Welcome back to the Building A Clear Authentic Brand podcast. I'm your host, Amy Dardis. And today we're wrapping up our seven-part series on creating alignment with your people. So far, we've talked about what alignment looks like with culture and finding the right person who's going to thrive in our organization. We've talked about creating alignment within capacity, which is finding the right person who will thrive in their specific role. And in this episode, we're talking about this third dimension, which is contribution. And contribution can only exist when first you have alignment with culture and capacity. But this third element of contribution, this episode, is going to be a little bit more storytelling and revelation than it really is like a framework or specific teaching. This is really just lessons that I've learned about contribution along the way. And really, we're looking at there's four parts that I have found within this contribution dimension. And that is growth and development. So as I'm I've been in roles that I have truly been a fit for and truly had the capacity for, I have grown and developed as an individual, as a person. I've grown my skill sets and my gifting. But then I've also gotten to contribute to growth of an organization, to growth of my company. Also looking at like appreciation and recognition, feeling valued, feeling seen, feeling appreciated. And not only by the people that you get to work with or for, but just truly feeling appreciative, feeling this gratitude of getting to have this opportunity, getting to be in this season of life, knowing that I appreciate the opportunities and the experience to grow, to contribute, to develop, to have an impact. And then this third element of contribution being like purpose and passion and knowing that the work that I'm doing matters and I'm excited about it, knowing that I'm doing something that is meaningful and that is larger than myself. I'm not just accomplishing tasks, I'm truly doing something that matters and it aligns with the things that I deeply care about and that I think are incredibly important. And then this fourth element of contribution being value and impact, which is really the effect of all of these other three things, is is the work I'm doing, is the excitement I bring, is is my unique abilities and in how I'm growing in those areas, are those things adding value to people, to business, to community, to my life. So it's not just about what I bring to the table, but it's also about the impact that it has on me. And I kind of want to talk about how I came to kind of discover these four elements through two different seasons, going from a season of being an entrepreneur to a season of being an employee, and then going from a season of being an employee back to a season of being an entrepreneur. And really the question is okay, if we have, if we have alignment with culture, if we have alignment with capacity, and all these good things are happening within contribution, why do people leave? Why do people not stay in this role? And I think it it really does come down to this contribution element and how that shifts and evolves within our life. And that's not a bad thing at all. If anything, it's part of God's plan, it's part of his purpose. And so when I had gone into business for myself the first time, from having all of these very, very misaligned jobs, having jobs that were I wasn't fulfilled, I was not a good culture fit if because there probably wasn't even a culture, I was in the wrong role, you know, all of these things that I recognized I don't want for my life. And then I jumped into being an entrepreneur, and this first season was one of the hardest seasons of my life and learning all of these things about business and faith and myself and my marriage. And it was a it was an intense season of growth. But through that season, a period of I think a good five years, I was growing significantly. I was I was growing emotionally, I was growing spiritually, I was growing relationally, I was growing in my skill sets and in my understanding of business. I was learning a lot. And I loved the challenge of that. I loved the thrill of knowing I was working towards something and becoming better and seeing change in my life. That was incredibly fulfilling. And then through that season, this appreciation and recognition, I got to see that when I worked in my gifting and I was able to help my clients with their projects, they were, they were really appreciative of my skill sets and of the conversations that we had. And my husband, as my business partner, was appreciative of my natural abilities that were developing and me learning how to step into these new roles. And I was super appreciative of the opportunity to work with these clients and to try and help them tell their story and to help them communicate clear, clearly, and how to take this message of their business and put it into a website and be able to lay it out and make it make sense and help them generate leads. Like I really appreciated just even being in that season and and having those opportunities. And then this purpose and impact season was knowing that one, I was I was super excited about the work I was doing. I I was I was I had never worked harder in my life because I I was learning all these things about my work style and about my personality traits and the things that I valued and how what I believed shaped how we ran our business and how we treated our clients and our messaging. And I was so like passionate about this idea of being the best version of myself I could be, and figuring out how to balance work and life and faith, and learning how to be a parent through it and raise our children through it and manage money through it. And through that, this work that I was doing, this I was like incredibly like drawn to this idea of entrepreneurship and business and what it meant and what it meant for the lives of people and how communication and people working in their skill sets really had an impact. And then this value and impact thing, like I was like my life was changing through this process. Our business was changing through this process, my marriage was changing through this process, and we were delivering impact like to our clients through the actual work that we were doing. And so it was filled with all kinds of obstacles and challenges and learning curves. It was it was incredibly difficult, but at the same time, there was all this fruit that was coming out of it, and and God was shaping me through it, he was shaping us through it, and within that season, he was like honing in on this purpose and this calling that he had on our life, which at the time, and and still to this day, I would say that we don't know what the exact plan is that God has for us. Like we don't know what he calls us to. Oftentimes, you know, God has a plan and a purpose for our life, and he gives us specific gifting and skill sets, and he puts us in relationship with people who complement that and bring out the best in us and help us strengthen those things and build up endurance, and he takes us through seasons that shape us into who he's asking us to be. And he has a plan and a purpose for our life. So even though we go through hard things, even though we go through difficult things, God is using it for our good and he is using it for his good and for his glory. And at the time, he's not showing us the whole plan. And sometimes he'll give us a vision of what a dream that we are working towards. Oftentimes I think we have a dream that we're working towards, and there's phases to this dream, but he doesn't give us every step along the way. He doesn't reveal to us all of the challenges and the obstacles and the adversity and the experiences that we're going to go through in order to become the person who needs to step into that dream. And so I had gone through this season of entrepreneurship, was loving being an entrepreneur. It had its challenges for sure. But what I was in this season, so all this good was happening, all this growth was happening. But then eventually I started to hit a ceiling. And I started to realize that okay, I've I've grown so much in these areas. Like I feel like I'm very good at what I'm doing. And it's not quite the challenge that it once was, and it's not quite the rewarding, fulfilling experience that it once was, because now God has been kind of revealing this, this a deeper direction. So we're still within the same vein of this purpose and meaning and work and understanding uniqueness and strengths and what makes a business who it is and what makes people who they are. And feeling like that, I had kind of figured that out to a fair extent in my own life. But now wanting to take that further, now like being more and more passionate about how businesses operated as a whole and how all of these pieces worked together, and that if everybody was working in their own strength, and if a business had a clear understanding of what they believed and their work style and their mission, and like creating unity and creating traction. And I think this was about the time that I was introduced to the book Traction and was applying it in our own business, reading books like Start with Why and The Advantage, and then getting really excited about these topics and these concepts. And through that time period, I was kind of getting just like doing a website wasn't enough. You know, it was it was good, but it was like I could, it was almost like I was going through the motions then doing it, doing it well, but knowing it that was just surface level now. And I I wanted it to go deeper, and I didn't know how to make that happen within my business. I didn't know how to take that next step. And God, in his faithfulness and goodness and sovereignty and being exactly who he is, opened a door, and he opened and created this opportunity for me to go and pursue this next calling, this deeper journey into uniqueness and story and gifting and authenticity and organizational health and purposeful work. And I had no idea what I was really getting myself into at the time or the journey that would unfold after that. But then I entered into this next season and it it shifted. And it didn't shift because I chose it to shift, it shifted because God was the one orchestrating the story. He was the one defining me and creating me and molding me and disciplining me and building up my character to be ready for this next season. And so then I go into this next season. And for five years, I was in this next season of being an employee and focusing on organizational health and putting people in the right seats and understanding gifting and getting more and more excited and passionate about this idea of meaningful work, not just healthy organizations, but people not wasting their lives at work and people being in roles that are aligned with their unique gifting and a business understanding what they believed and letting that guide how they operated. And so for four or five years, I got to experience these elements again, this growth and development. And I was growing just significantly as a person, as a leader, as a mom, as a wife. I it was a new season, but it was challenging in all these different ways. And we went through COVID and leading a business through COVID and launching e-commerce and doing a culture transformation. There were an understanding how do we implement change and how do we implement new processes so that they stick. And this was just incredibly rewarding. And I just felt like every quarter I was looking back and being like, wow, I I don't even feel like the same person anymore because I feel like I have learned so much. And and through that, this like appreciation and recognition, like I had a boss who who was, you know, great and and verbally appreciated me, recognized me publicly, privately through just compliments, through performance reviews, through bonuses. I mean, it was I I felt I felt very seen. I felt valued. And I absolutely valued and appreciated the every opportunity I had to learn, to grow, to attend conferences, to build relationships, to build a network, to meet people. It was, it was incredibly rewarding. I just I so appreciated just the time and the opportunities that that came along. And then this purpose and passion, you know, just being so passionate about the work I was doing and knowing that there was a purpose in it, because it wasn't just about marketing or e-commerce. It was about people not wasting their lives, it was about people understanding what they were good at. It was about making sure people felt seen and heard and valued and appreciated, that they were being challenged and we were aligning in culture, we were aligning in capacity, we were aligning in contribution. And these things just fueled a flame. I mean, they it just it fanned a flame, it just made it bigger and bigger and bigger. And then experiencing this fourth element of value and impact and knowing that I was not the same person that I was when I walked through those doors the very first time. And I don't believe that the business was the same either, that that we were different, that I was different, that they were different, and and I'm I'm so thankful for that. And knowing that there was there was growth on both ends, there was changing on both ends. But then again, it's like, okay, if all those good things happened, why aren't you still there? What happened? Well, again, it goes back to God having a bigger plan for all of us and him seeing the big picture and him orchestrating all of these things, and God using the experiences in our life and the people that we get to interact with to shape us and mold us and refine us and prepare us to what he calls us into next. And so for me, I was going through all of these things in this one organization and it fueled this flame, this desire to have it affect as many organizations and as many people as possible. So no longer I was like, okay, there I I feel pretty good that 80 people are in the right role, they enjoy coming to work every day, good things are happening, and it's it's functioning on its own. Like I am, I am no longer like intricately involved. It's like the processes are there, the clarity is there, the framework is there, and that's awesome. And I'm there, there is change, there is transformation. But now there's so many more businesses, and there are so many more people. And I want to talk about this and I want to teach this, and I want to share about all of these things that I have learned along the way. And to be honest, when God started to stir this in me again, I was not looking to leave because I was I was comfortable, I was doing well, I was I was taken care of, I was succeeding, I had predictability, I had predictable income, I had predictable benefits, I had predictable schedule, I understood my role, and I wanted to stay where I was. And God started to just stir these things up in me, and it wasn't fast. It honestly the stirring started almost a year and a half before I left, just small things at a time, you know, of this like this calling, this conviction of God saying, I'm calling you into something more. I'm asking you to once again make a change, step out of the boat, leave what you know, and follow me and be obedient to me, even though there's no guarantee of success, even though there is no clear plan except to trust me, except to obey, to except to surrender your will to mine. And and that's ultimately what it comes down to is choosing to live a life that is completely surrendered to him. And when it comes to work and gifting and everything in our lives, it's given from him, to him, for him, for his honor, for his glory. And my time here on earth is it should be in worship to him, you know, and and he I want him to be Lord and Savior over my life. And so when he says it's time for something different, it's because this whole time he's been orchestrating these things, he has been shifting and molding and creating and building because he knows what's next and he has greater plans and a greater purpose. And it's not just me, it's not just my story. It's it's everybody's story. It's the story of the business, it's the story of the leader, it's the story of the individual. And we get these intersections in our life where our paths cross with organizations, with people, with church, with ministry, with neighbors, whoever it is. And the question is was our life made better by that? Did we make the most of that time? Did we make the most of that intersection while we had it? Were we wasting our time? Were we wasting our gifting? Or were we growing? Were we developing? Were we aligning? Were we pursuing? Were we living by what we believed? Were we being made new and shaped through that process, or were we being stagnant? Were we being comfortable? Or were we in constant friction and misalignment with who God created us to be, with who he designed us to be? And so we come to these seasons in our life where we hit ceilings because we've we've we started at one level, we grew and we grew and we grew to this next level within this certain situation, within this certain role. And now we're experiencing tension, now we're experiencing friction, now we're experiencing a shifting, a restlessness. And sometimes we can we can evolve and grow by staying in that same situation. Sometimes it's an internal shift, like a new role or a new focus with within a within our organization. And that's something that we work through together as a team because we recognize this contribution element has been maxed within the current situation. But sometimes, and sometimes oftentimes, it's time for an external shift. It's time for a new opportunity with new people, new places, new challenges. And again, this is something that we don't dictate. We don't choose this, we don't determine this. This is in God's timing. This is in his provision. This is a part of his plan and his calling. And it requires surrender, it requires obedience, it requires a willingness to seek him first, to seek what he wants and to trust him through the process and to trust him through the story. And I've had times in my life where I have tried to leave in my own timing, or tried to stay in my own timing. And in each way, there was not peace. There was there was wrestling. Like when he called me to leave, and I wrestled with him to want to stay. And I did everything in my power to stay, and there was no peace with it. And there were, I mean, his his will be done, you know, like it like and and I think ultimately that ends up being the prayer is your will be done. Like even when I'm in the way, like even when I resist, please just help me to not resist. Please help me to surrender it and to trust you. But when we're looking at roles in in business and the time that we get with employees and the time that we get with people and our team, the goal isn't tenure. I mean, it's not about the length. I mean, obviously, we want that. We we want to be able to get to be a part of someone's lives for as long as possible. And I and I hope that that is the case. And I truly believe that when we have culture alignment and when we have capacity alignment, that that is the formula to get as long of a time of contribution as possible. But when God says it's time for something new, we also have to honor that and we have to be obedient to that. And it's not about how long we had that season with someone for. The question is, was their contribution? Like was their impact, was there value? Were we blessed by that? Or was our business blessed by that? Were the people that we got to be in relationship, was that was that blessed? Did fruit come out of this? Did we make the most of the time that we had? Did we surrender it all and and allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us the way that God wants us to live our lives, the way we need to be leading and growing and and living our lives regardless of our title, regardless of our occupation, regardless of our status. So the ultimate goal is making sure that we're we're giving everything that we've got while we're there and we're making sure there's that alignment, we're making sure we're aligned in culture, we're making sure we're aligned in capacity, and we're making the most of contribution, knowing that it's okay that it ends. So the question isn't why do people leave? The question is, are we blessed by the intersection? Or was the time and the impact we spent valuable and meaningful? Did we make the most of it? Did did your organization thrive because of the people you had on your team? Did they thrive because they got to be a part of your team? And if the answer is yes, that is all we can ask for, and we can just be thankful and trust that God's ways are higher than our ways and his plans are are better than our plans, and it's it's that's that's the ultimate goal of when we're running our business. And then when it's time for that shift, when it's time for that person to leave, we're we're sad to see them leave, but we also have the tools, we have the capacity, we have the clarity, we have the processes and the framework to make sure that the next person who joins, the next person who comes into our team, is going to add value, is going to make an impact, is going to thrive, and our business is going to be better by it, and their life is going to be better by it. So by saying goodbye to one thing, it opens up room for us to say hello to something new and uniquely different and uniquely impactful, and trust that there's a plan in that as well, that God intends for that value add, that that that's part of his purpose. That is part of his plan. And that is all we can do in our business. That trusting God to lead instead of trusting our own plans to lead. So that wraps up our series as well as this episode. You can learn more at ClearAuthentic Brands.com. That's all for this episode. See you next time!