This past week I had the occasion to share a lunch break with several people on our team at ACUMEN Corporation who just happened to be in the head office that day. One of the guys, an SAP consultant and project manager, had put in a lot of hours with our clients of late and was given the task of choosing a restaurant of his liking. We have several great venues close by and our colleague chose PF Chang at an outdoor mall across from our office complex. Great choice. But I digress.
As it is so often when we have a company lunch we talk a lot about our families, our vacation plans and certainly some business. Each project is, after all, an adventure to some degree and it’s almost therapeutic to share stories about the challenges associated with each one whether it be the travel required (and airport food…no comment), the cool and not so cool folks we meet along the way and of course our successes in delivering great business solutions.
As I sat at the table enjoying a lettuce wrap (great by the way!) I looked around at the team assembled there and had the opportunity to think about the unique talents that each associate brought to the table. Some of the team were quite artistic and used visual tools and imagery extremely well. That can be very helpful whether you are working on delivering a message to a client or creating great marketing materials.
Another attendee has a great mathematical mind and is virtually fearless in tackling even the most daunting problem. Two others have broad talent spectrums and impressive and varied career paths that bring real best practices to our company. Analytical skills are of course a given in a group such as this.
But with all that in mind, this special team shares a couple of traits that separate great teams from the merely good. First and most important they are all of high integrity, extremely high integrity as represented by the first “pillar” of our credo. All of these folks are completely focused on doing what’s right but our all-important clients and delivering a great product and service every single day.
But as a business owner I felt one other thing that day. Each of these intelligent articulate people had one another’s back as the saying goes. I notice with frequency that when one is wrestling with a particularly challenging problem, one of the others will volunteer to help. The team has bonded to the point of understanding that what’s good for one of us is good for all. I’m really proud of that.
And as I continued to think about the team dynamic, I realized that they also have my back and that of my partner and I can feel that every day. I hope they know how appreciative we are and that we too have theirs. As long as we deliver what we promise day after day, this trusted team, along with the colleagues not able to attend that day, will flourish.
It was a great lunch.
