Facilitating Positive Change
Meet Guildstreet’s feature business: Parsons dialogue
Many of us know that often, change is good — whether you feel it in the moment or not. Robin Parsons, a Certified Professional Facilitator and Certified Technology of Participation (ToP) Facilitator, knows a thing or two about change and how it can become a positive, inspiring, and amazing thing. Parsons Dialogue opened in 2014 when change came knocking: corporate layoffs abruptly ended Robin’s 25-year career in strategic planning and business intelligence. She took a step back and re-evaluated: “It was time for a transformation. I didn’t want to grind like I had in my corporate career anymore. I wanted to do things differently and was in a position where I could take the time to do some training and start on a new path.”
Her goal? To help business grow and excel through communications and conversation. Parsons Dialogue specializes in large group dialogue and multi-stakeholder collaboration, and in creative strategic planning. They work with all kinds of groups — big and small, public and private, for profit and not for profit over a cross section of industries — so each group can have the conversations they need to have in order to make the decisions they need to make.
Today, she’s helped hundreds of businesses get to the core of their challenges, to genuinely talk and listen to each other and to make decisions. “When a group tells me ‘we agreed on more than I thought’, I know that I’ve left the work world a little better than how I found it.”
Successes
Invest in yourself: “I believe a large part of my success came from my early investment in training. I took all the time I needed to set the foundation — to get the right certifications and knowledge in place so I could be as effective as possible.”
For Robin learning didn’t end with her MBA, education has been continuous and always evolving.
Another critical element to success? Robin truly loves what she does: “it’s easy to be an evangelist for something you’re passionate about.”
Challenges
The passion and solid foundation began to pay off as Parsons Dialogue grew, but new challenges arose. Robin found that she wasn’t immune to a common affliction among driven entrepreneurs, she was spreading herself too thin trying to be everything all at once.
“I began to see that I was spending too much time struggling with bookkeeping, blogging, and business development. I even tried to do my own taxes!” she laughs. “Now I’ve gotten much better at turning to people who are experts in their field so I can focus on my vision and work.”
Keep Building
Robin’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs? Build your community through networking and reach out to those in your field. Find the people you admire and learn more about them. Get inspired by what makes them successful. Align with people you like and thrive working with - don’t be afraid to work in partnerships and collaborations.
And as your business grows, respect cash flow, don’t spend all your money! It’s essential to have a rainy-day fund. Thank goodness for Guildstreet! (We can all agree on that!). Planning is crucial.
So, from Robin to you, keep your eye on your results, get real, and enjoy the ebbs and flows that come with change.
Learn more about Robin and her business by visiting her website.