On Approaching Service as a Team
As a small team dedicated to Branding For The Built Environment™ across the US and internationally, our Nimble. calendar fills quickly. While project output and client service remain top priority in studio growth and client retention, we also take pride in being intentional about pursuing time for doing good.
This year, we took that level of intentionality to new heights by working giving goals into our strategic annual plan — empowering our team to collaborate in co-planning the details. It’s only July, and we’re excited to share that we’ve already met our goals for the year. Making big steps forward to impact our local communities through action, we consider this time well spent.
The best way to get started on incorporating time to serve into your company culture, just start. Truly, it’s not a science, but a simple intentional action. Start and repeat. And reflect on its impact often. Below are a few ways we’ve begun to ingrain giving time into our mindsets and shared calendars this year.
This one is simple — the accountability line.
An active visual on your monthly dashboard and the driver for continual and collaborative action through the year.
In planning your annual giving goals, remember to keep them SMART…
Be specific — Involve your team in the planning. Is there something mutually beneficial that both your company and your team is interested in doing together?
Keep it measurable — Whether it’s hours allocated, dollars donated or something different — pick a direction and run in it!
Keep it achievable — Start small. Remember, your goals can grow alongside your team.
Stay relevant — You can’t help everyone. So set clear objectives that provide a way to evaluate prospective opportunities to give back, and narrow in on what’s most meaningful.
Make it timely — Once you’ve determined what you want to do and who you want to do it for, pick dates and block off that time on the calendar! And don’t postpone.
Our collective giving goal for 2019 was 100 hours — that equates to $22,500 of billable time reallocated to serving. Currently we’re excited to report we're at 125 hours served, and counting!
In short, make it focused and make it known.
Sometimes you just need to get outside and do something different.
Our very first dedicated team initiative involved dedicating just four hours to giving back with Good Four— a national movement for good where participating organizations across the country allocate four hours of paid on-the-clock team time to volunteering in their communities.
This year marked Nimble.’s second annual Good Four day with Piedmont Park Conservancy’s Green Team, supporting Atlanta’s premier green space. Since volunteers are critical to the success of ongoing preservation and restoration efforts, we pitched in and got our hands dirty in an unanimous effort to enhance and transform ATL’s largest green space for festival season.
Sometimes making yourself and your skills available to greener industry pros is the ticket.
This year, three Nimble. creatives participated in AIGA Atlanta’s Rise Up! Mentor Program — an exclusive mentorship program designed to pair emerging designers with seasoned mentors.
From January - May, we collaborated with our mentees on career progression, setting goals to push them forward and helping them execute along the way.
Funding matters.
In May, Nimble. sponsored Child Development Association’s annual Down Home Derby event, their annual fundraiser for scholarships and reduced cost tuition for families in need of affordable early learning programs and childcare for preschoolers in Metro Atlanta.
As a mother to a growing little with special needs, our Founder and Creative Director places high-value on the impact of early childhood education and intervention. The event was a fun time had by all.
The gift of time.
Selectively throughout the year, Nimble. supports aligned mission non-profits through event marketing or branding initiatives. It gives our team the opportunity to serve collectively and introduce a non-profit to the power and impact of creative process on their organization.
This year, we partnered with the Women’s Chamber of Commerce [Pathbuilders, Technology Association Georgia, Women in Film & Television Atlanta, Women in Technology, SAGE, Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Consulate General of Canada] on the visual identity and event marketing for their co-hosted 2019 International Women’s Day Luncheon & Summit, hosted at Atlanta International School. By refreshing their look consistently across planned deliverables, we were able to tighten their look, anchor perception, and reach new audiences.
Pro-bono work can be complicated and unintentionally ongoing. Before embarking, put some parameters in place for yourself and/or your organization to protect your time investment.
READ: You do not have to be a certain age or even at a certain career stage to–
Join a board or become active within a professional organization (on a committee or as vocal members).
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But you do need to stay committed and be intentional about delivering distinctive value continuously. Serving in a board or chair capacity can pay itself back in dividends; with direct influence on your [non-profit/professional] organization and its core audiences. Find an organization to support and do your research to learn how you can best serve. Make an impact that will reach generations.
This is the first year Nimble. has chaired on CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) and we’ve already seen our work impact. …Stay tuned for more of this in a future post ;)
Service Snaps from 2019 Initiatives
This is the seventh edition of our series, Nimble. on Record. Thank you for reading!
Have questions about how or where to begin? We’d love to continue the conversation. Email us at hello@nimbledesignco.com.