The Spark: Stop overcomplicating employee engagement
At Solid Form, the spark started as a question around employee engagement, kindling a flame under a team that craved more robust and creative projects.
At Kinesis, we believe our people are the cornerstone to our company’s success. Which is why today we are excited to spotlight our Office Hero, Rebecca Bell – and the incredible impact she’s making for our team. But before I jump into her story, I want to describe her position first – since “Office Hero” isn’t a title you hear every day.
You see, Rebecca isn’t your average every day team member, either. Earlier this year, we needed some administrative support in the office – someone to handle the nuts and bolts of Kinesis “behind the scenes.”
But the time came to hire someone in this role, we realized we wanted something special. We carefully crafted a job description that described our Super Hero. In it, we wrote:
“The Office Hero is that special person who works tirelessly to ensure their teammates have everything they need to win the day.
Moving easily from to-do lists to one-off errands, this person looks to make Kinesis a finely tuned machine. And, unlike most administrative assistants, the Office Hero is a pro-active-fix-things-before-they-break guru.”
Honestly, we thought it might be a little bit of a dream. Our team wasn’t sure if there was someone out there who would bring the passion, organization, and sheer remarkability that we truly wanted from this position.
And then Rebecca applied.
As the Kinesis team took her through our interview process, it quickly became clear that she was the ONE. She was our dreamed about, wished-for Office Hero! We hired her in January of 2016 and now we can’t imagine how we ever lived without an Office Hero.
Before she joined us, Rebecca worked in non-profit development and fundraising for the March of Dimes. She managed all aspects of their large walk event with over 3,500 participants that raised almost $600,000. Prior to that, she graduated from the University of Portland in Organizational Communication.
As our Office Hero, what do you do at Kinesis?
I like to think that as the Office Hero, it’s my job to help the rest of the Kinesis team be successful. That can mean anything from ordering lunch for a coworker in meetings all day, implementing a new HR software, or helping manage a client website.
I am responsible for:
What’s been your most memorable Kinesis project so far?
When I first started, Kinesis had a goal to donate $250,000 in goods, services, and volunteer time by the year 2025. Coming from the nonprofit world, community engagement has always been important to me – and I was excited to get involved and help Kinesis reach that lofty goal.
I’ve created a formal, measurable community engagement plan. In July we had our first community engagement event – a Habitat for Humanity build – and it was a huge success. I am looking forward to moving this effort forward and seeing the positive impact Kinesis can have on our local community.
What’s your super power?
My motto at Kinesis is “get s@#* done.” It doesn’t matter what task is put in front of me, I will complete it, and I’ll do it well. I have a strong ability to multitask and keep multiple balls in the air. I work really hard and am tenacious.
My designated Kinesis spirit animal is a badger, which should be telling about my determination and focus.
I am also fairly intuitive. I have an innate ability to read people and situations. From there, I can easily figure of what they need or want without having to ask a ton of questions.
Earlier this year, you took a trip to Iceland. Tell us more about your travels and hobbies.
I love to travel! It’s my goal to go at least once new country every year. Yes, 2016 was Iceland. I am considering Costa Rica for 2017. My favorite places that I’ve visited (so far) have been Italy and New Zealand.
I am also a voracious reader – I try to read an average of one book a week. Every summer I reread the Harry Potter series, I’ve probably read them all at least 15 times. I’m quite proud of being a huge nerd and minoring in Philosophy in college: Descartes is my favorite philosopher.
Are you interested in joining the Kinesis team? Visit our online Career Center!
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