[related] Admit it. At one time or another (likely in your busy season) you’ve wanted to take a shot at your boss. Of course, you don’t really want to inflict violence – you just need to let out some steam. That’s why the Tierney Brothers dunk tank in the midst of its busiest month is so brilliant.
On Monday, employees lined up to fire softballs at COO Michael Tierney, CEO Robert Gag and regional sales manager for enterprise Tom Gust. It was good timing, since August is a particularly busy month for the folks at Tierney Brothers, says director of marketing Derek Burns.
It was also in good fun. “The group seemed to enjoy it very much,” Gag says.
However, that doesn’t mean the employees were merciful. “One of our engineers, Jared Kelsey, took the first wicked throw at an extreme velocity it seemed and dunked me,” he recalls.
Since it was a rather unorthodox company event, we couldn’t help but ask Gag for the inside story.
Why is August such crazy month for Tierney Brothers and its employees?
The summer months are construction season. Three of our top verticals — higher ed, government, and K-12 — typically have a short window available for large integration projects and it seems like all projects have an August 30 deadline. Every year we feel tremendous pressure, particularly in August.
How did you arrive at the dunk tank idea?
We felt it was important to lighten the mood a bit on Monday because everyone would be going full speed until Friday [evening]. We have an incredibly talented and dedicated systems integration team but we were sensing the stress they were under. We believe in them and we wanted them to know that we understood what they were feeling.
How did you choose the “victims” of the dunk tank?
[Tierney, Gust and I] were all having a conversation on how we could show how much we appreciate what this talented group does for the organization.
Click on the images to enlarge.
Regional sales manager for enterprise Tom Gust
CEO Robert Gag
COO Michael Tierney
