. Recently, we've started digging into Insights' Team Effectiveness model. Color us impressed.

Built around the Insights color wheel, the cornerstone to the personal discovery work, the team ef fectiveness model suggests that effective teams leverage four sets of core competencies to do great work. The Insights Team Effectiveness model includes targeted activities to help teams identify and prioritize their own unique behavioral norms -- and opportunities for growth.

FOCUS: A focused team has a clear, shared sense of direction -- and they understand their vision and goals. Keeping their attention focused on specific deliverables, the team is eager to take action, move forward in concrete ways, and hold themselves accountable for their commitments.

FLOW: A team in flow is solutions-focused, creative and collaborative -- and always prone toward collective problem solving. The team learns together, as a team, and regularly engages in discussion and dialogue. Teams in flow are agile, responding quickly to external input and quick to change direction as circumstances evolve.

CLIMATE: In a positive climate, teams demonstrate a high level of trust, and a genuine sense of caring and support for one another. Such teams have a high degree of engagement and motivation, maintain cohesion under pressure, and are able and willing to dive into challenging discussions that can strengthen the team's performance and sense of connection.

PROCESS: Teams that demonstrate a capacity for effective processes have clear roles for each team member, and roles that are linked and interdependent. These teams have a clear decision-making process in place, and established measurements that help monitor progress and provide the team with relevant information.

In a full-day, highly interactive workshop, we take teams through a thorough exploration of their dynamics and begin the serious work of identifying the ways in which the team can leverage each set of team effectiveness competencies. Individual team members create a personal game plan to improve their engagement on the team, and strengthen their contributions.

Join us on December 6 for our last public Insights workshop of the year, and discover ways to engage your team.

Throwing a Community Party at Our New Space

It’s hard to believe that it has been four years since Floricane come into existence. It’s even harder to believe that more than200 of our friends, community partners and clients dropped by last week to celebrate our little anniversary event.

For us, it was a chance to showcase a new piece of work – a joint venture with the Richmond Times-Dispatch to create a collaborative business community smack in the middle of their downtown headquarters.

I think most of them just wanted to see what we did with the place.

From the buzz that evening, I’d say most of them were pleasantly surprised by the energy and atmosphere of the place. It certainly has a different color palette.

The atmosphere was given an extra lift by three talented friends – restaurateurs Kendra Feather and Betsy Harrell, and confectioner extraordinaire Nicole Lang. Nicole (of Dollop fame) provided boxes of mini whoopee pies, and several large canisters of her famous pimento cheese. Betsy loaded us down with a flavorful assortment of Dixie Donuts, and chips and salsa from Café Ole. And Kendra swooped in with trays of amazing chicken sliders from The Roosevelt, Church Hill’s latest amazing restaurant.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t add that Nikole and Thea spent the afternoon at our house skewering fruit for the masses, and that my mom arrived laden with additional food items.

All of it came together through the orchestration of Tina Pearlman, who has spent the past two years pushing us to make Floricane’s brand and experiences something special.

Collaboration, and community, at their best.

Small Group Coaching with Bon Secours Virginia

Debra and I have kicked off an exciting new process for a group of key managers and leaders across Bon Secours Virginia.If you don’t already know, Bon Secours Virginia is extremely invested in what they describe as employee engagement, which uses a system of questions developed by Gallupto assess how each team at Bon Secours is performing year-over-year. Two years ago, we interviewed close to 100 leaders across the system whose teams consistently scored well in the process. Our goal was to identify some key attributes of highly engaged leaders.

For the next six months, we’ll be working in small coaching groups of 4-7 managers in an effort to strengthen the leadership and team engagement focus of more than 80 Bon Secours managers. This is the first time Bon Secours Virginia has implemented such a large group coaching process, and we’re excited to be part of it.

Our approach is fairly straightforward: Small, location-specific groups will meet six times to share their challenges, experiences and best advice with each other as it relates to leading and engaging their teams. Debra and I will guide and facilitate the discussions, providing management tips and tools, assignments and accountability to each participant.

While the ultimate goal is to help each leader improve their team’s scores on the Gallup assessment, we believe the real strength of the program is simply providing consistent, peer-based opportunities to develop a new set of leadership “muscles” and behaviors.

We’re excited that we’ve started, and we’re going to be very interested to see how our work helps shape the engagement of these leader’s teams.