Republished from the Firebelly U Blog (firebellyu.com)

When I applied for Firebelly U, I knew that it would be challenging, invigorating, and exciting. What I didn’t know, is the extent to which that would be true. For me, these nine months meant a time to challenge myself and explore new possibilities, which I am happy to report is certainly the case. However, in order to talk about the future, I want to share my perspective on the past several weeks.

Let’s start with Day 1. Fresh, shining faces ready and raring to go, cameras already rolling (literally). We didn’t know each other, in fact, we had only met virtually via Facebook a few weeks earlier. I had just left my previous position three days prior to showing up at Firebelly U—talk about a drastic and immediate change in pace. Simultaneously, through all these new experiences and personalities we’re running a collaborative design studio, each with equal stake in all decision-making. We’re answering questions that are as seemingly simple as buying coffee for the studio to more complex scenarios on payment and budgeting structure. Questions such as who interfaces with clients, who does what on each project, and so on and so forth. While I’ve played my share of team sports, participated in departmental teams, and volunteer groups, I’ve generally had an idea of my role in the team prior to coming on board. And while, yes, I knew I would design at Firebelly U, I never would have imagined the hurdles we would encounter would be based on the miscommunication that comes with not having a defined structure, culture, and relationship. It’s been tough adjusting to the new work environment and understanding when to consult the team and when to make an independent decision.

Fast-forward a couple weeks and we’re in the thick of running our studio—meeting with clients, discussing budgets, and writing proposals. We’ve started to bond over meetings in the sunshine and playing Apples to Apples. However, we’re still faced with some tricky decisions that have no right answer and a lot of opinions on the best course of action. (I guess that’s what happens when a group of entrepreneurial, somewhat hard-headed, and over-achieving designers come together.) This certainly put the value of being an active listener and forming strong work relationships into perspective for me. You need to understand your peers so that you can be more effective and sympathetic in your communication, criticisms, and opinions from the get go.

We’re now about six weeks in to the program, and as the client work has started to pick up, I feel like we’re starting to hit our stride. While this past month has been chockful of life experiences from managing our money to client relationships and forming friendships to learning to give effective feedback, we’re starting to figure each other out. I’m looking forward to the next 8 months—the opportunity to get to know these other fabulous creatives better and the ability to say that, while at one time we were complete strangers, we were able to overcome our timidness and personality quirks to run a successful design firm.