| Plexus Consulting Group | News Release | ||
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Have fun, don't
stay late and, sure, bring the dog By |
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From its colorful name to lunchtime Ping-Pong tournaments to a contest to see who makes the best homemade soup, Kaleidoscope Imaging Inc. seems like a fun place to work. Employees get around the 27,000-square-foot workplace of the Chicago-based package design business on scooters. Their desks are on wheels so they can hold impromptu brainstorming sessions. And sometimes they can bring their dogs to work. Fun might not be the first word that many people use to describe their workplaces. But that's one of the adjectives that company President Gary Chiappetta hopes his employees use to describe Kaleidoscope. "We've created a mission and a vision, and part of that mission is fun," said Chiappetta, who founded the 65-employee company in 1995 with Bert Hodapp. When it comes to establishing a workplace culture, owners and managers usually are responsible for setting a company's tone and vision. But employees have as great a stake in contributing to the culture as do those at the helm. Chiappetta said the culture at Kaleidoscope works because employees embrace the idea of providing clients with excellent service while working as a team and incorporating fun into the process. "It's very different from a traditional office environment," he said. "In a creative environment, you really need to build collaborative teams." Experts agree that a workplace culture is more likely to succeed when employees know what it is and embrace it. One way to see if a culture is working is to watch what happens when the boss is away, said Steven Worth, president of Plexus Consulting Group in Washington, D.C. "Those companies that don't have a culture are usually top-driven. When the boss is gone, it all falls apart," he said. Jay Goltz, president of Artists' Frame Service and several other Chicago-based businesses, agrees that it's easy to see when a culture is not working. "A dysfunctional culture is where there are side meetings after a meeting, where people are saying, `Can you believe he said that?'" Workplace culture is more important to workers today than ever before, said Andrew Keyt, executive director of Loyola University's Family Business Center. "Employees today are more concerned about culture because there's greater importance placed on being happy in your job," he said. Traditionally, Worth said, corporate cultures "have been based on a military hierarchical system, but that doesn't work as well today." Rather than simply following orders, "you want your employees to buy into the culture so they come forward with their best ideas," Worth said. Chiappetta said the open atmosphere at Kaleidoscope means employees feel free to stop and chat with him as he wends his way through the workplace. "Most of the best ideas come from when I'm just walking through the office, and someone will stop me and say, `Hey, check this out,'" he said. Getting a handle on a company's culture and deciding whether it will suit you should begin before you accept a job. Andrew Manocheo, a product designer at Kaleidoscope, said he got an idea of the company's culture when he was interviewing for his job. "When I walked through, I sensed the energy and intensity of the place," he said. "The culture is about trying to satisfy clients and having fun doing it." When interviewing prospective employees, Chiappetta said, he tries to get beyond the printed words on peoples' resumes. "I'll dig deep in their backgrounds. What was their first job? Were they working by 11 [years old]? Even if it was cutting grass or baby-sitting, it shows a good work ethic." Chiappetta said he has a good idea of the sort of personalities that will succeed in the culture at Kaleidoscope. "We want people who have entrepreneurial thinking but need somewhat of a structured environment to spread their wings," he said. Previous work experience at companies with thousands of employees enabled Tracy Kiker, a salesperson at Kaleidoscope, to know that the culture of a smaller company would suit her because she wants her input to be more visible. "I'm the type of personality that likes recognition. I like knowing that I am making a contribution," she said. Effort to achieve balance Like Chiappetta, Susan Schor, vice president of people and culture at Eileen Fisher, an upscale women's apparel company in New York, said the workplace culture is based on core values. It is guided by four principals: providing for employees' individual growth, having a joyful atmosphere, collaboration and teamwork, and social consciousness. Schor agrees that the hiring process is one way to bolster or reinforce a company's culture. She also tries to understand what motivates and excites employees. "One of our questions early on is, what do they love?" she said. "We want to know what excites them in life. We try to get an idea of what the potential is in each person, of what makes their eyes sparkle." Her company's culture emphasizes a balance between employees' work and their lives outside the office. Whether they take a foreign language or an art class, employees are given $1,000 a year to spend on personal growth and $1,000 to spend on wellness. She said these benefits were suggested by employees. New employees at Eileen Fisher, however, sometimes have had a hard time adjusting to some of the concepts behind the culture. For example, working after 5 p.m., except during certain crunch times, generally is not encouraged. "As a regular practice, we want people to have a full life outside of work," Schor said. "People are chided for working late. It takes a while for people to understand what we care about. It's not about working late. It's about doing the work that's important." Adjustments, nurturing key Cultures also need to evolve as a company does. As Eileen Fisher has grown from about 30 employees to more than 500, management has Schor said they have made a point of studying and adjusting the culture, Schor said. "We've looked at what we want to hold on to [from when the company was small]. And we've held on to collaboration," she said. "We've also looked at what we need to let go of." When the company was starting out, Schor said, everyone had direct contact with the founder, Eileen Fisher. That's no longer the case, but "we've empowered decision-making in others," she said. Goltz said the culture at Artists' Frame Service is based on mutual respect, integrity, enthusiasm and is customer-driven. Although he has defined his company's culture and mission, he said experience has shown him that it may not take much to disrupt it. "All it takes is one miserable person to screw it up," he said. "One person can take a whole company hostage. But no one speaks up, because that person has some power, and others feel that that person would be out to get them." Retribution, he said, "is the ugly side of corporate life." He said he tries to tackle this by being highly visible among his 100 employees and letting them know he wants to hear about problems. "You have to be out there," he said. "You have to train, coach and nurture. It's a 365-day-a-year job to make sure that someone will come to your office [when there's a concern]." Goltz said when the culture is his workplace has broken down, it was because an employee would not adhere to one of the basis tenants of mutual respect. "I had an employee who was really hardworking and always on time," he said. "But this person was disrespectful to other employees." He met with the employee over several months to try to get the person to change the behavior. "The person would agree with me, but they couldn't stop themselves from being condescending to other employees," he said. "There are just some people that don't play well with others." Accountability still important The culture at Kaleidoscope has occasionally hit some rough spots, too, Chiappetta said. Not everyone who is granted the chance to work in such a free and creative work environment is able to be responsible. "There are people who are highly creative, but almost too a fault. We've had people who've taken it too far. Accountability was something of an issue," he said. Instead of having job titles and definitions, the company tries to help people grow and succeed by having them list 10 of their own goals and create action plans. The goals, which are agreed to by management, "keep everyone on track. You know what's going on with them and what's important to them," said Chiappetta, who acknowledges that he tends to be an idea person who lists finishing projects he starts as one of his goals. After all, he said, "You can't lose sight that we are a business." One of the primary tenets of the company's culture is to serve clients well. Manocheo, the product designer, agreed that maintaining a culture that promotes freedom, teamwork and creativity is the responsibility of employees, and neither the company nor the culture will flourish unless clients are served. "The responsibility on our half is to get things done," Manocheo said. "Design is an applied art. We've got deadlines. We've got budgets." - - - Improving culture Define your culture. Experts say culture is more likely to succeed when employees know what it is and embrace it. At Eileen Fisher, an upscale women's apparel company in New York, culture is defined by four core values: providing for employees' individual growth, having a joyful atmosphere, collaboration and teamwork, and social consciousness. One way to see if a workplace culture is working is to watch what happens when the boss is away, said consultant Steven Worth. Encourage balance. Make a distinction between work lives and personal lives. At Eileen Fisher, employees are given $1,000 a year to spend on personal growth and $1,000 to spend on wellness, and they are discouraged from working past 5 p.m. Be visible. Let employees know that management wants to hear their ideas and problems. "Most of the best ideas come from when I'm just walking through the office and someone will stop me and say, `Hey, check this out,'" said Gary Chiappetta of Kaleidoscope, a Chicago-based design studio. Rethink hierarchy. Let the culture flow bottom-up as well as top-down. Rather than simply following orders, Worth said, "You want your employees to buy into the culture so they come forward with their best ideas." Get to know people. When interviewing prospective employees, Chiappetta looks beyond resumes. "I'll dig deep in their backgrounds. What was their first job? Were they working by 11 [years old]? Even if it was cutting grass or baby-sitting, it shows a good work ethic."
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