Taking Our Own Medicine
While lying on an examination table receiving an injection in the . . . let's just say, old-fashioned location, a thought occurred to me. I wonder if these nurses remember what this feels like? Sometimes in the medical world, you can feel like a specimen, an object of study. Now I'll admit it, I am a fine specimen worthy of much study (and dripping with sarcasm), but being on the receiving end of anything uncomfortable doesn't always feel so good. I once heard that nurses going through training actually have to practice taking blood from each other. I found that encouraging. It's reassuring to know that they take their own medicine. Well, you can consider this blog a window into the med school lab of Pivotol. We've taken our own medicine and turned the microscope on ourselves.
If you've not worked or even spoken with us in recent years, this might take a bit of explaining. You see, Pivotol has developed into something much deeper than the Ben Rodgers branding and web design outfit. Yes, those elements are still an essential part of our end product, but what has taken shape, where we are planting our flag, is on a totally unique process of discovery, in the context of a team. It is a process that invites clients into a deep time of self-reflection and listening; to their own hearts, to hard questions, to their staff and best clients. It is a process that we, as a group, walk clients through in order to purify their mission, articulate their true desires for their business, name their fears and hopes, and ultimately distill the essence of what they are all about. After walking through this process, websites, design, materials, deliverables, and brand communications are all the natural outflow of this clear heartbeat.
Why do we all need help?
Why become self-reflective? Why take the time from more "productive" work? Why risk asking the deeper questions? Usually, there's some sort of big change afoot that moves clients to call us: growth, loss, opportunity, transitions, some sense that a change in approach and self-articulation is needed. Sometimes it comes from outside, sometimes from inside. At Pivotol, we were feeling both.
We became aware that our work was growing into something deeper. This discovery process had developed and taken on a unique shape. It became clear that it was becoming more and more important to our work. But, there were also other directions we could be moving in as well; there were always more needs that could be filled in our clients' lives and we needed to really discern which ones to put up our hand for.
Externally, a few big jobs had concluded and we simultaneously had a few clients step away from us. So over the summer, our collective calendars all unexpectedly opened up. There was money in the bank to keep everybody working, but all of sudden . . . space, and an invitation to stop and reflect. What are we really about, what is the heartbeat of Pivotol going to be? Do we dare stop and ask these hard questions? We did.
The Pivot
We took the time to ask, what are we really called to be doing here at Pivotol? Are we a management consulting firm? Website builders? Design communicators? We've done all of this stuff, but where is the heart? What has been our best work, and why? What have been our most fruitful client relationships and why? What kind of freelancers and team members have sparked the best conversations and work? And as we worked through these questions through hours of conversations, days spent fishing, and scratching out notes and models on paper, Pivotol's heartbeat rang out loud and clear.
Our process is at the center of it all.
This is the heart of our work: walking with clients through tough questions that get pushed aside in the busyness of business. Listening, clarifying, distilling, articulating, storycrafting, and then shepherding the wonderful fruit that develops.
So we know what it feels like now. We've walked that road of curated self-discovery. It was scary, it was thrilling, it was surprising, it was clarifying.
The fruit? Well, you're looking at it. Explore our website, read our heart page, look at some of our case studies. What you'll find flows from us knowing our own heartbeat, clear and compelling language to describe it, and the fleshed-out picture of what we are all about. We're really enjoying this fruit now: ripe, crisp, and rich in flavor and texture. And it's worth mentioning at this point that those two clients who went a different direction back before the summer actually returned. We were able to reengage them with a clearer sense of purpose and a better alignment of who we are with what their needs are. The relationships are renewed and refreshed. Like we tell our clients, you never know what will come from the Pivotol process, we are surprised every time.
And it is our invitation to you to step into that same process with us. Come and let us ask the questions that can take your business to a deeper place, a place that flows more fully from who you are and what you really want to be offering to the world. Do you have the guts and the longing for a bold journey?
