One of my Perficient Indianapolis colleagues, Aaron Sherrick, is very involved in the Westfield Youth Sports, Inc. (WYSI). He recently asked our team if we could help him with cleaning up and mulching trees and flowerbeds near a memorial at their baseball facility.
This is a busy time of the year for everyone on our team, so only three of us could make it fit into our schedules. As it turned out, that was a perfect number to get the job done, and bond a little personally.
We met at the baseball park after work, grabbed some shovels and rakes, and got to work. We mulched around about 10 trees and then cleaned all the weeds from and mulched around a bench and flowerbed that is a memorial for a longtime WYSI volunteer who passed away in 2007. It was a warm evening with kids practicing on the ball diamonds. The work was fairly non-strenuous and fun.
Aaron’s son took our picture in front of the memorial, and Aaron later took a great picture of the memorial as the sun was setting. All in all, it was a great time spent with two of our wonderful Indy colleagues.
The project was rewarding, but the comradery is what makes things like this special. As many consultants find, it is sometimes hard to get to know our colleagues because we spend the majority of our time on-site with the client. I have been at the same client for about eight years, so getting to know other Perficient employees that are not on my account can be difficult. Thankfully, the culture in our Indianapolis office is one where projects like this are encouraged and getting to know the people in our office is getting more attention.
Our General Manager Jason Hudnall and Director Vaibhav Mathur fully support projects and outings such as this. Having the encouragement of our leaders really means a lot to the team. I also know that had either of them been in town that day, they would have been there helping – no question. They have a strong energy and commitment to Indy.
There will always be struggles getting people who are rarely in the office together to bond and participate, but I think we are on the right track.
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