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In 2000, I founded MVP One and came up with the slogan, "Shared Knowledge * Quality Results". I landed on this slogan because it reflects my belief, shaped by my athletic experiences in high school and college, as well as my business career, that Shared Knowledge is essential to success. When teams work together—communicate, listen, and learn from one another—embracing the concept of Shared Knowledge, what follows is Quality Results. Plus, because I love Sharing Knowledge to help individuals and businesses improve, I knew this slogan would be perfect.
To ensure knowledge was shared within my team; after hiring my first employee, I implemented weekly team meetings. In the early days, team meetings were held on the floor of my one-bedroom condo. Once office space was secured, we sat in a circle on black folding chairs. Today, quarterly and annual team meetings are held in state-of-the-art conference space and televised for remote teammates.
In 2015, I began sending out quarterly updates to add another layer of Shared Knowledge. Each department head supplied me with five work-related bullet points and any personal updates (birthdays, engagements, babies, etc.) to share with the rest of the team. Today, a collaborative tool is used to share real-time updates allowing ALL team members—not just department heads—to submit updates. Team members can then instantly engage with the information and share comments. It is fabulous and enables ALL team members to be heard.
So what inspired me to write this article? Recently, our Marketing Manager, Robert Spearing, asked me a question that hit me like a ton of bricks. He asked if a change I had made to the text on a marketing piece was final. His question surprised me because nothing I create or modify pertaining to MVP One's messaging is final without the approval from my customer-facing department heads, Jonathan Clark, CEO, and Nick Kissel, VP of Sales & Marketing. It's never final because I need to make sure everything makes sense, and I know there is always room for improvement. Don't get me wrong, I think everything that I think of is spectacular! 😊 But because I want everything to be perfect for my team, customers, and our global image, I always seek feedback before giving final approval.
The team also applies the Shared Knowledge concept when making decisions. Final decisions are made as a team, never independently, ensuring the best decisions (Quality Results) are quickly reached.
Shared Knowledge also builds a cohesive team and ensures efficiency. Glue doesn't make teams cohesive, words (Shared Knowledge) leading to trust, confidence, and reliability do. Cohesiveness weeds out the people who don't want to be a team player. People who work independently, or in a bubble and don't ask for feedback, weaken the team. Shared Knowledge strengthens the team and keeps everyone on the correct path right from the start. Rework is minimized, if not eliminated, allowing the best solution to be found quickly and efficiently. And talk about cohesiveness; team events and happy hours are LOUD! Everyone is talking and having fun. I've been to other company events where the silence is deafening.
Looking back at the last 24 years, I'm certain that Shared Knowledge played a key role in our growth. It certainly helped us transition from meeting in my one-bedroom condo to meeting in an 8,500 square foot office on the 39th floor of a office building in downtown Chicago (Quality Results). Independently, we are smart and strong, but together, with Shared Knowledge, we are smarter and stronger (Quality Results).
