Finalist for HVAC+R Business women of the year!

South Coast Refrigeration & Air – Vonnette Cook

Congratulations Vonnette Cook on your Finalist for HVAC+R Business women of the year! We are extremely proud of your great achievement and we wear the South Coast Logo with pride.

Did you know Vonnette Cook first started with South Coast in April 2000 and her role was focused in the service co-ordination and administration. 14 Years later, the opportunity presented itself to continue her journey with South Coast Refrigeration & Air-conditioning,  by it’s acquisition. Over the many years in the industry she has acquired enormous respect as a female in this predominately male industry. She has secured product and equipment knowledge through support from suppliers and the technicians she employs.

Vonnette Cook Talks Business & Professionalism:

I consider myself a motivated, ambitious and strong woman.  I have a set of business and personal ethics that I live and work by.  I believe these enable me to show excellence and inspire those around me. Struggles build character, often the moments in our lives that we are SO proud of are the ones that we overcame adversity to accomplish.

In business, I prioritise and organise my workload to consistently meet objectives and achieve success, even on a daily basis.  My work style is structured to use evaluation processes to determine potential outcomes and complications before I commit financially to any job. I benchmark best practices and am retrospective.  I evaluate the success of projects and share lessons learnt across my team and with my customers. At the same time I enjoy embracing change, new technologies, techniques and working methods.

I demonstrate personal responsibility for making decisions and getting things done. I display an open-mind to new ideas and proposals from my team – we have an inclusive work environment where I listen to different points of view and incorporate them when appropriate.  Ideas are shared on a daily and weekly basis through my open-door policy and through our structured tool-box meetings.  The creativity that comes with diversity can help generate new ideas or improve the processes already in place. I enjoy supporting and encouraging my team to develop their knowledge, skills and behaviours. I believe that every employee has unique strengths and together we are stronger.

In this respect, we inspire each other.  Success is a team sport.

I consciously demand excellence from myself and I believe this ‘rubs-off’ on those around me.  I consistently take the time to think about what others expect from me and require. I provide and accept constructive feedback.  I am self-evaluating always. I learnt from an early age that I need to pursue opportunities to develop my personal skills and competencies including training and development activities.

My passion for the HVAC+R Industry comes through the challenges, changes and involvement with sales persons, engineers, trade managers and through the support from other business owners within this industry. This industry has allowed me to face my challenges and overcome them.  This is a constantly ever-changing environment and I love it! I feel that the industry is flexible enough to manage these changes without hitting too many walls or red tape.  Seeing the products that companies are promoting and the innovation that keeps coming through the industry keeps motivating me.