VARs Feel The Power Of Positive Reinforcement
Submitted by Ramin Edmond on

"We spend a lot of time talking about our culture… We empower people to set their own goals with a broader perspective, and then we make a lot of noise when people are successful. What keeps you working for somebody is when you get a lot of recognition for doing well ... and when you get a sense that your company cares about you, not just in terms of your profession, but also as a person."
Emery took-over as CEO when he bought the company in 2010. At the time, the barcoding VAR was garnering about $9 million in revenue. Since then, it has seen close to a 20 percent compound annual growth rate with $25 million in revenue in 2014 and a projected $30 million this year.
Emery says the company holds meetings to get feedback from employees on what management can do to improve the company culture and boost morale. Although he was tepid about the idea of the meetings at first, Emery found the meetings to be quite useful and has cited his company’s culture and practice of positive reinforcement towards employees as a reason for its success.
"One of my personal objectives is that Supply Chain Services should be a great place to work," he said. "You should come in every day thinking, 'I can’t wait to get to the office because it’s so much fun. It's so exciting.'"
When Emery bought the company, it had a total of 14 employees. All 14 people are still with the company, and the staff population has more than tripled to over 45.
"There will still be a bunch of people who don't care, but the people who do care about the future of the organization are there because they want it to be better," said Lisa Jackson, principal of Corporate Culture Pros, a culture and business performance consultant group that has worked with big-name companies such as AT&T, Avaya, Xerox, Sprint and more. "... If you draw on their heart and engage their heart in this -- that's magic."
Jackson says that culture can often be a "fluffy" conversation, but it drives real-life business performance effects that can hinder growth. To prevent growth drops, Jackson said an organization needs first to develop clarity across the whole business around how it perceives success. Second, the company needs to give employees input into strategy to build excitement and engagement. Finally, Jackson said companies need to bring the customer views into the strategy as well by talking to employees at the customer-facing pieces of the organization.