Michael Kent is a big believer in the idea that employee satisfaction plays a big role in a company’s ability to succeed in the
marketplace. As such, the CEO of PromoWorks LLC, a Chicago-based marketing services provider, pays extra attention to
creating a culture aimed at giving his staff a sense of comfort, fulfillment and belonging. Founded just eight years ago,
PromoWorks posted 2006 revenue of $172.5 million and was recognized earlier this year as the nation’s No. 2 promotion agency
by PROMO magazine. Kent, who is proud to know each of PromoWorks’ nearly 400 full-time employees by name, says a leader’s
approachability and openness are significant factors in developing an environment in which employees have no doubt that their
contributions are recognized and appreciated. Smart Business spoke with Kent about the benefits of creating a family culture and
the importance of leading by example.
Set the vision and reinforce it to everyone in the
organization. My leadership style is one of
setting a vision at a very high level with our
managers and guiding them down the path
of driving that vision to the rest of their
departments and their employees to get a
cultural buy-in from the entire organization. I’m not a person who is hands-on on a
regular basis. We’ve got great people and
great leaders, and my job is to set the
vision, set the values, set the tone of the
organization and support them in driving
home that message, those values and that
vision to the rest of the employees.
It may seem elementary to some extent,
but we do management meetings with the
department heads monthly, we do all-employee quarterly meetings in a town-hall
setting, and we also have a company
newsletter that’s distributed monthly that
highlights certain departments and the latest initiatives from a business standpoint.
We’ve grown over 1,000 percent in the
last five years, and we are close to 400 full-time employees and 33,000 part-time
employees. Having that touch point with
your CEO gives employees a sense of buyin, in that it shows that management and
leadership cares. They care enough to take
the time to lay out their vision and values
for everybody from the top of the ladder to
the newest employee. We’ve found that
having that type of connection with the
employees while still empowering your
managers to lead the day-to-day operations
gives you a full range of support from a
brand-new person all the way up to your
partner.
Make work feel like home. Culture is a benefit
in that what it does is create an opportunity for people to look at their jobs not as a
job but to look at it as a career and to look
at it as an integral part of the success of the
company.
Let’s face it. The two biggest things we do
from a time perspective in our daily lives
are work and sleep. We all think about the
time we want to get out of work and go
home and spend with our families, and that’s extremely important, but the way
that I look at our company and our culture
is that this is their second family.
We want to create a culture here where
people are excited to come to work to see
their second family on a daily basis, they
want to contribute to their family’s success
and want to feel like they are a contributing
factor, instead of somebody who shows up
and punches a clock and then leaves and
goes home.
We have really created almost a family
culture internally in that we do a number of
things extracurricularwise for the company outside of work. We have a number of
softball teams, bowling teams, volleyball
teams, basketball teams during the various
seasons, we have a number of company
functions with clients where everybody
participates and is involved, so that everyone feels like they’re part of the business
and that they’re a contributing factor in
driving the success of the company.
Leave no man behind. We’re not necessarily a
family business, but what I mean by a family culture is that in these town-hall meetings, it’s almost like a ‘no man left behind’
type of attitude.
We want people to participate in the success of the company, and in doing so, in
having these town-hall meetings and having company functions where we can interact with each other outside of work, we
create bonds beyond just the 9 to 5 of the
workday. There is a culture here that everyone has each other’s back.
Not everyone is going to be on their A-game on a daily basis, but when you have a
culture of support, such as what we have
here, that’s able to substantiate itself
throughout the business cycle. There’s a
real camaraderie and dedication to a common goal of achieving extraordinary
results through ordinary processes.
Lead by example. If you can’t perform a task
or are not willing to step up and do it, why
would your employees want to do it?
You walk the talk and you maintain a
large amount of humility and common
sense as you’re approaching the business because as your companies grow,
the newest people that come in to the
company view the CEO and the senior
management as a group that’s not
approachable or maybe untouchable.
That is the complete opposite of the
approach here in that I’m just as comfortable leading a high-level board meeting or client call as I am hosting our company picnic.
One thing that all key leaders share
with each other is a vision for what they
want to accomplish and a passion to be
able to execute it. A leader’s actions
speak louder than his words.
People can see your vision because you
have communicated it to them, and your
passion is evident in the way you conduct
yourself to accomplish that vision.
HOW TO REACH: PromoWorks LLC, (888) 310-3555 or
www.promoworks.com