Excellent

Meeting or exceeding all expectations for cost, timeline, quality and functionality.

What does excellent mean? How can we be excellent? How do we define excellent?

Think of a product you have purchased that is excellent. What made it excellent? I can think of many things I own that are excellent. My Jeep, my iPhone, the water heater I purchased a couple years ago. What makes them excellent? First and foremost, they are worth what I paid for them. Each of these products met my expectation for cost, timeline, quality and functionality. In addition to being worth it, there is an above and beyond aspect for each.

My Jeep makes me happy. With the top down, cruising a trail in mid-summer, the world drifts away as I enjoy my time, made possible by a product I purchased. My phone helps we work, it helps me stay in touch with family, it allows me to play games or watch/listen to entertainment. It does what it has to, but it also allows me to enjoy myself. The water heater is actually the most relatable product to HawkPoint, believe it or not. It’s just a water heater… how can it be excellent? Again, first and foremost, it was/is worth it. This is how the replacement of my water heater went down:

  • Unexpectedly, my water heater died. This was discovered by attempting to use hot water and only having cold water. Nothing special here.
  • I called Besch Plumbing. A company I have worked with many times and have always had a good experience.
  • Andy Besch told me he could get me a new water heater that day and it would cost about $1,000.
  • Andy and his team arrived on time, installed the new water heater and provided an invoice for about $1,000.
  • I went to use hot water and I had hot water to use.
  • The end.

The six steps above outline a process that demonstrates why the water heater was worth it. I was completely satisfied and happy to pay the $1,000-ish invoice, because it was worth it. We defined worth it (above) as meeting expectations for cost, timeline, quality and functionality. Andy told me that the water heater would cost about $1,000 and it did. Andy provided a timeline and met that timeline. The water heater was installed to the highest industry standards and I have had no issues within the couple years I’ve had it, showing great quality. Functionality? I have hot water.

There is no question that the water heater was worth it. So, what made it excellent? The above and beyond things. The service Andy and his team provided. They were polite and personable. They were empathetic. They put covers on their boots to be respectful to my home. They put plastic on the basement stairs so the old water heater wouldn’t drip, potentially staining water on my carpet. They communicated throughout and also followed up after, to confirm that the new water heater was working, and I was satisfied. They actually cared about what they were doing, and they were genuinely interested in helping me with a problem.

So, what is “worth it”? Meeting or exceeding all expectations for cost, timeline, quality and functionality.

And what is excellent? More than worth it. Worth it, plus personal ownership of the work. It’s not enough to just do the job. Always go above and beyond to ensure the job is done right and the customer is satisfied. Always.

That’s excellence and worth it—our mission and vision. Our values are our C.O.D.E.

  • Communication: Know your audience and speak to be understood. Listen to understand and retain knowledge. The goal of all communication, spoken or written, is to ensure a mutual understanding is gained.
  • Ownership: Work as though you own HawkPoint. Own the task and all possible outcomes. Be proactive and always contribute your own ideas.
  • Direction: Give and insist on being given proper direction. HawkPoint needs thinkers. Respectfully challenge direction given, but also respect decisions made and work toward our common goal.
  • Ethics: Act in HawkPoint’s best interests.

Ownership goes beyond the code. HawkPoint employees are always looking to do more. To help each other, our company and our clients. The best way to do this is ownership. Yes, we must all perform all aspects of our jobs, as though we own HawkPoint. That truly speaks to caring about the work. Not the clock. Not the place we’re working from. The work is what matters. We need to always do work that is beyond worth it. Excellent. We need to own the work. Every step, every decision, every outcome. If you try something and it goes well, own that. Learn from that and enjoy that.

If you try something and it doesn’t go well, own that. Work to overcome, learn from your failures, and maintain focus on the ultimate goal of success and excellence. All other aspects of HawkPoint’s C.O.D.E will be met or exceeded, when you own the work.

Predictability is a relatively new term/goal for us. We all know what predictability means but what does it mean to HawkPoint? It means:

  • When a client purchases products or services from us, they get what they purchased. There are no surprises. The products and/or services are worth it.
  • When we ask for assistance from one another, we know that the work will be done well and on time. We are dependable and we can count on our coworkers owning the work.
  • When work is assigned, that work is done within our estimating standards, quality standards, by the due date and human-focused communication is provided throughout.

Why is predictability so important? Because we need to be able to count on each other. Because we are a team. Because we are a business. Because HawkPoint has to be worth it. We all have to be excellent. I own the work. Many of you own the work. When a coworker, the work, the results, our financials are not predictable, we fail. One weak link in the chain and everyone else’s ownership was for nothing. We all fail if any one of us fails. Predictability means I can count on you and you can count on me.

These words have been thrown around a lot and I just didn’t feel like we were all on the same page. From a HawkPoint perspective, this is what they mean. I expect you to know this. I expect you to hold each other, yourself and me accountable to the concepts of excellence, worth it, ownership and predictability. I expect questions. How do these concepts apply to you or your role? Ask your manager. Ask me. Discuss it with your team(s) to ensure we are all working toward the same goal(s). You should expect excellence. You should be unwilling to accept anything short of excellence.