It’s not often an MVP announcement leaves Andy, our CEO, with a snuffly nose (though he swears it’s just the cold he’s fighting off), but everyone was left with a lump in their throats after an emotional acceptance speech from this month’s winner.
As always, the competition was fierce and the list of nominations was long. The MVP award recognises hard work and commitment among the team and, with another jam-packed month of work behind us, the StrategiQ gang had plenty of good work to shout about.
Ending the month on a high
It’s not uncommon to hear Andy say that MVP is his ‘favourite time of the month’, and days like today remind us why.
One of the beautiful things about the MVP award is that it allows us to recognise and celebrate anyone in the company at any level; often shining the spotlight on people who may have otherwise slipped under the radar in the ‘behind-the-scenes’ roles.
An impressive total of 19 colleagues received nominations this month, with team members from every single service line being highlighted for their efforts. From development, to paid media, to SEO – here’s who landed themselves in the top 3!
Third place goes to Jack Fuller, our Technical SEO Manager:
“Jack is doing a cracking job managing & balancing all the web projects from an SEO point of view. What I admire is that Jack isn’t afraid to put his foot down and challenge things if he thinks something isn’t quite right. He could easily just let things slide and leave sites to go live that are below standard, but his determination to do great work is a testament to his dedication to the cause. Keep up the good work mate, and keep standing up for SEO.”
In second place was our Head of Paid Media, Dale Olorenshaw:
“This month my vote has to go to Dale, he has had such a big impact in the last 6 months since joining StrategiQ. Jumping on new business every week as well as being a great leader for the paid media team and making sure he is smashing his ‘day-to-day’ tasks, I’m not too sure how he juggles it all at such a high standard. He’s always on hand to support not only his team but also the wider company, and after the busy couple of weeks he’s had, he definitely deserves a duvet day!! Keep smashing it Dale.”
All eyes turn to the first place podium as we now shine the spotlight on a certain member of StrategiQ’s Dev team.
The Development team may be quiet, but their contribution to the team is colossal, and it’s safe to say that the nominations this month have reflected that.
With a whopping 14 votes, March’s winner was…
Darren Griffin!
Darren joined StrategiQ a little under a year ago and has come an incredibly long way since then. Having put in a tremendous personal and professional effort over the last month, he’s been instrumental in getting not one, but two new websites off the ground in March, and everyone in the team can safely agree that this win was extremely well-deserved.
As for Darren – our developer was ‘shocked’ at the announcement of his win, and left the team misty-eyed with the speech that followed:
“I’m in absolute shock. This makes all the hard work feel worth it. It’s been quite a rocky few months for me, and I can sometimes struggle with fitting in with other people, but I’ve put everything into my work recently and I’ve been absolutely loving it. This wouldn’t have been possible without the rest of the Dev and Design team – they’re an absolute joy to work with, and it’s safe to say that I’m definitely at a destination agency. It’s an amazing place to be and I wouldn’t wish to be anywhere else.”
So – what exactly earned Darren the MVP crown this month? Here’s what some of his colleagues had to say:
“What a month Darren has had. He has truly gone above and beyond this month, launching his first website for StrategiQ and absolutely smashing his work on other sites. His passion and dedication to his web builds has really shone through this last month, where he has proactively taken hold of tricky design concepts and brought them to life through sheer determination. He is really starting to take ownership of his projects and has been innovating some next level developer magic. Amazing month Darren, keep smashing it!”
“Darren – what a month! With two new sites going live, Darren has worked so hard, so calmly. Putting in huge shifts, solving problems, always pushing towards perfection and always being on hand to answer any questions. Thank you Darren for bringing these sites to life with your brilliance. Already looking forward to working with you on the next project. MVP for sure!”
Huge congratulations Darren, now book that duvet day and get your feet up!
