In the fall of 2019, our Team Leads came together for 2020 planning. Little did we know what was in store for the year. We planned for an exciting year—created big goals and looked to the future. We thought about new product launches, teams and functions. Our theme for 2020 was “Grow, Evolve, Become.” This rally cry helped us celebrate where we’ve come from and at the same time look forward to what’s to come.
Despite all that’s happened this year, our rally cry became the foundation for our most significant accomplishments in 2020. We still launched new products, teams, and functions – but we also had to Grow, Evolve, Become in new ways in order to adapt to the state of the world. We had to flex to keep up with the needs and safety of our consumers. We adjusted the UX of our Freeosk to be safer and touchless. This accomplishment was no small feat and having the ability to grow, evolve, and become was paramount in helping us achieve it.
A Recipe for Success
We had to figure out how to manage through uncertainty without a playbook – and somehow managed to write a new one along the way.
We leaned into what makes us unique at Freeosk. We worked collaboratively and assumed that others’ actions have a positive impact. We knew that we are all in this together.
Do What Matters
We prioritized and focused our energy on the most important projects to move Freeosk forward. We spent a lot of time digging into our “Simplification Framework,” which examines what projects can be streamlined, automated or eliminated to free up bandwidth for high-impact work.
Communicate Clearly (and Often)
We figured out how to stay connected when we are not working in the office. We checked-in more often. We relied more heavily on Zoom and Slack. We embraced our new digital workspace to continue to cultivate a culture that is uniquely Freeosk. We valued the importance of being transparent and intentional in our conversations with others. If a misunderstanding arose, we took the time to realign, clarify expectations, needs and timeframes. We also introduced common vocabulary to assist with workload prioritization when requesting something from others (the fire, turtle and hare emojis come in pretty handy!).
Working Together
We learned that we can still get things done even while we’re physically apart. As we look to 2021, we listened closely to our Freeoskers and embraced a new distributed workforce structure on a more permanent basis based on their feedback. All while successfully launching new products that help serve our clients’ needs. And increased our overall employee engagement by 16 points this year!
All in all, we are grateful that despite a global pandemic, we have continued to “Grow, Evolve, Become.”
