Related Posts

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  Taking the Reins at a Cambridge Air Solutions Morning Meeting

  This lean culture blog was guest-written by Matt Lanham, Regional Sales Manager at Cambridge Air Solutions. Ask anyone in sales what it’s like to do public speaking and the answer will likely be quite different from the paralyzing fear that some experience. We sometimes take it for granted.  But we all remember that first time we stood up in front of a crowd, trying to remember the lines we memorized, when the question from the back of the room derailed us … yep, there’s that paralyzing fear. Public speaking, a presentation given live before an audience, remains a common fear for most people. And being able to convey a message, share something personal or educate people plays a vital role in many institutions and in the art of developing solid relationships. And every day, we practice public speaking by asking our employees to jump in and “take the reins,” although it’s not required. A daily rhythm Every morning we experience our morning meeting – a rhythm of anniversaries and birthdays, grateful appreciation ,metrics, improvements and announcements. Scattered inside are stretching, “good mornings” and sometimes hugs (virtually these days). All ...

• Creative Emceeing Makes the Morning Meeting Much More Fun!

  Part of the personal growth effort of Cambridge includes encouraging each employee to feel more confident speaking in front of a large group and other public speaking opportunities. The "practice" of this improvement comes in the form of taking turns to Emcee the morning meeting that we hold out in the shop every day. Each Emcee can speak to whatever they'd like as the group stretches - some take the chance to talk about their families or hometowns, others give trivia and yet, others - like Steve, our Controller - take the opportunity to be creative. Watch the video below to see how Steve used his introduction time! 
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  How do you extend a company culture beyond four walls?

  Extending a Company Culture across Multiple Facilities When a company decides that their strategic goals and growth plans include the need for additional space – be that office, production or warehousing space – it begs the question: “How are we going to do this?” To add to the complexity of multi-facility continuity, Covid introduced a unique situation where many companies offered the ability to work from home and plan to incorporate these workspaces in some fashion moving forward. The reality is that a company might operate at four business addresses but have remote workers dialing in from home offices across the country. The good news is that a spirit of creative and intentional planning with the understanding that everything can be improved upon can make the process seem less daunting. The operational “How?” starts to get sorted out through interdepartmental organization, communication and infrastructure investment. Planning for leasing, staffing, IT expansion and beyond becomes a beautiful challenge of logistics and operations. As these plans start to formulate, you can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel and envision ...
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  Enriching Lives During Covid -19 - Part 2

  This blog was guest-written by Darla Gibson (Executive Admin) with input from Meg Brown (VP of HR) and Conner LaLonde (Safety Coordinator) - all members of our COVID-19 Steering Committee. This is Part 2 of a blog that we developed to help remind us that in this time of uncertainty, we can still live out our mission of enriching lives. Read Part 1 here. Enriching Lives During a Pandemic - From the Perspective of the Cambridge COVID-19 Steering Committee. When we realized that we were going to have to address the COVID-19 situation at Cambridge Air Solutions from a corporate standpoint, we started a Steering Committee, as I am sure many of you did. Our COO/CFO Kevin Thompson was part of this committee and he stated up front that the Committee needed to act within four core principles: Wellbeing, Generosity, Creativity and Transparency. These principles fall into line with our “We exist to glorify God by enriching every life we touch” mission statement. But how exactly do you “Enrich Lives” when things are changing faster than you can react? Fortunately, we have a culture ...
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  What can a Workplace Chaplain do for your company?

  This article is written as a point of view from our Marketing Coordinator, Jesse Hummel. Your first question might be: what is a workplace chaplain? A chaplain is like a priest, pastor, or minister. However, they are not linked to any specific religious organization. They can provide support to whomever, regardless of religious affiliation.  When life presents its unexpected challenges, having someone to talk to can go a long way. Cambridge provides chaplains that come in throughout the week to speak with employees. These chaplains operate on a purely anonymous basis, meaning whatever is said during conversation will not make its way around the company to others. They are there to listen to struggles and successes or engage in regular conversation. Chaplains do not operate as religious entities. They are not there to promote any specific religion but rather be  a positive resource.  Experience with Chaplains From personal experience, I can attest to the benefits of having a workplace chaplain. One morning I came into work with a negative attitude - my weekend was unpleasant, and I carried those feelings into the workplace. I could ...
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  How Do You Create Unity Between an Office and a Shop Floor?

  Often there is a divide between those in the office and those who work on the floor. This divide can seem as if it is a wall that stands between the two parties. Building a strong culture brings unity between the two, but a great culture cannot exist as two separate entities divided by a shop floor wall. Though we have yet to achieve our final goal of breaking down that “wall,” we hope that through continuous improvement we can become that great culture we strive for. If you think of this process as removing “one brick at a time,” the process began with the dress code. There was an apparent disparity in the way people looked on the shop floor compared to in the offices. Those on the floor had to wear jeans or durable workpants while those in the office were required to wear slacks or other dress clothes. Doing away with this allowed for a more uniform code that made all employees feel like equals. A focal point of our strategy towards building a solid culture is allowing ...