We were lucky to catch up with Joshua René recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Joshua, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I’ve been in human services my entire career and have seen so many systems, processes, strategies, businesses, and brands built and designed in ways that served themselves first—yet they desired outcomes and successes as if they didn’t. This illuminated a huge dissonance between what one does and what one says it does.
This hurt my soul because I could clearly see the impact that could be made if only they could align thought strategies, value systems, and actions. I witnessed a lot of defeat, and I knew I needed to do something about it, so I dove headfirst into the world of Design Thinking, where I thought I had found “my people.” I quickly learned that Design Thinking was merely a set of tools and didn’t really serve people’s deep needs. It just supplied a creative and alternative way to get the job done differently but not actually be different. Being different would be sustainable, forever innovative, and a game changer both for organizations and everyone inside and out. They knew it, just struggled to achieve it.

To truly help an organization to be different, we’d have to serve the people in it first. I mean, isn’t it people who operate the strategies, systems, and processes that help an organization function? People are complicated; people are diverse, people have different values and lived experiences, and people are human. So, to help organizations innovate and get unstuck, we would need to provide actual strategic support to navigate, inspire, and move people to simultaneously think and work differently.

At the same time, while the world was saying the answer was Design Thinking, we knew better and wanted to help organizations see beyond just tools and checkboxes. That’s where The Spill Teem comes in, introducing Human-Centered Design: a people-first approach that provides real, sustainable change by aligning the way the organization thinks, the values it aspires to operate out of, and the strategies that hold it all together.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I often share with people that Brooklyn (New York) and Richmond (Virginia) raised me. Traveling between the two for much of my life allowed me to breathe Southern hospitality and live in a melting pot of rhythm and culture. I believe we all have a piece of privilege, and this is mine. I was blessed to be exposed to so many different elements and people of life. Don’t get me wrong, life wasn’t easy, but I see the resilience, creativity, grit, and hope it instilled in me. This is how I show up in the world and, as mentioned, why I chose the discipline of Human Services. I ultimately hope to help others do the same in understanding that 1. personally and professionally, we’re the same people, and 2. when your identity becomes clear, you take up more space in the world.

The Spill Teem does this by:
* Strategy and Education Workshops & Facilitation
* Spill Teem Live, where we provide dynamic keynotes and talks
* Strategic Advising: we come alongside the leadership to help think through, ideate, and validate strategies and approaches to change
What sets The Spill Teem apart is the amazing clients who vulnerably allow us to partner with them. They are able to make a real change in their organizations by choosing to solve challenges and problems in different ways. They are brave because Human-centered design not only works on the challenge they’re solving but also simultaneously works on them. Not every organization is built to solve external and internal problems at the same time.

This Human-Centered orientation positions organizations to solve real, complex challenges by first asking, “What’s the human need behind it?” That hasn’t been easy, as everyone likes change, but not everyone likes to change. The current world of work is prone to solving processes first and people second. Spill Teem has been able to challenge this while, more importantly, coming alongside some of the most powerful SMEs, nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions, government agencies, and creative brands to keep people at the center of problem-solving. Creating absolute clarity around what we call “The Behavioral Bottom Line” has proven that behavior impacts revenue, efficiency, and organizational or company awareness.

We’re the team organizations bring in when they know what to do and understand that doing it creates tremendous value but still can’t do it. This is why Human-Centered Design lives heavily in the space of people strategy and the psychological components of behavior change. With jokes and witty remarks aside, we want the world to know that change is hard. You’re not alone, and remaining stuck should NEVER be an option. With this in mind, Spill Teem dares you to ask yourself, “What if the external result you want is a result of the internal work you need?”

Any advice for managing a team?

Understand that managing the momentum of meaningful change requires embracing both people and process (yes, in that order). Stop creating processes and stuffing people into them; spend the time and deep thought work in understanding how and why people function, then build the processes around that learning.
People are doing the work, and processes ensure consistency. I highly encourage investing in them both.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

The Spill Teem has always been postured as a support to our clients, and we position our clients as the smartest people in the room. They’re the real heroes.
Let me explain: the 3,000-year-old discipline of traditional consulting often leans heavily on the consultant having all the answers and expertise where the client needs them to thrive. Hence, the precious “retainer fees.” It screams, “As long as I’m around, you’ll be just fine.” For our discipline, this has historically been how client-company relationships are built. We decided we’d do the opposite. We give our clients everything we have, from inspiration, education, and empowerment to not need us again for the same thing twice. We believe we’re only as good as understanding their vision, and it’s their vision that leads the way and encourages us to rally behind them as a partner of support. We dream with them, vision with them, and bring it all to life “with” them, not “for” them. This allows us not to really have to “keep in touch” but rather check in on the status of their own developed change and innovation. By building “with” them in this way, our conversations are fueled by deep mutual care – we’re just as invested as they are. These make for the best follow-up and check-in conversations.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.spillteem.com
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/joshuarene