I want anyone to feel like he or she can knock on my door, sit down, and talk to me about anything. That is how I would define our company culture at Van Petten Group (VPG).
Organizational culture is a key factor in sustainable profitability and unmatched long-term performance for nearly all successful companies. It’s a tried and true fact that when an organization has a winning culture, it’s reflected in its people and their performance. Yet, as a leader dedicated to continuous improvement, building such a culture takes a commitment to fine-tuning your soft skills. These are the skills that will allow you to truly connect with the beliefs, hearts, and minds of people who ultimately shape an organization’s culture.
Having a great culture isn’t something that just happens – you need to work at it. You need to be committed to having a good culture and understanding what that means to the people who work for you. This is something that we are strongly committed to.
A few years ago, we created our company’s core values, mission statement, and vision statement. This has been a real drive for us in creating the culture we have today. We realized we needed to live by these values, run the business by them, and have people on board who also believed in them.
Cultivating the right company culture has even made its way into our hiring process. We not only hire based on experience, but we also look at fit within our culture. There is a team dynamic within each department that makes the team excel and strive to hit their goals. If a candidate has the skills but is missing the mark on culture fit, we keep looking.
To win over top talent during the interview process, there are two main selling points for businesses: company growth and culture. Whether it is the eager college graduate or a mid-level professional looking for a better opportunity in their career, jobseekers want to hear that a company is growing and that the staff enjoys working there. It isn’t easy to create and sustain an award-winning company culture, and it definitely doesn’t happen overnight…it takes hard work from both management and staff to maintain the culture for years and years.
Authenticity is another critical part of fostering the right company culture. You can walk around the office but if you’re not talking to people and asking about their day or weekend or family, and really mean it, people see through that.
We care about the people who are putting in their time to help grow the business. We want to provide a work environment that makes people want to come to work. A place where opinions, concerns, and ideas are heard.
Granted, we can’t do everything and sometimes we do have to say no to a good idea. I believe people understand that and get it.
We like to have fun, share in our success, and get people together. On Monday mornings, team members can find bagels and fruit from in the kitchen area. To end the week, we have pizza and salad from one of the many local area restaurants. These are times for us to get together and chat about our weekend, what is happening with clients, or just to say a quick hello.
To help improve company-wide communication, we began having monthly company meetings. These meetings are a time for the executive team and the managers to talk about what is happening within their teams and strategic initiatives planned for the year. We end all of our meetings with shout outs, where team members recognize one another.
We keep the meetings open and honest. Since we are very open and transparent, we get lots of great feedback during these meetings. We use this feedback in our strategic planning for the upcoming year.
This information is invaluable as it provides us insight from the frontline — the people who hear from clients, understand the problems we are facing, and know where there is a potential opportunity.
We use this feedback to build out our company-wide strategic plan. We aren’t perfect, and that is why each year in our plan we’ve included a section on culture and initiatives for continuous improvement.
Having a good culture means different things to different people. The fun events and food are nice, but in the end, that isn’t going to make someone stay. What will make them stay? The people they work with, feeling like they have a say in what is happening at the company, and having a career path as we grow. That’s what we strive to create every day.
Culture is incredibly important because it sets the tone for everything from how the early team interacts to the kinds of hires made to how customers are treated. One mistake can set you back months. On the other hand, you have the opportunity to set your company apart by building a winning culture.
As part of our culture of authenticity and transparency, we are launching our company blog. Here we will share the latest management insights and trends to help your association grow because at the end of the day the most valuable resource you have is the people you employee.
Enjoy this blog and the insights we’ll bring to making your company run more efficiently,
MVP
Megan Van Petten
CEO & President
Van Petten Group, Inc.