Three Tips for Combatting Supply Chain Challenges

This month we’ve teamed up with Tom Rioux to guest write a blog on issues all of our members are facing: Supply Chain.

The two biggest challenges we hear from EFBC members continue to be finding awesome team members and finding much-needed supplies and materials. And we’re not alone. A poll released in January of 2022 by Goldman Sachs found that 69 percent of small-business owners said issues with the supply chain have hurt their bottom lines. While we have amazing Strategic Partners who can help with recruiting strategies – we’re looking at you Psyched! – we had to look a bit farther to get insights on logistics. Guest contributor Tom Rioux of Rioux Safety & Logistics agreed to share his thoughts to help us all navigate these on-going supply chain hassles.

Be fastidious about your stocking levels

It is a common best practice to know exactly what supplies, materials and finished goods you have on hand. But most all of us can admit to moments when our efforts have become a bit, shall we say, lax? After the last two years, we all know the importance of keeping daily inventory totals. And then looking for any risks that may be on the horizon. Ask yourself, are we covered for the next couple of months? Can we handle surges in demand, holidays and who-knows-what should it happen? Is stockpiling an option if cash flow can absorb it? Which is the bigger risk – being caught with too much or being caught without enough? If we do add inventory, do we even have the space for it? While these used to be somewhat philosophical questions, today they are the types of conversations you should be discussing with your team most every day.

Let the courting begin

All those voicemails and emails from alternative vendors you’ve been deleting for years? It’s time to give them some of your attention. Even if your supply chain has mostly recovered to pre-pandemic shape, world events prove time and time again the need to always have another option. Single sourcing proved dangerous during the pandemic, dual sourcing faired better, having multiple other options proved best. It can take time to connect and vet suppliers so start courting those relationships long before you need them.

Get it together

In that same Goldman Sachs poll, 66% of those companies negatively impacted by supply chain issues agreed that suppliers were favoring larger businesses over smaller ones. One way to jump your place in line is to join a buying group. Many industries and segments have buying groups that allow smaller and independent companies to pool their purchasing power. Especially important in those segments with large, resource-guzzling companies in their midst, these groups do come with restrictions along with the perks so research fully before committing.

Bonus tip: Just communicate

One more tip that is always worth repeating: Communicate. Whether it is with suppliers or customers, a vast majority of the damage that is done to relationships isn’t because of unmet delivery dates or unkept promises. It is because of the lack of communication. Every organization up and down your supply chain is living through the same disruptions. So communicate clearly and often. And don’t forget to share your appreciation when an order goes right. Those moments need acknowledged now more than ever.

About Tom Rioux

Tom is a dynamic, high-performance team leader with unique skill set that he’s gained from over 25 years of logistics and manufacturing experience. He comes with over ten years of experience as an authorized OSHA instructor, Forklift Trainer Certification through The National Safety Council, and customized training for numerous areas of safety protocols and practices. Tom has a unique ability to encourage and motivate staff to excel within expectations and guidelines by serving as model for intuitiveness and creative problem solving.

President’s Letter: Spring has Sprung!

Things are starting to warm up, the smell in the air is fresher, and Spring is about to kick off. I love spring. Springtime reenergizes me about business and life. Although the economic outlook is seemingly volatile for the near future, I am trying to remain optimistic, and the change in weather is definitely helping. Baseball and other seasonal sports are starting back up, the NCAA brackets are in full swing, and golf is back on the local menu. Of course, my kids are getting anxious to be closer to summer break and I too will be happy to put winter behind me.

As the clock “springs forward” this season, my wife, Annette, and I have a few trips coming up to the Southwest that we’re looking forward to taking. We’re stoked for the multiple opportunities to travel together again, because like many others, we haven’t taken a real trip in a while. I’m excited to be with the whole family for my sister, Kerra’s wedding in Scottsdale next month, and then we’re off to try our luck in Vegas with my dad the following month. The opportunity to be back to traveling is slowly feeling like a return to semi-normalcy. Again, it’s slow, but I’ll take it!

We have some really solid events this Spring, and I am fired up to see our members and engage with our community once again, face-to-face. On 3/23, a Wealth Management panel and Annual Leadership award is being held at Elements in Naperville. The award is celebrating my predecessor, Nirel Inman, who served on the EFBC Board of Directors for four years. I’m also looking forward to making up for lost time and celebrating our extraordinary organization at our >25 Gala Celebration on May 7th. We’re ecstatic to finally celebrate our members

Plenty of additional programming and content coming up. It’s my hope to see as many of you as possible as we continue to add more educational opportunities. Please keep in mind any of your business associates, internal or external, that might benefit in attending these upcoming events. Spread the EFBC word!

Neil O’Donnell
VP of Business Development, Progressive Industries
EFBC President 2021-2022

Event Takeaways – Highlighting 4 from Strategies To Maximize Valuation

Last month, we partnered with Greg Stanley, the President and founder of Accelerant Consultants, for a sales workshop Inevitable Business Transition: Top Strategies To Maximize Valuation.

Greg has over 25 years’ experience in business and community leadership. His unique set of experiences gives him a deep understanding of leadership, strategy, sales, and marketing in both small and large company environments.

At the workshop, Greg revealed strategies to maximize the value of the company for business owners to gain the highest valuation during their business transition.

At some point, all business owners need an exit strategy, even if that just means transferring ownership of the company, ie when one owner decides to retire. Choosing an exit strategy for your business may not seem like an obvious step when you’re just starting out, but planning ahead is a vital aspect of growing a business. Planning ahead gives you more time to improve your business, processes, and value in order for the business to become more appealing for a sale. Additionally, it gives you greater confidence in your decisions when the time comes.

Below we’ve broken down some key takeaways from Greg’s workshop:

1. Intentionality starts at the beginning, and must be carried throughout all aspects of the business.

Always begin with a mission statement. What is the mission you want to achieve, what are the objectives you want to achieve within the mission, and how will you eventually reach the greater goal by completing smaller goals in the interim? Provide your sales team with a value proposition that’s effective, compelling and differentiating.

2. Understand what drives the value of the business and what makes your organization marketable/profitable.

Every decision you make should be based on the business’s mission to produce value. Once you understand your value, ensure to rely on those components as you are problem solving and streamlining your processes. Approach every decision with a high degree of intentionality and build a structure around it that enables an optimized sales and marketing function. Do you have a cohesive sales strategy that has defined targets and markets that the sales team is directed to pursue?

3. Hire and coach the right team.

The key is to hire the right people and ensure that everyone is trained and running the business in your image as the business owner. They should be executing in a way that does not put yourself, as the business owner, in a situation where you have to micromanage people, taskes, or processes. If you have to micromanage staff, you have the wrong people. Greg encourages business owners to think about hiring fewer people, but better people. Hiring the proper people, putting them in a position where their task is defined, and allowing them to perform their job all will help you gradually begin to exit from the business.

4. Integrate Sales & Marketing – Make sure the organization determines the customer portfolio and aligns its sales team to convert targets accordingly.

Marketing needs to be approached in the same manner as any other business investment; with a high level of intentionality, a high level of integration with the sales function, and with a goal to build a larger customer base as well as to grow within the existing customer base. While it is beneficial to have a relatively prolific brand, especially if you have a highly developed value proposition and can articulate that in the marketplace, it is also important to have a sales force that has the ability to back that up. Meaning a sales force that can create and cultivate relationships, understand customer issues, build trust with customers, have some cadence of contact that customers will appreciate, and will be viewed as valuable. Employees tasked with sales and marketing should be treated a fully integrated into the continuum for success within the organization.

Avoid These 5 Common Pitfalls During Your Succession Planning Process When Looking to Extract Value from Your Company

So, you’re a fan of “Succession” on HBO? Us too, purely for the entertainment! We never want to see a family business go through the drama that the Roy’s portray as they exhibit all the dangers of not having a succession planning process. Even though it can be daunting to try and answer, “What’s your number?” when it’s tied to both the value of your business and the amount you are seeking to extract after the sale or transition, there is no more important question for a business owner to decide. Luckily for us, our Strategic Partners have five pitfalls you can make sure to avoid during your succession planning process to not end up like the Roy’s!

“It’s hard to boil it down to one red flag but a common theme is a lack of trust. Perhaps the exiting party doesn’t trust the newcomer with certain information that will be critical to know as the business moves forward. Or the newcomer has his/her own ideas and doesn’t trust or acknowledge the expertise and experiences shared by the exiting party. A lack of trust amongst the major players will usually be a sign that significant hurdles are already in play even before the succession takes place.” – Karen Snodgrass, CPA, MBA, Principal at Cray Kaiser Ltd.

“The biggest red flag that the succession will not go well is lack of communication. There needs to be consistent, clear and candid discussions about the expectations and desired outcomes for all parties. It never works if we assume that we know what the other party is thinking!” – Mary Beth McLean CFP, MBA, Partner at Private Vista

“The first red flag we look for in the succession planning process is there being no buy-sell agreement in place to allow a non-participating family member to gracefully exit the business.” – Rachel Bossard, JD, Partner at Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C.

“Most often, we see business owners starting too late and not involving their entire team of advisors. If you make decisions in a vacuum and don’t discuss how they impact your goals for the next phase of life for you and your loved ones, you may take steps that don’t set you up in the best way. Knowing your number is one piece. Knowing what you are moving towards is equally important. How will you fill the day once you are not running your company? What will be your identity? Your purpose?” – Nicole Romito, CFP, CDFA, Partner at Private Vista

“From my experience, communication is the name of the game! Expectations are built off of information and information becomes relevant through communication. When we see a company whose ownership has a high level of communication and information sharing, the succession process will likely have more traction. Also, understanding that succession is not only a plan or a document but also a journey that will have a number of bends and discomfort along the way. A solid footing in ownership communication can smooth out many of these challenges. – Deanna Salo, CPA, Managing Principal at Cray Kaiser Ltd.

You Can’t Handle The Truth

Famous Jack Nicholson line from the 1992 movie, “A Few Good Men.”

The question for us is, “can we handle the truth? and from whom will we accept the truth?”  In these days of political correctness, and not wanting to rock the boat, how many people in your life are willing to give you the truth?  How many bosses, colleagues, direct reports are you willing to give the truth to?

Performance improvement requires feedback.  Continuous learning is built on measurements/judgements/conclusions and communication of such, providing the opportunity for improvement.  The fact is you can’t improve if you don’t know!

You can improve the chances of knowing what other people think by doing the following:

• Communicate your intentions – you want their feedback, opinions and perceptions
• Listen with the intent to understand when feedback is given
• Ask clarifying questions – differentiating the content and the packaging
• Do not defend or try to excuse the communication or behavior being discussed
• Show appreciation for the feedback provided

You can improve the chances of others wanting to know what you think by doing the following:

• Communicate your intentions – you are interested in their improvement and success
• Confirm the confidentiality of the conversation and the associated trust
• Communicate specifics including statements and behaviors
• Do not try and assume their intentions – ask for intention if appropriate
• Show appreciation for the feedback request

Everyone with whom you come into contact has a perception of you and an opinion of how you are performing in your professional or personal roles.  In your multiple life roles, stakeholders (people who expect something from you) have heard you say things, seen you do things and have at least some questions, if not preliminary conclusions based on those observations.  Their perceptions directly influence the status of your relationships with them today and into the future.

Can you handle the truth?  How easy have you made it for others to tell you the truth?  At least their truth?  How easy have you made it for others to accept your truth?

Be a person who can not only handle the truth but be trusted with the truth.  Get Psyched about the Truth!

-George Karavatuveetil, President, Psyched!

Meet Adriana Osorio, COO of Osorio Metals Supply, Inc.

Get to know Adriana, a new member of the EFBC.

Osorio Metals Supply, Inc.
Founded: 1999
Location: Chicago, IL

Tell us about your career leading up to where you are now:

My family started the business in 1992, so it has pretty much been my career from the beginning. I graduated from DePaul in 2015 where I studied business management with a concentration in entrepreneurship and have been here for the past 6 years now. It’s a family-owned business, with a total of 17 employees. I share a wall with my sister, and work with both my parents and my brother.

When I came to work here [Osorio Metals] I did not have an official role. It was just jumping in and let’s fix what we have. A lot of our processes were outdated, for example we were still using carbon copies to take orders down for customers. Remember those? The three-part ones; with the pink, yellow, and white sheets. For orders, you would do this long list of items that a customer needed, and you would put the totals and then times the quantity and then if they said “Oh no, I don’t want five, I want four” we would grab the white out, and white out everything and start over. It was just a mess. In addition, there was no inventory system, and our website was lacking. So, what I did was I rebranded the business first. I installed the point-of-sale system. And then I started building a relationship with a good accounting firm. I also worked on building a relationship with our banker so that we can continue to build capital for us to continue to grow. I don’t take credit for everything, because the hardest part was establishing the business, gathering a steady customer base, which I didn’t do. That was already done when I got here. I just focused on getting us into the 21st century. Technically, I still don’t have an official role, on paper COO, but basically, I would say I’m really into business development more than anything.

What do you like most about what you do?

I like that it’s not not monotonous. I wear a lot of hats, so I may, on one given day, touch on finance, on accounting, on sales, or even on purchasing. I find mills in Mexico and in Texas for us to get better pricing for our customers, so I’m building that relationship with these vendors. I’m currently installing another point-of-sale system because we’ve already outgrown our current system, that we set up six years ago, and I’m working on a new website. It’s always ever changing. I’m always working on another project, I’m always asking “What else the business need?” or “What else do we need to do to grow?” I am not in a role that constantly does the same work every day. Give me a project. Give me something hard. I just love being involved in a lot of things and then it’s always ever changing. Things that are challenging are what excite me.

How did you hear about the EFBC?

A good friend of ours, who’s also a vendor, Dave Westerman. He’d been telling us about this organization for years. When we would meet with him once a year for lunch, and year after year he would talk up the EFBC, and we would just say ‘yeah, okay, thanks, Dave.’ Well then recently, we attended a program, the 10,000 Small Business by Goldman Sach’s and I ran into another friend, Randy Kravitz, and I disclosed that I was looking for some help and he said ‘I am going to put you in contact with the EFBC’ so it’s kind of come full circle.

Why did you join, and what do you hope to gain from your membership?

So, when I reached out to Randy, I had a pain point. My pain point was a lot of family issues, a lot of organizational issues here at work and I said I need help. I was tired and was done trying to fix it myself. I needed outside help. I hope to gain knowledge. And what I meant by that is any sort of insight into how I can improve the business from fellow entrepreneurs who are in the same boat as I am. I’m like a sponge, I try to extract as much information I can and just soak it up. But I also hope to contribute in any which way I can. I sometimes feel like I don’t have enough experience. I’m young, I wonder “What am I going to say that’s really going to be like oh wow I learned something from her today?”, but I hope that maybe there will be something I say that will shed some light to someone. Lastly, I always love to surround myself with people that are like minded so even just making connections and building a wider network of quality individuals, of leaders, especially in family businesses, and I am excited to be a part of the EFBC!

Join us in welcoming Adriana to the EFBC community.

Dear Younger Self

Dear Younger Self,

Where do I even begin? You are about to embark on what may be the most challenging years of your life. I know the thought of our family business transitioning to the second generation – YOU! – fills you with equal parts excitement and dread. The thought of it might already be keeping you up at night. I know you are ready for dad to step back and terrified for him to do it, all at the same time. So know this – you will get through it all. You will be the one in three who makes it through this transition to the second generation with our family and our business intact. But I won’t lie, it won’t be easy and you’re going to make a lot of mistakes along the way. It’s okay, everyone does! Here’s what I wish I knew when I was you.

Listen. Really Listen.

Listen to dad, to mom, to the attorneys and the accountants. Listen to not only what is said, but what isn’t being said. Don’t listen to respond or to prepare to go on the defensive. Listen to understand, to empathize as best you can. Listen even when dad is being dad or you don’t agree with what the advisors are saying. Then, above all, listen to yourself. Listen to what you really need and want, not what you think you are supposed to want.

Jack of all Trades, Master of None….For Now

Buyer. Employee. Boss. Coworker. Spouse. Business Partner. And, most acutely, Child of a business owner. At any moment during this transition, you will wear every one of those hats – and usually all of them at the same time. Always be aware of the hat you are wearing, especially when the conversations get heated or the emotions run high (punctuated with a slammed door…or two). And don’t be afraid to take off a hat or two when you need to. Some days you will need to pause and simply be dad’s Child, no one else. That doesn’t make you any less of a Business Partner or a Buyer. It makes you ready for the complexities of being the Owner of our family business. This entire experience will make you more of a critical thinker, a stronger maker, and a better leader for our team.

Get Outta Here

Find a place outside of our family and away from our biz that supports you and energizes you. Look for people who give you the space to be vulnerable. Grow the circle of people you can rely on to include those who understand what it is like to live this crazy jumble of family interwoven with business but who don’t share our last name. I joined the Entrepreneur and Family Business Council at DePaul to have a better understanding of what owning a family business really means for all aspects of my life. I only wish I had joined sooner.

Stop Walking in His Footsteps

What dad built has obviously worked. We have a great company and lots to be proud of. But it’s okay to take risks and remake the company in your image, with dad as your trusty sidekick. Growing up, he would always say how much he enjoyed you working with him. Now you get to be the one driving and feel that same joy as he is along for your journey.

That entrepreneur spirit that pushed him to take this leap, is in your blood too. He felt the same nervous excitement that comes with knowing you’re responsible for your own success. You’ve watched and grown over the years to develop the critical thinking skills to face new challenges head on. You’re ready.

Know that we will all benefit from trying new things that you, not dad, create. And most of all, know that we’ll continue to grow together, as a business and as a family.

All my love,

Your Older Self

President’s Letter: EFBC >25 Gala

Hey, everyone!

In preparation for our upcoming GALA event on May 7th, I am flooded with memories from our last Gala, where we celebrated our 20th anniversary back in 2014! And we had a blast! The Liautaud’s founder, of the then CFBC, Jim, was celebrated and presented with a lifetime achievement award from the Council. The year was 2014, Bob Carmody was President, my TAU forum mate Gina Krusinski was the current first VP and former TAU member Jeff Connor was the 2nd VP. During the event, Gina Krusinski, as the first VP, gave a moving speech. These are just a couple individuals amongst a group of great friends that have provided me with the knowledge and courage to take the President position myself. I was young, but it left an imprint and inspired my future leadership within the organization. Libations flowed, we were downtown, everyone danced to live music; by all accounts it was a heck of a bash!

But, wow, does that last gala seem like a distant memory…one that we are going to do our best to repeat this year. This year we’re calling it “Greater than 25”. The math dictates that we should have had the party 2 years ago, but an event in May of 2020 at this caliber was not in the cards So now we have a chance to make up for lost time. There will be dancing, tasty food and drinks, a toast to those that we appreciate, and more. This year is the time to get back together, mingle, do the things we’ve all been missing. I am excited to have time with some fun people and a little normalcy. This gala is a black-tie event where we celebrate you; our members, strategic partners, Gala sponsors and staff in one spectacular event. I, for one, am really looking forward to seeing people that I haven’t seen, some in nearly two years and to meeting new people and dancing the night away with my wife, Annette.

I hope to see you all there! Bring your significant others, family, friends, and employees to celebrate. Anyone that wants to get out there and enjoy themselves with a solid group that knows how to have a good time is welcome. The more the merrier!

Cheers,

Neil O’Donnell

EFBC President ‘21/’22

Meet Kornel Grygo, CEO of Tasty Catering

Get to know Kornel, a new member of the EFBC.

Tasty Catering
Founded: 1989
Location: Elk Grove Village, IL

Tell us about your career leading up to where you are now:

I started at Tasty in 2007, and officially became CEO January of 2019.

I graduated high school in ‘04. I took a little break from school and worked some different jobs. And I quickly figured out that not getting an education is not the best route for my future. So in 2007 I decided to go back to school and attended UIC, where I studied Business Management. At the time, I was looking for something that’s really flexible with my schedule. And my girlfriend at the time, is a niece of the Walter brothers, who own Tasty Catering. I started off at Tasty as a delivery driver. At the time I was in school full time and working full time. Tasty is a 24-hour, 7 day a week operation, so I was able to easily work full time.

I remained in that role until I graduated, which was 2012. At that point, I was promoted to Director of Logistics, in charge of our delivery staff, fleet maintenance, and part of the leadership team. Throughout the years, I fell in love with the company. They always took care of the people, were always culture focused. I actually approached Tom Walter, who was the CEO at the time, and is the current owner and said “hey, I want your job, what do we have to do?”. We then worked together to create a timeline and metrics I had to achieve to in order to prepare myself for that position. I have held almost every position at tasty, so I understand the whole operation and a lot of the staff here have been together for a long time.

What do you like most about what you do?

I really like the daily challenges. It’s always something. And obviously we’re in a food business, so the pandemic had a huge impact on our business. It’s easy, a lot of times, to focus on the negatives, but there are also a lot of positives in our business that allowed us all to get closer and work through the challenges we faced in 2020 and to this day. It helped us focus and really live our culture and ‘walk the talk’. It allowed us to focus on the core values and the principles we always preach about. Everybody says, ‘we take care of people’. When your business drops 85% overnight and you know that you are not making a lot of layoffs, you focus your efforts on investing in the team. It was hard, especially not knowing what’s going to happen day-to-day, week-to-week, hour by hour is just kind of made us all closer. We follow those core values, and we follow our mission, and we all care about each other and it’s just, well, that’s kind of been the biggest story for us. We’re always looking through the lens of ‘hey, this is a challenge and how can we learn from it and make our company better as a result’.

How did you hear about the EFBC?

I believe Tasty has been involved with EFBC since the beginning, back when EFBC was at UIC, and was the Chicago Family Business Council. Tom Walter has always been associated with it. Tasty has always been a family-owned company, so I think that’s what drew the Walter brothers to the organization originally. Once I stepped into some of these leadership roles after college that’s when I got involved with EFBC. I was in charge of the sales team, so that was my first introduction to some of the educational programming. I was able to participate in the sales roundtables.

Why did you join, and what do you hope to gain from your membership?

In the past few years, as I have taken on this leadership role, I appreciate being able to understand and talk to other business leaders, and to have that support and that shared experience, which is critical because you know sometimes leaders feel alone. You have a lot of pressure because at the end of the day, I’m responsible for everything that happens under this roof, every employee and all their family members. I can lean on the members of EFBC, other leaders, without judgement. I appreciate the most the shared experience piece. There is no advice or how you should do things, rather there is the opportunity to listen to what works in other organizations so that our team can then take that back to our company and determine what would work best for us. Every organization is different, so just hearing those stories is invaluable.

I just try to continue to grow and to become a better leader and person. That is what I continue to look forward to in my membership. Educational programming really forces you to think. What can I take from this? How can I use this in our organization? Will this work for us? The community is also great. You have so many members. At any time, I can just pick up a phone and pick someone’s brain about something I am struggling with and it’s far less isolating, it’s that relationship piece that I highly value. I can surround myself with people that can help me, can hold me accountable.

Join us in welcoming Kornel to the EFBC community.

Looking for Qualified Candidates? Our EFBC Members Share Their Best Tips for Recruitment

Recruiting and hiring qualified candidates, that fit the culture of your organization, can be challenging. Whether your organization is experiencing turnover, potentially from retirements, or experiencing growth, being able to find the right people for the job takes a successful recruitment strategy in order for your business to succeed.

If there is one thing that all EFBC members have in common, it is brilliant minds. And whether it’s through forums, roundtable events, or one-on-one conversations, the beauty of EFBC is that our individual experiences are shared with other business owners and team members. Utilizing our community, we reached out and gathered the best tips, shared by members, on strategies, tips, or tricks, they have found successful over the past year. The following is what they had to say:

• Alex Argianas, Argianas & Associates – Putting homework in the job posting. It has weeded out everyone who doesn’t follow directions. In our job postings, we will include a simple direction for them to follow such as sending an email to us with their favorite Chicago building and asking them to identify some grammatical errors in the posting. So far, I’ve had one person who successfully completed it, everyone else has not. To be honest, I’ll never go back to not having that in my postings, no one reads! And if no one is reading, then you know for sure that they’re not taking it as seriously as you may, and/or, they’re not really wanting the job that bad.

• Rachel Bossard, Burke, Warren, MacKay, & Serritella, P.C. – We do our best to convey what sets our firm apart from the rest. When candidates hear a common theme from several people, it really resonates.

• Kim Schrader, Vaxcel International Co.,Ltd. – Our strategy is to have multiple resources to recruit candidates. This could be agencies, employee referral programs, postings on Indeed, LinkedIn, other sites, and looking internally. Also, know the characteristics and skills you are looking for and hire a candidate that fits both. We have found that both culture and skills are important, and we take our time to find the right candidate.

• Sara Curry, Interra Global – Hands down our greatest success rate has been from employee referrals. Our team knows best what type of individuals and skillsets can thrive and likewise help our company grow. We tell our employees not to think about any position we may or may not be recruiting for. Instead, explore their network and focus on a potential candidate as a good culture fit. If they are a good fit and we like them, we will find the position. We have an employee referral program, but more importantly, we continually encourage everyone to take ownership in helping grow our team.

• George Karavattuveetil, Psyched! – Be very intentional and clear in communicating your organization’s values in recruitment efforts. These are the “must-haves” and not the “nice to have.” They provide the critical foundation for job descriptions and role success, integrated into every aspect of the organization. If it’s RESPECT, how does it show up on a daily basis? If it’s ACCOUNTABILITY, how will it be recognized? The potential candidates who have or want a culture driven by the identified values will be attracted and excited. While the ones who don’t will increasingly be repulsed. It’s your choice what you present to the world!

• Amanda Baker, Performance Plus – Each candidate is there to sell themselves as the “best candidate” however, if you don’t have someone who can “talk shop” with them, we may be wasting time and money on training the wrong candidate. We are usually experts in people, not their skills. Additionally, the first interview will be the “best” you will ever see them so, if you ask them back for a second interview (maybe to talk shop with the manager) you will see how they present themselves. If it is the same, you may have a good fit, if they have become more relaxed in the presentation of themselves, take that into consideration.

• Tracy Olsen, Nova Fire Protection – This past year we have tried to involve more stakeholders in the interview process. Previously, a new hire was onboarded and only one person outside of HR was involved. Involving others has allowed roles to be more clearly defined and expectations are set across the board. The collaborative and transparent approach is definitely a game-changer for us.