Believing in Better

On behalf of the entire Curious Plot team, we wish you the happiest of holiday seasons.

I also hope this time of year offers you quiet moments to slow down, pause, reflect on the year behind us and be thoughtful about the year ahead.

For me, I know I am not alone in reflecting that these past two and a half years have been the most challenging yet rewarding times of my career. I’m sure many of you may have felt the same.

As I look back on 2022, I have personally and as an agency leader worked hard on the soft skills, trying more than ever to practice caring and thoughtful transparency with my team members, our clients and stakeholders. In a world that is increasingly cloudy, it’s imperative to provide clarity to those around you.

How does thoughtful transparency play out? Before each conversation, before every communication, I try to practice empathy for the person or people on the other end of that conversation. It’s asking, “What are they thinking?”, “How are they feeling?” and “How will these words impact and empower them?” I believe the more self-aware and selfless we become in our conversations, the better we become as communicators to our team, our clients and our clients’ stakeholders.

In 2020 and 2021, my personal theme was “get comfortable with the uncomfortable,” but I believe we’re beyond that now. For me, it’s about showing humility and demonstrating reassurance as we all move forward on the unknown roads ahead. As an agency, in 2022, we brought this to life in part by introducing career mapping for each of our more than 100 employees, working with our human resources team and trusted third-party experts to help each team member better understand and plot out a personal career growth plan based on their strengths and what inspires them and gives them energy in their daily work lives.

As I look ahead to 2023, our themes are focus and mental health.

Focus because we will all continue to navigate a hybrid work environment, trying to stay ahead of the talent shortage and being prepared for what’s next in this current economic state. And by “talent shortage,” I mean focusing on finding, hiring and onboarding the right team members for the specific work that needs to be done effectively and efficiently for our clients.

Mental health because we know these past three years continue to take a toll on all of us. A recent study found that more than half of Americans are experiencing at least a moderate level of burnout, an alarming statistic. In 2022, we addressed this externally with our support of Rural Minds as our Seed to Succeed pro bono grant recipient. In 2023 and beyond, we will continue to have conversations about mental health and well-being for our teams and ourselves.

As a leadership team at Curious Plot, we talk about growth. But, growth is not just about growing the business, it’s about supporting and growing the team to be better on their own terms both personally and professionally. That’s because our agency always believes that better is always possible and always around the corner.

Here’s to a peaceful holiday season, and we all look forward to reconnecting in the year ahead.