Never work with your spouse, right?   

Well, this is the one-year anniversary of when my husband, Rob Shih, joined me full time and we threw conventional wisdom out the door. A lot of people ask me why we decided to work together and how things are going so I thought I’d share.   

Why did we team up? 

I used to think I wanted to work on my own. However, over time I realized building a team could better serve client needs, raise our standards, and improve our timelines.  Rob was the key to this. His skillset is completely different from mine. He has helped grow and transform other service-oriented businesses. The best part for me personally is that Rob joining has helped me focus on what I love doing; recruiting!  

What have we accomplished? 

We have combined our two strengths to overhaul how we approach recruitment. We redesigned every process in how we operate but most importantly brought new rigour to recruitment and disciplined project management.  Our culture and mentality has also changed. We are always asking ourselves if there is an opportunity to do something differently and innovate.  

What have we learned?  

These are the three key things that could also apply to anyone considering any partnership. The central theme is respect and trust.  While I’m not going to claim to have figured it all out here is what we’ve learned so far:  

• Aligning on the big picture –One of our biggest lessons was that we should have started with some critical and strategic questions. Questions like “What’s our definition of success?” “How do we plan to get there and how do we want to set ourselves apart?” “What are our core values?”. Things have become much better after our strategy offsites because now, we are both on the same page and we can connect everything back to our overarching principles and company objectives.  
• Dialogue – Open communication is crucial. Don’t let little problems pile up and explode into something bigger. Instead, make a point to have those heart-to-heart conversations regularly to ensure you’re both on the same page. Share your wins and challenges with each other because that’s how you build a strong bond. When you hear about what your partner is dealing with and offer support, it can help maintain and build trust and respect.  
• Clear responsibilities –This goes a level deeper than just saying someone is responsible for an area/function. When does someone have full control and can make decisions on their own? And when do you need to run things by each other or get sign-off? We thought this was simple but took us a while to figure out and it’s still evolving. It’s all part of the process and we’re learning together.  

We’ve defied convention and embarked on this amazing journey together. Working to build something together has been an incredible experience. It has taught us the power of trust, open dialogue and aligning on the big picture.