Core Values
What are core values? It has been proven that organisations that set core values early in their lives ultimately go on to be more successful than those that don’t. However, how do you make that real to somebody? I worked in a large organisation for over ten years and can honestly tell you that I had no idea what the core values were nor were they reinforced. They probably existed on a business plan or shiny brochure somewhere but I never felt like I owned them or how I could drive my role forward in a way that would be symbiotic with the company aims. I have always wanted to create an organisation where everybody believes in the vision, feels part of it and are invested to getting us there. I now understand why core values are really important in achieving that aim.
We hire and reward around these values and you can often catch one of the team quoting a particular value or even all five! #EDPSC
Mission statements, visions and core values can often seem a bit buzzwordy; but they are only buzzwords when they are exclusively used by management and leadership. When everybody uses them it is part of your culture, your company DNA, it is part of belonging and creating an environment where everyone knows what is expected of them and is encouraged to flourish.
To help encourage the buy-in I created something called the ‘Ace Card’: a monthly recognition of a team member who had gone above and beyond and exemplified our company core values. I suppose it was what might be called ‘employee of the month’ but it goes deeper than that. It also has a twist. As a co-founder and CEO it is impossible for me to see everything that goes on everyday, I empower the team to solve their own problems and hence there is a lot of good stuff that could go unnoticed. So the twist with the ‘Ace Card’ is that the current holder must nominate the next winner and provide the whole team with a small synopsis on what they saw over the last 30 days which was worthy of the award.
Since we have been running this for a year now, I thought it would be good to reflect back on the Ace card holders for the last 12 months and what was said about them.
Feb 2017 - Seamus Kearns
Chloe: ”Hello All, as you all know, I was awarded the Ace card for January. I now have the mammoth task of picking one of you for the Ace Card. After many hours worth of observations I have made my decision.
Remembering that our core values are Entrepreneurial, Driven, Passionate and Smart!
I would like to hand the Ace card to Séamus Kearns, I have watched you take on your new role and other tasks without any problems. So for me, you have definitely expressed the Driven, Passionate and without a doubt Smart elements of our core values.
You are also very willing to help whenever I have come to you with questions!
This was a very hard decision, especially being that I am part time and don't get to see a lot of you.
Congratulations Séamus!! Good luck with choosing your Ace Card nominee next month, it's not easy :)”
Mar - Rich Chase
“I was delighted to be awarded the Ace Card for Feb 2017. I got such an enormous sense of pride from it and I'm really looking forward to passing that experience on...
The person I'm nominating has demonstrated the core values in some big ways:
Passionate: He's always energetic in the office and has a desire to deliver great customer service.
Driven: He's relentless in his efforts to hit the sales targets and I find him on Slack at random times of the night!
Entrepreneurial: He's always looking for the next opportunity to run a course or get our foot in another country.
Smart: He's well dressed, quick-witted and capable of playing a tune from the "sales horn" in the office.
The colleague mentioned above is obviously Rich Chase and I hope you all will join me in congratulating the 'Ace' for March 2017."
Apr - Emily Hanks
“I would like to take a moment to announce April's Ace Card winner, Miss @emily.hanks! As was said the other day, Emily consistently supports the team by doing support tasks to make everyone else's job easier. But those support tasks certainly don't go unnoticed and Emily will always step up even within a moment's notice to pull things together. She has also stepped out of her comfort zone to help Ops and has picked up the role like a pro and she'll still even ask me if there's anything she can help with! Her drive and passion truly show and everyone knows they can count on Emily for a job well done. Thanks for always being ace Emily! We can celebrate with salads this week @emily.hanks”
May - John Gore
“So the time has come for me to pass on the 'Ace Card' to the next deserving winner and this month that goes to Mr John Gore. I think we can all agree upon the tremendous amount of time and effort that John gives to the company and many things wouldn't run so smoothly if it wasn't for him....especially the refilling of the beloved fridge! John never fails to give 110% to his colleagues and the entire organisation. He certainly deserves this award for his passion alone. Congrats John! @john.gore”
Jun - Bryce Allcorn
“I'd like to first start off by thanking Emily for my nomination for the Ace card for the month of May. The ￡25 gift card was instrumental in the purchase of an iron, and ironing board (that still hasn't arrived) for my new bachelor pad.
The month of June has been an extremely busy one for Consortiq:
- 2 new full time employees joined
- Our new intern working with our CQNet technical team on price modelling, and economics (welcome Doga Yapakci)
- Presentation to <blap> in the US by Will and our US team
- Approximately <blap> customer CQNet demonstrations
- Our first successful customer-facing Drone Business Seminar (more on this in a minute)
- Paul clocking up another 85 million Avios... (and purchasing a pair of 'bold' sunglasses)
It is undeniable that everyone in the team is deserving of an Ace card this month, but unfortunately, that is not quite how this works.
So to my nomination for June. The reason I have selected my Ace this month is because this person has generally been a rock-steady asset to the operations team when they are called in to support. The particular anecdote which I believe demonstrated the values Entrepreneurial, Driven, Passionate, Smart was when in a fleeting moment of marketing, sales and operations planning, an undersold course was very quickly flipped in to a free seminar, which was a sell-out in terms of registrations. The Ace for this month found out by our Twitter activity (because the planning happened so fast, we actually forgot to inform him), and was required an entire presentation deck to be created around the topic "How to setup a successful drone business". Silently in the background (well as silent as this person can be), he created the content, liaised with marketing to pimp it up, coordinated with the venue to ensure the alterations required were made, and delivered the content with professionalism, portraying Consortiq in exactly the way the brand reflects. Simon Stickland of Dragon Eye and an active member of ARPAS-UK, posted "excellent conference yesterday in Haydock Park".
So, I'd like to recognise that the Ace for June is Tech Ops' very own, Mr Bryce Allcorn. Congrats Bryce. Thank you for your hard work (always, not just in June), and always being the first to offer help when Ops requires it. It's over to you now.”
Jul - Doga Yapakci (Intern)
“So it’s my turn to pass on the company Ace baton and after the monthly quarterly my mind has been set racing, with the excellent collaboration of the CQNet roadmap between Garf and David which I know excited a lot of us, even us that knew about it – just seeing it all put together was fantastic and demonstrates why we will smash our target. John Gore and his fantastic team building exercise was brilliant (which as those that know me reasonably well will know, was an idea that could have driven me nuts); Emily for becoming the HR manager and, really to everyone involved in getting us to where we are now and moving forward in such a Entrepreneurial; Driven; Passionate; Smart and some might say; Curious way.
However apparently, I can’t choose everyone and so today is clearly the fitting day to announce my nomination for July. The reason I have selected my Ace this month is because this person has, in a very short period of time, demonstrated the values Entrepreneurial; Driven; Passionate; Smart and Curious in a manner that we should all appreciate, getting involved in every aspect of the business and helping support the backroom analysis that will ensure we blow everyone else out of the market. He has also shown a maturity that a few of us older people really should aspire to, while still managing to empty the beer fridge in an almost subtle way. Doga, I can’t think of anyone more fitting for this recognition in such a short period of time and I truly hope you remain connected with Consortiq in the future.
In nominating Doga, an intern, I have of course gone against protocol and so the Ace selection baton will be passed to the Directors for August.”
Oct - Miriam Hinthorn
“Miriam has been responsible for running operations for the US and killing it. She coordinated all the logistics, marketing, sales and execution of our E6 course at BSR and also the 2nd Instruction Induction at BSR. She has also set up the upcoming Media Course in October. She has been covering down on all Salesforce leads and many other business development leads in addition to spending countless hours developing and writing administrative and financial documents for the company. Miriam is doing the work of five people right now and we are certainly very grateful and proud to have her on our US team!”
Nov - Mary Bargteil
“Mary's an Ace! There should be a giant section of our R&D budget dedicated to figuring out how to clone her because I wish we could get five more! Mary is in the crow's nest because she is always thinking way ahead when it comes to communications, finance, HR, and pretty much everything else. And she doesn’t just think ahead — she OWNS her suggestions and pairs them with immediate action. We can all learn a lot from Mary’s impressive dedication to getting Consortiq the best results. Three cheers for Mary!"
Dec - Ben Snyder
“Celebrate the dedication and demonstration of all Consortiq values with me as I pass along the Ace reward this month to @Ben Snyder! Ben offers all of his energy and works diligently towards Consortiq success! Congratulations, Ben!"
Jan 2018 - Lee Barfoot
“Good morning, good afternoon, good night depending where you are. Although my time has been cherished as an Ace Award holder the time has come to pass it along. I present the one...the only...Lee Barfoot. Congrats, my man. From hanging crooked pictures in the office, to doing Salesforce mass email tutorials, to having one of the funniest Skype pictures I've ever seen. Lee is a great teammate to have whether near or far. He demonstrates the the values that we all hold dear at Consortiq. You sir, could be an American hero...but you can't...'cause you're not 'Merican, so maybe social media influencer, but you don't have a YouTube channel. We'll settle for an All Around Good Guy (AAGG). As with all AAGGs please don't spend your Amazon gift card all in one place!”
You can learn more about the team at Consortiq here https://consortiq.com/en-gb/about-consortiq/meet-the-team