AEM… A. – E. – M. What the heck is AEM? It stands for All-Employee Meeting and at WOW! we have them in each geographical location at least twice per year. In fact, at our AEMs our CEO, Colleen Abdoulah is almost always a featured guest speaker. (‘Featured’ is probably an understatement.) Colleen has the trust and faith of WOW! employees and they look forward to her state-of-the business updates and motivational comments with real anticipation. AEMs are a semi-annual events that contribute to the WOW! Way of doing business.
AEMs vary a bit from location to location, from season to season and from year to year. Common agenda items include regional business updates on key metrics, recognition for top individual and top team performances, there’s always food of course and there’s always, always an element of fun.
How do you have fun with groups of people ranging from 60 to 300? There are lots of ways. Last year our company converted our service structure to a pictorial ‘metaphor’ – depicting an outdoor music festival complete with audience (customers) ticket sellers (Marketing), musical performers (Technicians, Customer Service and Dispatch) and electrical support (IT, HUB Engineers). One region converted the image to 18”x 32” puzzles and each table of employees raced to assemble it with one hand held behind their backs. Another region capitalized on the anniversary of Woodstock and hosted ‘WOW!stock’ as the forum for their AEM. Their meeting was complete with a rock band, circa 70s clothing and security guards for the important guests. Just last week, one region conducted a broadband version of ‘The Dating Game’ where one technician (dressed as the female date) quizzed four contestent technicans representing Comcast, AT&T, Time-Warner and WOW! on the quality of service and ‘dating’ experience they would provide. Where there’s a will there’s a way and at WOW! there will be fun.
As mentioned above, AEMs usually close with a word from our CEO. This year, Colleen praised our efforts in 2009 that resulted in growth despite the dismal economy. She also shared what it was like to walk in her shoes – representing the little cable company who does it best in the U.S. – according to JD Power and Associates and Consumer Reports. Finally, she shared a story about the definitive nightmare of a customer, who she spoke with personally and who would not be satisfied no matter what. Colleen told WOW! employees she truly empathized with their day-to-day customer challenges and in the end, she invited Nightmare Customer to fulfill his threat and find his services elsewhere. Needless to say, that story was a big hit with our front line employees.
AEM = All Employee Meeting. Any company who doesn’t do them is missing the boat on communication and employee engagement. At WOW! we do them for information, for fun, and for a sincerely appreciated personal message from the top executive of the company. AEM – one of those little things that sets us apart in a big way.
2010 AEM - Top Performers of 2009 share the stage with CEO Colleen Abdoulah
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