The Sandfield Awards are our semi-annual peer-nominated awards where we recognise some stand-out team members in the following 5 categories:
- Ninja Award: Recognises the silent but deadly achiever.
- Best Project Delivery: Can be for an individual or a project team. The project should ideally have come in on time, on budget and is high quality, giving an impact to our client's business.
- Good Sort Award: For someone who knows we’re only as strong as our team.
- Legendary leader/Coaching Champ: For a person who exemplifies coaching and mentoring.
- Bear Grylls Grit: For the person who kept on going.
As always, we received many nominations in every award category which, in itself, reflects the character and spirit of our organisation. Below is a summary of the award winners, and list of nominees for each of award category.
Ninja Award
This award recognises the silent but deadly achiever. The ninja award is for that teammate who consistently works hard but stays under the radar. They’re that safe pair of hands who deserve recognition but would never ask for it. When they get given a task or project, you know it will get done, and done well.
Vadim Zimin
"He is the definition of a developer ninja, hiding in the corner (on Level 1) handling everything that comes his way calmly, efficiently, and with great attention to detail. You know if you ask a question you'll get a precise answer which leaves little ambiguity."
Other nominations were: Richard W., Oliver, Pankaj, Nikhil, Logan, Jay, Joy
- Richard W: He is across all facets of the Crossfire team and has been incredibly helpful.
- Oliver: He quietly and efficiently handles whatever's thrown at him, without a fuss. An absolute champion without whom we would be lost.
- Pankaj: No matter what you throw at this lad, he will learn it, learn it right, do it and do it right. He's become a pillar within the Qube team within the last few months.
- Nikhil: He takes the lead with tasks and is proactive independently and has a lot of good advice when it comes to development and design.
- Logan: Anyone can rely on him to get the job done. He'll get the task completed quickly and, best of all, will avoid shortcuts to ensure that it is implemented properly!
- Jay: He stays one step ahead... when it comes to the next task, project or order he's on to it before been asked. If he moves your desk, it'll be exactly as it was at the old location, except tidier.
Joy: Juggling multiple projects plus support and deals with issues that could have been caused by one of her teammates without complaining. Always updates customers on the status of work.
Best Project Delivery
This award can be for an individual or a project team. The project should ideally have come in on time, on budget and is high quality, giving an impact to our client's business.
Project Lifeboat (Jamie, Scott, Luka, CJ, Brent, Guy, Alan)
“The little project before the big project. Urgent due the overhanging risk that the existing supplier would terminate services to our client at any moment. It was complex, and nervewracking - like going on a first date. Our behaviour was under the microscope. Yet, it's all been going very smoothly. Special credit to Alan for setting it up for success, Brent for conquering "the" spreadsheet & even finding irregularities that our new client did not know about; and Jamie, Luka & CJ. Project Lifeboat is ready to keep our new client afloat and to continue to go full-steam ahead when our system is enabled"
Good Sort Award
This award is for someone who knows we’re only as strong as our team. They’re approachable, happy to mentor and share their knowledge, and the first to lend a hand in any crisis. This person is inclusive of others, and if they can’t help you, will find someone who can.
Jamie Crawley
"For his outstanding work on Lifeboat project. No task is a problem, he's quick to respond to change requests from our new client and generous with his time, doing a great job mentoring the team, often simplifying things and helping a relatively new team achieve success on a challenging project."
Other nominations were: Mauro, Jeremy Wiersma, Vinh, Nahuel, Andy, Jesse, Jamie, Richard Whyle
- Mauro: Particularly impressive recently has been his involvement with and mentoring of several new members of the Logistics team.
- Vinh: He is very passionate about code, and it is infectious and always the first to try and assist.
- Nahuel: While a little grumpy at times, you drop an amusing one-liner, and that demeanour falls away and the 'good sort' is revealed, ready and willing to help in any way he can.
- Andy: He has been an excellent mentor; he's always willing to help when I have questions and is very approachable.
- Charles: with five customer Upgrades on the go, Charles has been the go-to person for most of these and has always approached it with a positive can-do attitude, taking time to explain so everybody can understand why.
- Richard Whyle: He's approachable, happy to mentor and share his knowledge, the first to lend a hand in any kind of crisis, inclusive of others and if they can’t help you, will find someone who can.
- Jeremy: For sorting the dishwasher (pictures and all).
- Charles: The OA team have had a lot of activity over the past few months with five customer upgrades on the go, Charles has been the go-to person for most of these projects and has always approached it with a positive can-do attitude. He always takes time to explain what he is doing so we can understand what is being done and why.
Legendary Leader/Coaching Champ
This award is for a person who exemplifies coaching and mentoring. This is for those managing anyone from 1 person (could simply be managing an intern) to 30 people, who has shown belief, encouragement, support, active listening and quality mentoring to those in their team.
Brian Kim
"Brian has been a very understanding Team lead/ mentor; he is calm when there is panic. He has so much knowledge and understanding of the Mainstreet system and can impart that knowledge very well. He is very approachable, and you couldn’t have asked for a better mentor. "
Other nominations were: Nikhil, Mauro, Jamie, Alan, Philip, Charles
- Phillip: He has been a great mentor, and I'm constantly learning from him.
- Charles: He creates a positive environment, is considerate and extremely supportive, always helpful and happy to answer questions.
- Alan: Alan makes our teamwork seamlessly, motivating and helping each member of the team. He is open to help anybody, with good pieces of advice or giving a hand even in the most bored but needed tasks. His personality makes him easy to approach and reference for many of us.
- Mauro: he frequently enthusiastically shares his passion for his work, whether you asked a simple question or a big one. He will explain the bigger picture and give you insight into how things come together in a system.
- Jamie C: a great mentor. He's knowledgeable and always tries to guide new staff so that they learn the best approach to tackle problems, rather than the easiest and quickest ones. He's always approachable and happy to help out.
Nikhil: We've brought on several new team members in the last six months to handle the increased workload, and Nik has been involved in a mentoring and team lead capacity with all of them, often concurrently. Despite being extremely busy himself, Nik finds time to help out the guys in his team and is always available for some advice or clarification.
Bear Grylls Grit
This award is for the person who kept on going. They showed determination and grit in the face of a challenging project, deadline, client, circumstance, or all of the above. They lived to tell the tale and even better, managed to turn the challenge around and complete it to a high standard, learning a thing or two in the process.
Will Harding
"For packing his bags and heading to Qube for four weeks to help them out after one of their BA's took a period of unexpected extended leave. Not only did he save their butts, but also made life much easier for everyone here by getting us some decent requirements, and did a great job of solidifying our relationship with Qube."
Other nominations were: Navi, Shane, Chris
- Navi: Thrown into a key development piece where he had no knowledge, he churned out quality work at a ridiculous speed and he's rescued me from the clutches of our client on numerous occasions, he always has a great attitude and sense of humour and is still willing to get stuck in when the chips are down.
- Shane: Shane is very patient and professional when it comes to dealing with some of our most technologically challenged customers. He has an excellent phone manner and preservers through incredibly painful remote support scenarios where others might throw in the towel or let their frustrations show.
- Chris: for project managing the PGL project, which has been a nightmare to coordinate and over quite a while now.
