I’m the new kid at Echo. We all know what it feels like to be the new kid at work. So many
questions. Where do I find this? How do we do that? It’s all learning with one rabbit hole learning adventure after another. Part of the onboarding process at Echo is to write a blog and so I'd like to share why I joined Echo for four particularly important reasons:
The Work
I joined Echo Consulting because I enjoy project management
work. Molly and I joyfully shared at my interview that we like to sort our M&Ms by color before we eat them. (Organizing and process creation is important, right?) I know the orientating will settle down over time and then you get to dig in and work with focus and lean into the deliverables. This gets my adrenalin flowing. I realize excitement is different for everyone. My grown boys like to jump out of perfectly good planes, and I like to accomplish work – discover what the client needs, design with collaboration, build to the desired outcome, test for results, teach as a co-pilot, and proudly watch them launch. I guess you could say my adrenalin rush comes from helping others fly. Even if it means raising people to jump out of a perfectly good plane or raising people to jump out of their comfort zone to complete their mission.
Echo’s Values
I found out about Echo after a friend and previous co-worker told me she was working there. What she shared was music to my ears and made my heart dance as I have a deep need to feel valued as an employee. Echo’s values of “learn, share, grow, and care” matched that need. Admittedly, all these areas are important to me, but as a job hunter “care” was the species of game I was especially after. I needed to work for an organization that genuinely cared about its employees and its clients with integrity. Molly hit the mark during my interview when she told me, “I wanted to create the kind of company where I wanted to work.” I believe how a company treats its employees has a direct correlation to how employees will treat their clients. Echo’s values create trust, and this is what I will build with the Echo clients entrusted to me.
Echo’s Culture
Echo walks the walk when it comes to “flexibility with accountability, and radical transparency.” They recognize that people are not robots working 8 to 5. We have personal lives full of responsibilities to loved ones, the community, and to care for ourselves to be our best selves at work and at home. This dedication to the whole employee is the kind of dedication I will empathetically use when working with Echo clients.
Echo’s Entrepreneurialism
In my experience, there is a plethora of intrinsic value in the energy, can-do spirit, enthusiasm, innovation, and creative problem-solving in a startup business. I have a deep appreciation for how Echo approaches everything with curiosity to discover the best solutions. While Echo is young in its business life cycle, there is wisdom in its consultant model that utilizes partnering and collaboration with an approach (Engage, Conflict, Harmonize, Own) that requires integrity within the working relationship and creates business independence as an outcome. It is this model and approach I will use to have an honest working relationship with every Echo client assigned to me.
There is something refreshingly different and unique going on at Echo, and I feel grateful to be a part of it - being the new kid and all.