Culture change at Peterson-Cat: Interview with Tom Bagwell, VP of Marketing and Training

Q: What motivated Peterson-Cat to bring in a culture change program into your company?

A: Its been an exceptionally tough economy - we were hit hard. It hit the whole industry hard. While we were enduring the toughest time hopefully in my lifetime, we also acquired four other companies. The challenge that our Leadership faced was how to integrate these other companies into our culture - we were absolutely struggling. No raises, no bonuses, not much fun was being had at Peterson, but we needed something that could break down the silos and get us talking and believing in each other. At one point, our 75 year old construction equipment dealership had nearly half the workforce with less than three years tenure with Peterson. How do you get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet spread out over five companies and forty plus locations? We needed a miracle.

Q: How did you introduce the Brand Champion Program?

So there I was sitting down with the Executive Leadership Team in our annual Strategy Meeting and the topic shifted to what Marketing could do to roll out our (two year old) strategy. We've done the traditional marketing communications:  posters (check),  postcards (check) intranet (check) e-mail reminders (check) business meetings (check), etc... 15 pairs of eyes looked at me as the "expert" in communications and our CEO said, what can we do to get the employees to embrace our strategy?  In a somewhat resigned, defiant and definitely sarcastic tone I said, "Do you want new posters?" - or do you want what it really is going to take to make a difference?  I looked around the table and said, " Half of us were not involved in the development of the strategy, everyone but you (CEO) has a new position with the company after the reorganization" " I know you live, eat and breath the strategy, you sweated blood and tears over each word of our values, mission, vision and strategy, I didn't.  To me they are words on the wall - I don't really know what they mean.  What we need is for everyone to personalize and live these values - as if they are  their own values.  Everyone needs to take ownership of those words and tell their own stories of what Customer First, Integrity, Excellence, Teamwork, and Fun mean (Peterson Cat's values).  What we need if for everyone to believe that they make a difference, that they are absolutely valued and have a role at Peterson."  I wasn't sure quite where I was headed, but I remembered what changed me from being a manager who earned the moniker ("Satan's Soldier" - no joke) to one that believes that my team is absolutely incredible.  Then I continued, "What we need is 1,200 employees who make a difference with our customers and each other every day. We need to have our employees understand that these are not only Peterson's values - they are their own values."

With that the CEO asked, what are you recommending?  I told him about Professor  Rittenberg's work - the value of building a culture of supportive excellence based on empathy, humanity and integrity.  I told him that for all of our employees to get it, it was important that we (Leadership Team) get it". From there, it started with a lunch at the Berkeley Faculty Club with Prof Rittenberg and our CEO... and me.

Q: Tell me about the reactions that your Leadership Team had when they were first exposed to the program?

A:  I was VERY Nervous. Here's the scene: 15 very accomplished, tough construction guys sitting in a room without any tables, only chairs, an hour before the class starts. The questions could be heard, both through their voice and body language, "What the heck is this?" " I'm too busy to be wasting my time" - Fill in any question you think a very busy executive would have and we had it, too. Just like what I've seen Prof Rittenberg do before in terms of connecting to the group, he did it again. I remember the skeptical eyes looking at him trying to gather evidence to reinforce their initial impressions only to hear Prof Rittenberg say, "This is about profitability, customer satisfaction and employee engagement - this is about real business results - I've left the beads in Berkeley and we will not be hugging any trees. This is about what it means to be an Authentic Leader, this is about listening, connection, empathy, inspiration and motivation. This is about seeing the possibilities of what your employees can do, its about awakening the people who've given up or are coasting.  Its about looking in the mirror and saying, "What have I done to make it better for my team?". By the end of the day, I and everyone else  knew more about each other then we've ever known before. It was like we were getting to really know each other for the first time. Executives who have worked together over 20 years now just beginning to understand makes each other tick. It was incredible.

Q: What were the next steps?

A: Immediately after the session, the CEO, COO, myself and Prof Rittenberg sat in my office and the CEO said, "Where do we go from here?" and Prof Rittenberg said, "Everyone goes to class. If they push a broom, they go to class. Everyone becomes part of the Brand Champion Program". It took my breath away, was I really hearing this? Were we really going to train everyone? As I worked with Rittenberg's team to figure how a program like that might work, Executives, one by one, came up to me and said, "We need this." " Don't stop!"  "When is it going to be rolled out?" I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Real conversations were happening, results were showing an impact.

Q: What was the motivation to roll out the Brand Champion Program to all employees?

A: When we decided to roll this out to the Managers as the next level, there was hesitation:  "how can we afford it?" Our COO understood the concern and said in an e-mail to all the managers, "Great question! We are still in uncertain times, and while results are getting better, we're not where we need to be. Peterson is getting very little help from the economy and many of our customers are struggling as well. Put these all together and we realize we can't wait for someone or something else to make things better for us - we're going to have to do it ourselves! It is our belief that we need to fully embrace Peterson's strategy - to be Customer First, strive for Excellence, embrace Teamwork with Integrity while having Fun. We need to make sure that everyone at Peterson can live, practice and espouse our values on a daily basis - we are going to take charge of our destiny. By working together, we can fully take advantage of our significant competitive advantages we have in the marketplace to reach our strategic and financial goals. Simply put, the cost of not doing this training is greater than the cost of doing it.  We must move forward with our strategy." Amazing!!!!!

Stay posted to see the impact of Brand Champion in future newsletters!