Spotlight On:

Heather Bradley
and Miriam Grogan

Company Name:
The Flourishing Company

Find them at:
www.TheFlourishingCompany.com

It’s been a whirlwind ride. Miriam and Heather began as independent practitioners seven years ago. They met in 2001 while preparing for their CPCC exams and launched The Flourishing Company in December 2002. What makes The Flourishing Company unique, says Heather, is a focus on interpersonal relations at client companies. “We help people get along better at work. With their clients. With key stakeholders. With each other.” Miriam adds, “Our two primary shared values are fun and ease. If we aren’t having fun, or something isn’t easy, we stop and ask ourselves what’s not working.”

What factors led to the success of your practice?
To use ORSC words, our commitment to “stay in the camp”. We know we’ll always wake up together, until the time we decide – in right relationship – to break camp.

What were some of the greatest challenges you encountered?
As different as we are, we sometimes align so perfectly that we end up colluding. We get stuck in one perspective without realizing it, and it’s hard to move because we both like this perspective.

What are some of the risks you took? Which ones paid off? Which ones didn’t?
It’s funny – people often tell us we’re big risk takers, but once we’re clear on what we want to be different, our decisions don’t usually feel like risks.

One risk was hiring a sales firm – and then discontinuing work with them. In some ways it did pay off: we learned a lot, and got new tools, including an expanded prospect list. In other ways, such as landing new business, it didn’t pay off.

Working with clients – hmm…who knows what is a risk and what is simply a gulp? We sometimes expect clients to roll their eyes and check out at things we ask them to do. Or not hire us. For example, we asked a group of IRS professionals to create their vision using paper, crayons, glue, and sparkles. And you know what? They loved it! A few did check out, but they’d checked out before we began.

We also asked another group to use a skein of thick orange yarn to show how their roles were interconnected. Of all people, the nay-saying lawyer was the one who didn’t want our portion of the retreat to end.

Describe something creative you’ve done.
Who knows what is creative and what isn’t?? Well, naming ourselves “The Flourishing Company” is one. It’s not exactly a typical name for a company that works with large law firms and Fortune 500 companies – our original targets. But, we decided it reflected who we are, and if people didn’t like us for our name, they weren’t the right fit for us.

Recently, one of our clients had a retreat. The executive director was looking for a creative present for people to take home. This group’s mission is about diversity, and there’d been a tremendous amount of staff growth and turnover. Well, we like M&Ms, and we knew the ED likes M&Ms, so we mentioned personalizing M&Ms with each staff member’s name. She was so excited about the idea, she ended up buying everyone a special M&M holder with the organization logo and tailoring her introductory remarks using the M&Ms! Each staff member left with a jar containing different colored M&Ms from each team member and a greater sense of who makes up their team and their combined strengths. (For the record, we didn’t get any M&Ms.)

Tell us about something you’re particularly proud of.
We asked Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to write the Introductory Remarks for our second book. And she said yes!

Do you work with other practitioners? How?
Well, we work with each other! We designed the company so it’s the two of us, and as business expands and contracts, we subcontract work to a small group of coaches. We are particularly excited about a new way of working with other coaches: our Team Alignment And Productivity System (TAPS). We’re teaming with coaches who want to sell their clients on the system. In some cases, these coaches will deliver services with us; in other cases, we’ll effectively be a subcontractor for them.

What are your future plans and dreams for your practice?
To continue to build our business, directly with clients and also with products like books, CDs, and online tools, expanding our reach and creating something that lasts beyond us.

Where do you see the field of relationship systems coaching going in the future?
It’s our tag line – we believe this work has the power to change the way people experience work, every minute of every day. We already see it happening.