On April 21, TBBJ announced that SBF was ranked #1 among large businesses for the second consecutive year in its annual list. Because this ranking is based on confidential employee surveys, we are especially proud of this continued achievement.
At the virtual event announcing the ranking, SBF sponsored a panel discussion about workplace culture, moderated by Kyle Parks of B2 Communications. The panelists were Jennie Treby, President of Roger West Creative & Code; Sean Parkinson, President of Source 1 Solutions, and SBF Partner Steve Bunch. The three offered ideas about what their organizations have done over the past year to keep their teams connected and thriving.
Here are three tips from the discussion:
1. Check in with team members on an individual basis, which has been a critical strategy during the pandemic.
“Our partner group, the management group, was worried about our people. With deadlines constantly shifting, with the way we work constantly shifting, and all the stress,” Steve Bunch said. “We asked, do you feel supported? Are you overloaded? Are you stressed? Normally when a partner calls, people expect you want something, you need something. I think people were taken aback.”
At Roger West Creative & Code, Jennie Treby said they also did consistent check-ins. “We had to look at everybody one by one,” she said. From staff who are single and may be feeling disconnected to staff with families who may be feeling overwhelmed, everyone had their own challenges during the pandemic.
“People inherently don’t want to ask for help. They want to tough it out,” Jennie said. “When you find out somebody’s struggling, it goes a long way to say, ‘let’s send so-and-so an Uber Eats gift card so they don’t have to cook dinner tonight. Or let’s lighten her workload, she’s trying to put two kids through school online and work full-time.”‘
2. Ask for feedback from your team members.
At Source 1, Sean Parkinson says asking for genuine feedback from team members has been essential. “We have a culture where you can say what you think. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. Unless we get it out in the open, we can’t address it,” he said.
To have a healthy work culture, you have to create an environment where people feel free to disagree and where they don’t hold onto grudges or resentment. “When we have our squabbles, it’s left at the office,” he said. “People move on. If you have a culture that internally is fractious, you don’t get that — it’s never left at the office. It overflows and continues.”
3. Consistently reinforce your values with the team.
When an SBF partner or team member says “people matter most,” that’s not just a slogan or a tagline – it’s genuine. Reiterating that value reminds everyone of what’s important.
“We’re trying to create an environment where our employees feel like what they do every day makes a difference and a significant contribution to what we do as a firm by trying to make our clients’ lives and businesses better, by trying to impact our community, by trying to make each other better,” Steve Bunch said.
But coming up with a firm’s values isn’t always simple. At Roger West, Jennie Treby said, they hired an outside organization to run an employee survey and conduct an internal messaging exercise. From data and ideas gathered from employees, Roger West’s values were born. This became a “cultural platform” upon which they were able to build their company culture.