My Standard of Performance 🥇

May 22, 2022

A user guide for how I like to work. My values & principles ❤️ 🤝

By Danielle Blizzard

Firstly and most importantly, I’m really excited to be working with you! 🥳

I wrote this guide to share insight on how I like to work and communicate.

Working styles are always a work-in-progress so consider this a living document. I’m always open to feedback about what’s helpful and what isn’t in here!

🤝 Collaborating as true partners

I’m super passionate about people and company growth, and I will work with you to create environments where employees are challenged and pushed to become the best version of themselves, every single day.

We want to ship great work and help each other out. Most of the way I like to work orients towards those two goals. 🌟

✅ I will only work on projects where I am adding real value and I measure myself on outcomes delivered

👩🏼‍🏫 I am a builder, a fixer, and a coach. I will unlock value by increasing functional performance

👂🏻I am your trusted advisor

👯‍♀️ We are in this together. I will be by your side and rooting for you on every step of your growth journey. You can’t get rid of me that easily 😜

❤️ I care. I care about you, your people, and your company’s success. I invest my time, heart, and soul into getting to know you, your people, and your company's strengths and weaknesses to create the best people and talent strategies

👐🏼 I’m hands-on. I like to spend a lot of time together at the outset of a project. Once we’ve defined where we’re going and how to get there efficiently, I trust us to all make it happen and I won’t micromanage anyone. (Having said that, I’m always here for a coffee, walk, or quick brain teaser if anyone is feeling stuck)

⁉️ I have an insatiable curiosity. I’m always learning and looking to find better ways of working and new ideas. I like to have a lot of context and information before I make a decision or form a perspective. I’ll often ask lots of questions up front; it’s not an interrogation, I’m just building up my understanding!

🧑🏽‍🎓 I will support each leader, manager, and employee on various different initiatives. I expect everyone to be open to new ways of working and have a hunger for learning

👷‍♀️ We are building this together. I don’t actually like working on my own and for me, there’s nothing better than collaborating with others to create a bigger impact

🪰 Fly-on-the-wall. Loop me in on anything (emails, meetings, etc). I love to see what people are up to as it helps me to identify areas of opportunity and stops me from having to arrange more meetings or write up notes later on

👩‍🎨 I use design thinking to create the best experiences for your potential, current, and past employees

🧠 I am extremely fascinated by human psychology and what values people have and their drives. This is for the whole team, including you 😊

📣 Trust through feedback

🙊 I like to give it and I like to get it; I think it makes the work and the experience of doing the work better. I grew up playing netball very competitively, so I’m very comfortable with direct, real-time feedback. Don’t be shy! Constructive feedback will always be delivered to you directly and I’d like the same from you

🌱 I can’t improve if you don’t give me feedback, and we’re all human and all learning. I strive to get 1% better every day

👯‍♀️ We’re in this to get better together. Remember, whatever I hear or see, I have your back and I’ll tell you when I’m concerned. Anyone who vents to me about you is going to get my help to tell you directly

⏰ For broader trends you’re observing or experiencing, let’s set aside time to talk about it. I have more productive conversations on this kind of stuff when I can prepare my thoughts in advance so please give me a heads up if there’s something you want to chat about and then we’ll set a time to do it

🤼‍♀️ I will challenge everything and please, don’t be afraid to challenge me. Sometimes that’s where the best ideas are born

🗓 I might not be physically by your side all the time but we will set a regular cadence for updates, challenges, bottlenecks, and reflections to make sure that you have full visibility and that we stay fully aligned

🌟 I care a lot about you, your people, and all of your development!

🖥 Operational excellence

👋🏻 I would love the whole team to welcome me into the company. I’m not expecting an official onboarding 😜 but I don’t want them to see me as an outsider. If you have any socials, please invite me 🎉

0️⃣ I’m a big advocate of the zero inbox policy but add me to any relevant emails (forward as FYI or add me) or documents that might be helpful for me to see as a way to understand the team and day-to-day work. Just don’t overdo it 🙏🏼

📱For super-short, quick communication feel free to ping me on slack or WhatsApp (please bear in mind the time and day as to whether it is really necessary)

💬 If it’s a long topic then let’s schedule some time to chat!

🗣 Overall, I like more communication rather than less

🚄 Efficiency. I’m a sucker for it. If there’s a better way to do something, let’s do it that way

✍🏼 Documentation. I will record decisions, goals, plans, perspectives, reflections, meeting notes, and anything else we think is relevant to the work as it’s happening. It’s also helpful to be able to reference later. I’m a big fan of a joint 1:1 doc to track what we discuss

👫 Team Meetings. I like meetings to provide a chance to collaborate but let’s make them as efficient as possible, as we’re all super busy! I won’t attend any meeting that doesn’t have an agenda/structure. Any pre-work must be sent with enough time to do beforehand

🔢 Data-driven. I like data and dashboards so we can measure progress and results but I dislike being bogged down in data and torturing the numbers

🔁 I take action items really seriously and I expect you to know what yours are, when they are due, and get them done. I expect timely updates, and for everyone to close the loop. I hate to chase!

⏱ I respect your time and you respect mine

🤩 Most importantly, let’s have fun!!

🕺 Tell me some fun facts about you! Be your true self 😄

👋🏻 I look forward to personally meeting everyone on your team

I hope this was helpful and, again, I look forward to working together!!

Love

Danielle x

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