As the second-generation owner and operator has taken the lead, CIP’s Director of Employee Engagement, Joe Pitts was looking for a way to increase employee connection without decreasing productivity among a 65-person staff.
“We started honing in on our culture and what we wanted it to look like for the foreseeable future. A big part of my job was helping to create the mission and the vision statement, and the values, but we found that the biggest challenge was communicating that down through the organization.” - Joe Pitts, Director of Employee Engagement at Carolina Industrial Products
Communication is key for employees to own and execute the mission and the vision at an organization.
With a workforce that is largely male, Joe found it challenging to communicate the mission and the vision in a way that was tangible to CIP employees. Gaining employee buy-in for a more intentional culture would take more than one conversation.
“I think when I started, I based the majority of my strategy on relationships. I knew that the only way to get [the vision and the mission] across to these guys was through genuine, authentic relationships, by really rolling up my sleeves and being willing to get in the trenches with them and learn what it is they do every day.” - Joe Pitts
Relational leadership is strategic leadership.
Joe began spending intentional time with the CIP team. He listened to and encouraged their feedback and conveyed that he cared about their development, but he soon realized that this was a practice that the entire organization could benefit from.
While in a whiteboard meeting with other CIP leaders, they came to the conclusion that the best way to communicate the company mission, vision and values would be through one-on-one meetings. That’s when Joe discovered Leadr.
“We said we have to have these regular interactions with people to make sure that the message is consistent and not only that, but that they know we care about them and what's going on with them.” - Joe Pitts
Leadr makes employee care and development easy.
“It really was like hitting the ‘easy button.’ The heart behind Leadr lined up really well with what we’re trying to do and I love that. It seems like you guys start with the heart and not so much the method or the structure that you've already established.” - Joe Pitts
Joe found, through working with the Leadr team, that the software was flexible and could be adapted to fit CIP’s individual needs as an organization. He maintained that the Leadr software is very user-friendly for the entire CIP team.
“I think that was what made it the easiest thing to sell it to some of my peers, as well as to some of the people in the organization was just how user friendly it was.” - Joe Pitts
Leadr provides a “life-giving structure” to organizational processes.
Since implementing Leadr, Joe has found that he’s been more organized in his role as the Director of Employee Engagement. Joe emphasized that Leadr software has provided a “life-giving structure” for CIP employees and has helped him stay connected to the team at large. Joe explained that utilizing Leadr hasn’t only helped with 1:1 meetings, but has given great structure to CIP group meetings, as well.
“It's also helped us with our group meetings. We have a weekly director meeting that we use it for and, before Leadr, our director meeting would usually take place once a week from nine to about three. After Leadr, it's gone down [three hours] to nine to 12, and that's simply because we all come prepared.” - Joe Pitts
Joe mentioned the great help that the meeting agenda feature has been to the CIP leadership team. CIP leaders are able to stay on topic in meetings and focus without having to take notes because everyone is on the same page about the agenda.
When asked what he’d say to HR Directors or Line Managers who are considering trying Leadr, Joe maintained that Leadr gives structure to a mindset and a culture that must already be in place.
“I think the first thing you've got to do is you have to focus on culture, and you have to create the culture that you want, and I think you do that by focusing on relationships. That's where Leadr can help you.” - Joe Pitts
If you’re looking for a tool that helps you develop and care for every member of your team within one simple, intuitive place, we’d love to show you how Leadr does just that. Request a demo with our team today.
