2018 A Year in Review

InspireCorps’ Year in Review

With less than two weeks to go in 2018, the weight of the year feels heavy on my shoulders. The interesting thing about weight is that while it can slow you down and use up energy, it can also stabilize and support you. Think of grounding down into your feet, letting your body’s mass distribute evenly across your heels in mountain pose; the anchoring resolve you feel in your heart after making and committing to an important decision; the weight of your ancestors, community, and mentors who have your back, literally supporting you to stretch beyond limits and achieve.

It’s this positive sense of weight that we want to focus on for our year-in-review. In many ways, 2018 has been a heavy year for InspireCorps. We invested in growing our team, now up to 6 full-time and 2 part-time employees. We’ve planted roots, getting our first office space in New Haven at The District.  We dug deep to literally write the book on inspiration-how to spark and sustain in it while  building our business. We connected and partnered with inspired leaders across the country, people who seek to create companies where employees do work they love and are recognized for it.

The “weight” of all this work and growth has inspired three key reflections:

1. Inspiration is a differentiator…our differentiator.

In our work over the last 5 years, we’ve learned that inspiration is a most critical resource for individuals, teams and organizations to manage in the modern workforce. When people are inspired on a regular basis, incredible things happen. Traditionally, inspiration is defined as a powerful force that happens to us without warning, that is short lived and hard to come by. Our research and work with clients challenges this notion of inspiration as an unexpected, fleeting visitor. Inspiration is actually a force we have the power to create, sustain over time, and ignite in others. Engagement, diversity, productivity, strategic alignment, strengths, and emotional intelligence: all of these critical qualities and outcomes can be achieved through the practice of sparking and sustaining inspiration. Building a culture of inspired performance is a competitive advantage, and it’s why we are the first Inspiration Strategy firm.

2. Owning being women-owned.

This year, we were officially certified as a women-owned business. Our WEBI certification and commitment to supporting the rise of women leaders is something for us to be proud of and a driver of the way we run our company.

3. The Greatest Impact Happens Through Partnership.

This year reinforced that we are not a training company. In fact, we are never comfortable when organizations invest in training and don’t see a return on their investment, which happens all the time.

In our experience, the greatest results come from partnership with organizations who are growing and transforming, with big, bold visions for their future. Through enterprise partnerships, we are able to infuse and inspire employees at all levels with the knowledge, practical tools and intentional practice experiences that help them “have their best days more often.” When companies provide opportunities like this, employees notice and step up in incredible ways that ultimately drive bottom-line results. These collaborations have been so meaningful for as well as our clients. Our mission is to partner with organizations to create cultures of inspiration where leaders, teams and employees at every level build success together sustainably.  Sustainable inspiration is our manifesto for 2019.

We would love to hear about your plans to ignite inspiration in the New Year, share with us on twitter using the hashtag #InspiredHoliday