How a network of trusted advisors helped this CEO pivot to a new strategic plan

Oct 23, 2020 | Hot Mess Hotline Podcast, Strategic Planning

As the song goes, “I get by with a little help from my friends,” and it’s never been as accurate as this year, when our strategic planning has gone out the window. Why is strategic planning important to a small company? For Sam Julka, the President and Founder of DORIS Research, 2020 proved that strategic planning can sometimes have unintended or unexpected benefits, such as finding yourself with a team of great advisors during a global pandemic.

In part 1 of my 2-part interview with Sam, we discuss how DORIS research was just coming off a year of growth when the pandemic hit. As a business that revolves around researching the physical office space of other companies, Sam faced immediate client loss and hard decisions.

It was clear that their 2020 strategic plan wasn’t going to happen, and instead, Sam needed a new plan.

Listen to this episode of the Hot Mess Hotline to learn how Sam leaned on trusted advisors and asked the hard questions to be able to make quick decisions for the health of her company, then listen to part 2 of Sam’s interview here.

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About Sam Julka

Sam Julka is the President and Founder of DORIS Research. Sam started her career in Indianapolis as an Interior Designer at RJE Business Interiors, before returning to school in 2010 to earn her MFA in Design Thinking & Design Research from Indiana University’s Herron School of Art and Design. In 2012, Sam founded DORIS Research. Since the founding of the company, Sam has worked with hundreds of organizations in many different industries across the country. In 2019 DORIS franchised and now operates as a franchise in three locations across the country. Sam is an alumnus of the forty first Stanley K Lacey (SKL) executive leadership class and was named a member of the IBJ’s Forty under 40 class in February of 2019.

About DORIS Research

Organizations enlist the help of DORIS when they are trying to work out complex problems related to their workplace. The types of problems DORIS helps organizations sort out include things like how to make their physical space work better for their employees in the future, how to make change to enhance effective collaboration or simply just understanding through data what isn’t working with their space today and what might be a better solution in the future.

DORIS is comprised of a team of design researchers who use a unique design thinking process that enables the solving of the challenges similar to those listed above. DORIS actively involves many employees while following their eight-step process that begins with listening and leads to a plan with continuous engagement throughout the process. Because of their inclusive methods at all levels of the organization, leaders are empowered to make meaningful decisions and enact innovative solutions for their organizations that will last long into the future. Learn more about Doris here.

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