Category: Team Wow!s – Communicating Values

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Wow! Doing what it takes

You may have some idea how much I hate missing a deadline. Well, I just missed mine; I didn’t send out the Wow! this weekend. The good news is that it is not because there are no Wows! to give; there are plenty! This team continues to impress me every day. Typically I write the Wow! email after a long walk during which I get the pleasure of thinking about, and appreciating, all the great actions during the past week. This week I missed that walk due to a minor health issue, and it seems I mentally connected the Wow! email so closely with that long walk that I failed to send the email! So let’s get this out …now!

This week’s “Wow!” goes to ———- for his continued diligence in making a frustrating commute to perform the warranty work on the hardware located in our Bellingham, WA USA office.

Here’s our “wow” for this week: I am sending to you a “WOW!” as a person who is making a grand effort to keep C-Secure going when we realize it would be so easy to just not go to the trouble. It is worth it, and in the long run there will be even greater benefit realized for every one sticking with C-Secure.

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Wow! S-P-E-E-D

Last week I focused on s-p-e-e-d. This week is about another driver of our success: smart use of TIME!
… that is your time and others’ time.

On the subject of time management, this week’s “Wow!” goes to ———-.

Here’s our “wow” for this week: I am sending to you a “WOW!” as a person who works in steps so that you can get input and stay on track. You get stuff done, with effective use of you time, and mine.

Why is this “wow!”?
Here’s what we don’t want:If you’ve managed others you may have run into the type of person who, if there is a deadline tomorrow, happily gives themselves until the end of the day (usually waiting until the last minute to even start after having plenty of time) not showing drafts along the way so the manager has no clue if it is on track (even if asked for, and promised repeatedly), leaving it to the manager to now make up for the lost time after hours …and leaving no time to correct the work if what was done was not what was expected. Or at times the results are coming, “today!,” “tomorrow for sure!”… and then never comes at all.

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Wow! Visibility and customer engagement

This week we made great headway in our efforts to become more visible to, and engaging of, our customers. And I can already feel that we are doing this with greater s-p-e-e-d than before. So on that note, this week’s “Wow!” goes to ———-.

Here’s our “wow” for this week: I am sending to you a “WOW!” because you have risen to the challenge of my need for s-p-e-e-d and focus on content. You are turning things around much more quickly even though you are working fewer hours to do so!

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Wow! October 26

This week I am honoring a person that continues to wow me with his focus and effort. We are going through transition – mostly growing pains – and with this comes the need for a ready, capable and trustworthy pool of resources; good people.

…This week’s “Wow!” goes to team member, ———.

Here’s our “wow” for this week: I am sending to you a “WOW!” because you continuously reach into our cracks, look to our end-goals and come up with answers. Stuff never drops with you, and you help bring in the resources to keep us moving forward.

Why is this “wow!”? Not having to restate, rework, push out a deadline, wonder or fret can save hours in my day, and keeps things running smoothly for everyone. It also helps retain customers and greatly improves our opportunities with prospects.

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Wow! October 18

To all: We continue to move through quick changes in our team. You are not seeing all the changes, since you cannot see the bcc list for this email – I do. And I have mixed feelings about it. Mostly, it is a very good thing. We are more closely aligned – together, toward company goals – so when a fit isn’t right, it is known very quickly. If you’ve ever had a relationship problem that just seemed to drag on forever you’ll understand what I mean. If you’re not quite sure I’ll just summarize with: it is abundantly better to have happy surprises and to be in the position of growing others’ strengths. These “Wow!” emails are a lot of fun for me. And since they are about your strengths – thanks!

So on to this week’s “Wow!”…

This week I am honoring a person that has just made it through the 30-day review hurdle. There is considered scrutiny during this period by me, and usually also by at least one other team member. Even though we employ “at will,” it is important to me to find people I’d like to stick around for a long time. These 30 days are not an easy time for some because I do everything I can to get the mis-alignments out into view. In fact I hired two people at the same time and only one made it… and so….

…This week’s “Wow!” goes to our newest team member, ———.

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Wow! October 11

We had an unexpected change this week so rather than being in Texas today, I am here…

It is good to remember that “Everything in life happens for a reason and a purpose, and it serves us.”

Now I realize you are thinking I’m off on a tangent! And you may be wondering why so many of these “Wow!”s are focused on what seems to be non-business stuff. What I can tell you is that people are the critical resource of any organization and without them we would have no “Wow!”…

That said this week’s “Wow!” goes to a person I’ve been working with for a few years now and we will both tell you it has been rocky at times. And at times some things left us feeling not in control. Yet we both keep coming back with consideration of what is in our control to improve the situation…and we take action.

The action-taker being honored today is ——–.

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Wow! When the team helps develop great connections

This week’s “Wow!” goes to a person who is brand new to our team and in fact we’ve only held one one-on-one conversation. So, this email is one of several fast actions taken because of what was triggered during this call. The nature of that call is worth sharing and that is why it earns a place as this week’s “Wow!” The person on the other end of that call was ———-.

Here’s our “wow” for this week: “WOW!” , adding value was on your mind when we talked, and although we couldn’t know where the conversation would lead when we started, as there was no real agenda other than some questions about our agreement, your aim was served…and C-Secure Systems will be stronger because of it.

Why is this “wow!”? Without giving too many details but to answer the questions of those of you who are now thinking “What happened on that call?!” … We discussed each of our company’s purposes and markets so that we could determine if there was any conflict in our working together and, if not, then what type of non-disclosure agreement would best suit. But what happened then is more than the signing of an NDA.

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Wow! Strength of team

I set a new precedence in my last email by extending a “Wow!” to actions that did not necessarily happen by the preceding week, but triggered during the week in my mind (usually during a long fast walk!) and worth broadcasting. This week’s “Wow!” follows this same trend. Another similarity is that this week’s entry has to do with learning. The difference, though, is that last week it was about someone who has greatly helped my learning. This time it is about a team member who is truly giving his best effort to learn and build his value to the team.

Here’s our “wow” for this week: “WOW!” , you are proving your strength of character as you step back from a lead role and take on projects for which you have introduced to us your peers and subject experts … all in a selfless drive to make sure Abrige & C-Secure get the final product we need.

Why is this “wow!”? You and your team brought back DISCOVERY (after it did not accept operating system upgrades well) when others before you had failed. You simply took one step at a time…and did it!

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Wow! Mentoring the leader

Some of you have heard a lot about our company officer ——— and are unsure what his role is. Here’s the deal: other than being extraordinary (which is a characteristic and not a role), he is a professional and personal mentor to me. He has vast experience in leading and mentoring. He offers a fabulous mix of bedside manner and discipline that has served me and our company well. He also “gets” both of the businesses we run, Abrige and C-Secure Systems, and continuously networks to uncover market needs and generate leads.

Here’s our “wow” for this week: “WOW!”, for not only introducing us into the market… I give a resounding thank you for helping me to become a better leader and to keep our company aligned with its vision without falling out of line with our strong values.

Why is this “wow!”? The company leadership sets the tone and direction for all. As we grow and become visible it can be so appealing to try and do everything and to say “yes” to other leaders and so-called experts that, if listening to intuition, this intuition (a gut feeling that “knows” our values and purpose) is screaming “no.”

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Wow! Attracting a strong team

We are positioning ourselves to great improvement in visibility, our front line theme, thanks for ——–.

Here’s our “wow” for this week: “WOW!”, for so quickly building a sales team for C-Secure Systems!!!

Why is this “wow!”? Not only has he continued to seek connections with new prospective customers and improve our message as targeted to those customers, he also has attracted to C-Secure one other senior- and two junior- sales professionals.

Why is it important? We have an unmatched turn-key tailored solution for monitoring, managing, securing and gaining intelligence from and about machines (and vehicles, structures, etc.)…yet we are almost invisible. Yes, we have a website. We waited too long to get it optimized so we are contacted infrequently (good news: when we do get calls they are highly qualified already). Although we are fixing this now, the clock is ticking! In fact we need to be well locked-in with customers f-a-s-t…before we become well-known to competitors. I have confidence in him. He and his growing team will better find, engage and close deals.

Congrats!

-Lori

P.S.S The mix of people provided in the first “Wow” email has changed! Some gone, several added. The newest ones are not seeing this yet, and they will be introduced soon. In every case I see improvement. This is what having themes (ours are Stability! And Visibility!) can do for a company, especially when themes are also aligned with our purpose and mission/values. They are. And so are our people. For those of you seeing this email, I am thrilled to have you here. Please continue to find us great people as we grow!