Shoelaces showed John Rotche how to build culture.
When he bought a one-van air duct cleaning company, Rotche asked an industry pro how to set his business apart.
“He said, ‘I focus on the little things, and it’s the little things that added up to make one huge thing,’” says Rotche, who remembers the man opening a closet to reveal shoelaces of every length. “He said, ‘If [technicians] see that my attention to detail goes down to the color of their shoelaces, that sends such a message … and it just escalates from there.’”
Now, Rotche serves as president of BELFOR Franchise Group — an $18 million operation that includes the air duct cleaning franchise DUCTZ International LLC and its kitchen exhaust cleaning sister HOODZ International LLC.
The culture comes down to the little things.
“If we can do our part, focusing on every culture-building opportunity that we can, it makes for a great place to work,” Rotche says.
Smart Business spoke to Rotche about empowering employees to build culture.
Invite little things. I let the team [determine the culture]. First thing, you’ve got to be ethical and have integrity, but it’s got to be fun as well as productive.
We often ask, ‘Hey, what else can we do to make this really fun?’ People come up with, ‘Let’s bring our dogs to work. Let’s do barbecues. Let’s make cookies.’
It’s out of empowerment. If they make a decision and it’s about building culture, as long as it’s ethical, I will never challenge it.
We purposely created a lot of lounge areas around the building for people to come together and communicate. We built a kitchen in the center of our building purposely, because where does everyone hang out at grandma’s house? In the kitchen. One of our team members really enjoys fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, so she would always make a batch. There was not a strategic initiative surrounding this, but … everyone loves having fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. Why not in a corporate environment?
So we encourage new ideas from people. But the most important thing to do is never squash a bad idea. Make one person feel lousy about a not-so-good idea; watch how quick people put their heads in the sand and don’t talk.
Even bad ideas, there’s a certain strand of logic or at least spirit. Say, ‘Hey, you know what I love about the idea is that you’ve thought enough to share it and to think out of the box. It may not work in this particular instance, but good for you, and thanks for sharing it.’ It comes down to respect.
