Build (and Keep)
a Solid Team
WELCOME IN
I love a juicy customer story, and I have a whole lot of them.
I’ve spent the last 3 years working in service and hospitality. Having worked through the height of pandemic panic and confusion and political hostility, I’ve witnessed the best and worst of customers. Regardless of personal stance, responding kindly to a grown adult throwing a temper tantrum because I was doing my job was a skill I didn’t know I would need to learn.
But I came out of those hellish moments with a newfound respect and appreciation for the people in the muck alongside me: my stellar coworkers. Without them, I wouldn’t have made it.
For this reason, I’ve concluded a company is only as healthy as the team that’s running it, and businesses cannot afford to overlook the steps necessary to building theirs well.
In 30 days, I created a strategy to recruit, retain, and empower quality employees.
Of my own accord, I independently created these project pieces to test my professional skills and expand my knowledge and experience. I was not hired or paid to complete this work.
MY 30-DAY PLAN
I took 30 days to create a three-fold project to recruit, retain, and empower quality employees. For demonstration purposes, I focused on a Sacramento favorite, Temple Coffee Roasters.
Put simply, my goals are to:
RECRUIT: Create an employee recruitment campaign using a targeted ad series to reach quality applicants
RETAIN: Develop and visually design an SOP for the interview process
EMPOWER: Create the skeleton of an empowerment program to ensure that great employees are retained over time
BETTER THAN A JOBS BOARD
In the wake of The Great Resignation of the US, quality applicants are becoming more and more difficult to find.
While the barrier to entry into the service industry isn’t difficult to overcome, to do a service job well requires a blend of hard and soft skills that are not taught in a classroom. Only individuals with the ability to empathize, communicate and adapt on the job will thrive within a service position and in turn, bring value to a company.
As the service industry grows, the companies that can find and retain star players will be the ones that thrive.
With my personal experience of the ins and outs of what makes a strong barista, I wanted my project to address a relevant struggle among service-based businesses: finding and keeping quality people.
My hope heading into this project is that I learn the tools to set businesses up to succeed in building long-lasting teams. From there, I hope to develop strategic resources for hiring managers and team leaders in sustaining ongoing growth.
Weekly progress.
-
I settled on an idea
I created a project outline task management system
I divided my month-long workload into my task management system
I built my landing page
I wrote a blog post entitled “Why People Don’t Want to Work Anymore”
I go into more depth with a Week 1 Update
-
I built a targeted ad series for intentional recruitment
I taught myself Meta for Business and filmed a walk-through of how to set up an ad
I wrote “A Hot Take: Job Boards” where I argue there’s a better way to recruit than posting a passive job listing
I wrote “3 Refreshing Approaches in an Interview” where I dive into 3 angles hiring managers can use to discover who an interviewee really is beneath the surface
I recorded the first of 3 latte art demonstration videos with Adobe Spark Video
I go into more depth with a Week 2 Update
-
I created and designed a Standard Operating Procedure for the interview process
I filmed a time-lapse videoof the designing of this SOP
I created a Standard Operating Procedure for ongoing employee development
I filmed a walk-through of the tool I used to create the visual of this SOP
I filmed a second latte art video demonstrating how to pour a rosetta
I wrote a blog post entitled: "Decode and Reduce Turnover with Speed Reading”
I go into more depth with a Week 3 Update
-
I filmed my final latte art demonstration
I wrote: “Fostering a Team to Last”
I wrote a project conclusion
I go into detail in my final Week 4 Update
THE TOOLS I USED
Asana task manager
To help me stay on top of tasks, organize my workload, and communicate with project advisors on each step of progress, I used Asana. Here’s a look into why I love this task management tool over others.
Completing this project wasn’t the only thing I had on my plate this next month. A full-time job, helping coordinate weddings, and a social life were all commitments I needed help balancing. I used Google Calendar to track the shifts of my day job, time spent at events, and the work blocks dedicated to completing the tasks of my projects.
I employed the help of Google Docs to create and receive feedback on project drafts.
And finally, I used Google Slides to enhance my presentations.
I happily called on the software, Piktochart, to develop the visual ads and guiding infographics for the creative pieces of my project. I walked through some of my favorite features of the tool and recorded a time-lapse displaying I used it to design an engaging SOP.
In the recruitment portion of my three-fold project, I taught myself Meta for Business and I demonstrated how to set up effective Instagram and Facebook ads via a video walk-through.
As I delved into marketing the position of a coffee professional for my project focus, Temple Coffee Roasters, I recorded a set of latte art demonstrations for pizzazz in between weekly tasks. I taught myself how to use Adobe Spark Video to piece together and create engaging presentations.
I used the screen-capturing and video recording software Loom to document the thought process behind my project details and demonstrate the tech tools I learned.
4 weekly updates:
10 blog posts:
9 videos:
IN 30 DAYS, I CREATED:
Soft skills:
How to manage a lengthy, multifaceted and self-directed project
How to properly budget my time with multiple professional obligations at once
How to effectively communicate through writing, video, and design
How to articulate my thought processes behind project decisions
How to give and receive constructive feedback
SKILLS GAINED
Hard skills:
Task and time management softwares
Web design
Infographic, ad, and visual design
Meta for Business
Video recording and editing softwares Loom, iMovie, and Adobe Spark Video
BIGGEST TAKEAWAY
My biggest takeaway in this month-long journey is the power of documentation.
It is undeniably valuable to take the time to document what I create, what I’m learning, the speed bumps along the way, and the growth I see come from it. In every weekly update of my project, I saw the evolution of not only my progress, but in what I was learning about myself.
I detailed in my final conclusion post how this project illuminated the beauty of letting research and learning and discovery spill over into creative output. This month showed me how I do my best work when I let myself lean into curiosity, and allow fascination to guide my steps.
WHAT I WOULD’VE DONE DIFFERENTLY
If I started this month over again, I would reduce the layers of my project from 3 to 1 and dig deep into a single layer.
The original task set out for myself was to:
RECRUIT: Create an employee recruitment campaign using a targeted ad series to reach quality applicants
RETAIN: Develop and visually design an SOP for the interview process
EMPOWER: Create the skeleton of an empowerment program to ensure that great employees are retained over time
I knew the goal was ambitious and that’s what excited me about it, however, I can see in retrospect how I didn’t have enough time to do full justice to all three components.
I found myself in many moments throughout the month wishing I had more time to dive deeper into the subjects I was researching, the tools I was learning, and the pieces I was creating. However, because I had put so much on my plate, I had to prevent myself from going too deep. I fear I only scratched the surface of many of these fascinating topics and tools.
If I gave this month another go, I would lessen the amount I put on my plate in order to explore and learn more deeply.
IN CONCLUSION
Here’s a one-minute conclusion of the lasting impression this project left on me.
Thank you for following along!
Looking to chat? Reach out here.