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when we were growing our organization and we knew we had to hire a number of new people quickly. We use those values for hiring, for termination, for performance reviews, and we celebrate those core values on a monthly basis. We have a program called ‘You Sham- ROCK.’ Any employee can nominate another employee for exemplifying any one of our seven core values. Every month, we have a monthly winner and at the end of the year, we have an annual You ShamROCK of the Year award. Our culture has driven the perfor- mance of our organization – not only with our employees, but with our trade partners, with the community and neighborhoods in which we operate, even our bank partners. That’s been the big part of our success.” Combining two of those seven core values - Embracing Social Responsibility and Nur- turing a Learning Organization – Tim O’Brien Homes began a partnership with the Ocono- mowoc High School Building Trades program, about six years ago. “About fifteen kids are out on the job site, building a home, side by side with us and our trade partners, Monday through Friday, during the fall season, 7:30 to 10:30,” O’Brien says. “We set up a spec home the week before they start school. The kids are invited to do a ground breaking and they’re involved every step of the way. We’re not having them build the home by them- selves, but they’re participating in the build- ing process. Our trade partners wrap up the work on the home when the kids leave each day, so the kids come back without missing a step. We want our trades to be teachers, and it took us two years to get the right combi- nation of trades who were willing to engage with the kids, but the success stories have been incredible – some of these kids have been hired by our trade partners; they’ve gone on to school to be construction manag- ers; some of them are in an apprenticeship program. We’re trying to get more schools involved. Next year, we’re conducting a simi- lar program with another school district, and then hopefully a third school district. It’s been a wonderful program, since our industry is suffering from a severe labor shortage from people that left the industry, and people that never continued to grow within the industry during this last recession.” In the end, O’Brien believes that building homes is really just a way to achieve the company’s core purpose, which he says is “Positively Impacting People’s Lives.” And that reminds us of yet another saying: “Do today what others won’t do so that tomorrow you can do what others cannot.” ‘Nuff said. PREFERRED VENDORS n Drexel Building Supply www.drexelteam.com n Nonn’s Kitchen Bath and Flooring www.nonns.com TIM O’BRIEN HOMES NONN’S: A PROUD PARTNER OF TIM O’BRIEN HOMES We’re honored to help positively impact people’s homes and their lives.