Founding Team Covenant Practice
We practice covenant to try our best to grow together.
Covenant is a noun and a verb. It’s both the set of promises we make to each other and the practice of reflecting on them.
We write our covenant after weeks of talking and reflecting on what we care about as leaders and people, and what we want for our company and team. We take our time, and then we ask our best writer to put the ideas together in a way that would inspire us but still feel doable. We read the covenant aloud, so we want it to be lovely. The words work like a spell – they really stick with us. Every year or two we talk through what we’ve learned, release ourselves from the old version, and write a new one to meet when and where we are as a company and team.
Wisdom
Go to the Balcony
In a sea of short-termism, we take the long view. “In ten years, what will we have wanted to have done?” we ask. And “What will we regret not having done?” When I get tunnel vision, you walk me to the balcony and uplift my perspective.
Like all of nature, our work has its seasons—and not all seasons bear the same fruit. There is a time to sprint, and a time to recover. A time for focus, and a time for fun. I honor the season you’re in and you honor mine, trusting the blossom to emerge at the right moment.
We’re champions of practical magic. We aim for the Sacred, while planting our feet on open ground. We’re comfortable with concepts, and the hard work of making them real. When I float too far afield, you tug the line and call me home.
| West Co. | Founding Team Covenant Practice |
|---|---|
| Evolve | |
| Don't settle for suffering | We are each committed to our own growth. We put in the effort to clean up, grow up, and wake up—because we know it's the only way to effectively show up for the world. |
| We're one another's challenge network. When I need a loving push, you lean in. When I need compassionate feedback, you take the risk and offer it. We each take personal responsibility for our collective becoming. | |
| Love | |
| Say "I love you" | |
| at work | Like a good mom or dad, we attune to one another. I listen for the thing you're trying to say, that you can't quite articulate. I see the work you're doing, that isn't always visible. We sense one another's cues: our body language, facial expression, and tone. |
| Love is in the little things, so we're especially generous with each other. You buy me pickles, I make you coffee. You fix my G-cal settings, I take a walk with you when you're sad. | |
| We are mistake menders. When I hurt you, I say I'm sorry. When I mess up, I look for the lesson and try again. We embrace our imperfections, knowing the cracks are where the light gets in. | |
| Play | |
| Have fun on purpose | In a world that prizes the push, we respect the sublimity of simple pleasures. We take the courageous stance that "hard work" doesn't have to hurt—that it should feel good. We make time for poop jokes and throwing the ball around. But if I see you breaking your ankle (or wrist), I remind you it's time to rest. |
| We do our best to be good playmates. We're yes-anders and bump-set-spikers. |
We use the script below to check in every two weeks about how we’re doing. It’s a way to remind ourselves how we want to be, and to refresh our loyalties to those promises. We get really busy, but we always leave time for this practice. Whoever feels like leading just grabs the candle and begins.
Covenant Leader Script
- Help people settle in
- Ask someone to light the covenant candle from the ancestor candle
- Silence for three minutes
- Hand the covenant text to the first person, then take turns reading sections of the covenant aloud
- Ask: “What’s one thing that came up as you listened? Why does that feel important today specifically?”
- Ask: “Is there something you have been waiting for this moment to share that would help us be wiser leaders?”
- Appreciations: Invite folks to be specific, to uplift stuff that really mattered to them
- Ask “Think about the last couple of weeks. What did you witness someone here doing that felt especially skillful at meeting these promises?”
- Extinguish the candle