It’s a Wrap! 2018 in the Blog

It’s a Wrap! 2018 in the Blog

It goes without saying, but, wow, does time fly! As we reach the end of 2018 and a month of blog content focused (appropriately) on reflection, our Social Media team wanted to take the opportunity to look back on the year we’ve had. This year marked a critical turning point for us, one where we recognized the power of social media and our desire to share our ideas, culture, and talented workforce with the world. So, our little team of five decided to strap on our helmets, step out into the unknown, and bravely put forth blog content organized around content that we found interesting (and hoped our readers would to!). Our goals were pretty modest- develop consistent, high-quality content that accurately reflects FMP’s capabilities and culture and begin to learn about the power of our social media platforms by identifying, tracking, and analyzing metrics. Boy did we have fun- and learn a lot! Here are some of the take-aways from this past year, as shared by our team-

Why? We’ve come a long way since our blog was just used as a place to feature our recent awards! From the Washington Post’s Best Places to Work Award to the Companies as Responsive Employers Award from Northern Virginia Family Services, we used the platform as a collection of press releases showcasing our recent achievements. By the end of 2016, we had transitioned our blog into a place where we could share thoughts around strategic human capital initiatives, but it was mostly organized around the client projects we work on every day. Over the past year, the blog has grown into a space to cultivate thought leadership and has engaged a majority of our workforce to write about the topics that interest them within the human capital space. Our blog has evolved into a forum to build engagement with our audience, showcase FMP’s capabilities, and, for some, an opportunity to have your work shared on the website and LinkedIn, your name written on our chalkboard in the office, and your ideas included in our internal newsletter. For others, it was a chance to explore a topic for a future conference presentation or academic article submission or just to research and write about an idea for the sheer enjoyment of learning. Wherever the individual inspiration came from, our writers were honest, eager, and articulate.– Katie Conlon 

Who? Most importantly, our FMP authors represented all different positions within our company, offering a multitude of perspectives. From Analyst to CEO, and all Consultants in between, our narratives were crafted with the intent that diverse experiences and expertise would create an inclusive blog reflective of all of our different backgrounds. Interestingly, our contributors weren’t limited to our workforce alone (although we notably featured nearly 70% of our employees as authors!), but from industry-recognized Subject Matter Experts and even local neighborhood philanthropic organizations. Highlighting ‘outside’ contributors allowed us to expand our network, highlight good work, and offer our audience a more robust amount of knowledge. – Kathleen Quinn

What? This year, FMP organized our 2018 blog content around topics that make for good personal and organizational resolutions- ensuring that we not only stay focused on the resolutions that we think will make us a better company, but that we continually present topics that help others find ways (both large and small), to mindfully focus on improvement. 2018 taught us that:

• While it isn’t a fit for every organization, flexible PTO is a powerful tool that can lead to a more engaged workforce and improve the ability to attract and retain top employees.
• To spark creativity at work, try taking a mental break.
• Creating a learning culture may require your organization to ultimately support “failure.”
• Managers should try getting creative with employee recognition (puppies, anyone?).
• You can be a super hero! Innovative ideas for giving can help you and your organization can give back to your community.

While our 2018 blogs taught us a lot about how to improve our organizations, they also taught us a lot about our fellow FMPers. Through our “Employee Spotlight” series, we learned why Dan Ohmott always seems to be in such a great mood; Jessica Zielonis is our go-to for book recommendations (try The Last Lecture); and, nothing can stop Jess Dzieweczynski from reaching her goals (just ask her first car, Claudia). – Ashley Agerter

What’s Next?As 2018 comes to a close, we are so excited to see what 2019 has in store! To shake things up, we have reimagined our blog content to introduce new topics and themes. We’re also starting a collection of blog series that will bring a continued focus to some of the topics we find most interesting. Our goals are to provoke interesting discussions, share new ideas, showcase relevant human capital practices and programs, and highlight diverse perspectives on a variety of management and workforce-related issues. Oh, and we also love to share glimpses of what makes FMP such a great place to work! – Emily Winick

We’re launching into 2019 with renewed energy, enthusiasm, and maybe a little more expertise in this whole social media thing. Most importantly, we’ve helped to create a space where our employees can showcase their incredible talents, passions, and senses of humor- in essence, creating a little window into our FMP world. We hope you enjoyed our 2018 content as much as we did and get ready for an exciting 2019! – Jessica Milloy