How Our Founder Appraisals Made Us Better Founders

So Rocky Books Co is literally just 2 people - yours truly and Sheena Vassiliades. Plus our 2 illustrators whom we hire on a freelance basis, Arpita Sawant and Nirupama Vishwanath.

When both illustrators had wrapped up their respective projects with us we asked them to fill out manager appraisal forms, one for Sheena and one for me. We've only been operational for a little more than a year, and we've "only" produced 5 books. So why are we bothering with something that feels so Big Corporate? I mean, we don't even have an HR department.

It's our first time working with illustrators, and the first time for our illustrators working on a trauma-informed mental health project.

Sure, Sheena and I are experienced and successful managers in our respective jobs, but how were we doing as managers on *this* project? Not all teams and crews are the same, with so many variables at play. It's important to measure and evolve your managerial style regularly, especially when working on something new for all team members involved.

HOW we do things is as important as why we do things at Rocky Books Co.

We could have churned out 20 books in the span of a year and treated our illustrators like machines, but we chose not to. We took the time necessary to make sure every spread was visually impactful and aligned with our trauma-informed parameters. We didn't rush our team. At the end, they came away with more training, skills, and confidence than before we started.

It's good to know what you're doing right - and wrong.

For example, in our appraisal forms we took the opportunity to ask our team if they would like us to do anything differently. They said they'd like more involvement from us, or more guidance from us with regards to the psychology aspects of our books. As we're also building a community within our organisation, we asked how involved our team members would like to be in the community after they've wrapped up their projects with us. Some said they maybe wouldn't want to be super involved - and that's totally OK! What's important is, now we know and we can respect this team member's boundaries without there being a grey area to waddle around in.

Markers of personal growth.

This one took me by surprise! One of our illustrators remarked that I was very straightforward when discussing the project and the remuneration details with her. Talking about money and project rates had always been an anxious nightmare for me! Anyone who has worked as a freelancer or with freelancers knows how fraught with terror the numbers conversation can be, so this piece of feedback had me feeling very proud of myself. I've gotten used to talking money in hard, clear terms.

Now that this doesn't scare me anymore, I think we're ready to tackle the really scary monsters - in our books.