Putting Our Culture into Practice: MECCO’s Commitment to Creating Win/Wins

“It’s not your way or my way; it’s a better way, a higher way.” These are the words used by the late Stephen Covey – professor, businessman, keynote speaker, and author of the world-renowned book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – to define a win/win situation. Covey, an esteemed authority on effective leadership and business, lectured and spoke widely on how individuals and businesses can incorporate a win/win frame of mind in everything they do.

 At MECCO, we champion the power of win/win situations because they generate outcomes that benefit all parties. We stand behind their ability to yield positive and satisfying results. And we firmly believe that win/win solutions are found through behaviors and actions rooted in integrity, honesty and trust. In today’s Align with Nine blog post, we delve into our Core Behavior #2: Create Win/Wins.

How We Arrive at Win/Win Solutions

At MECCO, our approach to creating win/wins is two-fold. It begins with a commitment to maintaining integrity in everything we do. We act in the best interests of everyone with whom we work, from our customers to our reps and our internal team members. Whatever the challenge or situation may be, our goal is to find a solution that benefits all parties. Why? Because we firmly believe that win/win solutions last longer and are more satisfying than win/lose solutions.

Scott Cunningham, Strategic Market Development Manager, maintains that creating win/wins is of the utmost importance for our customers. “So often, people go into business situations with a win/lose mentality. Here, we approach each opportunity with the goal of satisfying the needs of both parties, so that together, we win.”

 Cunningham goes on to note that MECCO team members hold each other accountable for creating win/wins across the board – and that our level of accountability to and for each other allows us to thrive. “In looking for the win/win, we seek to legitimately improve our customers’ business. We negotiate thoughtfully, tie in complementary solutions, and go outside of our comfort zone – all with the goal of bringing value-added solutions to the table. Ultimately, our customers’ needs are our needs. That’s why, in everything we do, we strive for a positive, win/win outcome.”

Maintaining a Virtuous Circle of Trust

The second tenet of our approach to yielding win/win solutions is that we work from the assumption that people are good, fair, and honest. Our belief is that kindness begets more kindness. Trust begets more trust. Most people genuinely want to do the right thing. We act out of this belief and we hold steadfast to it, no matter the situation at hand.

Peter Sweet, Inside Sales Manager, relays a team experience of creating a win/win for a customer in the automotive tire manufacturing space. “We worked with the customer for about two to three years to develop a customized system that yielded product IDs on their tires. To arrive at a win/win, we needed to incorporate modifications, so that all parties were satisfied.” Sweet states that by maintaining a win/win frame of mind, he and his team were able to “factor in all changes, so that we delivered an enhanced process to our customer.”

Win/win situations are reflective of how Sweet views MECCO’s partnerships with customers. “To me, the ideal customer relationship is one in which our customer trusts that we’ve done all we can to provide a value-added, mutually beneficial solution to their needs.”

Watch this space for more commentary on how we put our culture into practice. Our next blog post will cover Core Behavior #3: Respond with a Sense of Urgency.