Centriworks will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2024. And with this huge milestone just around the proverbial corner, it has me thinking back to when I joined the company in 1993. It was quite a culture shock to be part of a privately owned business after spending my whole career with Fortune 500 companies.
When I first joined, I thought that my tenure at Centriworks (named Thermocopy at the time) would be two years, and then I’d move on. But the quality of the company and the culture instilled by Randall and Steve Sumner, former and present owners, is one of the reasons I’m still here.
At the beginning of my tenure, we had the privilege of starting a long relationship with a true difference maker in our industry, Mike Riordan. He’s mentored us through an ownership change, growth and many other crazy experiences.
If you’ve attended Mike’s conferences (SBS, ASK, TEAM), you know that when he gets passionate about something, he takes on the persona of a tent revival preacher—all that’s missing is the alter call! But the things he says stick with you. One of those memories for me was him explaining, and I paraphrase: “Every company has a culture, good or bad. It’s up to you as leaders of the company to instill what culture you want. If your culture isn’t what you want, it’s because of you.”
As you add or replace team members, it’s important to communicate the company’s culture and the expectations to them. More importantly, you just explain how your leadership team ensures the culture is perpetuated beyond your tenure at the company.
At Centriworks, we started documenting our culture by crafting two integral documents: our mission statement in 1995, followed two decades later by our core values. In addition, I’ve created a “best practice” for communicating the great culture of our company.
All new team members (and their direct supervisor) meet with me for approximately an hour on their first day. During that time, we review the organization chart so they know where they fit in the company, and we discuss the name change to Centriworks along with the name’s etymology and the rebranding strategy, among other things.
I believe it’s essential for them to know how we looked 20 years ago and how it compares to today, so we view and discuss the corporate video that was produced in 2002. Since all but one of the on-screen participants are still with the company, it allows me a logical segue to our mission statement, which contains a commitment to providing a tenured team of professionals. I also include a powerful illustration of our core values in action (ONE TEAM with INTEGRITY driven by EXCELLENCE creating RAVING FANS).
To end the session, I give them a gift—the book “Strengthsfinder 2.0.” I also leave them with an assignment to read three narratives about Centriworks: one from the Knoxville Chamber for the Business Excellence Awards, “Leading Businesses in the U.S.” from the August 2007 edition of Corporate Vision magazine, and an interview with Keypoint Intelligence about our commitment to environmental sustainability initiatives. The narratives provide a timeline of the company’s development and the continuity of our commitment to excellence.
By the end of the first week, the new hire will email his/her supervisor and me the results of their “Strengthsfinder 2.0” assessment and the items that stood out to them in the narratives. After 90 days, the hire should email us the answers to these questions: Is our company culture fact or fiction compared to the presentation? What, in your estimation, can we do to improve our culture?
Here’s some of the great feedback we’ve received:
- Being able to read a narrative such as this is just another reason to be excited about the opportunity to join a great company and team.
- The narrative explains how and where the company started and where it wants to be in the future.
- GoGreenET.com is an inspiring online resource that’s been an incredible asset to businesses that care about their mark on the environment.
- I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being at Centriworks. In the time I’ve been a part of this team, I’ve seen how everyone is prideful in their roles, making the company and themselves successful. As stated, “One Team One Mission,” I still believe this is true.
- I often talk to former co-workers I spent many years with, and I tend to brag about the culture at Centriworks and how the grass is greener on the Centriworks side. Examples: people respecting one another, helping answer questions, giving advice, leading by example and mentoring. I could go on and on.
This exercise provides an excellent opportunity to communicate the company’s culture by example. It also explains how new hires should interact with other team members and clients, and how they should expect team members to interact with them. The bonus for me is I start to develop a dialogue with them on day one and use their assignments to discover what’s important to them and if we have a culture problem.
