Article summary
This week marks the graduation of our Atomic Accelerator’s first class—the four members of our Cell Zero cohort finish the program tomorrow.
It’s a proud time for all of us, and we’re very excited to celebrate. It’s also bittersweet for me personally as I’ll spend less time week-to-week with a group of folks I’ve really enjoyed working with.
What We’ve Learned
Looking back over the past two years, we’ve been blown away by how our Cell Zero cohort has grown, what they’ve accomplished, and how they’ve contributed to the company and community. They’ve created amazing value for our clients and they’ve helped tremendously with our recruiting efforts. They’ve presented at conferences, organized social events, taught middle and high school students, and even led the company in yoga classes. Most importantly though, they’ve built strong relationships with Atoms who will continue to serve them well as friends, mentors, and sources of help and guidance.
We’ve also learned a lot about the program that we’ll be applying to our next Accelerator round. Specifically we’ve learned to:
- Focus on personal and interpersonal effectiveness in our common curriculum
- Give participants freedom to choose the practitioner skills they’ll focus on
- Be explicit about expectations and areas where participants can shape the program to their preferences
- Give participants more visibility into the program’s roadmap so they see the path ahead
Ending on a High Note
We’re closing out the program with a big adventure. Both of our Grand Rapids cohorts are traveling to Chicago for the GOTO Chicago 2018 conference. We’re really looking forward to great talks, networking with folks from other companies, and enjoying a drink on Navy Pier. Then on Friday, we’re fortunate to be able to tour three amazing Chicago consultancies: IDEO, 8th Light, and Table XI. I’m really excited to learn more about how these consultancies serve their clients. I think our Accelerator folks will really enjoy a view into how they align and diverge from the way we do things at Atomic.
As Cell Zero graduates, we’re very much looking forward to welcoming our next cohorts in Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor this summer. We have excellent folks joining us and we can’t wait to get started with our third round of the Atomic Accelerator.
