What is Autoquip’s “kind of crazy”?

Do you ever take the time to really analyze a company’s mission statement on their website, or is it something you just breeze over in the hunt for product catalogs and contact information? In the book Culture Wins by William Vanderbloemen, he discusses, in-depth, how his company’s mission statement evolved. I know what you’re thinking, “Sigh. Another motivational, self-help book.” Stick with me here for a minute, though. Mission statements are a dime a dozen, as I’m sure many of you nodded your head “yes” at the latter part of my opening question. What isn’t commonplace, however, is an organization in which every individual within it exudes the core values to achieve its mission statement–unique, innovative, crazy, and all. That collaborative effort to constantly effectuate those core values to the point they become your personal core values is what sets apart Autoquip from the competition.

So, let me ask you, what is Autoquip’s “kind of crazy”, as Vanderbloemen phases it?

“Elevating excellence through designing, building, and connecting clients with the highest quality lifts and control systems for all industries, worldwide.”

That is how our organization has chosen to coin our brand of “crazy”, our uniqueness. Our high-performing employees are recognized for their core values that support and effectuate this mission statement. This, in turn, enables us to be leaders in innovation / automation in our field, setting us apart from our competitors, defining the reason customers choose us (or should).

Like us, Vanderbloemen’s company has their own set of core values. These core values very much reflect our own.

Vanderbloemen just coins their crazy a bit…well, crazier. This month, I want to emphasize our core value of “owning it”. How do you “own it”? We often think about how one should own up to their mistakes, but how does one “own” success? They take initiative, thoroughly cover tasks, are accountable for their job functions, and are not reluctant to show empowerment. They look at the task in a big-picture view to ensure the organization’s end-goal is met, not just their independent task at hand. Not to say you must do everyone’s job. High-performers can often inadvertently attract more work, and our leadership and management are cognizant to avoid “performance punishment”. You don’t want high-performers to leave, while low-performers, who do not take ownership, skate by and drag teams down. However, a healthy balance of big-picture ownership across the board provides the organization with a “checks and balances” of sorts to ensure the company’s end-goal is met.

I don’t want to lose you, since I hopefully convinced you to stick with me for that minute, so I’ll close with this call to action: Recognize someone or some event this month where you see “OWN IT” in effect. Let’s leave our customers walking away going, “Wow, that wasn’t just a statement in a fancy font on their website. They OWNED that.” Culture Wins!