One of the best things about being on the team at SOLV is the fact that I get to participate in events like this: the first annual Queens of the Greens golf tournament – a Women in Leadership event launched this year by the Meridian Chamber of Commerce.
Presenting the donation to the WCA
Together with the Chamber, the other event sponsors, and over 150 amazing women from the local community, we helped to raise $5,295 to donate to the Women’s and Children’s Alliance – and this was just the first year! I may not be the most confident golfer (yet!) – but I had a great time connecting with so many great people at the event, and I couldn’t be more proud of the result of our efforts!
Karri & Tracy from our Marketing Team at Hole 18!
Thank you so much to the Chamber for creating this event, and to everyone who participated! I’m already looking forward to next year!
“I noticed during the pandemic that there was a real focus on being genuine, authentic, just who you are,” Tressa McLaughlin says. “And when Matt and Tracy approached me about bringing the website in-house and updating our brand so it’s more ‘us,’ it was exactly what we needed. Having these two know they can work off each other has enhanced the brand from where it was in 2017.”
Additional initiatives such as SOLV’s internal employee engagement program Adventure Trek (which landed the company one of Brand Chain’s 2021 PEAK Awards), free in-person and virtual events such as Brand Discovery and the Connected Community membership group all foster the reputation and inclusivity of SOLV.
SOLV’s company culture of collaboration, out-of-the-box problem solving and creating community is reflected in both its outward-facing customer service approach and internal work environment, which brings an authenticity to everything they do, Tressa McLaughlin notes.
“What is the bravest thing you’ve ever said?” asked the boy. “Help,” said the horse. “Asking for help isn’t giving up,” said the horse. “It’s refusing to give up.”
Every year we focus on a book to inspire us and find ways to improve our culture and ourselves. We buy a copy for each employee, and we revisit concepts and themes in our meetings and trainings throughout the year. In the past, we’ve read inspiring true stories like The Boys in the Boat, I’ll Push You, Unbroken. We’ve read business books like The Convenience Revolution.
This year we chose The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. It’s different from anything we’ve chosen before – more pictures and few words, yet jam-packed with lessons that apply to work and life. This post shares why I recommend you read this book and apply it with your team.
What the book is about
From the Amazon description: “Charlie Mackesy offers inspiration and hope in uncertain times in this beautiful book, following the tale of a curious boy, a greedy mole, a wary fox and a wise horse who find themselves together in sometimes difficult terrain, sharing their greatest fears and biggest discoveries about vulnerability, kindness, hope, friendship and love.”
How the idea came about
At a Vistage retreat last August, my facilitator read some excerpts from this book and had us all talk about how it applied to us in life. He wasn’t answering any questions or telling us what he felt, just asking thought provoking questions about what we saw and how we could use it.
It struck me right away that this could be a great book for our team. It’s simple, it’s easy to read. You can read it multiple times and it can be practical, not only at work, but also at home.
I thought it would be a fun change from the things that we’ve done in the past that don’t necessarily hold value for everyone. I wanted something that would be completely different than the true story of overcoming a challenge or a book that’s strictly about behaviors at work – something more altruistic and bigger than yourself to figure out how you could operate differently at work and at home.
This is a book that you can keep going back to and still get value out of it, and it’s so enjoyable that you want to go back to it.
How we use the book with our team
We asked everyone to read the book by the end of January, and people keep bringing up themes from the book in meetings and discussions. Some days, that’s as simple as “cake” – something the Mole brings up often, which you could read as a reminder to take comfort in simple pleasures. Our team has a wicked sense of humor, and “cake” has become shorthand for “I’m having a hard day and could use some support”.
We discussed the book in one of our weekly Tuesday Teams meetings – complete with mini bundt cakes to drive the theme home. We broke into groups and gave each group one of the characters in the book to discuss:
What do you think are the top strengths of this character?
How do they use those strengths to help the other characters?
What strengths in the other characters do they lean on?
I loved the effort everyone put into it. You could see what they were thinking about and how they used some of the tools that we already have as resources.
That really helped the team see how they can apply these lessons in different situations, using these characters to think about how we’re all different and how to balance our strengths as a team. It takes big ideas and makes them more of an easy, clear path you can understand, instead of just big thoughts circling around out there that you don’t know how to put to work.
Results so far
I think it’s been a great choice. I’ve seen people relating back to the ideas to think differently about the people that they’re working with – how their strengths and their teammates’ strengths can be used to support each other. You have four different characters in the book, four very different personalities, and they’re all trying to get along and move forward together. We apply those lessons every day.
Who should read this book?
I would recommend it to other business leaders who value teamwork as a part of their culture. I think it’s a great tool for helping people understand that everyone has good intent, and how to use that good intent to move forward. Even if you have different personalities or different ways of behaving, it shows you that you can all still get along even when you have someone in a group that could disrupt.
For example:
I think the Fox could be a huge disruptor, but when someone laid out a path for him to be a kind member of the team that was useful, they went down that path together. They chose not to exclude him even though he seemed scary and disruptive, and he became a valued part of the group.
What job positions and roles would benefit from applying something like this in their organization?
Everyone from top to bottom. A leader can use it to learn more about humanity and develop their guiding, leading, and coaching skills. Individuals, team members, and managers can do the same thing. It gives you a new perspective on how to work with your team to get the results that you want, and still feel the love and the vulnerability to be who you are.
Part of the reason why SOLV is such a great place to work is the focus on being human first. We put a lot of effort into understanding and working within that acceptance of who you are instead of trying to get you to be someone else. Some people might see that as fluff, but there is a business case for that focus.
I’m not a super fluffy person. I like black and white. However, when I read this book, I clearly saw how you could find a life lesson in each part of it – and how those lessons can make us more effective as a team.
“I’m so small,” said the mole. “Yes,” said the boy, “but you make a huge difference.”
Every individual is unique, and every individual contributes differently to the team. If you don’t have a universal acceptance of that, if people are rigid and siloed, you lose everything that they could contribute to help grow their position and the company.
Who shouldn’t read this book?
I don’t think this is a good book for a business leader who doesn’t value culture and teamwork, only wants production and looks at people as a number. Any other business leader who values culture? Read it. Share it.
My favorite thing about this book
The element I really appreciate most is reaching out and asking for help. We all need to feel good and to feel like we’re contributing, and sometimes you have to be vulnerable to get what you need.
“Sometimes I think you believe in me more than I do” said the boy. “You’ll catch up” said the horse.”
As a business leader, whether you know it or not, you are building a company culture. The time and effort you put into it is going to determine the outcome of the culture you have.
Creating a great culture takes work
Culture doesn’t just happen. It’s not something that’s “foo-foo” or “touchy-feely.” It’s hard work. It takes a lot of energy, creativity, and hard knocks. You have to try things, to see what resonates, to see what works. And it’s a continuing learning path that you have to be on.
What it takes to create a supportive work environment
If you’re not willing to devote time, money, and service to creating a great culture, you’re going to get what you get. And that’s not the culture that you want. You don’t want to be running a company and sit back 20 years later and wonder what happened.
We spend so much time at work. If you don’t enjoy where you work and who you’re surrounded by, you’re not going to operate well. I suppose you can come in and punch a clock and be a number, but that’s a terrible way to spend your life.
So we work at it. We keep repeating those same themes in our daily language, and in our daily activity.
The role of team-building activities in a strong company culture
One of the most critical factors in the success of our company culture is that we have a CORE team that keeps us energized and motivated with monthly activities. We do barbecues and all sorts of different things to keep people motivated and working together. And then we also evaluate our teammates through that culture lens. How are we contributing to driving us forward?
Once you get people bought into that culture, you can make great strides. I’ve noticed a huge change in how we operate because we’re taking the time.
We’re looking at each other, we’re able to discuss issues better, and we’re able to discuss challenges. We rally around each other when somebody’s having a bad day or a bad week, when a project goes sideways, when we need extra help. It’s just a really great way to commit to being great teammates for each other and keep your business moving forward.
Ever struggled with managing employee apparel orders? One of our clients did, and we stepped in to help. We developed a tailored employee apparel order solution (complete with allowance tracking and reporting) that transformed their cumbersome process into a smooth, efficient system. Our user-friendly online order management portal was key to this success.
(It even won us a Brand Chain PEAK Award for “Best Technology Solution to a Client Problem”!) Here’s the rundown of the challenge our customer was facing and the SOLV Solution that resulted in a big win for everyone!
Common challenges with employee order sites
One-size-fits-all solutions with little customization
Our client has always offered their employees a budget to spend on company apparel. They wanted to work with a local Idaho business to provide timely, personal service customized for their specific business needs rather than the out-of-state, one-size-fits-all employee order solution they had relied on in the past.
Their existing solution was working, to a degree. They were able to provide their employees company apparel. However, the process was creating significant additional work on the back end. Orders were bagged and labeled with the employee’s name, but they weren’t separated by location. This cost our client’s management and administrative team hours upon hours sorting through 1,000+ items, separating and shipping them to their four locations.
Lack of employee allowance tracking & reporting
We discovered another critical issue in their employee allowance system. The company gave a certain allowance to each employee as a gift during each order cycle. However, their previous vendor did not provide tracking on how much of that allowance was used by each individual employee. This left the management and admin teams the task of wading through hundreds of employee orders to determine who spent money beyond their allowance in order to recoup the cost through payroll deduction.
Non-inclusive user experience for employees
As another point to consider, our customer had many non-English speaking employees, so having a site that was easy to use and navigate was critical for creating a positive user experience.
SOLV’s Employee Apparel Order Solution to the rescue!
SOLV created a brand-new online employee order site for our client’s employees. We created a unique user account for each employee, pre-loading the company-provided allowances, and collecting any overage immediately via credit card. This eliminated any need for our client to track the individual orders and collect additional funds through payroll deductions.
We designed the new employee order site to be intuitive and easy to navigate, and we provided a simple, visual instruction guide (with screen shots) for our client to share with employees. This helped relieve the stress of language barriers and reduced the need to spend time answering employee questions about how to order. Finally, we incorporated our own proven order processing and inventory management systems to handle the entire order, from sourcing to decorating to sorting and distribution for each of their four locations.
The Results
Our client saved numerous hours that had been spent manually sorting orders, tracking allowance usage, and setting up payroll deductions for their twice-a-year employee apparel orders. They also received fewer employee questions on how to place an order because of the easy-to-use interface. Our in-house e-Commerce team was there to quickly troubleshoot any problems that did arise. Employees were able to manage their orders and pay on the spot for anything over their allotted allowance, giving them a frustration-free experience and making their work day even more pleasant.
Could an online employee order solution resolve similar issues for you?
