Team Lumavate Update: Teamwork Gets the Big Win

Jillian MacNulty Picture

by Jillian MacNulty | Last Updated: Oct 14, 2016

Recently I was inspired reading our Indy neighbor’s (Sigstr) blog post about life at a tech start-up. The post detailed three truths and one lie about working at a tech start-up, and for the most part I would say that we at Lumavate® couldn’t agree more with them. We love our open office layout which promotes lots of collaboration and discussion. Day to day business is fast paced and truly ever-changing. As we close in on our one and a half year mark it is remarkable to reflect on the twists, turns and pivots that have landed us where we are today. It's exciting to think about what changes lie ahead, but two things I know for sure: we will still be constantly running out of post-it notes for filling out our “Needs and Wants” board and every one of our employees will have an important role in this exciting ride. That being said, it’s very true that every one of our employees matter. Each member of our small (but mighty) team is constantly going out of his or her comfort zone in order to help each other out. Aidan, on our Customer Success team, has stretched his creative muscles to design standup displays for one of our customer’s, Highland Ridge RV, trade shows, which took a ton off of Jillian’s plate from our Marketing Team. Our Director of Sales and Marketing, Jenna, has presented dozens of demos to prospective customers when our sales team has been swamped. Even our Marketing Analytics intern and one of our newest team members, Bri, has taken on building out Lumavate experience templates. Every member of the Lumavate team is crucial to our day-to-day success at work. And as our team grows and works together, I love learning new things about my co-workers. After last week’s Team Lumavate outing, I definitely found out something that we all have in common: competitiveness.

Kicking It Into Gear With Some Friendly Competition

If you’re ever doubting your team’s ability to kick it into high gear under stress, then I highly recommend going to an escape room. It’s a craze that’s sweeping the nation: a group of around 4-8 people is locked in a room and has exactly 60 minutes to solve puzzles, find clues, and most importantly work as a team in order to crack the code and escape in time. For us, there was a catch. Not only would we be racing against the clock, but we would be racing against each other as we split into two teams of six. So last week when we took an afternoon off of our normally jam-packed work day to try one of these escape rooms out, the stakes were high. Friendly competition took on a whole new meaning, for the winning team would not only be the proud recipients of the prize (awesome Mega Block tractor sets representing two of our Lumavate customers, Wagner CAT and Landmark Implement), but would have bragging rights for infinity! (Or, more realistically, until our next Lumavate Olympics competition in late October.) Yes, at Lumavate we like to take a break from the intensity of work to have some fun together and it usually takes on the form of team competition.  We love, all in good fun of course, trying to best each other in creative competitive events, but we find even more satisfaction in working together to achieve this goal.  We have come to realize how much sweeter a win is (whether it is bringing a new customer on board or getting the best “escape” time) when achieved in collaboration with our Lumavate teammates, each of us bringing our own assets and skills to the task at hand. So back to our escape room competition. My team’s escape was from a Casino Royale themed room.  By the luck of the team draw Tim, our VP of Customer Success, was on my team. Tim had just returned from a successful CAT Conference Trade Show in Las Vegas, where in addition to meeting with several CAT dealers including Wagner CAT, our Lumavate customer from Colorado, he luckily had that opportunity to brush up on his poker and roulette skills.  By utilizing these skills and exercising the math side of their brains Tim and Bill, part of our Executive Sales team, helped us crack the first several “codes”. As for me, when our escape room coordinator said, “Go!” and our 60 minutes started to tick by much quicker than the laws of time should allow, I found myself frozen in place with no coherent thought or plan of action on how to get started.  In steps Lauren, another member of our Customer Success team. With her quick thinking and incredible eye for the elusive details (great job finding that hidden card), Lauren really gave our team the kickstart and focus-on-task motivation we needed.   Patty, part of our BDR team, was great at forward thinking, anticipating that next puzzle to be solved to keep us moving to the end goal - escape.  And Mike, part of our Executive Sales Team, utilized his deep thinking and problem solving skills to keep our team on track in considering all possible angles and solutions for some the most elusive escape room problems. I was truly impressed by the quick intellect of my whole team under the stresses of time and such mentally challenging tasks.  But I was even more thankful for our ability to work together, playing off of each other’s strengths.

So Our Big Win Is Winning with Teamwork

So, I know you are wondering which team won and which team has already started planning for the next team competition. Well the way we look at is that we all won.  We had a great time working collectively, relying on each others’ strengths, and learning a lot about what makes our co-workers “tick” under pressure...and yes, both teams made it out of their respective escape rooms with time to spare! (We just won’t mention how much time was left for each team…) So, in summary, our big win – winning together as Team Lumavate. To keep up to date with the latest team happenings, follow us on Instagram!

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