DIVIDING TO CONQUER

150 150 Next Level Event Design

If there’s one thing I appreciate about getting older it is, knowing yourself and accepting, who you are. It was quite liberating for me when I realized that I don’t have to be extraordinary at everything (or at least kill myself trying to be).  For example, if you need 500 name badges printed on templates, I’m not your gal.  We’ve got our go-to gal (Anne) for that fun task and she excels at it!  I can now put my energy into the things that I enjoy and I’m good at.  Of course, there is always a list of things I want to improve on, but the fact that I’m not spending time struggling with completing certain tasks, means less frustration for me.

We recently worked on a unique project, which wasn’t primarily focused on planning an event.  It was a multi-layered research project culminating in a 2-day conference. As we created the project plan and organized our staffing, I thought about how different the experiences and focuses are within our team.  There are many different types of planners.   Some event planners are creative, others are great with preparation and detail management, and some are better at logistics and on site execution. Each project dictates different priorities, but all of the pieces are equally important to a successful outcome.

Because of the nature of this project, we created a scope of work plan with different people focusing on varied phases of the project.  We were writing a recipe using the strengths that each of us brought, to collectively create quite an impressive team.  It was definitely a team effort and the result was a huge success.

It was a good reminder to me that no matter what you do, it’s important to know your strengths and weaknesses. There are many different abilities that are crucial, and I’ve learned that in order to come up with the perfect recipe for success, you have to consider the fact that the solution is not always within you. That is the moment when you have to appoint and empower the people that are good at this particular part of the project. You have to be able to delegate and create the support team you need to knock it out of the park for your client… and knock it out we shall!