The Question to Ask – ‘What’s Possible?’

Written By: Rebecca Twitchell, half full, llc Founder/President

One of my earliest childhood memories is when I was five, hanging with Mom who was waitressing at our neighborhood restaurant called “Gretta’s Kitchen,” at what was easily my second home.

Gretta’s was one of those community hubs where everybody knew everybody, and the conversation never stopped. For me, an energetic and curious five-year-old, it was an adventure land. New people to meet, conversations to be had, and the place where my entrepreneurship fire was ignited.

There were these absolutely delicious chocolate mints at the cash register, with the most amazing creamy mint center. The cost was steep at five-years-old… 5 cents! So I knew I had to get to work. While Mom waited tables, I took matters into my own hands (literally!) and offered back massages to customers who had become dear friends for 5 cents a massage. Following each successful “sale,” I’d skip on over to the cash register, drop 5 cents on the counter, and take my hard-earned chocolate mint. The first taste of entrepreneurship and, perhaps most importantly, the first taste of possibility.

Growing up, I loved the idea of possibility. Fascinated by new ideas and the doors they could open. It was only as I got older that I realized how important it is to have a love of possibility, both as an individual and a leader who wants to be able to enact change in this world.

Possibility Begins

half full, llc turned the page to its story almost 20 years ago when the three founders saw possibility. The corporate development space felt broken. Far too much focus was being placed on the bottom line and not on the strategic development and intentional growth of organizations and teams. The thing that got us the most was that companies had lost sight of the need to be people before professionals… not the other way around.

So we set out to upend the space.

To provide not your average facilitated experiences — to help organizations, teams and individuals overcome the obstacles in the way of moving forward.

I’ll never forget one of the first strategic planning sessions we facilitated. I was standing in front of the room with executives, all eyes on me to “teach them” strategic planning and leadership. I saw the possibility to do it differently and lead with vulnerability to create a trusted and safe space for authentic conversation. My opener touched on the impact of Mom dying at 63 after a very short period of illness, me living with Symbrachydactyly Syndrome (a tongue twister name for a condition that results in short or missing fingers), and forming a relationship with the notion of moving forward. The CEO who hired our firm came up to me afterwards and said he couldn’t believe I had shared what I did. I’m not surprised… we had disrupted the space!

In that moment, I knew half full, llc was standing on the precipice of massive possibility.

We were doing something others hadn’t yet seen. We were having the conversations everyone else was afraid to have, and we were about to revolutionize the personal, professional, and organizational development field.

I couldn’t wait!!!

A Recommitment Ceremony

That love for possibility became a cornerstone of the half full, llc ideology. We wove the concept of possibility into all client engagements with our clients experiencing…

• Team building done differently (more on that here)

• Safe space to have the difficult conversations

• The power of thinking “we” versus “me”

• Values-based, strengths-centered leadership

• Newfound approaches to building truly healthy cultures

Along the way, I adopted my own practices surrounding possibility in what has now become my ritual 5-year Recommitment Ceremony. When we reached the first five years in business, I held the ceremony for the first time. The year was 2008, the world was grappling with recession and fear, and I decided that year I needed to recommit.

I started by examining the business inside and out — noting the points of celebration, where we could have done better, jotting down the ways in which we grew. Then I asked myself an important question as I looked ahead to the next five years…

What’s possible?

What popped onto my list were things like: invest in my own professional development, add more on the half full, llc social impact side, and start offering retreats (what we affectionately refer to as Forwards) for community teenagers, among other things. With my recommits and the possibility clear, I got to work.

I rinsed and repeated the ceremony at the 10-year business anniversary mark. Checking in with myself, my business, our growth, and ideas for new. This time the goals that made the list were things like: hire more team members, participate in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, and establish strategic and engaging partnerships with local agencies that support small businesses like the SBA.

Fast forward to the 15-year business mark and the list of possibility centered around things like: creating more job opportunities at half full, being in the PI II Class in Leadership Rhode Island’s core program, and diving deeper into my own personal and professional development opportunities.

I’ve been waiting and excited for my next ceremony which will coincide with the 20-year anniversary of half full, llc. Envisioning the dreamy items that will make the list. But here’s the thing about possibility. We can plan for it by choosing to intentionally create space to brainstorm, reflect, invest in new, change course, shift our perspective… among countless other things.

But we also have to be ready for possibility to arrive when we least expect it. That’s the best part! We get to both enact the possibility that we see, as well as act when possibility that we didn’t see coming knocks. My team always hears me say “expect the unexpected and you will be ready to embrace whatever comes your way as an experienced facilitator.”

Amplifying Our Impact

At half full, llc we’ve just entered the next phase of our strategic growth by announcing the addition of Advancing Workplace Excellence (AWE) to our already expanding team. A possibility that I didn’t see coming but that when it knocked, it made absolute perfect sense.

AWE is a long-revered provider of talent development curriculum, immersive learning experience, and human-centered leadership practices. Our stories have taken similar turns. Two women-owned firms that have been revolutionizing the leadership and organizational development space for 20 years each. Each believing deeply in the importance of empowering the individuals of a company to strengthen the culture. Each committed to shaping the Future of Work through the lens of values-based leadership, strengths-centered teams, and not your average approaches to professional and team development.

I could not be more excited to announce that AWE has joined the half full, llc team! Our growing firm gives our clients immediate access to expanded corporate training and workforce development programs that span an ever-increasing portfolio of topics from strengths-based leadership to DEI in the workplace to emerging leader development, among other themes. Perhaps more importantly, the addition of AWE enables us to amplify our impact, while ensuring our amazing clients and our larger community are positioned to thrive in the modern work era.

Learn more about our recent growth here!

What’s Possible

When I look ahead to the next five years, I get excited about the concept of possibility all over again. Peering into the future and seeing things like new service launches, our own half full, llc physical space for game-changing facilitation programs, week-long youth Forward offerings, B Corp Certification, expanded geographic reach… and that’s just a few!

As leaders, we need to always make time to ask ourselves what’s possible. Creating space for our minds to ask questions such as:

• What conversations does my team want/need to have this quarter?

• In what ways can we be braver together?

• How are we prepared to handle the challenges that come with the modern working world?

• What does investing in our teams look like this year?

• How will we measure the growth of our people?

Committed to act when we dream up possibility on our own, as well as when we desire to act on a possibility we didn’t see coming.

So, I’m curious, if you sat with yourself in the next day and asked yourself “What’s possible?”… for you, your team, and your business… what would come up on your list? I’d love to hear!

Rebecca