Sharing Smiles All Around

On Sunday, Elevation's team gathered together at ICEHOUSE on South Blvd. for an Operation Smile charity event. Operation Smile is a non-profit organization that raises money for children in third world countries who have cleft palates, cleft lips, and other facial deformities. The surgeries are inexpensive, yet life changing. So far, we have been able to help out a handful of children, giving them a chance at a normal life.


Considering it was Sunday, our event was tailored around football. Everyone donated money to buy different football squares. This helped increase the amount of money donated because it was based on the scores of the football games.

We rented out the entire upstairs at ICEHOUSE, which they gave it to us at a discounted rate. They also discounted the food for the event. We took the amount that was saved and donated it to Operation Smile. As we enjoyed the appetizers, we also were playing pool and Silver Strike Bowling.


Everyone had a great time and it was for a good cause. We are looking forward to or next event, the Holiday Party!

Trip to California

The management team at Elevation spent the weekend in Los Angeles, California for an organizational retreat with 50 other managers and assistant managers from around the country. Every year, the organization gets together to spend some quality time together.

The trip kicked off with a poker tournament, which the winner recieved an iPad, the second and third places recieved cash prizes. It wasn't all games for us in LA... Considering that the Los Angeles' beaches have had a problem from the ocean becoming a dump site, we did a little volunteer work too. On Saturday morning, everyone gathered on Santa Monica Beach to help with the Heal the Bay campaign. Over 50 managers came together and picked up over 250 lbs. of trash! After picking up the litter, we participated in team building activities and enjoyed a lunch on the beach.

The team spent Saturday evening on a double decker bus for a professional tour of the city. The driver gave us the history behind the infamous Hollywood sign and many other intersting stories about the city. Everyone had the chance to tour the Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre, Capitol Records, and the rest of the area. The bus also strolled trough Beverly Hills where we learned that fast food restaurants are banned from the city limits. We also had the chance to see where all of the celebrities shop, including Prada, which is so exclusive that it doesn't even have a sign on the store! Their motto is, "If people are able to shop here, they should know where we are."

Saturday night we all had the chance to venture into the city. We went to the Staples Center and enjoyed some fine Mexican food, where they had a person come out and make our guacamole right at our table!

Overall, the trip was a lot of fun as well as a great learning experience! We had the chance to meet with organizational consultants and other successful people. We learned a lot from them and are excited for the upcoming year, which will be filled with expanding the company. We definitely are looking forward to the next trip with the company which will be coming up in January!

Pumpkin Carving Contest!

Here at Elevation we value a team based environment. Every week we have a night designated to interaction with our co-works outside of our work environment. This allows us to get to know our colleagues on more of a personal level. We play laser tag, bowling, go-carts, kickball and even some volleyball. Last week we held a pumpkin carving contest and pictures are posted on facebook for everyone to vote on the winner. The winner is going to be rewarded with a free lunch and of course bragging rights! So please help us find the winner by voting on facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/elevationcharlotte

Elevation Takes it to the Courts!

What started as a little get together on a Sunday afternoon to play basketball; has developed into a weekly tradition. Every Sunday the team at Elevation takes to the courts at Park Road Park and this has become a source of pride and trash talking. One might think that people would be excited to grow because of the new opportunities that open but lately people seem to be more excited about getting more and more people out on the court!
“In a team based in environment it’s so important that we are always working together, and basketball has been a great way to build the meaningful relationships that build lasting teams.” said President, Shaun Hogan.

Elevation is Charlotte’s fastest growing marketing firm and their growth philosophy has always been to promote from within so extra-curricular activities have been a part of the atmosphere since inception in 2007. On a weekly basis the team is always looking for something to do that strengthens teams and has little to do with business. “Leadership is something that transcends business, it’s about character development and when a team can develop its people while having fun, it only adds to the exciting and growing leadership team. “said Shenna Bryant, the director of Human Resources.

White Water Rafting

Here at Elevation, fun incentives and challenges are always going on. A couple weeks ago, we separated the office into smaller groups and each group received points based on growth within the company. The winning team enjoyed a Saturday at the U.S. National White Water Center in Charlotte, NC, all paid for by management. The day was a blast, it was filled with white water rafting, rock climbing, the adventure line, good food, played corn hole, and ended the day listening to live music. The experience was a great time for some team bonding activities and for some, trying new things.

Leadership by Susan Ward

Definition:

A simple definition of leadership is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal.

Put even more simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction.

In business, leadership is welded to performance. Effective leaders are those who increase their companys' bottom lines.

To further confuse the issue, we tend to use the terms "leadership" and "management" interchangeably, referring to a company's management structure as its leadership, or to individuals who are actually managers as the "leaders" of various management teams.

I am not saying that this is a bad thing, just pointing out that leadership involves more. To be effective, a leader certainly has to manage the resources at her disposal. But leadership also involves communicating, inspiring and supervising - just to name three more of the main skills a leader has to have to be successful.

Is a leader born or made? While there are people who seem to be naturally endowed with more leadership abilities than others, I believe that people can learn to become leaders by concentrating on improving particular leadership skills.

As I say in 5 Keys to Leadership for Small Business, "Leadership is a winning combination of personal traits and the ability to think and act as a leader, a person who directs the activities of others for the good of all. Anyone can be a leader, even if the only person they’re leading is themselves."

Elevation Contracted to Open 4 New Locations in 2010!!

Elevation, Charlotte's fastest growing marketing firm released the news today that they will be opening four new marketing firms by the end of the year. "Excitment is high but we know there's a lot of hard work ahead" said Assistant Manager Kylah Allen. Since inception in 2007 Elevation has prided itself on only promoting its staff 100% from within the company. The hard work that Kylah is refering to is the preperation for her and Brandon West, the other Assistant Manager, as they get ready to open their locations. On top of that preperation two other people are needed to fill Managment roles. "Training, Training Training; we need a partnership of the right people and the right training. With an ambitious, goal oriented associate we can put people into managment in as little as 6 months; and that's exactly what we need to do here!" Says Executive Consultant Bhavin Joshi.

That does sound like a lot of excitement! Have fun facing those challenges.