Flexibility (noun): the ability to be easily modified; willingness to change or compromise.
At Weaving Influence, one of our core values is flexibility, and being in a virtual work space, I see this playing out in many different ways every single day.
In a virtual work environment, being flexible is a must. There are a lot of different people with a lot of different schedules, doing a lot of different things, with a lot of different timelines. A client project has a lot of different pieces to the puzzle, and everyone has their piece. You have to be willing to be flexible with your piece — and those of others — in order to achieve the common goal of serving our clients with excellence.
Sometimes being flexible looks like waking up at 5 AM because that time works best to jump on a call with a colleague to figure out a web issue (been there, done that!). Sometimes, it looks like pushing back a task to allow someone else a little more time to finish their part first.
Sometimes being flexible looks like stopping in the middle of a project and going back to square one, because you have input from a client or coworker that will make your work so much better.
But sometimes in the Weaving Influence world, flexibility looks far different.
The very heart behind Weaving Influence is a mom who was sitting in Starbucks, sipping an iced mocha, chatting with a friend, and thinking to herself, “There has to be more. There has to be some opportunity to use my skills and talents in a professional work environment, while still having time and space to be present in the lives of my spouse and kids.”
Fast forward seven years.
That very heart and desire has created incredible opportunities for 20+ people to have a flexible work schedule and a flexible work environment that allows them to be present for the things that matter most in life — our loved ones.
Flexibility in my day looks like hearing my 11-month-old daughter laughing and playing in the other room, and having the freedom to hit the pause button on my work to go be present and soak up and savor every single one of those baby giggles.
It looks like intentionally planning and organizing my tasks for the day, but having the freedom to be interrupted by a lunch date with my husband.
It looks like creating a plan to work ahead for a day, so that I can take a day off to enjoy time with family members when they come to visit.
It looks like having a team of incredible people all across the country who are ready and willing to step up to the plate and take some of my workload if there is a family emergency.
Flexibility in my day looks like tending to and caring for all of the things that matter most to me, while still having an outlet to use, build, and grow my professional skills and talents.
Flexibility in the workspace takes away the pressure of normal 9-to-5 work hours and timelines, and allows our team members at Weaving Influence to create a schedule that works for their lives.
We still have deadlines, and we still meet them. We still have personal and professional goals; the way we achieve them might just look a bit different!
Here is the most important rule of goals: ‘Be clear about your goal but be flexible about the process of achieving it.’ — Brian Tracey
Lindsey Vander Vlucht is a social media specialist with a love for people and a passion to share their stories. She lives in West MI with her husband and daughter, where they love to go for runs by the beach, hike, cook together, have lots of bonfires, and drink all of the coffee together.