Interesting, How Teams Work!

Teams are collective wholes.  There is no “I” in team.  At Park Plaza/Stapley Center Great American Title we’re a  living demonstration of a real squad!

WOW! July was a hectic month for us.  

In order to really understand the meaning behind my above statement you really need to understand what we prepared for. We prepared for vacations!

Park Plaza had two Escrow Officers on vacation July 9th through July 20th. Stapley had staff out from July 1st through July 10th and I was in Alaska July 2nd to July 17th. Beginning July 31st we have our second group leaving on vacation. Meaning, that for most of the month of August, we’re short staffed every day. That is our back story.  

Yes, we knew people were going to be away and we worked long and hard to keep our reputation of delivering on time, every time.

Interesting, as I recently read an article by:  Jonathan Farrington  the CEO of Top Sales Associates and Chairman of The Sales Corporation -  www.jonathanfarrington.com

Mr. Farrington said: “The principle of working together with your team should underpin how you operate. Managing people doesn't just mean acting as overseer, to see that they get their work done satisfactorily. It means involving people throughout the team in a creative role, to ensure that together you are all able to succeed.”  

So involving people in the whole process is how we get things done. We work together.  

However, it’s hard to prepare for the unexpected, and the unexpected is what happened on Monday. We had out of the blue illnesses and accidents!  As our doors opened one of our support staff simply needed to go home, she was too sick to stay. Really it was not a big deal after all. For the first time this month we were all here---

Then it happened. Another staff member needed to leave due to a medical emergency, and another associate had a scheduled doctor appointment. So we quickly went from a full staff to 80% capacity---now  we might be in trouble if you considered what we needed to balance.  

There were buyers, sellers, lenders, processors, underwriters, funders, closing departments, real estate agents, transaction coordinators, Real Estate Brokers…packages to get signed, files to send down for recording, correspondence to complete, parcels for delivery…the list goes on and on.

As I have said in the past, “our job  is to simply be the catcher - we are a combination of a psychiatrist, mind reader, attorney, and an inadvertent “Dear Abby”, a marriage counselor, messenger, graphologist, and peacemaker - we don’t make any of the decisions.”

So here’s what happened: we all simply accepted the day as a “wonderful learning opportunity”. Together we worked as one collective whole.  Kind of like the Carolyn-ism,  “This is what we do, not who we are”.  

Thank you, Lexi, Barbara, Bernadette, Carrie, Corina, Erika, Karen, Karla,  Jane, Marissa, Leslie, Marc, Monica,  and  MJ.  

You guys ROCK and you’re great to work with!!!

Yes, It's ALL About Love

Tomorrow, November 27^th is Thanksgiving.  A day when we here in the United States stop and “give thanks” for ___________ (you name it).  I’ve received emails, text posts, and voice messages all saying, “Thanks”.

We spend a lot of money, travel great distances, and take time off from work, just to let other people know we care.

Annual celebrations are lots of fun!

In fact, on November 20^th  our offices, Park Plaza and Stapley Center took a moment to say “Thank you”. Yes, we are grateful to  each and every one of you for the business opportunities you give  Great American Title on a daily basis, especially this past year.  Annually, we look forward to this day.

That being said just a few days after our Office Thanksgiving Celebration, during my morning quiet/reflective time I read a verse from the Bible, 2 John 1:6, that hit home. 

2 John is a small book in the New Testament written by John the Apostle.  Apostle means the person was a disciple, walked, talked and learned from Jesus when Christ was alive here on earth.  John calls himself an Elder, meaning he is old, really old.  It is also interesting to note that when John wrote this book he was banished to an isolated island, living alone.

Listen to his words:  “Love means doing what God has commanded us, and He commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.” (2 John 1:6)

Simply put, here are my journal notes from that day: 

Wow, this is a “call to action” verse.  I am aware of others and the overwhelming needs to “love one another” at this time of the year, because I am reminded. There are donation centers, charity boxes, food drives, all kinds of good causes, I have lots of opportunity to “feel good” about loving others right now. But, what about the other 10 months of the year?  People still need to be loved.

This verse is a reminder to me of just how busy life gets and how often I fail to stop and “love” others.

This is sad!  I do believe that all I have is a gift from God.

God created this world, it all belongs to him, He loves me and He blesses me every day.  Life is not all about me!  I am loved so I can love others for Him.  I’ll take nothing with me when I leave this world.

Today’s big take away: Do I love stuff more than people?  Do I allow my stuff to get in the way of loving others?

My prayer: Lord, I know you love me.  My heart’s desire is to love others for you!

Thank You!

Thank you!
 
Karen and Steve’s (Leverton) wedding was beautiful and the day was a special one.   So, thanks for your prayers, patience, and support.  We’ve learned that weddings are not exactly as easy as they used to be --- but still lots of fun!

The honeymooner’s are off to a private cabin and will be home sometime next weekend, so we’re back to a normal pace of life, if you could believe Ken and I have a normal pace.

Over the past month I have been asked by several people for the famous “Hubbard Cookie Recipe” so here you go:

Wet:  1 cup butter (yes butter)

1 cup sugar
2 eggs (well beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla (yes real vanilla)

Dry:  1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt
3 ½ cups flour (no not self rising, or bread flour, just that good ole’ cheap flour)

To put this all together is really pretty simple.  Ask Karen, and she’ll say, “It’s very important to allow the butter to come to room temperature, and then cream the other ingredients together.”  Ask me; dump it all into the Kitchen Aide. 

Then simply add the dry ingredients, start with the baking powder, salt, and half the flour.  Then add the rest of the flour.  (Karen’s version:  slowly add dry ingredients, Mom, just dump it!)

I will tell you the trick however is kneading flour into the dough, after you’ve got everything is mixed.  (As a child Karen and her brothers used this as their “Play Dough”, and baked it in an “Easy Bake Oven”.  Kids love this cookie.

The cookies do need to be rolled to ¼” thickness and baked at 325 for 10-13 minutes, depending on the oven and thickness of the cookie.  The cookie should be firm to touch, but not brown.

Eat them hot out of the oven, Ken’s favorite, frost with Butter Cream Frosting (my favorite), or use Royal Icing (Karen’s preferred)

Now to the rest of the story, this cookie’s name:  “Texas Tea Cakes” it’s been in the Campbell family since Aunt Ollie gave it to my Mom (8 generations to me) and has been cooked on an open fire in a Dutch Oven and most recently in a Convection Oven.

Enjoy, and thanks again for all the love you have shared with us.