2010 was a year of change and transition for Barcelona Creative. We challenged ourselves to do things and think a bit differently. In April of 2010, we sat down together as a team and decided to leave the past in the past, to stop letting this miserable economy be an excuse for not making good things happen and began focusing on creating a new outlook for our team. We also added some fun to our office by mounting speakers and a TV so that we could listen to music while we work and installing a Wii for creativity and stress relief. What has resulted is what I would call a new “corporate culture” for our office and it was about time. Since we have never really had a culture before, it was easy to break our “old culture” and build a new one!

You’ll learn more about this transformation over the next few months as we have quite a bit in-store for our clients, our community and ourselves. Just wait… you’ll see.

For 2011, we have decided on a team theme… “We Believe.” You see, what we set out to do just 8 short months ago seemed virtually impossible to some, including me at times. But you have to have faith right? Otherwise you’re just floating, and we were all tired of floating. It’s amazing how our team has changed, and as we welcome a new year we are setting new goals – because the hard part isn’t celebrating how far you’ve come, it’s to KEEP moving forward.

Each of our team members has established a New Year’s resolution, or two, for 2011. These are ways that each person would like to improve their skills and capabilities. We’ll keep you posted as we continue our journey. We hope you’ll join us and help us stay on track – after all, we’re doing these things to not only help ourselves, but to help all of you too!

Just Do It

I sure hope Nike doesn’t come across this blog and get upset with us… because this is simply Carey’s way of taking a personal stand.

“In this fast-paced world of technology, it’s easy to get bogged down with trying to keep up with all of the latest gadgets, software updates and code techniques. One of my personal goals this year is to explore new territory by simply diving in. The perfectionist in me wants to learn every aspect and tutorial before trying things out, but that also leads to taking too much time. So for 2011, I say “Just Do It.” I might fail, but I’m sure I’ll learn something along the way and succeed a little too.”  – Carey Wise, Design Director

You Have To Have Goals

This is a statement that I find myself saying in my personal life and my husband and I joke about. I like to make him set goals when I am setting goals so that I don’t have to “go it alone.” It’s taken a long time to be able to be in a position where I think we can really set some achievable goals for the office as well.

“When I became President, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. That’s not true, I actually knew exactly what was in front of me and I am proud to say that a lot of what I hoped for is happening. My goal is to keep this going and not lose momentum. We’ve worked hard to get the operations of this office in order and we now have the data and the tools. It’s exciting. I’d also like to work on having a more consistent positive attitude. Believe me, I have a lot of faith and I believe in what we’re doing here, but it’s easy for me to wonder when the other shoe is going to drop. But as they say, a positive attitude brings positive results – so I’m going to work on dropping that glass is half empty state of mind.”  – Juli Barcelona, President

Team Mom Takes On Tech-Savvy

It’s tough to imagine what the office would be like without Linda. She’s not only my Mom, she’s our “team Mom” too. She never lets us go very long without baked goods and she keeps our plants alive. But it’s more than that, and as she states in her goal, she may not be a computer wiz, but she’s not afraid to keep trying. It’s my promise to her that she’ll achieve her goal – in my mind, if she can learn to navigate CurrentTrack, she can graduate past Computer 101!

“When I read Juli’s email about each making a New Year’s resolution so that she could put it on our company blog, I had to send her an email saying… What is a blog? And how do I do it? I would like to get beyond Computer 101. For example – I would like to learn how to forward a message without needing the help of a co-worker. Wish me luck!”  – Linda Barcelona, Office Manager

Reaching For The Stars

Maggie is our newest, and youngest, team member. It’s fun to have some new blood in the office. She’s always cheerful, except after a traffic jam coming from the city! But what I value about Maggie is that she sets her sights very high. She looks at our team’s opportunities through a very wide-angle lens, which is what doesn’t surprise me about her resolution. I believe that she will get us there.

“My goal would be to work on my press release writing and expand our reach to a larger scale. I feel like our aim isn’t large enough for what we are capable of. We have a couple of opportunities this year, the First Midwest Bank Southwest Half Marathon and the IL Continuity of Care Suddenly Senior™ event, and I am excited to get started.”  – Maggie DiMatteo, Account Assistant

Tackling the Wide World of Websites

Who says that because you’re typically focused on traditional types of media planning that you can’t learn to manage new forms of media. Well that is what Monica has been up to recently, and she’s looking to stretch that even further. I’m excited to see Monica tackle the web world, it’s a very good thing!

“I would really like to learn more about our client websites. Not just helping with new website projects, but also helping to manage the sites once they are live. I’d also like to get more involved with the production process when we are designing and building client websites. It’s something I have a great deal of interest in and this is the year that I am going to tackle it!”  – Monica Crites, Media Planner

I Really Don’t Have To Go It Alone

If my Dad is going to try and tackle his personal goal for 2011 – to lower his handicap by 4 shots – then he’s going to have to shake his offices’ reputation of being the “black hole.” Don’t get me wrong, he knows we’re a team and that no one can do everything, but as he would say… someone still has to do the work.” But after all the progress we’ve made it will be nice to see him try to clear his desk once and a while and let his team help him be realize that he CAN get out there and improve his golf game.

“I would like to improve my willingness to give up control and delegate more client work to other members of our team. This would allow me to free up more time for client interaction and generate more ideas to solve their marketing struggles, and capitalize on opportunities. I’d also like to improve my ability to make our team more aware of what I’m doing on client projects, by better utilizing our project management software.”  – Tom Barcelona, CEO