Here in Southeast Massachusetts, we love our New England Patriots. Since 2000, when coach Bill Belichick took over, they’ve appeared in seven Super Bowls and won five. Belichick has been a huge part of that success. Why? Because of the culture he promotes. He knows that success doesn’t just come from his actions or what the players do on the field, but from every member of the Patriots organization. Everyone has a role to play, and he refers to them all as “shareholders.” Collectively, everyone believes in the same values that push the team forward toward success.
The same goes for the success of any company culture, and it’s the way we feel we’ve built a strong culture here at Landscape America. Our mission is to cultivate a culture of excellence by challenging ourselves to do our very best work every day in service of our clients – helping create opportunities for busy, driven folks to find and enjoy that beautiful space outdoors. We can’t complete this mission every day unless everyone who works here believes in it. And we do. We hire people who deeply understand this mission. As leaders, my brother Andy and I live this mission, and our employees see it – we talk the talk and walk the walk. Here are the core principles we believe in when it comes to establishing a company culture, and keep at the front of our minds every day:
1. Hire for character first, skill second.
Sure, a strong skill set has to be there, we have to know they’re going to do a good job, but sometimes the most skilled person is not the best person for the job, in our opinion. We’d prefer the candidate who shares our vision and passion, someone we sense will be a great addition to our team. That can be much harder to find. The easy part — this is something we firmly believe in — is investing in those passionate candidates by offering whatever training they need to improve or hone their skill sets.
2. Serve our staff.
Leaders are often viewed as the people who give orders. While there’s certainly an element of that in our leadership style, we believe it has to work, to some extent, the other way around, as well. That’s not to say we encourage our employees to give us orders, but we encourage them to speak their minds, offer suggestions, be creative. We’re here to listen to and support them.
3. Create strong bonds.
We hire people we enjoy being around, and we hope they enjoy being around us. For that reason, we’re not the types to wave goodbye to our employees at the end of the day and forget about them until the next morning. We consider them friends, and we invite them to staff BBQ’s and socials, along with their families.
Ultimately, we want Landscape America to be more than just a place to work. We’ve strived to make it a family and a lifestyle, where we all come together with passion and expertise to achieve the same goal: to serve our clients’ desires for beautiful outdoor spaces.
