It was my Birthday Anniversary

And the crew surprised me with a cake; but that was not the best present I got from the team…that would be all the smiles they created that day, and every day. Let me share the story.

First, you have to know that Wayne Homes has a Steering Committee. Not the typical governance committee that uses Robert’s Rules of Order and such; rather, ours is a group of peer-elected non-managers whose mission and purpose is absolutely vital to our brand. The Steering Committee owns our customers’ experience!

Its members are from nine different geographies and all kinds of positions. They meet regularly with everyone at their location to share ideas and collect best practices so they can pass on what they learn to others. Then the nine groups assemble every quarter at our Home Office to share again amongst themselves —that way our entire team can learn the best ways to ‘go the extra mile’ for our customers before, during, and after construction. The Steering Committee rocks! I was honored to take them out to lunch that day.

We rambled down the road to my favorite lunch-time restaurant and there we shared family stories, success stories, as well as everyone’s best suggestions on how to ‘beat the heat’. The heat index had been staying north of 100 for what had seemed like an eternity (Side note: is it ever too hot and humid to play golf? Yep!). Then, as we were wrapping up the group invited me to watch a power point presentation of all the great ideas they’d gathered for the Steering Committee meeting. “Absolutely!” I said, and that’s when it all started…

We got back to the office, went down to the conference room area, and SURPRISE! A chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ took my breath away. The building was filled with people and laughter. Somehow they’d managed to decorate too; black balloons and old-age jokes graced every corner. A culinary artist even used my favorite food group—dark chocolate—to create two masterfully designed cakes that accurately depicted this icing message: ‘Happy Birthday, you old poop!” What a riot! ‘Twas the first time I ever enjoyed eating my words.

Every time I think of all the love and laughter of that day, I know I received the best present of all. Happy, crazy memories. Go to Wayne Homes’ Facebook and take a peek for yourself; betcha can’t stop smiling either!