Oreo Waffles

Alright, so here we are. It is another Monday Message, and some of you are looking at this background, and you’re wondering, “What the heck is that?” Well, this is a photograph of a waffle that my son made last month when we were staying at a hotel in Redding, California. We went down for my niece’s wedding, and we were sitting there. They have those little batter machines. You put the batter in the cup and then you put it into the Waffle iron. You flip it, you turn it over, and it makes waffles.

Well, my son had this brilliant idea about making waffles, but he wanted to do something a little bit different. They had these little things set out with an Oreo cookie, brown sugar, and other little chocolate things and different stuff. So, he took the batter in the cup, mixed it up with a bunch of Oreos, and he made himself an Oreo waffle. Some of you might be wondering, “Monday message about how to make Oreo waffles?” It’s not about how to make Oreo waffles. What it is, it is about is innovation. It’s about not quitting.

It’s about improvise, adapt, and overcome. And it’s about resolve. It’s about our core values.

My son has an innovative personality, and it’s interesting to see how he can take what is normal and turn it into something creative. The funny thing is, it’s also about leadership. As he was doing it, other kids were coming in and noticing what he had done. They were talking to their parents, and I overheard parents saying, “That’s very creative. That’s interesting. I would have never thought of that.” He changed a dozen lives of people to think differently about plain, normal batter and a waffle maker, even at a restaurant or a breakfast place like this. You know, one of those continental breakfast setups downstairs. That’s what JT did.

So, how does that translate? Well, resolve. Improvise, adapt and overcome. Think outside the box. What are you doing at work that’s creative? How are you finding better ways to innovate and make processes better for you and for your team? Coming up with better ways? We’ve had it done here. SRT, our reporting software, most of that has come from my brain and Greg’s brain.

Sometimes even our team members doing something. We had a team member once who was out on site. They were a patrol officer checking in their car. Before they would check in their car, they’d take pictures of all four sides and document its cleanliness. They’d photograph the interior too. Today, in SRT, we have a system for patrol officers to quickly log mileage, input information, show pictures, all through software. But this system came from an officer thinking creatively to solve a problem. He wanted to prove he was keeping the vehicle clean and well-maintained.

His innovation eventually improved efficiency and effectiveness for the entire company.

So, whether you’re staying in a hotel and making Oreo or chocolate chip waffles or doing something on patrol or at the site, always maintain that never-quit mentality. Embrace improvisation, adaptation, and overcoming challenges to achieve the job in an innovative way. This benefits the client, the community, and the team. I appreciate all that you do.

Remember, be valuable because nothing less will do. And tell me, doesn’t that look good? How many of you are thinking about Oreo right now? How many of you are considering making a waffle and mixing some Oreo batter together? I’m telling you, it’s pretty awesome. My son loved it. He had a lot of fun. Alright, God bless you all. I’ll see you next week.