Issue: To create a cohesive organization with a consistent culture throughout all companies within a business unit

Solution: An initial servant leadership process was conducted to create a shared vision, define values, and launch the message throughout the business unit

Results: An enthusiastic servant leadership team with solid commitment to their goals and a Gung Ho! mindset among employees

Taylor Corporation is one of the largest interactive print and marketing solutions providers in North America. One of their major business units provides services in three markets: gift and loyalty cards, lenticular printing or “pictures in motion” and retail graphics, offering signage in major brand stores.

Companies within Taylor Corporation are run by entrepreneurial leaders. This business unit comprises multiple companies with varied cultures, and leadership came to Mark Deterding, Executive Vice President, Taylor Corporation, for his input because of his expertise in the area of driving a purpose driven, values based culture that is consistent throughout the organization.

Deterding shared with the leadership team some servant leadership principles that he’d been exposed to during his previous work with The Ken Blanchard Companies. In addition, he shared the principles of Gung Ho!—a purpose-driven, values-based process that assists leaders in unleashing energy and creating environments where people can thrive, serve their customers, and have fun doing it.

Soon, Deterding and company leaders were looking for ways to drive and implement the process and as a result formed a partnership with Blanchard.

The first step was conducting a climate survey which revealed the organization was lacking in trust, relationships, accountability, and a common purpose. Clearly the organization needed to create a sense of openness and vulnerability in its leaders. Secondly, the organization needed to create a sense of connection and passion around its mission and purpose. Finally, it needed to create clarity around the values, behaviors, and accountability necessary to support the culture.

Working with Blanchard facilitators, the organization crafted a set of values that everyone could support. In the end the organization settled on Respect, Passion, Always a Better Way, Shared Accountability and Responsibility, Relationships, and Living the Environment. Next, they defined the behaviors that would support these values. To keep the message alive, the company’s new tag line, I’m Gung Ho!, became part of an internal marketing campaign and was branded on posters, water bottles, pins, and cups.

Business unit leadership played a strong role in modeling the behaviors they wanted employees to emulate. And a second climate survey geared to collect information from employees on how leadership was doing yielded positive feedback and surfaced issues around improvements needed in sharing information, keeping commitments, and creating a non-blaming environment.

A key focus was cheering each other on, so rewards were created to recognize people exhibiting the specific behaviors the organization knew it wanted.

Today, the senior leadership team is continually modeling behavior, collaborating, holding each other accountable, addressing areas of concern, and celebrating successes. This torch is also being passed to additional levels of leadership to steward the change process.

In addition, Blanchard utilized training and coaching to help the initiative gain traction. Deterding maintains that support through The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Coaching program was and continues to be essential. He has utilized this program for nearly 5 years to keep him on track and prevent him from stepping back into old ways. He says, “It’s not natural being a servant leader, but it’s so rewarding as you continue to see the difference it’s making as you go through the process.” Deterding believes that an important part of the process is to openly practice daily and get intoned to asking for feedback and being open to that feedback. “Only then,” he says, “can you successfully drive these points to the results that you want.”

By making the decision to embark on this journey, this business unit within Taylor has created a shared vision, defined its values, and launched a cohesive message throughout the organization. Using the Gung Ho! process to train managers, along with an extensive internal communications campaign, they have been able to shift from a hierarchal structure with a controlling management style to one that features empowered teams, individuals taking ownership, and leaders demonstrating trust. They also integrated the values into the performance management system, which has improved communication between managers and their employees.

Although still in the early stages, the business unit is already experiencing improved efficiencies, employee work passion, customer service, and a record year in terms of revenue. But the organization believes that what really matters is that each employee, one-by-one, has experienced a difference in their lives on what it means to not only have values, but live them each and every day, at work and at home.

Deterding believes, “It’s about moving from success to significance and recognizing what truly is important every day. The impact that you had on some individual’s life somewhere along the way to help them be better with their families, or their organization, or community—that’s the difference.”

A company Purchasing Director stated, “I’ve developed a better awareness of my own actions with dealing with my peers, my team, my managers, and others, including my own family.”

Another employee shared, “I realize that this is only the beginning in what will be a longer personal and professional journey towards being a better person inside and out.”

But perhaps the most telling testimonial is the shift in every individual’s perspective of the organization’s purpose. If you ask most employees what they believed their purpose to be prior to the Gung Ho! journey, you were likely to hear, “We print on plastic, we print gift cards, and we print lenticular for our customers to help them succeed.” It is far cry from the new purpose: “We create moments of surprise and delight that entertain and engage in innovative and unique ways.”