Create a family culture
Back in 1980, it was easy to have a family culture because with only a few employees, they pretty much were family. They ate lunch together, and as the company grew, Diamond saw her employees grow up and have children and progress in life.
“You just grow together,” she says. “You have your dream. You work hard, but there’s also a fun atmosphere here.”
Now that she has about 370 employees, she can’t eat lunch with all of them every day, but there are other ways to build a culture so that employees feel like family to each other.
Start with something as simple as your name. Do you prefer people to call you by a formal name or title?
“It’s never Mrs. Diamond — I think I’d faint,” she says. “It’s Jeanie.”
For instance, if someone called Diamond “Mrs. Diamond,” she wouldn’t be OK with that, and her response would quickly show people how she wants to be related to.
“I don’t turn around — you’ve got to be kidding,” she says. “That’s my mother-in-law, who’s not here anymore.”
By not requesting formalities when people refer to you, that’s the first step. Next, look at your space. At SED, everything is open. In fact, only the chief financial officer and Diamond have private offices, but they’re rarely even in their offices.
“When you have this open atmosphere, you can’t help but walk across the room and say, ‘Hey, I need help,’” she says.
Once you have an open space, then you have to look at how you emphasize titles.
“I’ve always had a saying that a lot of us have titles [like] vice president — I have a glorious title today of CEO and chairman — but I’ve always said, ‘Leave your titles in the parking lot,’” Diamond says. “Come in here without the titles, with one goal, and that’s to grow the company, to achieve and to be proud of what we do and what we’ve created.”
One way to de-emphasize titles is to have a casual dress code. SED encourages casual dress, and with everyone in jeans, everyone pretty much looks alike. It’s harder to look down on someone if they’re dressed just like you.
Next, it’s important to encourage people all the time. For example, each day Diamond starts by looking at a sales report. If she sees that someone did particularly well the day prior, then she makes sure to tell them so.
“If I see a salesperson — whether it’s a really a new hire or someone that’s been with us for a year or two or three — and they’ve had a great day, I’ll tell them, ‘You’ve had a great day, congratulations,’” Diamond says. “It’s a pat on the back. It’s not rehearsed; it just happens.”
When you encourage people, then it lets them know that you care about them, so they’re more likely to come to you when they have a problem. Because Diamond takes time to do that, they know that she will also be there for them when trouble strikes.
“Whether it’s a personal problem or something about a dealer or customer of ours that needs special help, I’m always there to listen and try to do my best to solve it,” she says.
That lets people know that she’s just as much a part of the team as they are, and it helps foster the family atmosphere.
When you’ve taken the time to do all of these things, you have to bring new people into it as quickly as possible to make them feel comfortable.
“If you’re here for a day or 30 years, we’re here to help one another and communicate,” Diamond says.
When new employees are hired, Diamond brings sandwiches in and has lunch with them in the conference room. She tells them about how the company started and how it grew and even why her husband chose Atlanta as opposed to other locations. She also shares the company’s goals and encourages them to come and talk to her anytime.
“We sit around the table for a good hour,” she says. “They get to know me, and I get to know them, and they’re comfortable.”
