Yesterday I wrote about Journaling and how looking back has allowed me the power to move forward. Journaling gives me the hindsight point of view, that unless forced by actions, I would never get. Journaling allows me to reflect on what I’ve accomplished, where I am with regards to those things pending and where I fail. Journaling is making conscious the unconscious method of learning.
The All Hands meeting is like journaling but for your enterprise, whether that is a startup, project or team. Through an All Hands meeting you can excerpt a powerful influence in your team, yourself as a leader and, most importantly, in how, together, you can deliver on your agreed and shared objectives.
At Leaf we tried to incorporate the All Hands as a way to gain alignment, reflect and adjust, soon after we grew past the first 5 of us; before then, it was easy for all of us to be on the same page as you are in that rapid execution phase on your quest. In hindsight, we could have done with some of it back then.
In earnest though, it was not until we pivoted the company, late last year, that I decided to make the All Hands an unskippable ritual that as a company we would learn to swear by.
The All Hands meeting and its weekly deck has recorded the history of our company, how Leaf Grow went from an idea to an MVP, its adjustments and how it grew to become a sustainable business. It’s recorded the successes as well as where we have failed. It’s recorded the metrics and the roadmap. It’s recorded our decision-making process as well as our collective dogma. The All Hands has allowed us, as a team, to become one, and through asynchronous execution found purpose and motivation, even in the darkest of the times.
The All Hands is a team effort, everyone pitches in and in collaboration the deck takes a life of its own in the early hours of every Friday; it has become a collective ritual that culminates with the delivery right before we break for the weekend.
Every department will update the rest of the company on strategic developments that impact the delivery of our collective objectives. We also share wins as well as provide previews of things to come. For 30min we all tune in on a video conference to learn where we are as a company, where are we going and where are we struggling. It’s not a place to solve for problems, it’s a place to learn and reflect, problem-solving is left to the tactical spaces we have during the week to come.
The All Hands has brought accountability to everyone and has made each one of us owners of our collective success by gaining alignment.
I would love to think that the way I’ve described our All Hands here is the norm rather than the exception to the rule out there, but if not, at least I hope that by putting this out there in writing, I get to motivate some of you to decide and take action.
Pura Vida.
Reality vs Expectations 