As you may have read on our blog in December (and if you haven’t, SPOILER ALERT) the concept of The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly of Floyd Consulting can be, well, dreamy. To recap, a Dream Manager helps individuals to actualize dreams by formulating a plan to achieve them. The goal of the program is to help employees become the best versions of themselves – which will in turn make the company more effective and profitable.
But you may wonder how likely it is that businesses, especially small ones, will actually give it a shot. At CSR, we ate our own cooking (as we often do) and put this model to the test.
About 4 months ago, I sat down and made a list of dreams. This list included both big dreams (trips around the world, running a marathon) and small dreams (doing a pull up, surfing). I then met with my Dream Manager, who in this case was CSR Principal, Alex Muñoz. I talked through and categorized the dreams into various buckets including adventure, emotional, psychological, physical, financial, etc. Then, I talked through each dream’s timeline (short-term, mid-term, long-term), and presented WHY each dream made my list. Reading my dreams out loud one-by-one and discussing the motives behind them was probably one of the most vulnerable moments of my life. But, after reading my dreams out loud and discussing them, I came to the realization that the company I work for wants to both help me and see me accomplish my personal and professional goals. This realization left me confounded and inspired – and thus the process and subsequent feelings are certainly by design of Matthew Kelly’s The Dream Manager program.
Now, Alex and I continue to review my list and discuss updates each month. As new dreams are added, especially ambiguous ones, Alex helps me define them and set milestones for success just like we do with our clients’ strategic objectives. While I haven’t hiked the Appalachian Trail or seen the Northern Lights yet, I am proud to say that I have done that pull up and look forward to seeing the rest of my dreams come true.