Part leadership guru, part therapist, and part event coordinator, Access Systems’ culture ambassadors play a big role in ensuring our positive work culture within all our branches as we grow.
The Access CAs will lead the charge of giving back to the communities where they work. As Access Systems has rapidly expanded across the Midwest, we brainstormed on how we can keep our culture consistent and not lost from branch to branch, commonly called “growing pains”. The idea came to us at a coffee shop: a leader, or leaders, from each branch could be nominated based on their attitude, leadership skills, and overall exceeding at their primary job duties. These chosen people had a very important job bestowed upon them: to not only create ties and support within the community, but also to make the people at Access feel like one big family.
Leadership Guru
The Culture Ambassadors continue to meet monthly using Microsoft Teams. The first Thursday of every month, the 18 dedicated team member's head into work to catch up on all the Access news while also getting the opportunity to share their own updates. This is when company updates are debriefed, allowing the CAs to relay the information to their teams and streamlining communication, bringing in the “Leadership Guru” part of the job requirements. With the constantly changing work environment during the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to keep every employee “in the know”, which kept the morale up during such a challenging time.
Event Planner
CA’s can volunteer to talk about what they’re doing in their community or offices to stay connected and active in the community. It’s a great way to see what everyone is up to, and to snag ideas from the other branches! The ambassadors share things like what fundraisers they’re supporting, donation drives for things like clothes and school supplies, even doing “Adopt-a-Highway”. Each ambassador was required to submit at least one Access Cares request that Access would be able to support throughout the year.
And of course, the “Party Planner” portion of the Culture Ambassador job description comes into play. CA’s oversee planning employee appreciation events, such as pizza parties and ice cream truck visits. Often, we receive pictures of branches having potlucks and grill outs (yum!) or groups of coworkers going to fundraising events to support numerous causes in their communities.
Almost daily, the Teams Culture Ambassador chat is filled with ideas, questions, and "friendly" competition. Everyone loves being able to show off the things they’re doing with, and for, their community. The added benefit is giving everyone else great ideas, too. The “Look how many items of clothing we donated!” or “We had this many people volunteer to package meals!” remind us of what Access Systems culture is truly about. We are so grateful for the Culture Ambassadors passion to foster culture within their branch as well as providing new and innovative ways to raise the bar even higher.
Whether you are starting a new position at a company, or you have been there for many years, having a strong culture is key to your continued success. Work culture is hard to put into words, there is no one way to have strong work culture. It’s something that you can feel, witness, and participate in. It’s the bonds, relationships, and trust built not only between the departments you work in, but between the entire company. Culture Ambassadors work hard to keep their branches connected and to create an unbroken channel of unity. Around the offices, everyone not only knows each other’s names, they know their spouse’s names, their kid’s names, they create friendships that extend deeper than just being coworkers. Being a part of a company that actively pushes for a strong culture and is always looking to improve, creates a strong and engaging workplace, one many are proud and thankful to be a part of.