Awards Season Has Arrived!

“Our people are our most important asset” is one of the phrases you will not only hear CC Pace CEO Mike Gordon emphasize frequently but is a belief that he has cultivated a corporate culture around. With that philosophy in mind, the Superior Performance Award (SPA) was created. This special award is a way for employees to recognize fellow employees, by nominating a team member who they feel has had a pivotal positive impact towards the success of CC Pace. For the recent performance period, the peer-to-peer SPA honorees are Laura Campbell and Jon Buckhout for their outstanding contributions. 

 LAURA CAMPBELL has had the lead role in developing our Client Success Program. The program is designed to increase engagement with our consultants and clients and has proven to be highly effective in producing additional value for both the client and CC Pace. Laura was praised by her peers for being a team player extraordinaire, who has made CC Pace better as result of her efforts contributions, and the immense value she brings to so many areas of the company.  

JON BUCKHOUT has been a consistent top-performing consultant for CC Pace since joining us in 2008. A key player at a major client, Jon is a sought-after subject matter expert in the mortgage loan arena educating lenders across the country on addressing standards in the mortgage industry. He exemplifies the attributes we look for in consultants with his ability to convey this information in a cohesive manner and form so many lasting connections. 

In addition to our SPA recipients, a Service Award was presented to LAUREN IEZZONI for celebrating her 10 Year Anniversary with CC Pace. Lauren is our Graphics Manager with the Midas touch where everything she produces turns to gold when it comes to CC Pace’s branding. Her sense of design and visual elements have taken our corporate branding to a new level. Lauren’s talents, willingness to help at a moment’s notice and constant enthusiasm are extremely appreciated by the entire CC Pace team. 

 Cheers and a big thank you to our award winners! 

Pt 1 of a two-part series

Effective communication remains at the very heart of team efficiency. Entire business models are based on improving team communications, look no further than SalesForce’s acquisition of Slack. Microsoft Teams, BaseCamp, Sharepoint, Zoom, Webex, instant messenger, and text are just a few of the frequently used communication tools in the workplace. Meeting facilitation is now a ‘service offering’ – take a moment and search LinkedIn… perhaps you’ll get more than the 7,700 results that I returned!

Yet here we are in this post-COVID, hybrid/remote work environment, and one of the most effective and proven communication channels has been cast aside. COVID brought most technology work into the home somewhat permanently, and the overscheduling of meetings proliferated, where thanks were provided to higher powers when a meeting was gracefully ended 50 mins after the hour, allowing a few minutes to check on the kids, feed the whining dog, or run to the bathroom—really anything other than staring at an array of faces staring back at their screens. What this also brought was the feeling that since schedules were so solidly stacked, the last thing that made sense was to just call someone. It felt intrusive and presumptuous.

While COVID remains in circulation, the work world is transitioning with some firms fully remote forever, others hybrid with overlap day mandates, and others fully back to pre-pandemic norms.  At CC Pace, we remain convinced that flexibility is critical to our employee’s success, but we are also strong believers that face-to-face time is time well spent. I’m reminded of my first job in technology working for one of the Big 4 firms; at my first project, if I hadn’t had the opportunity to strategically place myself at a senior developer’s desk as his day started to ask a few questions and get a few answers, I’d have been sunk. The informal communication channel is critical—and I couldn’t imagine posting my question to him on Teams (even if it had existed back then), nor would he have answered! So how can that experience be replicated within the modern hybrid/remote work environment?

Virtual stand-ups remain useful. Pair programming has its place.  Yet we see questions left overnight, where there is a desire not to bother a fellow developer. One of the most basic behaviors that our Agile coaches are pressing on is to push developers to ‘pick up the phone and call’.  This deference has a huge cost on team productivity as “stuck developer time” ticks away to no effect.

This is Sachin, picking up with the perspective of a Sr. Scrum Master and Agile coach, I have seen a shift in mindset with team members content with completing their part in a user story. It’s more of a “throw it over the wall” kind of mindset. I usually relate it to a very popular British party game we used to play as kids, i.e., “Pass the parcel.” The parcel, which is the user story, is passed on from one person to another until the music stops, which is when the sprint ends. The result is an incomplete story that just moves on from one sprint to another.  The concerning part is team members are not willing to take responsibility for a user story. A simple question, such as “can you finish the user story in a sprint?” goes unanswered. Take, for example, a backlog refinement session: this session is productive when team members communicate and ask questions. But when you consider them as a waste of time and just want to get done with them, assumptions are made without proper analysis, leading to improper sizing and stories remaining “not done”. To some extent, teams and programs have started to blame the very process for missing a deadline.

Effective interactions remain paramount for Agile teams.  The efficiency of text, email, and other one-way transmissions is not always effective.

In Part II of this series, Mike Wittrup will talk about a framework that CC Pace uses to assess and improve team communication protocols in the co-working world that we all live in.

In the meantime, we remain at your service in providing tailored approaches to driving business agility.  For over 20 years we’ve earned clients’ trust across all stages of the Agile journey. Give us a call!

The CC Pace Accounting group (aka: AFA – Amazing Fun Always department) sponsored our corporate Toys for Tots toy drive this holiday season.  The Marine Corps Toys for Tots program was started in 1947 by Marine Corps Reserve Major Bill Hendricks, who with the help of his unit collected 5,000 toys to be distributed that first year. Bill lucked out getting things started when as a favor, a friend named Walt Disney designed the very first Toys for Tots poster to be used.

Today the Toys for Tots program collects an average of 18 million toys each year. CC Pace’s Toys for Tots toy drive was a tremendous success as our team and friends in the community filled up 2 large boxes here at headquarters alone, as well as cash donations and contributions from CC Pace employees supporting the program nationwide. We are proud to think about all the children whose holidays will be brighter and happier because of our support. A shout-out of thanks to everyone who helped us promote this campaign and all who participated!

Happy Holidays! 

Surely, we’ve all heard about the 16 Myers-Briggs personality types identified in the workplace, and while they are useful, they are not necessarily the stuff that promotes a good laugh. We at CC Pace are all about working hard and having a bit of fun while doing it, so we thought we’d take a crack at pinpointing some of the traits that identify a few of the more common roles in the corporate world. Let’s see how many you can relate to:

If your average Coke consumption is 5 or more a day … you might be a Developer

If you think knowing binary takes someone from a “6” to a “10”… you might be a Software Engineer

If you have a retrospective for your daughter’s Kindergarten graduation … you might be a ScrumMaster

If you missed a “;” and couldn’t sleep for 2 days … you might be a Java Developer

If you can keep smiling on the outside while crying on the inside … you might be a Receptionist

If you camp in a random forest, get bitten by a Python because you couldn’t C# … you might be a Data Scientist

If bagels and donuts day at work seems like an Instagramable moment … you might work in Marketing

If the phrase “Hello from the other side, must have called a thousand times” means more to you than a line in an Adele song … you might be a Recruiter

If a large part of your day consists of fielding questions like a White House Press Secretary … you might be a COO

If your future Disney vacation is visually planned on your kitchen wall … you might be an Agile Coach

If the definition of a good day includes eliminating the idea that things work … you might be a Test Engineer

If Mad Max doesn’t come close to the amount of chaos you deal with daily … you might work in Human Resources

If you find yourself measuring the flow efficiency of the Starbucks queue … you might be a Kanban Trainer

If you jam out to the hold music while on a call with your bank … you might work in IT Support

If a year that starts in April doesn’t weird you out … you might work in Accounting

If you feel you need to follow up on yesterday’s follow-up… you might be a Project Manager

If you like your coffee hot and your calls cold … you might be in Sales/Business Development

If everybody stops the chit-chat when you login to a Zoom meeting … you might be the President

At CC Pace #MakingADifference is a big part of our culture through our corporate outreach program.  This fall CC Pace hosted a Back-to-School outreach initiative to benefit Lorton Station Elementary School, located in southern Fairfax County. Lorton Station is a Title One school which is a designation for schools that serve low-income families. The federal funds Lorton Station receives as a Title One school help to provide classroom materials, clothing and additional support personnel, but often these families also need supplementary assistance.

Our Back-to-School campaign was a huge success that consisted of both CC Pacers contributions and a corporate donation. Together we were able to donate more than 350 items including clipboards, markers, folders, notebooks, pencils and much more. Dawne Ward, CC Pace’s COO dropped off the donations earlier this week to Lorton Station’s parent liaison. The school expressed how very appreciative and grateful they were for all these supplies.

Our outreach program allows our employees to take an active role in contributing to the betterment of our local communities and non-profit organizations.  A big shout out to all our employees who participated in this outreach event – You get an A+ for #GivingBack!

Always in the Race, this is the Team Stallions motto! The pandemic hit in 2020, it shut down many activities worldwide including cricket. Cricket was affected at both the international and local recreational levels, so the CC Pace sponsored Stallions had to hunker down too! Luckily those days are behind us, and we can get everyone caught up on all things to do with the Stallions!

Happily, the Washington Metro Cricket League (WMCL) re-opened for the Spring 2021 season. Opening the season against a tough team, the Herndon Hawks, the Stallions got off to a fantastic start. Except for losing two games in the league stage of the season, the Stallions steamrolled into the play-off games and won every game. After a drought period of 6+ years and despite reaching the playoff stage in almost every season, in presumably the toughest division of the DMV area, the Stallions went on to win the championship!

While many would think the team should have been more than satisfied and content with their championship season, they are wrong. Not the Stallions – Always in the Race! The Fall 2021 season started with a loss, but the team never looked back and reached the play-off stage with impressive wins in the league stage. The play-off games were played with once-in-a-lifetime intensity. The quarterfinals and final games were each pushed into the last over and the Stallions prevailed. Winning the final by ONE run – lots of nerve-wracking stuff for the folks watching from the sidelines! Proudly, the Stallions won another championship! This was a historic moment as it was the first time any team had won back-to-back championships!

The Spring 2022 season started well, but the Team Stallions fell short of winning the championship. The Fall 2022 season has had a rough start, with many players having conflicts. Despite all this the Stallions have still put up some amazing fights and brought home the wins. All eyes are on the Stallions as they march onwards into the fall semi-finals – will they repeat the glory and go all the way? Only time will tell.

No matter what happens, the Stallions are no longer just a team, but more like a brand! One thing you can count on is that this team is Always in the Race! 

CC Pacers volunteered with the Middleburg Humane Foundation (MHF) at their K9’s in the Vines event last week located at The Winery at La Grange in Haymarket, Virginia.  MHF operates a non-profit, 23-acre farm-shelter located in Marshall, Virginia. They rescue, rehabilitate, and adopt at-risk animals and promote animal welfare through community outreach and humane education. Last year alone, MHF rescued 783 cats, dogs, equines, livestock, pocket pets, and reptiles. Take a look at their adoption site for a full up-to-date list of adoptable animals! From puppies to pigs and beyond, MHF rescue and adopt them all!

Volunteering on what was an absolutely beautiful day, we had the opportunity to bring 3 puppies and 2 adult dogs to MHF’s promotional K9’s in the Vines event. As volunteers we spent a few hours walking the dogs around the scenic property, speaking with patrons, and promoting the organization –it was a BLAST! In addition to the in-person event, CC Pacers also donated dog toys, supplies for the shelter, and money directly to MHF.

Interested in becoming a hands-on volunteer with the Middleburg Humane Foundation? Check out their volunteer site for more ways to get involved.

If we asked you to list the three best parts of your job, most of you would have the relationships you have formed with your co-workers on that short list. The people who are by your side each day, (yes, even remote they are just a quick Teams call away), the ones who you collaborate with and work closely with day in and day out. At CC Pace we say, our people are our most important asset, so what better way to instill that than creating a peer-to-peer recognition program!

The CC Pace Superior Performance Award (SPA) is an award meant for CC Pacer’s to recognize fellow employees for their significant and lasting impact on CC Pace. This nomination platform allows employees across the board to acknowledge their peers’ accomplishments and call out their outstanding contributions. We are happy to announce the winners of the inaugural SPAs, congratulations to Jannette Brace and Lauren Iezzoni!

JANNETTE BRACE has stepped up to lead a new client’s Agile Transformation project that began last year. From the onset of the engagement, Jannette has demonstrated her customer relations skillset by developing a genuine trust and line of open communications with both the client’s leadership and project teams. Jannette’s leadership, exceptional consulting skills, in-depth Agile experience, and ability to build and grow client relationships have been integral to CC Pace’s recent success.

LAUREN IEZZONI routinely demonstrates her commitment to elevating our corporate branding efforts to new heights. She possesses a positive attitude and consistently produces agency-quality designs. Lauren is constantly striving to take her skills to the next level, while her contributions are highly visible and greatly received across the organization. One of Lauren’s greatest attributes is her commitment to being a team player, where she not only pushes herself to do her best but inspires that same level from those around her.

Please join us in a round of applause for these two exceptional team members!

Good Morning – Yes, it is time to brace ourselves it’s Monday, again! I think I can hear the communal groan from here. What is it about Mondays anyway? Perhaps it’s because they are the first hint of responsibility after two glorious days of fun, maybe it’s that annoying buzz at way-too-early o’clock that you haven’t heard in two days, or it’s because it marks the beginning of the week, and all beginnings are challenging at best – but Mondays sure get a bad rap. Songs such as I Don’t Like Mondays, Manic Monday, and Rainy Days and Mondays are only more proof that we all have some angst towards Mondays.

Trying to tackle a change of perspective regarding Mondays may seem like a fool’s errand but hear me out. What if, along with the not-so-positive aspects about Monday, we also consider that they provide an opportunity for a fresh start and a clean slate? The ultimate reset button if you will. Perhaps, this Monday is THE day that everything falls into place for you. Consider that trying to start the new week off with a positive outlook may be the key to unlocking your inner #MondayMotivation. At the very least, you know that the first cup of coffee tastes better on Monday morning.

Still, no? Ok well, maybe we can offer some help to get you through the 52 Mondays each year: here is a link to some Monday motivational quotes for inspiration, or how about some ways to beat the Monday blues. Opting for easy dinner ideas may be the answer to making Monday more bearable. In any case, here we are this Monday morning, so grab your coffee, open the shades, and let’s kickstart the day!

CC Pace supported So Others Might Eat (SOME) a local nonprofit organization, for our final community outreach event of 2021. SOME is a community-based service organization dedicated to supporting the Washington, D.C. community experiencing homelessness and poverty. SOME provides a variety of services, including affordable housing, counseling, substance use disorder treatment, and job training. Additionally, SOME helps meet the immediate daily needs by providing food, clothing, and healthcare to those in need.

SOME hosts an annual Shoebox Gift Drive each holiday season. This initiative is meant to provide those experiencing homelessness and poverty with immediate living essentials. This December, CC Pacers came together and donated supplies to put together gift boxes. CC Pacers purchased items from hats and scarves to soap and razors, and much more! We were able to pack and wrap nearly 30 shoeboxes in support of SOME’s holiday initiative.

SOME has always had a significant importance to CC Pace, as President, Mike Gordon is a member of their Corporate Advisory Board. We have participated in SOME events for over 2 decades and have witnessed this organization provide so many wonderful services and assistance to those in need.

Interested in how you can get involved with SOME? Visit their website and learn about a variety of ways you can help!

Happy New Year from CC Pace!

Did you know that the first American football game was played in 1869 between Rutgers and Princeton? It would be 51 years later that the NFL was formed in 1920. There’s a whole lot of football history there to be unpacked by aficionados, and here at CC Pace, our employees share that passion for football!

Over the years we have hosted a variety of football-related events including watch parties, festive tailgates, and Superbowl-themed events to get everyone pumped up for the big game! Team jersey days and our yearly football squares for the Super Bowl also help to generate a friendly competitive football spirit throughout the season.

While we love a good football-themed gathering, our competitive Fantasy Football league is truly what sparks the ultimate excitement for CC Pace’s football craze! We are not sure how or exactly when this Fantasy Football league all started, but word around the watercooler is that our President, Mike Gordon, put the wheels in motion while having one of many Monday morning football recaps with people in the kitchen getting their morning cup of joe.

Some of our CC Pace Fantasy Football Leaguers choose to take on their competitors individually while others team up, hoping together they can strategize and outperform their colleagues in the big draft. This is the time of year where you will hear many a conversation amongst CC Pace employees discussing player stats, and how to best keep all that information organized. Do we really expect anything less from a company that has analysts on the payroll? Each week our Football Leaguers closely monitor their standings, re-evaluate their lineups for the weekend and the strategy continues. And, although there is a prize at the end of the season, the most cherished part of the whole endeavor is the bragging rights the winners get to keep for years to come! Our very own CC Pace Fantasy Football Hall of Fame.

So, as we here at CC Pace settle into our yearly football fun, please allow us to leave you with this quote by the famous Coach, Lou Holtz, that stands true both on and off the field, and is something we at CC Pace also relate to: “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”

Our August corporate outreach program invited CC Pace employees, family, friends, and networks to participate in the #StepUpWithCCPace challenge to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is the world’s leader in funding research, drug development, and searching for a cure for those living with cystic fibrosis (CF).

5 Facts about Cystic Fibrosis:

CF is a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and limits the ability to breathe over time. The type and severity of CF symptoms can differ widely from person to person. Therefore, although treatment plans can contain many of the same elements, they are tailored to each individual’s unique circumstances. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation does an amazing job supporting these individuals and their families on a wide variety of levels.

The #StepUpWithCCPace 5 Days/500 Miles campaign was presented as a challenge to CC Pacers, family, friends, and their LinkedIn networks.  Participants were asked to collectively walk/run 500 miles and/or donate $500 over the course of 5 days. We are proud to announce, that not only did we reach our goal – we far exceeded it! In total, we raised over $1,500 to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Visit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s website to learn more about CF and how you can make a difference for those living with this disease. #Givingback

It’s been 18 months since COVID changed our lives, 18 months of living in a surreal world, and 18 months of working from home for most of us.  So as a company, how do we keep morale up?  How do we keep our employees motivated? Is it possible to still create a fun work environment?

These are questions CC Pace has explored and continues to address on a regular basis. Since March 2020, we have focused on keeping our employees engaged through various online programs, events, and activities. We have discovered that while working remotely can be challenging, it’s important to sustain high levels of collaboration and teamwork.  Just because we are remote does not mean that we can’t still have fun together, it just takes some consistency and planning to maintain morale!

To mark this 18th month of Covid, here are 18 ideas to help build up morale and keep your team motivated!

1. Virtual Happy Hours – Everyone is always up for a little chit-chat and a cocktail!
2. Tools – Providing the right tools needed so your team can get the job done.
3. Mentors – Having someone in the organization you can go to for support, questions, or advice helps to preserve a positive attitude.
4. Video Meetings – Using apps like Microsoft Teams and Zoom supports that face-to-face connection (smiling more does too 😊).
5. Video calls – Different than Video Meetings, one-on-one calls with teammates to maintain and/or create that personal connection and bond.
6. Book Clubs, etc. … – Putting together interest groups creates a sense of belonging.
7. Wellness Activities – CC Pace recently promoted a walking challenge to motivate employees to team up with a co-worker to get moving and track their miles. #stayhealthy
8. Communication – Leadership who genuinely listen and make themselves available are key to achieving open communications.
9. Gifts – A company care package or e-gift card lets employees know you are thinking about them.
10. Games – Online games can be super fun, we have had success with Whose Fridge is it Anyway?, Guess the Pet?, and Trivia! (Who doesn’t love a little competition!)
11. Feedback – Hearing our employee’s thoughts through surveys and discussions gives us the knowledge we need to move forward and create the best environment for our team.
12. Kudos – go a long way! We have expanded our Recognition and Rewards program to empower our team with more avenues to acknowledge each other.
13. Professional Development – Encouraging your people to keep growing makes them understand they are a valued team member.
14. Benefits – Reexamine your benefits to see if there is anything missing so you can offer the best options and comprehensive packages.
15. Small Team Lunches at outdoor eateries – While the weather is nice, try to get a small group together for some al fresco dining!
16. Setting Goals – Working toward a goal is often a great motivator for employees.
17. Knowledge Sharing – One person’s subject matter expertise can go a long way when they share that information with others in the company who can benefit.
18. Celebrations – Celebrating various holidays, occasions, work anniversaries, project kick-offs, etc… is a great way to keep employees inspired! There’s always something to celebrate!

Regardless of where your employees are located, we know all aspects of work can’t be fun, but fun itself in the workplace is a great motivator to help get through those tough times!

Did you know nearly 50% of the world‘s population uses social media platforms? Social media is far-reaching, powerful and has become a necessary component of everyday life. It has certainly changed many aspects of our day-to-day needs, from the way we keep up with the news to the way we interact with our peers.

At CC Pace, we strive to use social media to tell our story, share industry knowledge, and connect directly with our clients, prospects, candidates, and team members. You can find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Our goal with all of these platforms is to provide a way for our followers to relate to us on a more personal level. A goal that has become particularly important to us as we have been forced to relinquish our much-appreciated personal connections, and transition to this mostly digitally connected world we are living in.

While we work hard to keep you informed of all our news, offerings, job opportunities, and thought leadership we also like to focus on the human aspects of CC Pace. We recognize how important it is to be able to put a name with a face, and to share a story at a personal level, which is why we revamped our YouTube channel! Now, when you visit our YouTube channel not only are you able to watch a webinar, and learn more about what we do, but you can also hear directly from many of our team members, join in the fun and see the lighter side of CC Pace.  We invite you to take a moment and explore what our YouTube channel has to offer and, if you like what you see, become a follower and subscribe!

Last month CC Pacers participated in a community outreach event to support Animal Friends – VA. Animal Friends – VA is a small local non-profit based out of Woodbridge, VA. They are a no-kill foster-based rescue organization dedicated to saving and finding homes for companion animals in our communities. Having been founded in 2015, Animal Friends – VA is an organization of volunteers who are dedicated to saving the lives of surrendered, abused, and neglected animals. The organization relies solely on generous donors and adoption fees to finance their operation. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has halted in-person adoption events, Animal Friends – VA has continued their mission to service neglected animals in the Northern Virginia area.

In support of this organization’s wonderful cause, CC Pacers collected a variety of items and donations. In total, CC Pacers donated dog beds, toys, crates, treats, and hundreds of pounds of dog food – amongst other items. In addition, CC Pacers also made direct donations to the Animal Friends – VA organization. In lieu of participating in in-person outreach events, CC Pace will continue to find new and creative ways to support our community. A big “Thank You!” to all of the CC Pacers who participated in this event!

Looking to get involved? Great news – there are many ways you can support Animal Friends – VA! Options to help include applying to adopt or foster, donating through their Amazon Wish List, or making a direct monetary donation. In addition, once in-person donation events resume Animal Friends – VA will be looking for volunteers for transports and to lend a hand at adoption events. To learn more about Animal Friends – VA, check out their website.

It is pretty safe to say that, as we enter our 12^th month of quarantining and the pandemic lifestyle, we are all experiencing COVID fatigue. So, rather than evoke a collective groan with yet another “here’s how to navigate the quarantine lifestyle” post, we have decided to try and lighten up the COVID experience a little with an entertaining review of how things have changed.  So, without further ado, here is CC Pace’s What’s In and What’s Out list!  Take a look and please let us know if there is anything we missed on our list – enjoy!

It’s an understatement to say that 2020 has been a challenging year. In the midst of a pandemic, CC Pace has been celebrating a milestone anniversary of 40 years in business! To celebrate, we decided to host a 40^th Anniversary Community Outreach Challenge. The pandemic has certainly highlighted the need for community service and outreach, we in turn challenged our employees to go out and make a difference in their communities!

Despite the challenges COVID-19 presented, CC Pacers continued to show overwhelming support in a variety of ways by donating masks to those in need and supporting organizations close at heart. In addition, CC Pace held a company-wide food drive to support of the Lorton Community Action Center,  where together our team donated close to three hundred pounds of food!

In total, CC Pacers donated directly to 10 different organizations, including – two universities, two animal shelters, and multiple local and national non-profits all over the country. And, while some took a more traditional approach, others found creative ways to make a difference. For example:

• Donating 40 handmade masks made by an employee and their spouse.
• Committing to perform 40 acts of kindness throughout the year.
• An avid coin collector on our team, decided to sell one of his coins from 1940 and donate the proceeds directly to charity.
• Conducting and donating 40 hours of Agile Trainings as a fundraiser to the Los Angeles Telugu Association. The proceeds from those trainings, which totaled about $22,000, were given to promote community activities, art and culture.

Wow! Well done everyone!  A big “Thank You” to all of our CC Pacers for giving back in so many creative ways! Happy 40^th Anniversary CC Pace – here’s to 40 more!

 If you would like to learn more about any of the organizations CC Pacers have supported this year, please visit the links provided:

• Houston Diaper Bank https://houstondiaperbank.org/donate/
• WolfTrap Animal Rescue https://www.wtarescue.com/support-us
• Fairfax County Animal Shelter https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/animalshelter/getinvolved
• Shelter House https://shelterhouse.org/get-involved/
• Give Essential https://www.giveessential.org/help
• Capital Area Food Bank (feeding America) https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/how-to-help/

Welcome to our last blog in our 40 Years and Forward series, where we introduce you to 40 Fun Facts about CC Pace! In this blog series we have taken a stroll down memory lane looking at how CC Pace started and has evolved, as well as what makes our corporate culture unique. Now we ask you to discover 40 Fun Facts about us from the last 4 decades as we share some fond memories, interesting tidbits, and laughs!

We would like to say to all our clients, friends and colleagues who have worked with and supported CC Pace over the years a heartfelt Thank You!  We are very excited to what the future holds as we move forward on our journey!

It is almost a certainty in years to come, that we will all recall that period in March 2020 when everything started closing down due to COVID-19. The weeks leading up to this time we kept hearing more about this mysterious virus and the awful effects of it. As a result, many of us started preparing for the possibility that we ourselves would be quarantined for a couple of weeks.  Fast forward to November 2020 and here we are, still in quarantine as states continue to figure out the best and safest ways to reopen.

Prior to the COVID lockdown, we here at CC Pace would have never imagined that we could transition our entire workforce to go 100% remote overnight, and much less do it seamlessly – but that is exactly what we did! Our entire staff has effectively been working remotely for 8 months, thanks in big part to our technology group who had already transitioned the bulk of our storage to the cloud, and had implemented Microsoft Teams for more successful and personal communications among our employees.

When the CC Pace team transitioned to full work-from-home status overnight we didn’t let quarantine affect our productivity nor the quality of our work. We hit the ground running and have not stopped.  If you were to ask us how we did it, we would have to say that the key has been communication.  Our team has adjusted and embraced new modes of communication: Meetings – join us in Teams, chats – ping me whenever, kudos – keep them coming, file sharing – here’s the link, screen sharing – take a look at this, all of this along with video calls have helped us to stay in touch and most importantly stay connected! (Of course, a few virtual happy hours and events have helped too!)

It’s this level of adaptability and agility that has brought us our success. Seeing our team be able to continue to produce and develop superior results only confirms what CC Pace has always stood by, our people are our most important asset!   #staysafe

It’s that time of the year when we get together with friends for fun, good food and some friendly rivalry. That’s right, it’s Superbowl weekend and we here at CC Pace decided to kick it off early with a Jeans and Jersey day!  Although we have nothing but love and respect for both the Chiefs and the 49ers, we didn’t want to exclude any form or flavor of team spirit. So, we opened the jersey wearing to any team, in any sport. And, Pacers did not disappoint! People joined in on the fun and showed up in an array of team attire and we shared a field of treats!

We decided we needed to add some competition to our festivities and played a Superbowl word game and guess who the big winner was…CC Pace president, Mike Gordon – Way to go Mike! (and, no we did not let him win because he is the president, we are all way to competitive for that!)

You may notice in the pictures that there was a clear shortage of the Superbowl’s colors, but everyone did have a clear pick on a winner for the big game. The majority of us are rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs, and not just because they haven’t won a Superbowl since 1969 (well, maybe that’s part of it). Go Chiefs!

The primary goal of Marine Toys for Tots is to help bring the joy of Christmas through the gift of a new toy and send a message of hope to America’s less fortunate children. To join in this amazing effort, CC Pace signed up to be donation center for a second year in a row.  Our employees shined with generosity and holiday spirit by overflowing our donation boxes! Not only did they provide games, dolls, books, cars, scooters and toys, but a group of them even took time to go out and shop together for our corporate donation – and as our video shows, had a blast while doing so! Here’s to Toys for Tots for celebrating their 72^nd year in spreading joy!

The holiday season brings with it a flurry of fun activities, things like, gatherings with family or friends, taking part in treasured traditions and eating special dishes (there is always so much food!). With all those things in mind we have decided to kick off the holiday season with a festive and fun blog where we surveyed the CC Pace team to find out what they enjoy most during this time of year. So, without further ado, here’s a little insight on what our team enjoys most about the holidays:

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?

Stuffing was the #1 answer with 49% of CC Pacers in agreement! Looks like we have a lot of carb lovers, and they like a variety of stuffing. The answers varied from “inside stuffing” to “chestnut stuffing” to “cornbread stuffing” and just the classic “stuffing”. So, let’s hear it for stuffing!!

Which outdoor winter activity do you enjoy most?

• Building a snowman – 5%
• Skiing, Snow Tubing and/or Sledding – 40%
• Shoveling snow – 0% (hey, some people like shoveling snow – right?!)
• None, I like to stay inside and watch the snow from there – 55%

Apparently, staying cozy and warm inside is the priority for most of our team on a snowy day! Speaking of snow, here’s an interesting fact for those who live in the DC area: this year local forecasters are calling for a total snowfall of 10-16 inches inside the beltway, and 15-25 inches outside. Let’s all look back here in April and see how well their predictions held up!

What is your favorite holiday movie?

When it comes time to sit back and relax our team clearly goes for the comedies, with Love Actually and Christmas Vacation tying for the #1 favorite holiday movie, to which we can only say “yes, please”!

Which method do you prefer for holiday shopping?

• Shopping online – Amazon Prime all the way! – 68%
• Going to mall – I like the hustle and bustle of the crowds and grabbing my Starbucks! – 32%

Do you have a charitable organization or volunteering opportunity that you like to attend/favor during the holidays? If so, which one?

Our employees are very generous year-round, and this season is no different. Here are the Top 5 charity organizations they will be supporting during the holidays:

1. Toys for Tots seems to be the most popular charity at this time of year amongst our team. That is great news for us since this year CC Pace is again participating as a collection center for the Marine Toys for Tots Program. Toys for Tots was started in 1947 and distributes an average of 18 million toys to 7 million less fortunate children annually. All are welcome to drop off toys at our headquarters through December 13^th!
2. Wreaths Across America
3. SOME (So Others Might Eat)
4. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
5. Tie – several local shelters and children’s charities.

Eggnog or Hot Chocolate?

Hot Chocolate by a landslide – 75%.

What is your favorite Christmas carol or holiday song?
All I Want for Christmas Is You, by Mariah Carey, was released in 1994 and quickly rose to the top of the charts; it is the most downloaded Christmas song of all time. Ms. Carey said when recording this song that she wanted to create a classic, and that she certainly has accomplished!

From CC Pace to all of you, have a happy holiday season full of good cheer and best wishes for the new year!

One of our very own just celebrated this big milestone and rather than just giving you the 411 on it all, we’d like to change things up a bit and play a guessing game with you! If you’d like to play along keep reading, and no peeking at the pictures below. So, can you guess who it is? No? Well it is probably a bit hard given that CC Pace’s employees have an average tenure of 12+ years of service, so we figured we would give you some other clues to help you narrow down your guess:

Clue #1 – This person is a favorite amongst both those of us as CC Pace and our clients.

Clue #2 – This person speaks fluent Russian.

Clue #3 – This person recently obtained their AWS Practitioner certification.

Clue #4 – This person has musical talent and plays the bass.

Clue #5 – This person is also a skilled tennis player.

Still haven’t figured it out? then let’s keep going… Joining CC Pace in 2004, this person was part of the mortgage technology offering LOS Advantage. After working on various projects for us, they began working at the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) on the EMMA product, and have been there for over 10 years. During their time at MSRB, they have been consistently praised for their ability to deliver what is asked of them, and always delivering on time.

Need another hint? Now our team lead at MSRB, they constantly work on building their technical skills, learning and adapting to different methodology frameworks, and working very well with people (seriously, everyone loves working with this person). The leadership at MSRB epitomizes the type of client partnership we strive for, one built on value, trust and all-around success, and is due largely to this individual.

Ready for the big reveal??

Please join us in congratulating Leo Belenky for his 15 Year Anniversary at CC Pace. Our president, Mike Gordon presented Leo with his service award and highlighted how his hard work and dedication are vital to the success of our organization. Thank you Leo, for 15 wonderful years of service! And, to our readers, thank you for playing along!

For CC Pace’s 2^nd quarter community outreach event, we collected personal care items in support of the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter (KHFS). KHFS is located in Fairfax, right around the corner from our office!

Thanks to everyone who participated. We were able to collect and put together “Care Kits” for 15-20 children, 10-12 women and 10-12 men. These Care Kits were comprised of items such as tooth paste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash and a tooth brush. These items will go to the families and individuals in need at the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter.

KHFS opened in 2007 and was the first emergency shelter in Fairfax County to adopt a rapid re-housing approach – an approach that was so successful, it has been incorporated into all emergency shelters in Fairfax County. Currently, KHFS houses 72 people, 45 of which are children. KHFS is part of the Shelter House organization.

Shelter House is a community-based, non-profit organization that provides crisis intervention, safe housing, and supportive services to homeless families and victims of domestic violence in our community. Shelter House was formed in 1981 as a grassroots responder to the homelessness crisis in Fairfax County. Shelter House is comprised of 3 emergency shelters: the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter, Artemis House and the Patrick Henry Family Shelter.

In the past year, across all programs, Shelter House served over 2,300 individuals, more than half of which were children. Of the families that exit Shelter House, nearly 70% move to permanent housing.

Thank you to everyone for your support and participation!

If you would like to learn more about Katherine K. Hanley or Shelter House, follow the link below:

https://shelterhouse.org/

There is a great team of people who work at CC Pace. We took a few minutes to get up close and personal with George Perkins, Ron Peterson and Suzie Wheeler, three of the people whose roles are front and center with our clients and candidates.

George Perkins

George is a Practice Manager who has just celebrated his 25^th anniversary with CC Pace. George is responsible for the management of several of our client accounts and staff augmentation services. His primary focus in on the financial services and healthcare industries. Always the jokester, George is never one to miss the opportunity for a good one-liner during a meeting! Connect with George on LinkedIn.

We asked George some questions, and here’s what he had to say:

• Do you participate in some community outreach you would like to highlight?  At CC Pace we believe in giving back to the community and participate in multiple events each year. Over the past few years I’ve been involved with the Ronald McDonald house, Homestretch’s backpacks for school kids, and sponsoring local families for Christmas. Also, I enjoy helping out with the local animal shelter.

• What professional groups do you belong to and what professional events do you attend? I attend NVTC events, Agile DC, and belong to WARN (Washington areas recruiters’ network) and ASA (American Staffing Association). I also represent CC Pace at job fairs and other IT conferences.

• What is your favorite…
  • Food? Almost anything Asian, love the spices.
  • Movie? Pulp Fiction and American Beauty
  • Book? On the Road
  • Team? Redskins
  • Quote? “It’s just a flesh wound”
  • Dog or Cat? Dog

• If you could do Carpool Karaoke with any singer living or dead, who would it be and why? Neil Young, I love his music and would be interested in talking to him about the days living in Laurel Canyon in the mid/late 60’s when all the great music/musicians were hanging out there.

Ron Peterson

Ron is our Senior Practice Manager for Federal Business Development. He focuses on building relationships and networking with government agencies on the local, state and federal level. Ron is probably one of the most easy-going people in the office. His calm demeanor and willingness to help out make working with him a true pleasure. Connect with Ron on LinkedIn.

So, Ron, tell us …

• Do you participate in some community outreach you would like to highlight? For 30 years, I have been volunteering in Federal and State prisons and local jails.  Currently I am volunteering at Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

• What professional groups do you belong to and what professional events do you attend? I belong to ACT-IAC and National Contract Management Association (NCMA). I also attend various conferences and industry events representing CC Pace.

• What is your favorite…
  • Food? Seafood
  • Movie? The Invisible Guest
  • Book? The Bible
  • Team? Yankees, Giants, and Golden State Warriors

• What is your hidden talent? Chess and Bid Whist (Bid Whist is an exciting, popular partnership trick-taking game. It is played with a standard 52 card deck plus 2 jokers, for a total of 54 cards).

Suzie Wheeler

Suzie is our Talent Acquisition and Recruiting Manager. She is responsible for the on-going strategy to find employees for the company with specific skillsets and recruiting for our clients’ technical positions. Suzie is always smiling, happy and has a pep to her step. She brings her positive attitude and enthusiasm to the entire CC Pace team. Connect with Suzie on LinkedIn.

Other fun facts about Suzie are:

• What professional groups do you belong to and what professional events do you attend? I belong to Women in Technology, SourceCon, and Project Save. I attend multiple events for various technical meet-up groups in the DC area, technical job fairs and agile conferences.

• What is your favorite…
  • Food?  Mexican, Maryland Blue Crabs, Spicy foods
  • Movie? It’s hard to say just one, The Bucket List, Pay it Forward, The Notebook, Green Book
  • Book?  Disclosure by Michael Crichton, and The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
  • Team?  Dallas Cowboys and University of South Carolina teams
  • Quote?  “In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you” ~ Deepak Chopra
  • Dog or Cat?  Definitely dog

• If you could witness any historical event, what would you want to see? Probably witnessing the life of Jesus, I have so many questions about the events of this timeframe.

Our recent quarterly meeting made for a fun afternoon and evening for everyone. We had a lively staff meeting with presentations, service awards and team building activities, followed by a festive gathering at Dave & Busters.

At CC Pace, we’re lucky to have so many tenured employees. As our team members celebrate their CC Pace anniversaries, they are recognized by their colleagues and leadership team for their contributions throughout the years. We kicked off our service awards recognizing Chris Soule, Technical Consultant, for his 5 year anniversary with CC Pace. Chris was hired for an opening we had on our development team for MSRB. His success with this client continues today, where he has become a key leader on the EMMA project working not only on the data base side, but also helping to revamp the user interface. Per our client, Chris is the epitome of a team player! Chris, may you continue to inspire us for many years to come!

George Perkins, Practice Manager, was recognized for celebrating his 25^th anniversary with us! George was hired as our first full-time recruiter. Over the years, as the staffing area of the business has evolved, he moved into the role of an Account Manager for some of our major clients. George’s philosophy has always been work hard towards success and have fun while you’re doing so – and he does just that! George, we thank you for your energy, enthusiasm and corporate commitment!

To take advantage of the rare moments our people are actually all together, we used this time to engage in some team building activities that were facilitated by Debbie Shatz, Sudhindra Shetty and the “always up for a good time”, George Perkins. Divided into 5 teams with red Solo cups in hand, our staff took aim at various building and stacking tasks (and, did we mention there were prizes)! Lots of cheering and yelling lead to some pretty hilarious bragging rights by the winners!

EAT. DRINK. PLAY. We kept the party going and had everyone move over to the new Dave & Buster’s in Fair Oaks Mall for an entertaining evening! There was food, drinks, billiards and of course lots more games and plenty of, should we say friendly competition. Together everyone enjoyed some good old fashioned laugh-out-loud fun!

Living in the digital age, it is not difficult to be familiar with a company’s name, reputation or logo – but do you really know what they do, and what they are all about? That got us thinking about our own company and we asked, what is it that people really want to know about CC Pace? So, we did some research with our team and came up with the Top 5 Most Asked Questions About CC Pace from our clients:

1. Where does the name CC Pace come from? (this is actually quite the story – so here we go…)

In the early 1970s, a financial services technology consulting firm headquartered in New Jersey named R. Shriver Associates (RSA) opened a Washington, DC branch as part of its growth strategy.  In 1980, RSA management decided to sell the DC branch.  Mike Gordon (current President of CC Pace) and several other employees bought the assets of the branch, and one of the immediate tasks was to come up with a name for the new company.  A naming contest was initiated and the name that was selected was Cabot Consulting (we clearly didn’t hire a naming consultant).  No person in the company was named Cabot, but, at the time, it conveyed a positive image as the Cabots were a prominent New England family.

In the 1980s, the vertical market that the company most served was Oil & Gas. Unfortunately, a Fortune 500 oil and gas company was named Cabot Corporation and they weren’t keen on sharing the Cabot name. So, in 1988, we went through a similar naming process as we did at the outset of the company.  The result was a decision to call ourselves ‘Pace’.  We thought it would convey us being forward thinking, and we also believed that we would be able to play on the word “pace” for marketing purposes.  However, after finding conflicts with the Cabot name, we quickly realized that there would be 10 times more conflicts with the name of ‘Pace’.  It was recommended that we add either a word or prefix/suffix that would distinguish us from all the other Paces out there.  We were looking for a way to transition from our old name to the new name and someone suggested the prefix of C.C. from Cabot Consulting.  Yes, it’s fairly convoluted, but that is how we ended up with our name being C.C. Pace (aka CC Pace).

2. Wait, we thought you are a training company?

While we have trained over 35,000 people in Lean-Agile disciplines over the last 15+ years, we actually got our roots in financial services consulting. Dating back to 1980, some of our earliest projects were in Loan Origination System Section and Technology Due Diligence for some of the leading players in the mortgage space (many of whom are still clients today).

Over the years, we grew our technical capabilities and were an early adopter of the Agile methodology. So, while we have dozens of training offerings under the Agile umbrella today – everything from Scrum Certification Courses, Kanban, SAFe, etc. – our sweet spot is actually Agile development. We launched our first Agile xP project in 1999, and four years later, adopted Scrum. In addition to our business and Agile transformation services, we also have a well-established IT Staffing team that works with a variety of clients in the DC area to find the right fit to help organizations meet their business objectives.

3. What kind of clients do you work with?

Our clients tend to be industry leaders who are looking for strategic business solutions that will enable them to focus on taking their business objectives to the next level. We generally align best with clients who view us as a partner and trust that we have a shared interest in success and doing what’s best – not just the fastest or cheapest option. We focus on long-term results and really try to look at what will be the best option(s) for both today and tomorrow, so clients that share that vision typically result in a dynamic partnership. With four decades of experience in the Financial Services sector, we clearly have a wealth of understanding in that arena, but we also have an array of knowledge and experience in the Healthcare industry. Many of our services can be applied across any industry, and our client base extends from Fortune 500 to start ups across a multitude of disciplines. You can learn more about our clients here.

4. Where are your offices located?

Our office is located in Fairfax, Virginia; however, our consultants work at client sites nationwide and we have employees who are based throughout the United States. We even have relationships with consultants in other countries to support some of our clients’ global offices and are well versed in supporting projects remotely as well.

5. What is it that makes CC Pace different than other consulting firms?

That’s a great question! CC Pace is a boutique consulting firm that is committed to providing top quality service to our clients and building long-term, strategic partnerships with them. We’ve been working with many of our clients for four decades, and we believe that these long-term client relationships clearly reflect our work ethic and our commitment to providing top-rate solutions. Over 80% of our new business is based on referrals, which tells us that we’re doing something right. We truly care about both our clients and our employees, and as a result, we don’t see a lot of turnover with either. In fact, our average tenure for our employees is around 13 years. Clients appreciate seeing familiar faces mixed in with the new ones as we continue to grow.

Still have questions about CC Pace?
Reach out to us today to learn more about CC Pace and what we can do for your business!

To find out more about our people and our culture, get social with us on LinkedIn and Facebook!

Last week we had our quarterly staff meeting and the room was full of company spirit as our employees were all sporting CC Pace apparel. We also had a new twist when it came to discussing company business as some of our consulting teams made project videos to highlight their work – it was an entertaining way to learn about their current assignments and the clients they support.  Once we got all the serious business out of the way, we had some fun as we recognized 3 employees who had reached milestone anniversaries.

First, we have Deepti Agarwal, Senior Technical Recruiter who is celebrating 5 years as a member of our recruiting team. Deepti was recognized for her exceptional record of having a 95% retention rate for her placements. Her colleagues are quick to point out that her attention to detail gives her the ability to find the perfect match for both the candidate and the client. Deepti received the traditional gag gift presented by President, Mike Gordon and a service award. Way to go Deepti!

Second, we celebrated Clay Everhart our Facilities Manager for 20 years of service. Clay has a big fan club here at CC Pace as he is always the first to lend a helping hand, volunteer or assist with a project (and of course make a joke). Most importantly, he does everything with a smile and always provides a funny quote of the day for our staff to enjoy! Mike presented Clay with a service award and, of course, a gag gift! But, the highlight of honoring Clay came next.  For those who are not familiar with Clay, he also plays the guitar and is a songwriter and he performs his original pieces for everyone at CC Pace when there is a milestone anniversary or retirement.  While they are often hilarious, they can also be very sweet and touching. To celebrate his anniversary, the entire CC Pace team wrote and performed a song for him to the tune of Barry Manilow’s I Write the Songs! A classic moment for sure and one we will all remember for a long time. Thanks Clay for everything you do and all the laughs you bring to CC Pace!

Third, we had the honor to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of Mike Gordon, CC Pace President.  Mike started for a company named R. Shriver Associates in the late 70’s.  In 1980, Mike and one other person purchased the branch and that was the beginnings of CC Pace. For 40 years Mike has led CC Pace with the highest integrity and ethics and through his strategic vision, he has built the company where it is today – a known leader in our market place. Mike was honored with a service award presented by Dawne Ward, COO. Dawne also had the special privilege of giving Mike a taste of his own medicine and presenting him with some gag gifts, and we have to admit he looked a little nervous when that part came around!  The team also presented him with a golf outing to enjoy.  Cheers to you Mike and thank you for your outstanding leadership of CC Pace!

The staff meeting also marked the last day of our Toys for Tots drive!  Toys for Tots was started in 1947 and has distributed over 548 million toys since it began. We were able to fill two very large boxes with toys for our local community. The donations we received included something for everyone with baby dolls, cars, board games, craft sets, Legos and much more!  Who doesn’t love the chance to make a child happy?!

A big shout out to all our employees for participating in this event!

Now that you have hired millennials, this last blog in our millennials series discusses integrating them to become part of your team, and making changes to your organization to fit their professional needs. As with any new employee, it takes time for that person to become acclimated to your organization.

This article, 2018 Millennials at Work Report, touches on managing this generation, millennials in leadership and long-term change. Making small changes across the board to create a more relaxed work environment seems to be a key starting point. Even employees outside of this generation will welcome change as they too seek more flexible schedules, cutting edge technology, professional development and management feedback.

If leaders are willing to take the time to invest in this generation of workers, it will surely make a difference to not only their teams, but their business.

Congratulations to Dawne Ward, our Chief Operating Officer (COO) who is celebrating her 20 Year Anniversary with CC Pace! Prior to CC Pace, Dawne worked at Citibank in their mortgage department for many years. She started with us as a consultant at Freddie Mac before taking over as our Account Manager. Her relationship with Freddie Mac helped to orchestrate the partnership we still have with them to this day.

As COO, Dawne is responsible in overseeing marketing, contracting, HR, Payroll, 401K Administration and so much more. Mike Gordon, President of CC Pace, stated, “Dawne works extremely hard, she always has the company’s best interest at the forefront and all of us have been the beneficiaries.”

At our Quarterly Staff Meeting, Dawne was not only honored with a Service Award and the traditional CC Pace gag gift from Mike, but also a very special performance by Clay with a humorous song written just for her!

We recognize that 20 years is a huge commitment to a company, so thank you, Dawne, for all you do for CC Pace!

CC Pace employees held their second food packing event to support the efforts of Food for Others Power Pack Program. The program was designed to ensure that elementary school kids in need of food in Northern Virginia have enough to eat over the weekend. In Fairfax County alone, more than 60,000 people are considered food insecure. Each Power Pack gives the children healthy balanced meals, and helps those families who need it most.
 
All the supplies needed were purchase by CC Pace, and we had over a dozen employees participate in this community outreach event. Our team of volunteers had a great time, working together to assemble 48 packs for a total of 288 meals!  All the packs were personally delivered by our volunteers and will be distributed by Food for Others.

Want to learn what you can you do to help stop hunger? Visit Food for Others, Capital Area Food Bank, So Other Might Eat (SOME) and Feeding America.

CC Pace would like to introduce you to Donna Kenney, our new Controller who recently joined our Accounting team. She started her accounting career working for public accounting firms, and prior to joining CC Pace, she worked at Seneca Corporation for 20 years as a Controller. In her role, Donna is responsible for leading our Accounting operations and financial analysis/reporting functions.  She is extremely customer-focused and has already hit the ground running.

• What made you want to work for CC Pace? The Controller position described in the online job posting sounded like the mix I was looking for; it involved all financial aspects, plus a good mix of hands-on and oversight activities. It was a smaller company and a tech company, which is the industry I’ve enjoyed working in since leaving public accounting. I checked out the CC Pace website and learned a little more about the company, and I really felt that this was the place I had been waiting for to make my next move. One reason was the mix of business lines and client types.  However, the huge draw for me was the employee friendly feel that I got initially from the website, and then it was reinforced again during the interview process. Having worked at a company for almost 20 years where a number of employees had also been there 10+ years, the personality and corporate culture of my next company was very important to me.  A company that could boast a similar retention rate was a big plus when deciding to submit my resume, and then ultimately saying yes to an offer.
• In terms of moving to a new company, what has been your biggest challenge? Getting used to all the different processes and details.  Luckily, I have a great staff that has helped with the transition, and everyone else here at CC Pace has been very supportive.  It has actually been relatively smooth so far.  (Hopefully I didn’t jinx anything just now!)
•  What is your initial impression of the culture at CC Pace? As I mentioned, the atmosphere has been friendly and supportive, a true team working toward the same goals, where professionalism and respect are just a natural part of the package.
• What 3 words best describe CC Pace?  Probably not what you’re looking for, but what comes to my mind is simply “the right fit!”
• If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet? Why? That’s a hard question to answer, but I’ll say my Aunt Ann.  I am actually named after her (Ann was actually her middle name though she went by it, as it is mine).  She passed away a few years before I was born, but growing up I was often told how much I resembled her.  I think it would be interesting to meet her for both of those reasons.
•  What was the last book you read? Awaken the Darkness by Dianne Duvall
• What was the first job you had where you earned a real paycheck? At GC Murphy’s a 5&10. My mom worked there for many years, when I was young we would stop in the store and I always wanted to “help!” Particularly, using the pricing gun to put the price stickers on new merchandise.  I will admit actually getting paid and having to use the pricing gun took some of the pleasure out of it, versus when I wasn’t actually supposed to be using it and was just “helping” mom.
• Do you have a favorite quote? My dad always said, and I always try to keep in mind:  Everything happens for a reason and in the end works out for the best whether we understand it (or the hows/whys of it) or not.

Last month at CC Pace’s staff meeting we had the privilege to honor Lauren Iezzoni with a Service Award marking her 5 Year Anniversary with the company. Lauren performs dual roles, working with our Enterprise Solutions group as an Agile Training Coordinator, and with our Marketing team as a Graphic Designer.  Over her time at CC Pace, her keen organizational and customer service skills have resulted in her ability to manage our training clients and vendors, while increasing our public training offerings. In addition, she has used her artistic creativity to work with Marketing to revamp the look and feel of not only our collateral, but our office environment as well!  Thank you, Lauren!

Coinciding in celebration last month, we held our Annual Party at Ruth’s Chris, which marked the 38^th Anniversary of the company. Team members from across the country were in attendance and having everyone together, although it was brief is always a festive time for the company.

As part of our celebration of 38 years, we held a food drive to benefit the Lorton Community Action Center’s food bank, a local non-profit organization that supports the community in southern Fairfax County. We set a goal to collect 380 pounds of food, 10 pounds for every year CC Pace was in business, and included a competitive element breaking the company into teams. The friendly competition between our 4 teams created a lot of enthusiasm, energy and corporate spirit.  It was a close race right up to the end, with our winning team contributing more than 300 lbs. of food!   We are proud to report that all together, we far exceeded our goal and collected over 800 lbs of food!  A big shout out to the winning team – congratulations to our Financial Services and Government groups!

Every company has their own Corporate Culture, which characterizes the qualities of a work environment. Corporate culture is a key factor in both retaining and attracting talent, with 80% of Millennials say they are looking for cultural fit when seeking potential employers.

CC Pace recently rolled out a new vision and central to this vision is a focus on our people, which we believe are our greatest asset. Keeping that in mind and the significance of corporate culture, we surveyed numerous team members from various locations and all levels for their view of our current culture.

Each team member was given only one of the questions below to respond to, here is a summary of what they had to say:

Describe CC Pace’s corporate culture in three words?

• “Flexible, Supportive and Team-oriented”
• “Supportive, Respectful (value’s and respect’s everyone’s input) and People-Centric”
• “Flexible, Family-oriented and has a Relaxed Environment – And, we all share the love of GOOD FOOD!”

Can you please tell us one thing that you feel makes our workplace culture unique?

• “The work/life balance message truly walks the talk.”
• “We do a great job at crossing functional business lines to pull together resources (when feasible and available) to make a project work.”
• “The amount of input we have gives us the opportunity to express our thoughts to not only our peers but our management team as well.”

Can you please describe CC Pace’s corporate culture?

• “CC Pace has a good team-based culture with employee participation on all levels. CC Pace values individual employees and encourages them to speak up and share ideas. They value integrity and put a lot of emphasis on the quality service they provide to their clients.”
• “At CC Pace, our corporate culture comes from our unwavering commitment to helping clients’ succeed. People are our most valuable asset. We strive to create a collaborative, energetic environment that provides meaningful work and supports professional development.”

CC Pace understands a “one-size-fits-all” approach towards employees is not the answer to having a positive corporate culture, but rather one in which openness to new ideas and flexibility are encouraged.  As our employee survey highlighted, we have tried to create a positive environment that values employees and is conducive to both individual and corporate success.

Are you ready to work somewhere your talents, ideas and contributions will have a true impact? If the answer is yes, and this all sounds good to you, we invite you to consider joining our team.

Giving back to our communities is important to CC Pace and we believe it is essential for us to involve ourselves as an organization and as individuals, to contribute to making our communities a better place to live and in helping others when there is a need.  People give back in many different ways, such as making monetary donations, giving their time to volunteer at a local school or event or fundraising for a cause.

When we asked our employees to tell us about what organizations they support, we were overwhelmed with their responses and all they have accomplished. We have highlighted a few of them, and the great causes, organizations, and charitable programs they support.

Dorian – American Red Cross
Dorian gives blood at the American Red Cross on a regular basis.  After having close friends with cancer who needed blood transfusions and her own experience needing a blood transfusion, she realizes how fortunate we are to have access to a potential lifesaving blood supply.

Ron – Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, State Prisons and Federal Prisons
Ron, since the 1980s, has performed volunteer work in local jails and State and Federal prisons.  Through these efforts, he has worked with serious and violent criminals.  He volunteers on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

Debbie – Fairfax County Animal Shelter
Debbie, through donor and volunteer support, provides food, supplies and more to help the shelter care for these loving animals. More than 5,000 pets, including cats, dogs, small mammals, reptiles and livestock, come to the Fairfax County Animal Shelter each year.

Jeff – Youth Mentor and Miriam’s Kitchen
Jeff volunteers as a mentor to two 5^th grade boys at a local elementary school which has 70% reduced and free lunch. He gives them support, guidance and friendship. Jeff also volunteers at Miriam’s Kitchen in Washington DC. Previously, he volunteered weekly for about four years in the Case Management group working with individuals to ensure they had access to basic needs. He currently serves as a sub to the group as needed.

Dawne – Lorton Community Action Center (LCAC)
Dawne volunteers and has supported the Lorton Community Action Center (LCAC) for many years, through various initiatives including; the LCAC thrift store, warm coat drive, holiday food baskets, conducting food drives for their food pantry and the school backpacks for kids’ program.

Keith – MicroMentor and Umps Care
Keith is active in several organizations where he works as a mentor, consultant and board member. For ten years, he has focused on channeling his business skills and knowledge to help individuals (via kids and entrepreneurs) achieve new levels of personal success. While each of these organizations and others Keith has worked with are unique in their offerings, all of them have been very rewarding to him, regardless of the challenges.

Mike – SOME (So Other’s Might Eat)
Mike is a Corporate Advisory Board member who provides guidance and support to SOME’s management.  He attends and sponsors their Annual Gala, occasionally serves meals at their dining hall, and participates in other initiatives to provide clothing and other goods to help the homeless.

Collectively, our employees support more than 40 charitable organizations. Many of them also take on active and leadership roles in their churches, local schools, children’s sports teams/associations and their communities on a regular basis. A sample list of some of the national charities our employees support include:

• American Cancer Society
• American Heart Association
• American Red Cross
• Boy Scouts of America
• Catholic Charities USA
• Goodwill
• Habitat for Humanity
• JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation)
• Lupus Foundation of America
• Make A Wish Foundation of America
• Marine Toys for Tots Foundation
• Salvation Army
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
• Wounded Warrior Project

Whatever an individual chooses to do, no matter the size of the donation or the means by which they choose to volunteer – they in turn make a difference for the greater good of a community or cause. And, that is what giving back is really all about!   Thank you, CC Pacers, for all you do!

 Recently, we attended the SOME Gala at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.  SOME (So Others Might Eat) is an interfaith, community-based organization that was founded in 1970 by Father Horace McKenna, to help the poor and homeless of our nation’s capital. They work to meet the immediate daily needs of the people they serve with food, clothing, and health care.

Each year, SOME’s Corporate Advisory Board hosts the annual Harvest Gala to raise funds for SOME’s programs, which include their job training program, residential addiction treatment program and to support their affordable housing initiatives. The event is sponsored and supported by many businesses and individuals. To date, this annual event has raised over $10 million dollars to support their programs.

This year’s gala consisted of a silent auction, dinner and the presentation of the SOME McKenna Humanitarian award. This award is given each year to an individual(s) for their dedication and hard work on behalf of SOME.

The SOME community is looking forward to the 2018 grand opening of the Conway Center on Benning Road in DC.  This center will include housing, job training, a medical clinic, offices and retail. In memory of Elizabeth Donohue, who was a compassionate advocate and benefactor of SOME, the Corporate Advisory Board named the family housing complex on Spring Road The Liz Donohue House.

Mike Gordon, President of CC Pace, has been on the Corporate Advisory Board of SOME for the last 19 years and CC Pace has been a proud supporter of this outstanding organization that has given so much to the community. Visit SOME.ORG to learn more about this organization and what you can do to get involved.

CC Pace realizes that it’s our people that really sets us apart from our competition. Keeping that in mind, we don’t take milestone work anniversaries lightly. We know our employees work hard and at CC Pace, we do our best to make sure they receive the celebration and recognition they deserve. It’s also a great time for us to reminisce about all the fun we have had over the years and share some good laughs!

CC Pace had fun recently celebrating the anniversaries of Debbie Shatz (30 Years) and Suzie Wheeler (15 years) at our quarterly company meeting. Debbie is a Director in our Financial Services practice and has performed in many roles over the years, including everything from a business analyst to strategic advisor and has consistently delivered valuable results to clients. Suzie is our Recruiting Manager and is responsible for handling both corporate and client recruiting needs, her ability to find and hire high quality personnel has had a great impact on our recruiting team’s success.

Both Debbie and Suzie were recognized by CC Pace President, Mike Gordon for their contributions and accomplishments during their time with CC Pace. Mike also presented each of them with a service award, and a specially selected, customized gag gift that highlighted each of them perfectly! In addition, Debbie was the recipient of one of Clay’s original songs – which is always a treat for the entire team!

So we say, “Cheers and Thank You” to Debbie and Suzie and we hope that you will each continue to grow with us for many years to come! Happy Anniversary!

Any business will tell you that retaining employees is important. The costs involved with the turnover of employees equals about a quarter of their annual pay. That takes into account the cost involved in: hiring, onboarding, the new hire’s learning curve and the ripple effects on the rest of the team. Every employer knows that the longer a person stays with a company, the more valuable and productive they become for that company.

At CC Pace, the retention rate for our staffing placements has been above 90% for the past 5 years. This article 4 Reasons why Employee Retention is Important (And 4 Reasons All Business Owners Should Use to reduce turnover) highlights why workforce retention is important, and strategies that can improve employee loyalty.  A great deal of our success with our people is due to our commitment to provide our clients with the best candidates, based on this approach:

• We work with our clients as a partner, finding the right fit by taking the time to truly understand their business and technology needs.
• We are a consulting firm first – with full time business and technology experts available to help guide the qualification process and customized screening tools.
• Most importantly, we make quality a priority over quantity. Knowing people means assessing their technical knowledge, their soft skills, their cultural profile, and everything in between.

Now that you have read about what we offer our clients and how we find the right fit for each position, you must be wondering what’s it really like to work for CC Pace? Let our consultants tell you firsthand about their experience working with CC Pace.

“The primary reason for choosing to work with CC Pace AGAIN is that they have top notch people who will ensure that you are a great fit for the openings, as well as making sure that your values align with theirs.”  – Travis R., Consultant

“At the client site, CC Pace has always made sure I succeeded in doing my job which only shows how much they care about their people and their clients. I particularly appreciated how management was available to answer any questions I had while working on the client’s projects. Even though I worked with CC Pace as a consultant, I should note that I was treated equally as an employee.” ­– Namgyel D., Consultant

“I’ve been involved with CC Pace as an employee, contractor and customer for more than 22 of my nearly 35 years in the working world.  I can honestly say that there is no better employer, contract vendor, or business partner with which I have had the pleasure to be associated. The employee-centric culture, strong business knowledge and technical expertise, and an ethical standard par none are why I have remained associated with them over the years. CC Pace provided me with the experience and opportunity needed to launch my career.  Now, so many years later, I’ve come full circle, rejoining them and leveraging all that they helped provide.” – Paul H., Consultant

Looking to make a change in your career? Think about joining us and check out our latest job opportunities.

CC Pace employees came together to for a food packing event to support the efforts of Food for Others Power Pack Program.  The Power Pack Program provides food packs for elementary school kids in Northern Virginia as a safety net to ensure that they have enough to eat over the weekend.  This is a way to provide a healthy balanced meal for children who are either eating unbalanced meals, or perhaps adults who are skipping meals so their children can eat.

CC Pace purchased all the supplies needed for this event and our employees worked together to assemble the packages.  This effort tested our “production line” skills and although it started out a little rocky, it ended great and we were able to get all the food packed and ready for distribution by Food for Others. In total we produced 288 meals, which will help to feed 48 children.

Want to know how you can help? Visit Food for Others, Capital Area Food Bank, So Other Might Eat (SOME) and Feeding America websites to learn what you can do to help stop hunger!

Each year the Fairfax Animal Shelter helps four to five thousand animals by providing a safe environment and adoption services.  CC Pace employees and friends volunteered here last week to support this great organization and did a great job of cleaning the facility, folding towels, and organizing supplies.

While our employees did not interact with the animals, they were able to walk through the facility and see the dogs, cats, and other smaller furry and feathered creatures and their environment.   You can see by the smiles in the pictures of our people, that this was a very rewarding event for everyone!

Thanks to Deb Young, our account manager, for coordinating with Debbie Shatz, a Director in our Financial Services practice, to set up this event.  Debbie is a long-time volunteer at the shelter and she organized and directed our activities for the evening. We would like to give a special shout-out to Tracy Gordon, Bobby Pantall, Jason Kellenbenz, and everyone else who donated the vast amount of toys and essentials needed by the shelter.  They were well received and very much appreciated!

Want to get involved? Contact the Fairfax Animal Shelter, they can always use volunteers!

CC Pace recognized four employees who were celebrating their 15^th and 35^th anniversaries at our quarterly meeting earlier this month. CC Pace President, Mike Gordon, had the pleasure of recognizing Bill Lehman (35 years), Laura Campbell (15 years), Bobby Pantall (15 years) and Deb Young (15 years) for their service. Each were recognized for their dedication, contributions and hard work, and were presented with a service award and the always hilarious CC Pace gag gift!

In reflecting on these significant milestones, we decided to do a little research. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average tenure for employees with their current employers in the United States is 4.2 years.  At CC Pace our employees’ average tenure is 12.7 years, that’s 3 times the national average!

So, why is the average tenure at CC Pace so high?  Well, we decided that we would ask some of the service award recipients what it is that makes CC Pace such a desirable place to work.  They agreed on several common elements, which include:

• The dedicated people they work with
• The supportive environment received from their leadership
• The work/life balance offered by CC Pace

In addition, Deb appreciates the feeling that she is “making a contribution”, Bobby highlighted “the interesting work” he gets to be part of, while Laura pointed out “the variety of opportunities that employees are given to help the organization grow”.

Or, could the reason the tenure is high be something else, like those world-famous gag gifts given on milestone anniversaries? The free bagels and donuts? The happy hours? The company parties? We may never really know the exact answer – but, it’s apparent that all these things together have created a unique culture where employees choose to stay and succeed in for many years.

Whatever the reason, we are grateful for these employees.  Congratulations and thank you!

CC Pace would like to introduce you to Deepti Agarwal a Senior Technical Recruiter who has been part of our Staffing team since 2013.  Prior to CC Pace, Deepti worked as a full life cycle, technical recruiter supporting both commercial and federal government clients. In addition, she worked with the account managers to strategize in acquiring new and building existing accounts.

What attracted you to CC Pace?
I first learned of CC Pace through my husband who had been working with the company. He spoke highly of CC Pace and felt they never compromised with the quality of candidates submitted to them.  He had known them to be very fair when it came to all aspects of the recruiting process and in all, CC Pace was a very reputable organization to work with.

When the time came for me to a make a move to a new recruiting position, I immediately thought of CC Pace. The interview process went very well and I knew that it was the perfect fit as I learned more about the CC Pace clients and the recruiting process they followed. It reflected that the recruiting group worked as a team and had a very strong value-based system. The environment was friendly and welcoming from the very beginning.

What is the biggest challenge in your current role?
There are actually two challenges. The first one is that we are in a very demanding and competitive marketplace, there is a lot of competition that we are up against every day from both a client and a resource perspective. The second is closing candidates with multiple offers at the end of the recruiting process. This process can take some time to complete as candidates are often interviewing with several companies.

How would you describe CC Pace’s culture?
First and foremost, CC Pace has a very value-based culture and provides a high quality of service to all our clients and candidates. In Staffing, we have a strong team environment and our Staffing group’s management truly respects our opinions and supports us. CC Pace also offers me the perfect work life balance, having flexible working hours makes things much easier for me and my family.

During your time here at CC Pace, can you share with us something you have learned?
Because of the values we uphold we never compromise on the quality of our service.

What do you like to do outside of CC Pace?
I love to spend time with my daughters. I cherish our time together, we enjoy taking dance classes together and of course, they are always up for a shopping trip!

What is your favorite vacation spot and why?
Cancun!  My family and I went there last year and it was absolutely gorgeous!  It was so relaxing and peaceful and there were so many activities and watersports available to participate in – my favorite was snorkeling by a reef, it was just beautiful.

Who inspires you and why?
My father – he is a doctor a heart specialist and he is truly my inspiration. His strong work ethic and sincerity taught me the meaning of what being a hard working individual was all about.

CC Pace joined Cornerstones in December for their annual winter coat event. CC Pace’s corporate contribution in conjunction with employee donations provided 20 coats for this important drive. Cornerstones offers the donated coats to those in need from November through March.

Cornerstones is a nonprofit organization that promotes self-sufficiency by providing support and advocacy for those in need of food, shelter, affordable housing, quality childcare, and other human services.

CC Pace takes pride in supporting our community by offering corporate contributions and participating in various events throughout the year.

Do you ever think about why there are some things in your life that that you do year in and year out, while others fall by the wayside?  For me, I’ve played in a Thanksgiving neighborhood football game every year since we moved into our house in 1994 and I’ve gone on a golfing trip to Las Vegas with some high school and college buddies since my wife arranged the first one for my 40^th birthday (she might have re-thought the idea had she known it would become an annual event).  While you likely don’t know early on what will have staying power, certain events become meaningful in the tradition they become, the camaraderie they build, and the enjoyment they create both during the event and throughout the year telling stories about it.

While these examples cited above have limited to no societal significance, one tradition of mine that does is my attendance at the annual gala for So Others Might Eat (SOME) which just recently occurred.  I’ve been on SOME’s Corporate Advisory Board for the past 18 years and I’ve attended every one of their annual galas during that time except for one (I hope one unavoidable personal conflict in 18 years is excusable).

A little about SOME:  SOME was founded by Father Horace McKenna in 1970 as a soup kitchen to feed DC’s homeless. Under the extraordinary vision and leadership of Father John Adams, SOME expanded its purpose and has taken a more holistic approach to address this critical issue. On top of serving nearly 400,000 meals per year, SOME now offers a comprehensive set of programs to meet the needs of the homeless and to directly address some of the root causes that keep one homeless.  These include: medical and dental clinics; a drug rehabilitation facility; behavioral health services; temporary, transitional, and permanent affordable housing; and a center for employment training. As best expressed in its Mission Statement, SOME is “restoring hope and dignity one person at a time”.

Notwithstanding the enormous number of volunteers who donate their time to the organization, these programs require money to operate. As its major fundraising event, SOME holds its annual Gala to celebrate its work, to present the SOME McKenna Humanitarian award (this year’s honorees were Raul Fernandez, CEO, Object Video and Vice Chairman, Monumental Sports and Linda Jo Smith, Chair, SOME Board of Directors), and to support their programs.  Many of this year’s proceeds are earmarked towards development of a brand-new facility on Benning Road in DC that will include housing, job training, a medical clinic, offices and retail.  This building will greatly expand on SOME’s ability to serve the needy.

As soon as the gala date is announced, I block it off on my calendar.  So why do I attend every year?

It is a tradition that I look forward to and an event that I enjoy attending.  I love the camaraderie among SOME’s Corporate Advisory Board who, like me, religiously attend and support the event. And I get immense enjoyment and personal satisfaction, in this case from hearing about the impacts that we are making in helping to address this significant societal problem that would only get worse if not for organizations like SOME.

Somewhat the same reasons as my annual football game and golf trip, but with a whole lot more purpose.

Father John Adams, President of SOME

CC Pace was ready when we hosted our Thursday Night Football Tailgate Party, which included both current employees and CC Pace alumni!  The evening was filled with a festive BBQ menu, drinks, fun and fabulous door prizes! We were happy to have a number of CC Pace Alumni join us as we gathered and watched the Virginia Tech vs Pittsburgh game on the big screen.  Luckily, for all the Hokies we had in attendance, Virginia Tech was able to bring home the win in a tight game with a final score of 39-36.

To make the evening even more entertaining, we held a cornhole tournament with single elimination rounds.  Champions George Perkins, CC Pace Staffing Director and Tracy Gordon, wife of President, Mike Gordon were the last team standing after a score in the game of 0-14.  They pulled off a huge comeback to claim the title and win the grand prize – Congratulations George and Tracy!

All in all it was a win-win evening for everyone!

Recently, several employees gathered together to help out the local Ronald McDonald House.  The Ronald McDonald house is a place where families of patients who are in the hospital can go to spend the night, have a meal, and rest while they are visiting their family members in the hospital.  The house, located in Falls Church, supports all of the local hospitals and can house up to 8 families at a time.  See more information here.

CC Pace employees prepared a delicious meal for the families and staff including: vegetable beef soup, garden salad, cornbread, cookies and brownies.  In addition, our employees collected a variety of supplies, arts and crafts, and puzzles to go into activity bags for the patients in the hospitals, as well as the family members taking care of them.

Thank you to Beverly, the house night manager, for her help and giving us a tour of this wonderful house.

Well, actually, let’s go watch a baseball game!  After our recent staff meeting, many CC Pacers climbed aboard a bus and we headed downtown to Nationals Park to watch the Washington Nationals play the Colorado Rockies.  Upon arrival, we were rewarded with our very own Max Scherzer Bobblehead.

Although it was a hot and humid day, there was an abundance of refreshing beverages available.  We also enjoyed lots of the traditional ball park food including; hot dogs, pretzels in the shape of a W, peanuts and cracker jacks!  But let’s not forget dessert, the delicious Breyers’ ice cream that helped us cool down a bit.

Despite the hot day, it was a great event and we enjoyed spending time together, having fun and rooting for the Nationals.  Our efforts paid off and the Nationals beat the Rockies 8 – 5, including a home run from one of our favorite players, Jayson Werth.  What a great way to end the evening!

Well, it wasn’t actually a food fight with people throwing food at each other in a cafeteria, but rather a Food Fight to Battle Hunger!  Last Friday, May 13^th, CC Pacers joined hundreds of other volunteers to help package meals to be sent to starving children around the world.  We participated in a mobile food-packing event sponsored by Feed My Starving Children that provides meals to children in over 40 countries.  The event was held at the Dulles Expo Center located in Chantilly, VA, over the weekend of May 13^th through May 15^th.  The goal of the event was to pack 5.1 million meals that would feed over 19,000 starving children worldwide for a year.

We started our session with lots of cheerleading from the event coordinators, donning very attractive hair nets, and energizing music to create lots of fun and excitement as we went to our packing stations.  We all had a good time doing our jobs while dancing and singing to “Up Town Funk”, “YMCA”, “Twist and Shout” and lots of other great tunes.

By the end of our session, the CC Pace team had packed 1316 meals and all of the volunteers for that session, packed over 146,000 meals that will feed 402 children for a year!

Thanks to all the volunteers for helping out at this very worthwhile event.  Already looking forward to the Food Fight next year!

Do you want to be more successful this year?  Do you want to improve your relationships, your health, and your life?  Well, the New Year is a common time for people to evaluate where they are in life, where they want to be, and to look at making a fresh start.  Once someone does this, they often turn to setting goals. Goal setting is an important process that starts with considering and deciding just want you want to achieve.

Who really sets goals?  Everyone from business professionals, students, parents, and athletes to entertainers and politicians.  People set goals for all types of things, the most common categories are:

• Artistic
• Attitude/Outlook
• Business/Career
• Education
• Family
• Financial
• Physical
• Public Service/Volunteerism

Experts advise that you:

• Write down your goal(s) to make the end result more real and obtainable.
• Once you have written down your goals, be sure to put the paper in a visible place (your bathroom mirror, the refrigerator, your desk, the dashboard of your car or even taped to your cellphone!) to remind yourself everyday of these goals.
• Come up with your action plan, listing the steps you need to take in order to achieve your goals.
• Stay focused and on track, and remember it is a process so take it day by day.

Once you start to see progress as you accomplish the steps you have outlined, this will help to keep you motivated and achieve your goal in no time!

Have you set goals for this year yet?  If not, it is time to get going.  This article, Golden Rules of Goal Setting, can help you get the process started.  Now is the time to reflect, take action and move forward – Good Luck!