Selecting an Agency Based on Culture: Building a Team Around Respect, Trust and Shared Values
By Roxanne Leone, Director, Marketing & Communications
You can either work at developing a company’s culture, or leave it evolve on its own. The problem with allowing culture to take its own course is that it can go drastically off course!
In my experience, a positive culture always stems from leadership. At Bob Gold & Associates, a boutique-sized PR and marketing agency, we have leadership demonstrate our values through action rather than words. In fact, our company’s culture has earned us the honor of being names in the Work Culture List for Community Connections by Cablefax.
Our fearless leader is Bob Gold. He sets the tone for the agency and when he’s smiling, we’re smiling. Aside from being the PR guru that he is, he’s the individual that sets process and policy to stay on course. Yet, he also makes unique perks available to build camaraderie. The office opens at 8:30am and after servicing our clients’ immediate needs, distributing news releases, and screening high-priority emails, the staff meets in the lounge at around 9:30am for our ‘productivity’ walk. The office line is forwarded to a mobile phone, and we are off on a quick jaunt to Peet’s Coffee just two blocks from the office and the beach. There’s no better way to demonstrate respect for your colleagues than by being a good listener, helping problem solve a client issue or discussing a new biz opportunity, and it’s an expense that hits the BG&A tab!
Our VP, Communications, Chris Huppertz, has ownership of hiring, training and mentoring employees. Huppertz has been able to build trusting relationships with our team, has formalized training, and created an environment where collaboration and teamwork are crucial for success. To keep our creative juices flowing, one of his favorite team-building initiatives was hitting the beach for some sun and bodysurfing. Huppertz is an amazing role model and was the recipient of both a Bulldog Award and PR News Rising PR Star Award.
At Bob Gold & Associates we all share a growth mindset. We invest in nurturing our team members personally and professionally, so we’re able to pull together our unique talents and deliver impressive results for our clients while sharing some laughs.
After spending countless years in corporate communications roles for Fortune 500 companies, I can tell you this – don’t hire an agency, hire a culture. Understanding our core values including collaboration, innovation and proactivity will help you gauge what kind of partnership we will have.
