Fargo INC! June 2019 by Spotlight Media

JUNE 2019

Wanzekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Executive Vice President Rob Lee and other local business leaders have some suggestions on how to build a captivating company culture.

cultivating

BNG Team | Wanzek Construction | Vance Thompson Vision | Labor Masters

// JUNE 2019

COVER STORY

25 Cultivating Culture

What is workplace culture? How do you cultivate it in your business no matter the number of employees in your office? We sit down with businesses of all sizes and learn how they have created a great company culture in their offices and how that allows them to grow as a business. So grab your notebooks and get ready to create your own business culture checklist.

FEATURES 48 Flourish Wellness How do you encourage health and well-being in all your employees? Flourish Wellness has some thoughts on that. 52 What’s Old Is New Again 54 Collaboration Wins: Taking Action to Expand our Community’s Workforce How the United Way and other organizations are working to solve our workforce problem. 58 What the Caseys Learned About M&A Casey Glandt and Casey McCullough recently merged their two companies and have some advice for other businesses considering a merger and/or acquisition. 62 Independent Contractors are Great for your Business … Unless they are Technically Employees

64 Employee Health Insurance: How Middaugh Benefits Consulting Helps Employers Navigate the Mess 68 Business Advice from an Unlikely Industry What business insight can a funeral director give you? Surprisingly, a lot. 72 Ladyboss of the Month: Dr. Faith Ngunjiri 74 Faces of Fargo Business

78 Three Summer Events to Enhance Your Company Culture 82 Recapping North Dakota’s Legislative Session 84 7 Ways to Turn Your Staff into a Social Media Army 88 Steve Dusek: 9 Tips to My Younger Self 91 Business Events Calendar

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What more can be said about

CULTURE?

here have been countless books written about it. Every business strives to perfect it. Most businesses fall short. It can make or break a company. Culture is one of the biggest buzzwords in office talk. In this magazine, you'll find lots of great content on that topic. However, I wanted to present eight of my favorite quotes from this month's issue about creating a great culture.

"I have learned to be clear about where we are going, what our vision is and what that means every day to live that vision. I am thankful we had the chance to redefine our culture at Wanzek into a culture that strives to be the best and deliver excellence to our employees, communities and clients." - Rob Lee, Wanzek Construction

"If you are fortunate enough and you pick the right people to surround yourself with, there is no drama."

"This building, for us, one of the big messages we wanted to send was that people matter. I've got a wife and five kids and I can tell them that I love them, but if I don't show them, it doesn't mean anything. I can tell our team that they matter, that they are important, but if we don't show them, it doesn't mean anything. This building was one big statement and we wanted to invest in our team home for the entire team to enjoy. We're putting them first. It embodies us." - Brady Nash, BNG

- Nancy Kelly, Labor Masters

"It's really all about people and that, on a great team, the sum is greater than the parts. So when you create a great culture, the power of people really starts to show through." - Dr. Michael Greenwood, Vance Thompson Vision

"These (core business) beliefs are displayed throughout our building. Our conference rooms are even named after the same seven beliefs. The beliefs are interwoven into the annual engagement survey, performance reviews, interview questions and incentive plans. They are more than just words, they truly impact how we attract, reward and retain employees." - Rob Lee, Wanzek Construction

"I really believe there's greatness in everybody. If you create an environment where they feel this culture of safety to allow their opinions to come out and allow their inner greatness to show that sometimes they didn't even realize that they had. Can you imagine how purposeful that makes them feel about their work journey and the atmosphere that it creates?" - Vance Thompson, Vance Thompson Vision

"We want everybody to feel good, feel happy and feel they can work hard, have a good day and earn a good wage." - Nancy Kelly, Labor Masters

"We're looking at values. When we interview, we look at the person and see if they're a fit and then what are their skills. Just because you're a nice guy and you kind of fit, it doesn't mean you can be in the business. At the same time, I don't care how smart or talented someone is, if they don't hit those core values, they can't be in here. Every time we've looked at or hired someone based on rĂŠsumĂŠ alone, it's blown up in our face." - Brady Nash, BNG

Andrew Jason, Editorial Director 10

JUNE 2019

Andrew@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

EDITORIAL BOARD We at Fargo INC! want to make sure our content is unbiased and reflects the FMWF business community. That's why we meet regularly with our six-member editorial board to discuss local business issues and trends and ensure we are living up to our core values.

STEVE DUSEK

JOHN MACHACEK

Dakota Business Lending

Greater FM Economic Development Corporation

President & CEO

Perhaps one of the greatest opportunities that we as humans have is the ability to learn from one another. Throughout the business world particularly, we interact with a diverse variety of industries daily and work with them to better provide for the community. This month’s edition and focus on culture and how we cultivate that in our respective companies, is not only timely but critical to the ongoing success of any business. It is also one of those areas businesses often overlook. In my years as a business leader, I have spent a great amount of time reflecting and refining the different ways that I can work to better cultivate the mission of Dakota Business Lending, which starts with some of the most important aspects of the business: our employees. As business leaders, one of our key responsibilities is to better cultivate our employees to learn, grow, and become the best they can be – both professionally and personally. To do anything less would be considered a failure. This month, let’s spend some time reflecting on how we can better cultivate our employees to grow into what they are made to be; the best version of themselves.

JUNE 2019

Chief Innovation Officer

I've been looking forward to reading this edition. There are so many different layers and varying factors for a workplace culture that may depend on organizational or departmental size, ownership structure, industry, customers, company mission and etc., etc., etc. many times over. Expectations by employees and customers are everevolving, so status-quo of yesteryear may not cut it anymore. The obvious main layer of workplace culture primarily starts near the top and is the environment created for its employees. Employers hope a good culture makes happy and productive employees who then choose to stay at the company. A by-product of good company culture is employee retention. Part of the company culture may be tangible things like a nice office and good benefits. Those are important but that good culture also needs the intangibles like respect, trust, good relationships and honest communication. As individuals and Cities and organizations, we can also all play our roles in cultivating a good community culture.

GREGORY WALD

CRAIG WHITNEY

Moore Engineering, Inc.

FMWF Chamber of Commerce

Communications Manager

When James Madison was preparing for the Constitutional Convention in 1787, he asked Thomas Jefferson for advice. Jefferson was in France at the time and sent Madison dozens of books to review. Not only did Madison read all those books, he annotated and made elaborate notes on each. Madison’s diligence and brilliance in that room led history to acknowledge him as the Father of the Constitution. Consider his legacy for a moment. It’s difficult to overstate. In a room of luminaries, Madison distinguished himself and emerged indispensable. How? He was prepared, disciplined and tackled tedious tasks by building a deep body of knowledge. He studied governance models, understood the challenges of the fledgling nation and crafted the three branches of separated powers that govern us today. If you want to build things that are world-class and durable, strive to be the most prepared person in whatever room you find yourself.

President and CEO

Our chamber has had a busy – and exciting – last month! In May, our newsletter, The Bridge, received the Publication of the Year Award at the 2019 Mid-America Chamber Executives (MACE) conference in Sioux Falls. Then, two of our staff were recognized at the YWCA’s Women of the Year Awards. Katie Mastel, our public policy coordinator, won in the category of Young Woman of Today & Tomorrow. I am so proud of the accomplishments of our great Chamber team!

KRISTI HUBER President

United Way of Cass-Clay

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Over the past decade, this quote attributed to management guru Peter Drucker has been adopted by many as leadership 101. The real challenge with culture is how to keep the core values of an organization at the center while at the same time encouraging flexibility in how culture is “lived out” by the workforce an organization is looking to attract, grow and retain. One of the best ways for leaders to amplify their team’s culture is to prioritize employee engagement in their community. C-level leaders often overlook the opportunity of volunteering alongside their employees. Setting the example and providing flexibility for your employees to volunteer encourages authenticity and builds trust. Recent Gallup research showed that while a high-trust culture has a positive effect on all generations, the impact is much higher on Millennials—88 percent of younger employees say a high-trust culture would influence them to stay long-term. I encourage you to review the article “The Key to Unlocking Your Organization’s Talent,” which appeared in the April 2019 issue of Fargo INC. Explore how United Way is providing a solution for organizations looking to engage their employees and “live out” their culture.

TIM BEATON

Executive Director

FM Area Foundation

A good company culture is key to a successful workplace. I once heard the phrase, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” and it has stuck with me throughout the years. When looking at your company’s overall strategy, a positive corporate culture should be a priority. This helps in attracting and retaining talent. One of our core values at the FM Area Foundation is caring and connecting, which we strive to do inside our organization and with those we serve.

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Instead of showing us their latest projects, this month we asked area home professionals to let us into their own homes. These industry superstars spend their work-week making clients' homes beautiful, but in this issue, we took a closer look into the places they call home.

There is no shortage of things going on as the weather warms here in Fargo-Moorhead. How do you know where to go, what to eat and what to do all summer? Do not fret! We have you covered with our version of the ultimate Fargo summer, complete with patios, food trucks, music, events and so much more. What are you waiting for? Get out and enjoy the summer in the Red River Valley!

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bngteam.com 3285 47th Street South, Fargo

The BNG Team BNG WANTED TO PROVIDE FOR AND REWARD THEIR EMPLOYEES FOR THEIR EXCELLENT WORK. SO, THEY BUILT A WORKPLACE MECCA.

he story behind BNG is a remarkable one. From a start-up created by three college dropouts, the business solutions company has taken off into a nationally-recognized company. Not only is BNG recognized for its ability to get the proper results for their clients with an extremely talented team, but their company culture is second to none. Culture and the people creating it have always been the focus for as long as BNG has been around. Owner and CEO Brady Nash, along with owners Ryan Goodman and Tyler Buechler believe that people create the culture. While their tremendous new space in south Fargo is a marvel, the BNG guys see it as a reward for their employees. They are putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to employee appreciation and acknowledgment. This high-tech workspace is the biggest step in that direction yet for BNG.

JUNE 2019

1 Don’t build a new space for the sake of building a new space. Everyone wants a new workspace or some variation of that. Whether that be a new office chair, a bigger desk or more places to collaborate, workspace is a key factor in employees enjoying their job. However, some businesses see a new space as a necessity over reward for their employee’s hard work. That is not the case at BNG. Not only was the new space a reward to their employees, but also a necessity in some aspects. Regardless, it is a place that makes employees proud. “Having a place where people are proud to come to, we do

business nationally, so we don’t have tons of walk-in clients. The place we had before wasn’t bad, but it was pretty boxy around corners and walls,” said CEO Brady Nash. “Here, the energy, we’ve got a lot of glass in here, it’s open, but we have private space. We worked really hard to give people the adequate things they need when they need to focus, collaborate or even have fun spaces.” When creating what kind of workspace they wanted, Nash and the BNG team wanted to tell the company’s story in the process. “This building is really unique and we also want to tell the story. We’re a business solutions company, we help entrepreneurs and businesses succeed. We help them grow and decrease costs. The story and the example of this also help facilitate a lot of that creativeness,” he said. “Creativity, how do you solve a problem? That has a lot to do with our culture and who we hire. We have ambition, we don’t want

micromanagers, we wanted people that we didn’t have to motivate every day.” In the end, the reasoning behind the building is people. Nash says that people always come first at BNG. “This building, for us, one of the big messages we wanted to send was that people matter. I’ve got a wife and five kids and I can tell them that I love them, but if I don’t show them, it doesn’t mean anything,” Nash said. “I can tell our team that they matter, that they are important, but if we don’t show them, it doesn’t mean anything. This building was one big statement and we wanted to invest in our team home for the entire team to enjoy. We’re putting them first. It embodies us.” Business Check If you are building/moving into a new workplace or thinking about building/ moving into a new workplace, what are your motives? Do you see it as a necessity or a reward for your employees?

(From Left) BNG Owners Tyler Buechler, Brady Nash and Ryan Goodman

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Made to look like the inside of a freight container, this meeting space is a place for BNG employees to collaborate.

2 Big, shiny objects are not culture. Many workplaces put a great deal of weight on having cool things in their office. From ping pong tables to darts and everything in between, many believe this is the end all and be all for culture. Unfortunately, that could not be further from the actual case. As the old saying goes “all that glitters, is not gold.” BNG has those cool things in their office, no doubt. Not only do they have arcade games, but they have a virtual reality room, basketball court, movie theater, full gym, adult slides and more. Again, Nash and BNG see those things like perks and not what defines their culture. Andy Henderson, Chief Marketing Officer for BNG says the culture has been around at BNG long before the basketball court and other trimmings were installed. “Culture is the people, the building didn’t create the culture. The culture was already thriving

JUNE 2019

at BNG long before this was built,” he said. “However, this building has amplified everything that was really strong about BNG before.” Nash agrees with Henderson in that vein, but is quick to point out that BNG is a “work hard, play hard” office. “The building, toys and stuff, it isn’t the culture. It is the people and the energy. We’ve worked so hard for so long and we have such amazing people, this was me wanting to reward our team. This building is really embodying our team,” Nash said about the various “toys” around the office. “I will put our team’s work ethic up against anyone. We enjoy what we do. Making money is great, but if we can have these things, why not give it to our whole team? Why not give back to your team? Why not help the people that have helped you make this dream a reality? Why not help fulfill their dreams?” Another one of those perks is hiring a Dream Manager. This new position is gaining steam in businesses around the country. At BNG, former Real Truck President Jeff Vanlaningham is

their Dream Manager. “We hired a Dream Manager and his whole focus and role is to help people realize what their dreams are, what are their goals and how can we help them achieve those goals. It doesn’t have to have anything to do with the business, it can be anything,” said Nash of the Dream Manager position. “Maybe their dream takes them out of BNG, I’m okay with that. I don’t want to lose high-level people, but it’s really embracing that life is too short, people matter and I want people to look back at BNG and say this was one of the best blessings of their life.” Nash gives a nice summation of why BNG puts so much precedence on their people. To him, they’re worth the investment. “No one cares if you had $70 million in the bank, it’s how you treat people. Having a facility that embraces that and that example,” he said. Business Check What “toys” do you have in your office? Are they serving the purpose you intended them to have?

3 Build your business around core values and employees that embody those values. BNG lives by five core values. Integrity, excellence, ambition, creativity and happy and grateful. These values take precedence over anything when Nash and company are looking to hire someone new. He also notes that not hiring people who fit BNG’s core values is his biggest fear. “You find your core values and you find people that fit that. Happy and grateful is a huge value for me. I don’t care how smart or talented someone is, they can’t be a jerk,” he said. “What scares me is as we grow is how much the wrong person can start fires. It scares the crap out of me.” While hiring and firing in that fashion may seem unique to some, it’s the way it has always

been at BNG. As noted above, it’s people above everything else. “A significant effort went into identifying those core values and they have been disciplined in finding people who match that,” said Andy Henderson. “Who are you? Who are we? Identify that and find people who match those traits. It’s easy to have a culture because we’re all the same people.” “It’s always been that way. The reason we succeed is our ability to get really talented people. We succeeded because we were so driven and we hired rockstar talented people. As we grew and mature, we really needed to change our process. You can’t do that in one day, it’s about scalability,” Nash said. “We’ve always believed in people and we’re probably the opposite of a lot of businesses. We started off with recurring revenue. Most businesses are trying to get into that business model now. That was our start. In a lot of ways, we’re very fortunate as to how we got into the business.” Business Check Do you have core values? And are you hiring/firing based on those core values?

This conference room is wrapped in coding language. Beneath the table are computer keys scrawling out various messages.

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4 Do not try to be something you’re not. Many strive to have a culture and business like BNG. However, as Nash (or any business owner) will tell you, no two businesses are alike. Each owner and CEO are different. Because of this, Nash says you need to build your culture around those management level professionals. “It’s a big mistake for someone to copy us. It’s so important that the founders and the owners find out who they are. Who are they, who do they want to be and what are they going to stick to? You can find examples of businesses that have been successful and have failed in any business model. You can look at us and say we’re successful because we focus on people, the arcade machines and all that. That’s not why we’re successful,” he said. “Some people would hate working for a company like us. They want to clock in, focus, deliver and they don’t joke around. We laugh a lot in

JUNE 2019

our meetings, we have a lot of fun. So culture needs to embody the owners and management so that it trickles down and is consistent, so people know what they are expecting. I think when people try to be something they’re not, that’s a problem and that’s where you get a lot of conflicts because you get a lot of different types of personalities.” Consistency is a big key for Brady Nash and BNG. He also says that consistency should be key in every aspect of a business. Having that consistency creates a more fluid workplace. “We’re looking at values. When we interview, we look at the person and see if they’re a fit and then what are their skills. Just because you’re a nice guy and you kind of fit, it doesn’t mean you can be in the business,” he said. “At the same time, I don’t care how smart or talented someone is, if they don’t hit those core values, they can’t be in here. Every time we’ve looked at or hired someone based on résumé alone, it’s blown up in our face.” Business Check Have you structured your culture around the owners, founders, etc? Or is it being dictated by something else?

These slides go up three floors at the new BNG office.

5 Do not sacrifice your team’s sanity for an extra dollar. Perhaps what makes BNG so impressive is how selfless the entire team is. From the owners on down, the team is not entirely focused on making money. For Nash, success has 100 different faces, not just one. In a business climate that is often built on greed and how much profit one can make, BNG has a refreshing approach. “How do you define success? Unfortunately, when it comes to publicly traded companies, it’s based upon numbers. What I love about us is that we’re a private company. Yes, we want to make money, but it’s not how much money we make,” Nash said. “I want to grow, I want to build a $1 billion company, but not at the cost of our people and our culture. I’d rather be a $100 million company known for taking care of people than a $1 billion company known for screwing people over. Not only saying it but living it too.” There are not too many American business owners that would say what Brady Nash said above. That being said, BNG and its team is a rarity. Their company culture is not defined by the neat things in their office or their fancy new building. It will always be about people first, not profits. Business Check Would you sacrifice profits to ensure the security of your employees and your company’s culture?

vance thompson vision WITH A LOVE FOR THEIR EMPLOYEES AND A FAMILY-LIKE ATMOSPHERE, VANCE THOMPSON VISION IS REWRITING THE BOOK ON BUSINESS CULTURE. vancethompsonvision.com 505 32nd Ave. E. Ste. B, West Fargo

JUNE 2019

ance Thompson Vision has blossomed from a Sioux Falls-based medical office to regional business. With offices sprouting up across the Midwest, the growth of the business has no doubt had its challenges for founder Vance Thompson. However, with the idea of a “work family” in place across the entire company, the various offices are tied together. The Fargo office just opened a brand new space, one that was a full team effort. Dr. Michael Greenwood and Clinic Director Amy Joy, who head up the Fargo office, have their team in mind every step of the way. With an already well-established workplace culture, the Fargo branch of Vance Thompson Vision has only seen workplace happiness grow in their new office.

1 Collaborate with your employees on a potential new space. A new space is key in workplace happiness and productivity. When Vance Thompson Vision was looking to move their Fargo office, they wanted one that would continue to uphold their culture and cater to their patients. However, goal number one was creating a space that employees wanted to come to five days a week. “If you are at a place that you don’t want to come to, then you’re not going to be thrilled to be there and then you’re not going to do a very good job. Then the people who are down the line, in our case patients, aren’t going to have a good experience and then they’re

going to leave and then that’s going to trickle down to the people that they run into,” said Dr. Greenwood. “On the flip side, if you’ve got a place that’s warm, welcoming and fun to go to, you look forward to it. I love this new space because the staff just has everything that they want. And you can see it on their faces, they have a bounce in their step and they can actually take steps now where before they couldn’t do that. Now that they feel great, then they can trickle that down to taking great care of patients and having a good experience.” Founder Vance Thompson is based out of Sioux Falls but has played an integral role in selecting the new space. A workplace culture guru, Thompson knows just how impactful the people in a workplace can be. “It’s really all about people and that, on a great team, the sum is greater than the parts. So when you create a great culture, the power of people really starts to

show through. And I think that great businesses realize that it takes a great team experience to create a great customer or patient experience. I always knew that the people part was really important. So we’ve always worked really hard on loving our team. We love the phrase ‘work-family,’ work brothers, work sisters. So this idea of a culture of caring for each is one of our guiding principles,” said Dr. Thompson. While he has always focused on people, he underestimated the impact a building has on people.

“When we built the one here, we said, ‘Hey team, here’s what we’re thinking. What are your thoughts on it?’ Because it’s going to affect them the most. So they had great input on every little detail of everything we did,” he said. “Every time we had a new sample or something, we’d lay it down on the floor and say, ‘What do you guys think of this?’ or, ‘Do you like this better?’ So the team had a huge input on this space. Deciding what’s going to work best for them, not only from a workflow standpoint but how it makes them feel.”

“I was never fascinated with buildings. I was more fascinated with the people and technology end of it. I underestimated the power of the building, workspace or the physical environment. When you combine those things, a great culture with advanced technology with a wonderful space, workplace joy and satisfaction is very high. When the patients come, they can tell how these people seem happy and they treat each other really well. I trust them to do my surgery because people want to know how much you care before how much you know.”

Clinic Director Amy Joy adds to that, stating that employees had a hand in every single detail inside the building, from light fixtures to ceiling tiles. “We did that with every design in this new space and every little light fixture. We just had them come in and mark what their favorite one was,” Joy said. “Whether we went with their decision or not or their first pick or not, they felt like the space was something that they had a part of. There’s a ton of ownership that comes with that joy that they have every day coming into work because they feel like they had a say in this space.”

With that “people first” mentality in mind, the team at Vance Thompson Vision wanted to fully collaborate with their entire office in picking and designing the new space. Dr. Greenwood admits it was extremely important to include employees on that discussion.

Business Check If you’re planning a new office space, do your employees have a say? Are you having those discussions with them?

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2 Caring for your team trickles down into daily business. The medical field is often seen as its own subdivision. However, there is a business side to medicine and many medical offices are ran like businesses. While the problems Vance Thompson Vision faces on a day to day basis are different from your traditional business, they are not wholly unique. They still wrestle with company culture and client (patient) satisfaction. The Fargo office is able to provide that satisfaction because they first focus on making sure their team is satisfied. “In the medical field, we’re dealing with real problems that affect people’s lives every second of the day, especially when you’re talking about their eyes. From the moment they wake up to the moment they go to bed, that’s something that they’re focused on. And if it’s not right, then it’s a crisis, and we feel that way too. So we’re dealing with really serious problems. When we’re trying to get to that point, we want the patient to feel comfortable and know that they’re taken care of,” said Dr. Greenwood. “By taking care of the team first and putting the trust in them and giving them the skills that they need to be successful and investing so much of our time and energy and teaching the team, they feel comfortable and confident that they can help take care of these patients. So when the patients are in their moment of need, they can feel comfortable knowing that these guys know what they’re doing. When the team feels taken care of and the patients feel taken care of, they feel safe.” For Dr. Thompson, he notes that doctors are not usually taught the ins and outs of the

business side of medicine or at least it isn’t a focus. Hence, when doctors begin practice, there is a steep learning curve on the business side of things. “We’re taught medicine and we’re taught surgery. Then you get out into practice and you now have the business side of medicine and traditions of generations in medicine have led to some of the not greatest habits in my opinion,” he said. “Big hospitals and clinics that have generations of tradition don’t always have doctors treating staff as nice as they could be treated, not treating each other as nice as they could be treated and sometimes not having the bedside manner a patient deserves. If your team cares for each other, the patients are going to feel cared for.” Thompson also notes that caring for employees has a lot to do with belief and allowing them to be themselves in the workplace. In a business culture where many office environments are mundane and monotonous, Vance Thompson Vision sees the importance in workplace individuality. “I really believe there’s greatness in everybody. If you create an environment where they feel this culture of safety to allow their opinions to come out and allow their inner greatness to show that sometimes they didn’t even realize that they had. Can you imagine how purposeful that makes them feel about their work journey and the atmosphere that it creates?” Dr. Thompson said. “This power of people is what I would suggest, whether it’s a small business or a big business in this digital age where there’s so much commerce that happens without personal interaction. If you can get your team to spend time together, develop a relationship and have it not be just about work, it is okay to be friends at work, to actually promote it.”

3 Take extra steps to ensure you’re communicating properly. With several different offices in different states, Vance Thompson Vision goes the extra mile in ensuring everyone is on the same page throughout the company. In each of their offices, there are video cameras in every one of their partners’ offices so they can communicate freely at any point during the day. They also have daily team huddle meetings where the entire company gets together via video chat. “It starts at the top and trickles its way home, so making sure that Vance and I are on the same page, or Matt Jensen, our CEO or any of our other partners. As long as we’re in communication and on the same page and can communicate that clearly down to our teams, then I think it works well,” Dr. Greenwood said. “Vance and John [Berdahl] share an office together. They can ping pong ideas off each other nonstop. That was the one thing that I was worried about missing when I came up here. What we did is we got a video in every room and we got good speakers and we weren’t cheap about it. We did everything we

could to make it feel like we’re in the room.” The structure is a key piece to proper communication according to Dr. Thompson. When you have a proper communication structure, it solidifies a company and office. “To me, it’s about communication and structure. When your family’s having a get-together, you prepare and you think about the food and you think about what you’re going to set on the table and what you’re going to do and you’re excited. If you have this work-family feeling and you truly do care, and that word ‘care’ shows more in actions than words, you will prepare in the same way for your teammates,” he said. “By doing a daily huddle, that takes work for our leaders and getting together and socializing with our team and their loved ones. We want to know whom they love or when a team member does get married or when someone passes away in their family that we either show up like family shows up or we will have a very good reason why we didn’t, cause that’s the way family is.” Business Check What is your communication structure? If you do not have one, ponder some steps you can take to get one in place.

Business Check Are you cultivating a “culture of safety” or do you feel your office has been suppressed in some ways? FARGOINC.COM

4 Create a “work family” This idea of a “work family” is something Vance Thompson Vision pins their entire business upon. However, how do you do it? One part is communication and another is going out of your way for employees. “Every Christmas, we get all the centers together. We communicate more than we do with our own siblings. We’re very connected that way and we show up in person for the things that really matter,” said Dr. Thompson. “That’s how you can have a great culture, by truly caring and creating a structure of time for breaking bread and spending time together and communicating very well.” One of those team-building events is something Vance Thompson Vision calls the “12 Months of Christmas.” Each

month, there is an event for employees and their families to attend. It could be building a house for Habitat for Humanity, an Easter egg hunt in April or a Halloween dress-up contest in October. Regardless of the month, there are events like this over the course of the entire year. That gives the Vance Thompson Vision team a chance to connect and grow with one another. “It’s all these things that you love doing with the family that you love doing with work family. When I hear someone say they want to develop a great culture in their business, I say get prepared to do a lot of work and never have it perfect and have it become a part of your daily journey because it’s extra work,” said Dr. Thompson. “Boy does it bring so much joy. The employee satisfaction, the customer satisfaction to shareholder satisfaction, it helps reduce early burnout and creates business leaders.” Business Check Would you describe your workplace as a “work family?” Why or why not?

5 Educate your employees. One of the keys in Vance Thompson Vision’s success is that employees and employers are all on the same page. When someone is first hired, they are required to read books and other materials to catch them up to speed. Much of these materials have to do with leadership and learning how to treat people. For Dr. Thompson, it was a lesson he learned the hard way. Thompson learned the value of education when he was struggling to become a great leader of his team early in his practice. “There is this whole world of courses and books on how to treat people. I learned it the hard way by just being frustrated that I could be a better leader for my team and have patient wait times be less and have patient satisfaction be even higher and finish the day feeling more fulfilled because I did a better job setting up systems with the team because you can have a group of nice people,” he said. “If a patient or customer comes through a business that doesn’t have good processes in place, that respects their flow at every touch point or that group of nice people, they may leave feeling like they weren’t treated nice.” But why must all the employees receive this education? The

doctors are usually the ones leading teams at Vance Thompson Vision. However, as Dr. Greenwood points out, the doctor is not the only person the patient sees. “It’s important for everybody to have [training] because, in our business, the patient doesn’t go see the doctor. They talked to somebody on the phone when they got scheduled and when they walk in the front door, they get greeted by somebody. Then the technician takes them back and then they might see another technician and then they see the doctor and then they see the surgery scheduler, and then they talk to somebody later if they have different questions,” Greenwood said. “So you don’t just have the leaders that need to know how to take good care of people. You’ve got your whole organization. That’s all these touch points throughout the whole experience cycle for these patients. That’s why it’s important for every single person in our organization to have that education, not only on the medical side but on the experience side and the service side. One of the biggest reasons why we do it is because they spend a little bit of their time with us, but their whole time with a lot more people than just us.” Business Check How are you educating your employees to be better leaders around the workplace?

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7 Free your employees.

Dr. Vance Thompson

“The team has the ability to spend money on a bouquet of flowers and so when someone shows up and you can tell they’re down and you’re the technician taking care of them and you call the flower shop and you get the nice note and it shows up in their office and then that person emails the office saying they’ve never been so moved by an experience,” Dr. Thompson said.

Run through walls for your employees. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Vance Thompson Vision is their lack of a true hierarchy. Yes, there are titles, but everyone in the company views Vance Thompson Vision as a level playing field in that respect. This happens because anyone from doctors to office assistants would drop everything for a fellow employee. Dr. Greenwood often refers to it as “running through a wall for someone else.” “I know that Vance will run through a wall for me and knows that, I’m going to run through a wall for him. I would do anything to help them out, whatever phase of their life it is, whether it’s personal or professional and I know that they would do the same for me at any moment in time,” Greenwood said. “So then when a patient or one of our staff is having a tough time, another one of our staff will jump in and help them out because they’ve got each other’s backs and they know that they’ll run through walls for each other.”

Working with patients on a daily basis, everyone at Vance Thompson Vision develops relationships with those patients. One thing employees are able to do for patients is to buy gifts for them. The company has a patient gift budget. That way, if a patient is celebrating a birthday, an employee can buy them lunch or any number of birthday gifts.

Dr. Michael Greenwood

That sort of trust is incredibly rare in any business. However, Vance Thompson Vision puts so much faith in their employees, that they are able to freely spend the company’s money on their patients. “It makes it such a wonderful place to work and they’re trusted to actually spend, based on their own discretion. They don’t have to ask anybody. They can use the company credit card and, usually,

Fargo Clinic Director Amy Joy

we find out after they’ve already done it,” Thompson said. “I was doing surgery on someone once and they said they loved Gino’s Pizza from Chicago and one of our teammates ordered it and it showed up at their home the next day.” Dr. Greenwood says that patients give hints as to what they enjoy and the doctors and technicians are always taking notes. It goes so far as to playing a patient’s favorite kind of music in a certain room. “There was a patient that was convinced that we had Frank Sinatra playing in every single room all the time. That’s what he wanted to listen to. Every time he was in the new room, Frank Sinatra was playing in it,” Greenwood said. “It’s a fun little game, almost a competition that the staff has with themselves of trying to surprise and delight as much as they can.” It all stems from employee trust and satisfaction. You can say all you want about culture, but it is directly correlated to employee happiness. Vance Thompson Vision has happy employees, happy employers and an environment of giving and care. All of that trickles down to their patients, who will remain happy for years to come. Business Check How much freedom do you give your employees on a daily basis? How much trust do you have in them?

Business Check Can you say that you’d run through a wall for your employees? Or would your employees run through a wall for you? FARGOINC.COM

Wanzekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Executive Vice President Rob Lee

Wanzek Construction W A BRAND NEW OFFICE SPACE HAS ONLY BOLSTERED AN ALREADY STRONG COMPANY CULTURE AT WANZEK CONSTRUCTION.

wanzek.com 4850 32nd Ave. S, Fargo

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anzek Construction handles tall tasks on a day to day basis. Whether that be their industrial, renewable energy or infrastructure construction projects or daily office issues, their tasks span across cities and states. While Wanzek has their headquarters in Fargo, they also have offices in Colorado, California and Texas. Add to that, where Wanzek has construction sites and you'll notice that the company is in almost every state in the union. So, in such a large company, that stretches across the nation, how do you build culture? It's already a hard enough task making sure employees are on the same page on a job site or in the office.

Wanzek's Executive Vice President Rob Lee has taken that culture battle head-on. While Wanzek has long been regarded as a company with great inter-office dynamics, Lee was looking for something more. That was when he saw the need for an updated and renovated office space right here in Fargo. Wanzek's new office on 32nd Avenue in south Fargo is complete with all the trimmings of a cultured workplace. From the quotes on the wall from sports figures like Nick Saban to boards where employees can post photos, there is a sense of pride in those who work at Wanzek. It's true that the new space has aided in company culture. However, Lee and Wanzek have always taken pride in valuing their employees and building culture from the inside.

2 Never write off “mottos” or “mantras” as cliché.

1 Office Space: Do not underestimate its importance. Since moving into their newly renovated office, Lee has noticed a renewed sense of pride in the Wanzek employees. Not to be taken for granted, where an employee works is just as important as the employee’s daily duties. Being comfortable at work is key for any employee. Lee has seen Wanzek’s new space pay dividends already. Not just on their current employees, but prospective ones too.

Mottos, mantras or key phrases are common in the realm of sports. “Raise The Bar” or any other motto in that vein has transitioned from the sports world to the business world now too. Some are quick to discredit their usefulness and perhaps rightfully so in some cases. However, when businesses implement buzzwords or phrases in their company, very few give their employees practical steps to live out those words and phrases in their work lives. Sure, you can “raise the bar,” but how? That is where some fall short in implementing these mottos. Wanzek and its employees abide by seven beliefs or values. According to Lee, these seven principles are lived out each day by Wanzek’s employees. “Wanzek has seven beliefs: Protect, Trust, Talent, Information, Integrity, Communication and Profit.

These beliefs were selected collectively as an organization as core values we will demonstrate, live by and uphold each and every day,” Lee said. “These beliefs are displayed throughout our building. Our conference rooms are even named after the same seven beliefs. The beliefs are interwoven into the annual engagement survey, performance reviews, interview questions and incentive plans. They are more than just words, they truly impact how we attract, reward and retain employees.” By collectively coming up with these beliefs and posting them throughout their workspace, employees are constantly reminded about what they should be striving for. Say what you will, but those seven values have proven critical in Wanzek’s growth, development and where they’re headed in the future. If you have a motto, principle or mantra in your business, stick to it. Business Check What do you believe your business “motto” to be? Maybe ask a fellow coworker what their company motto would be and discuss. How can you make sure you and your co-workers live it out each day?

“It has positively affected our pride in the company. Employees feel like our company is a large player in our region. They are proud of the place they work in,” Lee said. “It has positively affected our ability to recruit high-quality employees. The new office provides spaces for employees to gather, collaborate and build teamwork.” Business Check Walk around your office space. Do you feel it is meeting the needs of your employees or co-workers? FARGOINC.COM

3 Do not concern yourself with turnover rate, focus on employee engagement. Turnover rate is a hot button issue among all management level professionals. How can you retain employees year after year? Turnover no doubt has an impact on company culture, but eradicating turnover is almost impossible. At Wanzek, they are less concerned with their turnover percentage and more interested in employee engagement. “Our voluntary turnover rate is under five percent. We don’t track turnover as much as we track engagement,” said Lee. “We believe if employees are engaged, they are safer, they treat clients well, they give their best effort and deliver profit to the company.” That is a radical approach to an issue every business faces each day. However, with a turnover rate under five percent, Wanzek’s engagement approach seems to be working. On top of that, they feel employee benefits also play a role in a lower turnover rate. “We hold a talent belief that states that we are committed to attracting, retaining, developing and rewarding top performers. There are many ways to impact that belief. Benefits are just one way,” said Lee. “We believe that we need competitive compensation and benefits packages to attract talent. But we also believe there is more to the story. We strive to have a workplace that delivers on many aspects of employee engagement.” Business Check How engaged are your employees? Perhaps compare your engagement level to your turnover rate and see what the results are. 40

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4 Strive towards one common goal. At Wanzek, the client is king. This is obviously the case for a host of other businesses. Yet, employees may not share the same overall goal as the company at-large. This can come from a multitude of different factors, but it is common never the less. How does Wanzek assure their clients that their employees are all striving for the best outcome for them? For Lee... “Clients are one of the cornerstones of our key results at Wanzek. Client satisfaction is a result of hard work on behalf of our employees,” said Lee. “Their dedication to safety, budget, timeline and producing quality work all contributes to our client satisfaction. From the field to the office, every employee connects to our client in some way.” The client must come first and employees have to find common goals within that. Wanzek Construction has found that when employees are working hard on behalf of clients, the results are mutually beneficial. Business Check What is the common goal in your company? Is every employee working towards that goal?

5 Inter-office communication allows businesses to survive. As noted above, Wanzek has offices in four states and job sites in several others. Because of this, communication is vital to success in all phases. What happens when a problem arises on a job site? Communication at Wanzek is built upon a key quality: transparency. In turn, the company’s culture only blooms thanks to transparent and constant communication across all their offices. “Our communication belief states that we are committed to communicating above the line and focusing on solutions. We have several internal communication channels throughout the organization to help create transparency and align the entire organization towards key results,” said Lee. “Weekly executive podcasts, quarterly all company webcasts, a weekly newsletter, as well as text messaging and internal digital messaging help to spread the word and keep employees informed, whether they are in the office or the field.” Business Check How does your business communicate? Have you identified how your employees or co-workers communicate best? If not, set aside time to analyze how to best communicate throughout your office.

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6 Emphasize results Rob Lee identifies his strategy in creating a good company culture. He also offers up advice for businesses of Wanzek’s size. The focus? Key individual results from the employee that will ultimately benefit the company at large. “First, defining what culture you want. Be specific about the vision. Keep it simple, understandable and clear. Secondly, make sure everyone knows how they contribute to that (the key results). Third, make sure employees know how to act to further the culture (the beliefs),” he said. “Finally, make sure all systems (hiring, performance management, incentive plans) support the key results and beliefs so everything aligns. We care about our people and everything we do focuses on providing a safe, exciting and engaging workplace.”

One thing Lee notes is that he has learned to be more clear and upfront with employees about what his vision is. With that transparency, employees are always going in the same direction and aligning with one another towards a common vision. “I have learned to be clear about where we are going, what our vision is and what that means every day to live that vision,” he said. “I am thankful we had the chance to redefine our culture at Wanzek into a culture that strives to be the best and deliver excellence to our employees, communities and clients.” Business Check Whether you are in management or otherwise, what do you believe your company’s “vision” to be? Have you stated this vision clearly to your employees? Ask a co-worker what he/she believes the company vision to be and compare with your own.

Labor Masters WITH ONLY FIVE FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES ON STAFF, NANCY KELLY IS NOT ONLY COMMITTED TO HER EMPLOYEES BUT THE TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES THAT WALK IN THE DOOR EACH MORNING. labormasters.net 1404 33rd Street Southwest Suite C, Fargo

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abor Masters is not your typical business. While they only have five full-time employees working behind their counter, they had over 1,600 employees total in 2018. Why is that, you ask? Labor Masters is in the temporary or day labor business. This means that new faces and personalities walk through the door at Labor Masters each morning. Because of this, the day labor field can be daunting and downright challenging. Most places that are deemed “day labor” places have a bad reputation, with concrete floors and fold out chairs in their lobby and impolite people behind the desk.

That is not the case at Labor Masters. Owner Nancy Kelly made it her goal to make her office the best “day labor” place in America. It’s a comment she hears rather frequently now too. However, with a solidified core at the center of the business, how does an office create positive company culture when the employees are different each day? It’s an intriguing challenge for Kelly, but yet, she does not see it as one. Labor Masters has been able to do what many temporary labor places cannot. They create a positive atmosphere every single day.

2 is no drama. Within our office, there is no drama,” Kelly said. “We all have our family problems, but nobody brings them to work and I think if you find likeminded people, you’ll realize that work is for work, but we’re all here to have fun. Life is way too short not to love your job.” The Labor Masters office consists of Kelly, Henderson, Todd Trottier, Dawn Kearns and Ian Beaton. Trottier acts as the Dispatch Manager while Kearns is the Senior Staffing Coordinator and Beaton the Director of Sales and Marketing. With such a small full-time office, it’s that much more important for the Labor Masters team to work hard each day.

1 When you hire the right people, culture takes care of itself. Kelly had to start Labor Masters from the ground up. In Fargo, temporary labor places are in high demand and are highly competitive. In order to make a name for themselves in the early going, Kelly and CFO Vickie Henderson simply worked harder than her competitors. In turn, she found the right people to help her run the office. She believes with the right people in place, culture is created automatically. “If you are fortunate enough and you pick the right people to surround yourself with, there

“Vickie and I started this together in January of 2014 and we worked our asses off. We were here from 5 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, whether we had the flu or not, because you can’t take a day off, you can’t close this office. If you close your office one day, those clients will try someone else and chances are, they’re not coming back,” Kelly said of the high-stress day labor business. “We all do 100 percent, but we all know that our faith and family come first. If we’re sick, if we have a family issue, we don’t put pressure on people, they can work from home. We just view it as a family.” That hard work has paid off for Labor Masters, who has become the premier day labor office in Fargo and beyond. Business Check Do you believe you have the right people in place in your office? If so, is culture being created from those people?

Reward your employees. You can speak with Nancy Kelly for only a few short moments and you will understand just how generous she is to her employees. Kelly believes a key piece of culture is making sure your employees feel wanted and reward them for their successes. For each of their five employees, Labor Masters has a birthday month. During birthday month, they celebrate the employee’s birthday each day until their actual birthday. Rewards and perks do not stop there. For reaching their sales goal, Kelly treated each employee and their friends and family. “I like to give back, I like to share, I’m not in it for the money. Everybody just got back from a month in Florida. We hit our sales goal last year, I rented a condo on Marco Island on the beach and I paid for everyone to take a week,” she said. “So they got airfare, car, $100 a day spending money and they got to take whomever they wanted to with them. They deserve it, why wouldn’t you do that? If you had an opportunity to do something nice for the people who work hard every single day for you, to help you achieve your goals, I’m just not sure why more companies don’t do that.” Rather than give her employees a Christmas or annual bonus, Kelly opts to give her employees a gift they would not normally buy for themselves. “I can give someone a $2,000 bonus, but you know what they’re going to do with it?” she asked. “Pay a bill or something. I wanted them to

have something that was special and something they would never buy for themselves.” Most recently, Kelly treated each employee to a nice Christmas bonus in the form of a Louis Vuitton bag. “Last winter, everyone got a Louis Vuitton bag for Christmas, even Todd, he got a duffle. These are things that they would not buy themselves. I guarantee they would never walk into the Louis Vuitton store and buy a $2,000 bag,” she said. There are more rewards for employees, many of which may seem minuscule to the casual onlooker. However, they are much-appreciated perks for Kelly’s staff. “Everyone has a free car wash sticker in their car that I pay for every month, so they all have clean cars. We have the best latte maker you can buy, so we have lattes every morning, well, every day. I would feel bad if I came in and just brought myself a latte, right?” Kelly said. “If I come to work or I go somewhere, I always bring something back for everybody. I was a sales rep for 17 years and the longer I did it, the more I saw stuff taken away because of the economy or because of corporate or whatever. Why would you do that? What do we work for? The experiences.” In a business climate where more and more employers fail to reward their employees for the work they do, Kelly wonders why. “Company owners need to stop looking at giving their employees things as just expenses, but looking at them as gifts and thank yous,” she said. It’s clear that sentiment has translated into her business. Business Check What are you doing to reward your employees? Do you feel you need to reward them more?

FARGOINC.COM

4 Don’t be afraid to motivate.

3 Create a workplace that is 100 percent judgment free. The potential employees that walk into Labor Masters each day have a different story from the next. They all are in different situations. One could already have a full-time job but is looking for some disposable income on the side. The next could have no money in their pocket and needs this check to buy groceries. Because of this wide variance of people, backgrounds and stories, Kelly understands the importance of offering up an office that is judgment-free. Having a workplace that is free of assumptions is a key factor in implementing good company culture. It’s almost as if Kelly and the team have to create a new culture each day. That starts and ends with zero condemnation or judgment on those who do come through the door in the morning.

“We all know that everyone that comes in here has a story. They all want to be appreciated and they might have zero money in their pocket, zero money until they get paid at the end of the day. Everyone that comes in deserves to have respect, I don’t care where you come from or what your background is, as long as you give me 100 percent today. They know that and I expect it,” she said. “I don’t look at them and judge. We are all one or two bad decisions away from being on the other side of the counter. When you show someone respect and you set the bar high for them, they reach it. People will always rise up, in my opinion.” When you have respect and care for your employees, they will notice. As Kelly indicates, if you throw your inhibitions to the wind and motivate, employees will rise to the occasion. Business Check Is your business free from judgment? If not, explore that issue and attempt to rectify it before fixing other possible issues.

Labor Masters Owner Nancy Kelly

Many business owners do not feel it necessary to motivate their employees. In many workplaces, an expectation is set and employees abide by it. However, what is wrong with trying to push your employees past the expectations set before them? When people strive to achieve beyond what is expected, greatness ensues. Not only that, you tend to love your job that much more. At Labor Masters, client satisfaction is the number one goal. When new employees are working with clients each day, it’s vital for Kelly and her team to push those temporary employees past the standards. Because of that, Kelly believes she is really good at motivating each morning. “I give really good pep talks. We hand pick everyone every morning, it’s not just the first person who walks in the door gets the first job, because that person might not be qualified for that job,” she said. “If I have a new client or a client who has told me what their expectation is, then I’ll tell the employee that he or she needs to be rockstar today because this client is expecting it. Everyone wants to be a rockstar.” So why not set higher expectations for your employees and push them to exceed those? In the process, you may find more collaboration and individual results across your office. Business Check When was the last time you motivated your employees? Have you tried pushing them past the expectations?

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5 Non-monetary rewards are just as important as monetary ones. It has already been established that Kelly is really good at rewarding her full-time employees. However, how does she reward her temporary employees? As much as she’d like to, she can’t afford a Louis Vuitton bag for over 1,600 people. So, that is where Kelly realizes the value in nonmonetary rewards. “It doesn’t hurt to have a nice chair in your lobby or a smile on your face if you don’t have a nice chair in the lobby. Asking questions and making everyone feel special. I don’t care what job you’re in, if you see someone, pretend they’re wearing a sign that says ‘make me feel special’,” she said. “Your culture starts at the top. You can change how you look at your people, but I’ve talked to a lot of companies who have asked how they get people to stay. Well, what are you doing for them? Are you doing pizzas on Fridays? What non-monetary compensations are you doing

to make people feel welcome and wanted? You can build a really reliable workforce with the right pay rate and the right atmosphere. That’s super important here because in Fargo unemployment is less than two percent.” That’s not to say Kelly does not reward her day laborers. During Fargo’s clean-up week, one of Labor Masters busiest of the year, Kelly had a drawing that temporary employees could enter. If their paystub was chosen at the end of the week, they could either win a big screen television or a new pair of work boots. For Nancy Kelly and Labor Masters, culture comes down to the goal of making people want to come to work. It’s really that simple. “We want everybody to feel good, feel happy and feel they can work hard, have a good day and earn a good wage,” she said. Business Check What non-monetary things are you giving your employees? For example, do you celebrate an employee’s work anniversary? Ponder what things you can do for your employees that won’t break the budget.

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Flourish Wellness The new online ecosystem is here to revamp your company culture into one of health and well-being.

ndrew Scott has worked in the health and wellness business for some time, in multiple roles. In each of his positions, he noticed a problem. For every workplace that was committed to the health and well-being of their employees, there was a disproportionate number of employees willing to engage in their health. The common conundrum facing Scott and several other business owners is getting their employees to engage. Engagement is what company culture is built upon, it is also what creates high performing and successful companies. In the vein of wellness, Scott and Kris Packer had an idea.

Rather than taking a broad strokes approach to workplace wellness, why not personalize it? Each employee has specific needs and each is different from the next, why not take that approach? That is the basis of Flourish Wellness Ecosystem, a digital platform for businesses to use to guide their employees to wellness. “My background has been health and wellness for over a decade and I have been on the vendor side, so providing a service to a business and doing more traditional wellness like coming into the workplace and doing a steps challenge or the biggest loser competition. However, there was always limited engagement, meaning

that the people who wanted to do wellness were the ones that were going to do traditional wellness anyway. Then, I was on the employer side and I’ve been on the research side of it as well. Again, the same conundrum of 20 to 30 percent engagement,” said Scott. “I challenged the notion of wellness being inside the walls of the building you work in. Not everything can be residing inside the building. So the biggest reason that 70 to 80 percent don’t engage is usually that it doesn’t meet the person’s needs. Rather than it be an exercise or nutrition, someone needs sleep wellness or maybe somebody needs mental health or rest and relaxation. Services that typically aren’t housed within the walls of a building. FARGOINC.COM

“Wellness is vital. Wellness is a key business strategy, it’s not a nice to have, it’s a need to have.” Andrew Scott

Again, it’s challenging the notion of why does wellness in the workplace have to be in the workplace. Can we still have the idea of wellness in the workplace that embraces this idea of services outside the workplace as well?” With the various resources within the Fargo-Moorhead community, Flourish teamed up with them to offer employees multiple avenues to wellness.

Kris Packer

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“We’re in a community, we’re a community of resources, we’re already in a community where businesses have all of these resources. What if we went to an employee and said there are a ton of resources, you might want to do the steps challenge in the walls, but what do you need to address for your wellness? Because your needs are different from mine and everybody has varying needs. It’s very hard to actually accommodate everybody in the walls of a building,” Scott said. “What if we could provide a solution that states that everyone has their own unique needs and we’ll all go do what we

need to do, but at the end of the day, we’re all going to that endpoint and that’s being well. We’re simply connecting those individuals so building awareness of what exists as well as increasing access to the resources that currently exist in the community.” The traditional approach for employers and people in the wellness field is finding something that works for everyone. With Flourish, employees take an assessment and are guided toward resources that may be of interest to them given their answers. This provides the personal touch that was lacking in previous businesses models in regards to employee wellness. “Every employee has their own path to their own wellness. With our platform, it really covers that because, with the self-assessment at the beginning, it shows areas they need help in,” said Packer. “Then, we can pinpoint which partners are participating with us and point them in the right direction with that.”

Some of the partners and resources at the employee’s disposal through Flourish are the YMCA, Rehab Authority physical therapy, Glacial Peak Cryotherapy and countless others. It is Scott’s goal to have a resource in each facet of wellness to provide the employees using the ecosystem as much guidance as possible. “Wellness has traditionally been a really top-down approach, but it’s really like throwing a dart at a dartboard in the dark. It’s hoping you hit it perfectly, but the challenge is pinpointing what everyone needs. What we have on our platform, we have an assessment that people can take that will identify what will probably be of interest for the person. Again, at the end of the day, it’s exposing them to education and tapping into the resources on our platform,” he said. “The important thing about this is that it is an everevolving and flexible platform that we’re constantly looking at new wellness partners that are growing in the community. What we tried to do is make sure we had resources in each of the respective domains of well-being.” As of right now, Flourish has 60 employers interested in using their online database. However, the challenge is that employers have a common notion of what wellness should be. Many believe providing employees

with wellness services begins with top-level management. Scott believes the employees should be dictating what wellness services they need, rather than the employer trying to blanket everyone’s needs. “Rather than it being a topdown approach, which it traditionally has been. Rather than that, what if we had a ground-up movement with the employees?” he said. “Reeducating employers on how their employees differ and how it’s difficult to meet their needs and here is a solution.” How do health and wellness contribute to a company’s culture, though? According to Scott, wellness is the pulpit of several things that occur in the workplace. With over 50 percent of employees suffering from a chronic condition, it is possible for employees to miss more work. When they miss work, productivity goes down. The trickle-down effect floods into every area of business. “Wellness is vital. Wellness is a key business strategy, it’s not a nice to have, it’s a need to have,” Scott said. “We’re just starting to see the ramifications of not having wellness in the workplace.” In that same vein, Scott and Packer point out that well-being is a key factor in employee retention and hiring. With workplaces being more multi-generational,

wellness is important to young professionals in deciding where they want to work, according to Scott and Packer. It also influences performance on the job too. “Wellness is key when people are looking at taking a job and staying with a job. Individuals who engage in wellness services are seven times more likely to be a high performer and more engaged in a workplace,” Scott said. “It’s not just healthcare and blood pressure, but it’s a recruitment, retention and engagement tool these days. Wellness is absolutely vital to that.” The ultimate goal for Flourish is not one of personal gain for Scott or Packer. It is the successful well-being of employees and employers across the area. With their digital platform, guiding people to the resources they need to be well inside and outside the workplace, they are directly contributing to how a business runs day to day. “What we always say is that we’re empowering individuals to take control of their health. In this day and age, the issue of diseases on the rise and engagement on the decline, people aren’t happy with their jobs,” Scott said. “I think it’s a prime opportunity to increase the health of our community. If we’re healthy, if you’re employees are healthy, the business does well.

The business does well, the community does well.” Health and wellness have an impact on every area of a person’s life. Flourish wellness is impacting our community outside of the workplace with their revolutionary wellness ecosystem. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to simplify and automate something you like to do from a well-being perspective because we know everybody is going to benefit from it. It’s also being selfishly, unselfish, you will be a better spouse, sibling, neighbor, community member and employee if you’re well.” Scott said. Flourish Wellness Ecosystem may be a new-age take on health and wellness. However, their system and platform only have room to grow. With the intention of adding more wellness partners along the way, it will not be long until Flourish takes off in our area. Andrew Scott summed up their ultimate goal in fitting fashion and it has little to do with personal or professional gain. “If we want to improve the well-being of the world, we have to do it one step at a time, but it also has to be a very personalized approach. We’re trying to empower you to try and take control of your health and wherever you need to go with that.”

For more information on being a partner or user of the Flourish Wellness Ecosystem, visit flourish.eco

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Floor 3

George Black

“A beautiful day in May 1912,” reads the autobiography of George M. Black. “Lots of women out shopping. I visited the stores Herbsts, deLendrecies and Moodys. They were busy. Prices were good. It was an exhilarating experience.” On June 12, 1912, George opened The Black Store in Fargo at 112 Broadway. Black ran a successful store and continuously expanded its footprint along Broadway. As the depression of the 1920s intensified, 52

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more stores were consolidating or closing. Black was in New York on October 29, 1929, to witness the stock market collapse, an experience that prompted him to sell The Black Store in Fargo to Sears, Roebuck. He would use the proceeds of the sale to build the Black Building, the eight-story office tower that stands today at 114 Broadway in downtown Fargo. How much did Black’s confidence in and commitment to Fargo in 1929 shape the city’s future? At a time when many were recoiling from investments and protecting what was left, he doubled down on Fargo and its future as a center of commerce. After 40 years of operating in the Black Building, Sears looked to double its size in Fargo. George Black’s son-in-law, William Schlossman, started West Acres Mall on

It should be noted that Schlossman’s original idea was to build a mall downtown, but city leaders rejected the plan. The Schlossmans remained committed to investing in downtown after West Acres opened. In 1975, they renovated the empty Sears’ space in the Black Building into Elm Tree Square, a mixedretail mall, to attract new businesses. Today, nearly 90 years after George Black built the art deco building that would become a keystone in Fargo’s skyline, Kilbourne Group is three years into the building’s most extensive renovation. Staying true to its origins of three levels of retail space topped by six floors of office, the renovation aims to bring the Black Building back to modern, unique space with the added benefits of grand architecture and historic character. The first space to open this summer will be fifth-floor executive office suites, fully furnished and ready to go. The businesses on the fifth floor will have access to shared conference space and a new rooftop patio along the north face of the building (at the fifth-floor level) overlooking Broadway. Custom fit-up is also underway on floors three and four, which Doosan Bobcat,

Kilbourne Group

George M. Black, the proprietor of the Black Building, was an experienced merchandiser, having grown up in the business, working in his father’s store in Parsons, Kansas. When George and his father decided to seek new locations in which to set up a chain of stores, Fargo happened to be a train stopover.

13th Avenue with the new Sears lease, also attracting deLendrecies to the new retail mecca in a field southwest of downtown.

BY Adrienne Olson

city is the sum of countless decisions made along the way of its evolution. With a bit of research, you can often trace the decisions that set the course and tell the story of a community. In North Dakota, many cities were started due to their proximity to the railroad tracks. In the case of Fargo, the tracks played a direct role in its location, and its name (after William Fargo, a financial backer of the railroad). By happenstance, the railroad also carried a special passenger through town who, stepping off the train on a whim, had a substantial impact on Fargo’s story.

Work continues on a new rooftop patio overlooking Broadway

New office fronts on the Fifth Floor Executive Office Suites

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an industry leader in the engineering, manufacturing and marketing of construction equipment, has chosen as its home for an innovation center. Bobcat is a North Dakotagrown, world-renowned company that has also written a chapter in Fargo’s history. Other floors are in various stages of demolition, awaiting direction from the businesses who choose to make the Black Building part of their story. In the meantime, the roof has been replaced, along with all 280 windows, mechanical systems and electrical systems. In May, we had the privilege of installing a brand new 30-foot blade sign to the front face of the Black. We were inspired by the original sign that graced the building, which

New tile being installed in the restrooms

lit up “BLACKS” in red letters over Broadway. “Blacks” referred to the original store in the building, which was later changed to “SEARS.” Today, the sign says Black in reference to the man who chose Fargo in 1912 and forever impacted the course of our history. The new sign signifies the start of exciting times for such an iconic building in downtown Fargo and is an opportunity to reintroduce Fargo to the building’s namesake.

Collaboration Wins TAKING ACTION TO EXPAND OUR COMMUNITY’S WORKFORCE

Y BY Kristi Huber President & CEO United Way of Cass-Clay

JUNE 2019

ou’ve heard the adage – “give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you will feed him for a lifetime.” Today, because of innovative collaborations across our community the way people are learning how to “fish” is being revolutionized. New partnerships are helping people gain access to valuable skills to attain living-wage jobs, while helping companies feeling the pain of a workforce shortage, fill their open positions. Innovative Collaborations Provide a Skilled Workforce for our Community In 2017, United Way of Cass-Clay developed a pilot partnership with M State and CAPLP to invest in a Workforce Development Case Manager to assist low-income individuals with supportive services and increase access to the existing training programs offered through M State. The goal was to empower people to attain living-wage employment, while at the same

time, address our communities’ need for a skilled labor force. James is one of the many success stories emerging from this collaboration. While seeking opportunities for employment, James enrolled in the Certified Production Technician (CPT) training with M State and was connected with Amy Feland, a Workforce Development Case Manager with CAPLP. Amy works with individuals to eliminate the barriers that prevent them from attaining and maintaining employment that can support themselves and their families. Amy connects single mothers like Jenny, a 23-year-old in Moorhead, with the resources to receive training to become Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA’s). She walks side-by-side with individuals like Jonathan, who have recently exited the criminal justice system. Amy helps them reach their goals of completing welding training and earning a job as a welder at one of many manufacturing

businesses in need of qualified, trained and dependable employees. “The Certified Production Technician training program is six hours a day, for eight weeks straight. James never missed a day – he was determined to accomplish his goals,” said Amy Feland, Workforce Development Case Manager. Creating Valuable Connections One unique aspect of the program is that a speedinterviewing event is coordinated at M State for students like James to practice their interviewing skills, and for employers to connect with potential hires. At one of these events James met Dacia Meckle, a Human Resources

Thanks to help from a Workforce Development Case Manager, James was able to have the support he needed to complete Certified Production Technician training and become employed at Marvin in Fargo.

WHEN YOU CAN SEE AN INDIVIDUAL GO FROM BEING IN POVERTY, TO NOW WORKING IN A CAREER AND COMING HOME EVERY DAY TO AN APARTMENT, AND IS ABLE TO SUPPORT HIS FAMILY, YOU CAN SEE THE GOOD THAT CAN COME FROM THIS WORK. IT IMPACTS OUR ENTIRE COMMUNITY.” Amy Feland, CAPLP Workforce Development Case Manager

representative from Marvin. “I saw right away that James had what it takes to work for a company like ours,” she said. Thanks to support from Amy, and the connections gained at the speed interviewing event, James was thrilled to begin a job at Marvin, and Marvin was thankful to gain a trained and valuable employee. Stacey Irion, James’s Supervisor at Marvin, is grateful to have James a part of the team. He works on the production floor and does a great job assembling and packaging windows. He also works a second job, too. “James is hard working and has a big dream to be on his own and reach his goal of being a home owner,” she said. “James’s story is an amazing example of how United Way is collaborating with multiple groups, individuals and organizations to lift people out of poverty,” said Feland. And the results of the program speak for themselves. Seventyone percent of the individuals working with the Workforce Development Case Manager were able to get living wage positions. This innovative model is breaking the cycle of poverty, and giving businesses muchneeded skilled employees, like James. Scaling the Success With the successful return on investment from the pilot program, United Way expanded this work to impact more

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WE ARE GRATEFUL TO HAVE JAMES A PART OF THE TEAM, WHERE HE WORKS ON THE PRODUCTION FLOOR AND DOES A GREAT JOB ASSEMBLING AND PACKAGING WINDOWS.” Dacia Meckle, Human Resources, Marvin

individuals and families, and continue to fill our communities need for skilled workers.

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Model Recognized by Minnesota Board of Education In April, United Way of CassClay was recognized for the

When we as a community can collaborate to bring effective solutions to our communities biggest challenges, we cultivate lasting change that not only lifts local people out of poverty, but also supports the growing demands of our local workforce

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The growth of this project provides the opportunity to serve over 200 individuals each year seeking employment. The impact is multiplied when companies have access to 200 potential team members and the 200 employees will be able to sustain their families with livingwage jobs.

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In just four months, 74 percent of the people served through this partnership are now employed at local businesses such as Hornbacher’s, Sanford Health, Marvin, Swanson Health Products, Eventide and the Delta Hotels by Marriott Fargo.

measurable success of this collaboration at the Minnesota Campus Compact Presidents’ Awards. These awards provide an opportunity for member presidents and chancellors to give statewide recognition to effective leaders in the development of campuscommunity partnerships. As the President’s Community Partner Award recipient, United Way of Cass-Clay was honored as an organization that has enhanced the quality of life in the community in meaningful and measurable ways and has engaged in the development of sustained, reciprocal partnerships with the college or university, thus enriching educational as well as community outcomes.

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In March, with the support of private and public investments, United Way expanded the reach of services from one, to now six Workforce Development Case Managers working year-round across the community. These case managers work each day to provide culturally appropriate employment services, assistance with transportation, access to English language classes, access to job training, child care, and housing.

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helping to fuel our economy. This is United Way of CassClay’s vision for creating a better tomorrow for all of us. This is the power of community. REALIZED. Watch James’ story at unitedwaycassclay.org

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Because of United Way, six Workforce Development Case Managers provide ongoing support, training and job skills to help low-income individuals lift themselves out of poverty.

C Two loca l compa nies take through the proc ess of m us erging

HILLARY EHLEN

JUNE 2019

asey Glandt and Casey McCullough have more in common than a first name. For years, the two have been friendly competitors in the promotional products industry. Glandt and his company Go Promo work with mid-size businesses and schools offering custom apparel and promotional products to fit any brand or budget while McCullough and his company Green Street Promotions have worked primarily with larger corporations for the same needs in essentially the same market. However, the two of them have now merged to fully serve the marketplace.

Difference between mergers and acquisitions

Casey Glandt (left) and Casey McCullough have combined forces to better serve the FM marketplace.

This merger will open them up to serve more customers of any size with any promotional need. Through a lot of planning and discussions, the two of them have successfully pulled this off and they have some advice for other business owners looking to do the same.

Tip #1

Mergers take a lot of time and planning

While the term mergers and acquisitions is often used simultaneously, it’s important to know the difference between the two. A merger is when two separate companies join forces to create a new organization. An acquisition is when one company completely takes over another company.

Most mergers will take a lot of vetting and time to thoroughly plan and get all the hierarchy, workflow processes and paperwork completed. It is not uncommon for mergers to take months and maybe even years to complete, depending on the size of the companies involved. “We started discussions about 10 months prior to merging and found that there wasn’t a lot of cross over in what we were doing. What they were good at is where we weren’t and vice versa. It didn’t just happen overnight, though.” - McCullough “It was A LOT of planning. We tried to think of every scenario that might be uncomfortable down the road; who answers to who, who’s going to do what, who’s going to be in charge of what duties, who’s accounts are whose? etc. This was well before we finalized the agreement. I worked for a company long ago that was part of a merger. It seemed rushed. Ownership was like, ‘This is going to be great’. We got together fairly quickly and it was a nightmare. It didn’t last” – Glandt

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Largest M&As transactions in North American history Rank

Year

Acquirer Name

Target Name

Value of Transaction (in bil. USD)

2000

America Online Inc

Time Warner

164.7

2013

Verizon Communications Inc

Verizon Wireless Inc

130.3

1999

Pfizer Inc

Warner-Lambert Co

89.6

2017

Walt Disney Co

21st Century Fox Inc

84.2

2016

AT&T Inc

Time Warner Inc

79.4

Tip #2

Look for businesses that complement yours When you look at Go Promo and Green Street Promotions, the two are very complementary together. There was not a lot of overlap in their two books of business. While both are offering custom apparel and promotional products, Go Promo’s bread and butter is schools and mid-size businesses with creativity and t-shirts being their core business. Whereas Green Street has a lock on the corporate side of things with full-service warehousing and fulfillment being a huge differentiator for them. Combined, there isn’t a customer they can’t serve. “By combining our efforts, we’re able to leverage each others strengths and better serve our combined client base. Separately we were both very competitive in the market, but together with our combined resources...oh man it’s gonna be great!” - Glandt “We started looking at our options and what would make sense, and if it made sense, and does it make us a better company. The answer as we continued to meet periodically, was yes. It makes both companies twice as powerful and the go forward plan was that it was a nice fit.” - McCullough

Tip #3

Fast Fact

According to the Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances, in 2017, a new record was broken in terms of the number of deals with 15,100 M&As, which is a 12.2 percent increase over 2016. The record of total value of deals took place in 2015 with $24.1 billion.

Have a common goal in mind Go Promo and Green Street’s goal is to become the most efficient and dependable promotional company in the region and to grow while doing so. Often times in the business world, the quickest way to go about doing that is through Mergers and Acquisitions. “We’ve now got more buying power with apparel and promotional product suppliers.” McCullough “More creative brains to come up with ideas.” - Glandt “And even more industry experience to lean on when clients have questions.” McCullough “#MergeAhead” - Glandt

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INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS

ARE GREAT FOR YOUR BUSINESS Unless they are Technically Employees BY Beverley Adams

any industries in the Fargo area, such as health care, technology and agriculture, hire independent contractors. In Western North Dakota, the oil industry frequently hires welders, large equipment operators and geology consultants as independent contractors to perform specific specialized tasks. Companies can avoid significant wage, tax and other obligations by engaging independent contractors instead of employees. And using independent contractors can result in considerable cost savings and increased workforce flexibility. However, if employees are mistakenly categorized as contractors, penalties can be punitive.

Beverley Adams works with employers on a wide variety of employment law issues at Fredrikson & Byron. Prior to joining Fredrikson, she prosecuted in Clay County, worked as a litigator in private practice and was general counsel overseeing litigation in a local healthcare company. You can reach her at badams@fredlaw.com.

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Some recent examples of settlements in cases where employees were misclassified as independent contractors include: • Maple Bear Inc. dba Instacard, where delivery workers were misclassified, resulting in a $4.6 million dollar settlement; • AT&T corporate training managers were misclassified, resulting in a $2.75 million dollar settlement; and • Prudential Financial, Inc., where financial advisors were misclassified, resulting in a $12.5 million dollar settlement. Individuals often choose to become independent contractors because they desire greater control over their work environment and schedules and are interested in operating their own business and using their entrepreneurial skills to more directly impact their earning capacity. While it can be advantageous for both parties, independent contractor classification involves careful consideration of several factors, application of multiple standards and exposure to liability in several areas, including potential liability for unpaid overtime compensation, taxes and employee benefits. Simply referring to a worker as an independent contractor, even in a written agreement, does not prevent legal

challenges to that classification by workers, the Department of Labor (DOL), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Workforce Safety & Insurance, Job Service North Dakota or state and local authorities. Misclassification audits, investigations and lawsuits are increasingly common and can result in steep costs and penalties. What is an Independent Contractor? An independent contractor does not work regularly for any single company and is not an employee. An independent contractor typically: • Is engaged only for the term required to perform an identified service or task • Retains control over the method and manner of work • Charges fees for service • Retains economic independence • Is responsible for paying their income, Social Security and Medicare taxes • Is not protected by most federal, state or local laws intended to protect employees A business or person contracting with an independent contractor generally has the right to control only the end result of the project and not how the independent contractor accomplishes it. The best examples of independent contractors are plumbers, electricians, attorneys and accountants. Independent contractors are generally free to offer their services to the public and to perform work for other clients. Independent contractors often own their own business and provide services according to their own terms. An employee, by comparison, is subject to significant oversight by a company. The company has the right to control the method and the manner of the employee’s work. In addition, an employee: • Is economically dependent on the employer • Is paid wages (which may include overtime compensation) and companysponsored benefits • Is employed for a continuous period of time and performs whatever tasks the company requires • Pays the full amount of their income taxes and a portion of their Social Security and Medicare taxes, generally, through the amounts their employer is obligated to withhold from their wages. • Is protected by applicable federal, state and local employment laws.

Companies cannot rely on generalizations to determine employee or independent contractor status. Nor should you look to your industry to see how they are classifying these employees since your situation may be different or they could be misclassified. Classification depends on the facts of each case, application of the appropriate independent contractor tests and the differences in the judicial and administrative interpretation of those tests. Independent Contractor Tests Unfortunately, there is no single test to evaluate independent contractor status for all purposes, and compliance is complicated by the fact that different tests may apply. A worker may be an independent contractor for some purposes and an employee for others. The tests vary between different federal laws such as the wage and hours laws, federal benefits laws and the IRS. There are also different standards between state and federal laws. In addition, some states require advance application for certification for independent contractor status, regardless of whether the position meets the legal standard for an independent contractor. Failure to obtain advance certification results in fines and penalties. Some states, including North Dakota, offer companies and employees the ability to verify independent contractor status through the State Department of Labor office, for current or future work relationships for work performed in North Dakota. A certificate issued verifying independent contractor status is effective as long as the work remains unchanged. The IRS also issues determinations on the classification if requested. A Form SS-8 is used by the IRS to gather relevant information after which the IRS issues a Determination Ruling Letter. This process can take up to six months. The tests often do share some common characteristics. For example: • They typically involve an analysis of the same or similar factors • Are a balancing test and no single factor is determinative • Analyze the degree of control the company has over the manner and means by which the worker accomplishes the work • Afford little weight to the parties’ characterization of the relationship, including any terms of a written agreement

What happens when an independent contractor really is an employee? A company that misclassifies employees as independent contractors may lead to litigation or administrative decisions resulting in: • Civil money penalties • Employee benefits, including retirement benefits, health plan coverage or stock options • Back pay, including overtime compensation • Reimbursement of work-related expenses • Failure to complete an I-9 form for a worker who should be an employee results in fines and penalties under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 • Disability payments and worker’s compensation premiums • Tax and insurance obligations • Liquidated damages Because independent contractors are not employees, entities contracting with them can avoid many of the financial and other obligations of using employees to perform work. However, penalties for misclassification are significant and often involve litigation. Damages are always dependent on the number of employees who are misclassified, which may be costly. Avoid litigation by properly classifying employees. How to avoid treating someone like they are an Independent Contractor when they really are an employee? Companies should implement these practices: • Conduct an audit with the review of legal counsel • Train personnel on classification issues • Obtain a ruling from the State of North Dakota or the IRS • Draft agreements that specifically detail the responsibilities of each party that accurately reflect the arrangement and address each element of the applicable independent contractor test Independent contractors are a great resource. However, there are very specific standards that apply in setting up these types of arrangements. Having individuals classified as both employees and independent contractors within the same job classification in your business is always a warning signal to seek legal advice to avoid litigation. It is always wiser when making a decision to hire an independent contractor to ask permission in advance, rather than ask for forgiveness later.

BY Mark Puppe

Getting Real About Business w/ Mark Puppe

Employee Health Insurance

How Middaugh Benefits Consulting Helps Employers Navigate the Mess

Meet Mark Puppe Mark Puppe develops communication strategies and written content as owner of Master Manuscripts. He has advocated for small business professionally at the National Federation of Independent Business and Professional Insurance Agents of North Dakota, and does what he can to ensure entrepreneurs get the credit, protection and veneration they deserve. His contributed pieces introduce, showcase and personify the real, imminent, yet often overlooked and unknown responsibilities that small business owners experience, endure and strive to overcome.

ome deem health insurance unnecessary, but a look at the pictures on your fridge will reveal someone elated to have it or living a very different life because they did not. Two behemoth industries, healthcare and insurance, are tangled. Add government to the mix and we’ve got a perpetual and expensive mess, but one for which we’re woefully grateful when invoiced for medical expenses. According to the New York Times, approximately 155 million working-age Americans received their health insurance from an employer during 2018. These 155 million “working-age” Americans equates to 200-times the entire North Dakota populous. The May 2, 2019, Los Angeles Times reports, “six in 10 Americans with job-based coverage now call affordability the most important feature of a health plan…”

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Consider that relative to your own financial—not medical— health. How does the largest employer group in the nation, government, finance employee benefits? The taxes we pay. Then, how do private sector employers finance employee benefits? Bingo. The revenue generated by purchases we make with our own money. Everyone pays twice. It’s no panacea, but many business owners turn to group benefit consultants for help navigating the health insurance mess. These specialists help employers design, strategize and monitor benefit plans so their employees have the highest quality and most affordable options possible.

Jason Middaugh Middaugh Benefits Consulting Partner

However, when questions arise, employers often need to call a corporate 1-800 number to talk with an unempowered customer service representative who eventually tells them to dangle until an agent calls back. Experiences like this are commonplace and explain why customers favor working with a small business: They feel understood and befriended rather than counted. Problem is, the more complex the trade, the more difficult smaller businesses are to find. Independent benefits consultants don’t market, so we don’t hear about them and their success comes from referrals rather than requests. They also work most closely with the employers offering benefits. Middaugh Benefits Consulting (MBC) has been evaluating employee benefits for nearly 40 years. Today, this little firm in

Fargo advises 200 businesses about the health insurance plans available to more than 10,000 employees. This book of business places MBC among the top benefits consulting firms in North Dakota and is rivaled only by billion-dollar corporations headquartered elsewhere. MBC partner Jason Middaugh has been with the firm since 1997. I never asked why he made unscrambling health insurance his career—that’s his decision. I also refuse to be biographical with someone whom employers trust to manage their second highest expense—health insurance. Accordingly, I approached Jason to come clean. It seemed to me like benefits consultants are paid to dabble in challenges that employers have a chance to conquer on their own. Our discussion changed my perspective.

Q&A Mark Puppe (MP): Jason, no employer wants to pay for duplicate services and, as you know, insurance companies manage health insurance concerns. Seriously, where’s the need for benefits consultants? Jason Middaugh (JM): All employers need the employee benefits plans they buy to be the most competitive in the market. Employees need to be confident that those benefits are great benefits. They pay good money for them and we ensure that they get the highest value possible. Plus, managing employee benefits comes with a host of legal concerns to consider and many impose serious penalties for noncompliance. Many of the rules and regulations governing employee

benefits are complex and impose mandatory notices and deadlines, which can be difficult to follow and administer. We provide clients with up-todate compliance information, benefits enrollment materials, employee communications and a lot more. We spare employers a lot of liability and potential cost. MP: How can a consultant bolster an employer’s confidence in benefits that employees may never use, especially health insurance? JM: We check the market to make sure employers are with the best insurance company available. We help clients select the right plan design based on their budget. We work with the current insurance company on designing ways to be proactive; to encourage employees to visit their physicians for preventive

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benefits. Our clients and their employees recognize how being proactive prevents the potentially unbearable costs and consequences of being passive. We conduct employee education meetings to help the employees better understand the benefits they have and assist with the creation and implementation of wellness plans. For large employers, their claims directly affect how much benefits cost and we help educate employees on how to better utilize their benefits. That lowers their claims and rateincreases. We also help answer questions and provide solutions for HR and employee concerns. We have the best staff in the industry because they understand the industry and know how to help resolve issues with insurance companies and handle HR concerns as well. They’re not just answering the phone. MP: Fair enough, but insurance companies offer those services directly. What do employers lose when they work with their insurance company? JM: Working with a consultant is often far more cost-effective for employers because benefits consultants have access to important information that an employer may not have or know about. If employers forgo consulting and work directly with an insurance company, they don’t have someone checking the market to make sure that insurance company is competitive. More importantly, employers don’t have someone looking out for their best interests.

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MP: Many financial firms, like insurance agencies and banks, have merged or been sold to large corporations. How does MBC, a firm of only nine employees, withstand this trend? JM: It’s amazing, the amount of consolidation in our business. I’ve been doing this over 20 years and never seen such a shift.

MP: Many employers blame Obamacare for the escalating cost of health insurance, but what within the law frustrates employers and how has it impacted benefits consultants? JM: Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, has positive and negative effects. A positive is how it did away with preexisting conditions and the lifetime maximum.

Bigger businesses do approach us, but if we seriously considered merging, it must benefit our clients, our staff and our best interests. We’ve had offers that would benefit (MBC co-partner Dave Middaugh) and me, but that is not enough. Changing must benefit our clients and staff as well.

Health insurance doesn’t mean much to people until they need it and when you need it, you want it to work for you. Having a million-dollar lifetime maximum seems like a lot of money, but a million dollars doesn’t go very far in today’s medical care industry. You don’t want to be in a situation where your insurance stops paying because you have reached a lifetime maximum.

MP: But why would clients remain loyal to MBC when corporate consultants are available? JM: There are many very good consultants in our area and Minneapolis-based consultants serving clients in North Dakota. What distinguishes us from many others is our staff and our clients. I’m obviously biased, but I believe we have the best staff in the market. We have an HR specialist who assists with any HR-related questions and is (Society of Human Resource Management) credited. Our service rep has been in the industry for 30 years and understands insurance-relations better than others because she worked at an insurance company. Our other staff have 115 total years of benefits experience and our clients appreciate that. Our clients are loyal, some predate me and I’ve been at MBC over 20 years. We do very little advertising because most of our new clients are referred by existing clients. That retention and the professional endorsements received reflect our own loyalty to clients.

Unfortunately, Obamacare has not reduced costs at all. In fact, it’s increased costs indirectly by requiring businesses to hire staff just to comply with the law. Directly, it increases costs for customers by adding mandates to insurance companies. Healthcare and insurance are very complex issues, but the Affordable Care Act only addresses one aspect of healthcare’s out-of-control costs and that’s the insurance companies. Make no mistake, insurance companies are not blameless, but you also have the medical industry, the pharmaceutical industry and government itself driving costs. Obamacare doesn’t really address them. For MBC, we anticipated and adjusted to the changes and our clients are grateful for it. We’re not a huge company, but we never take our focus off our clients. They recognize that we understand their needs despite the complexities and continue representing their interests, not our own.

Middaugh Benefits Consulting damiddaugh.com 1019 5th Ave. S, Fargo 701-235-7023

Business Advice

FROM AN UNLIKELY INDUSTRY

What you can learn about customer service, management and burnout from a dying industry. BY Andrew Jason | PHOTOS BY Hillary Ehlen HISTORIC PHOTOS COURTESY OF Jim Boulger

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lmost every small business owner will tell you that they’ve done every job at their company. For Jim Boulger, owner of Boulger Funeral Home, that is really true, though. His first job in this fourth-generation business was vacuuming and he still has flashbacks to those memories. “My joke here is that carpet has changed so much for the better,” said Boulger. “When I was vacuuming in high school, we had this carpet that you could see everything. My dad was a crazy person and you had to vacuum it in lines. I always tell my part-time employees, ‘You guys are so much luckier. I can’t even tell if you vacuumed in here.’” The best way to vacuum isn’t the only business lesson he’s learned over the years. There are several surprising business takeaways from our conversation with Boulger. CUSTOMER SERVICE Funeral homes are built on quality customer service. Perhaps the biggest trait needed to be a successful funeral director is empathy. They are dealing with people in their most vulnerable state. While empathy may be a requirement for funeral directors, it is something that should be learned and practiced in workplaces in every industry. In fact, the Center for Creative Leadership published a white paper that described the importance of empathy in the workplace. They did a study that reported that “empathic emotion as rated from the leader’s subordinates positively predicts job performance ratings from the leader’s boss.”

With that in mind, Boulger has some recommendations on how to practice more empathy in the workplace. “With me, empathy has always been kind of natural. Customer service is part of it but I’ve told people that I don’t find it difficult to put myself in the person’s shoes who’s going through the death. To me, just think of it like if you were calling in and it was your mom or dad. How would you like to be talked to? Or how would you like the conversation to go? If you can understand that, you can really put yourself in their shoes and make the service or arrangements the way you would want it to be done if it was your loved one. “You don’t want someone to come in and be a robot. We want people to talk about their loved one. I like to think I get to know their loved one, even though a lot of them I haven’t met.” BURNOUT A weekend is a non-existent thing when you’re a funeral director. Funeral Directors are on call many nights and must get up at any hour of the day to deal with a body. Boulger has a specific memory from what the life of a funeral director looks like. “The very first Christmas I was on back in 2008, we

23 percent of employees reported feeling burned out at work very often or always while an additional 44 percent reported feeling burned out sometimes. * Stats according to Gallop study

had a double vehicle death on Christmas Eve. My wife just moved back. We just got married. It was 11:30 at night and I had to go. It was out of town so I didn’t get back until like 4 or 5 a.m. and I remember looking at my wife’s eyes and she was just like, ‘Does this happen?’ I said, ‘This is part of it.’” While it might be more pronounced in the funeral industry, burnout is a fact of life in all workplaces. In fact, last year, a Gallop study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees found that 23 percent of employees reported feeling burned out at work very often or always while an additional 44 percent reported feeling burned out sometimes. The same study found that burnout accounts for an estimated $125 billion to $190 billion in health-care spending each year. So how does Boulger handle that burnout? “Burnout is a part of this job. I like what I do and I like to think that my employees like what they do. We’ve had employees who have gotten out of the funeral industry just for that reason. I would say that the biggest reason is the on-call. One of the number one reasons that people get out of the funeral industry is the hours.

CHANGING INDUSTRY Like all industries, the funeral industry is going through a shift in their workforce. According to the New York State Funeral Directors Association, less than 40 years ago, only five percent of funeral directors were women. Now that hovers around 43 percent and females make up about 60 percent of mortuary science students. “It didn’t use to be that way. It used to be an old boy’s club,” said Boulger. “We have two women funeral directors on staff who are fantastic. More women are getting into it. Whether that tackles on to the empathetic thing is up to you to decide. We’ve had people who have requested to meet with women. I’m glad we have that option. Not every funeral home does.”

“It’s also draining. You are dealing with people going through one of the worst moments of their lives. In some cases, it’s a celebration but, at the end of the day, it’s still hard on the funeral directors to consistently meet with families like that. “It’s like anything else, you have to want to do this job or it might not be the job for you. It’s not like, ‘I can eke this out for the next 10 years.’ You’re really not going to like it and it’s going to be draining.”

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As an owner and manager, Boulger must also address burnout in his employees. So how does he do that? “It is about the right employee. We are on call but we get a day off during the week. When you’re off, it’s important to be off. Don’t bug them all the time. There are some times here that you have to text them and say, ‘ I know you’re off today but this family is wondering about something.’ But, it’s important when you’re on vacation, you’re off.”

Boulger Funeral Homes was started in 1897 by Jim Boulger’s great great grandfather.

FAMILY OWNED BUSINESS Boulger Funeral Homes was started in 1897 by Boulger’s great great grandfather and it has stayed a family-owned business over the years. The company was basically started at its current location at 123 10th St. S, Fargo. They originally started in an old mansion (photos to the left) but tore it down in 1968 to build their new space. Now with six licensed funeral directors, two full-time office staff and 25 part-time staff, they have a funeral home in Fargo, Kindred and Hillsboro. However, the pride of continuing the family heritage is important to Boulger. “The funeral industry is one of the few industries that is still predominantly family-owned. I don’t know if you can say that about every industry. Being a fourth generation owner, I was a rarity at mortuary school. When I was there, I was one of two that had it in the family. I’m glad it was in my family. I just can’t say I would have ever thought to be a funeral director if it wasn’t in my family. I respect those who thought of it because I don’t know if it ever would have come up in my mind. “Being able to carry on that legacy is important. You’re always going to have somebody who finds it really meaningful to meet with the owner of the funeral home and the fact that my last name is Boulger. I think that’s great. I’ve

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got more than enough competent employees but if that’s important to you, I think that’s great that we have that as an option. You can’t say that about every place. That’s something I’ll always carry with me. “Whether or not my kids want to go into it, I’ll treat it like my dad did. ‘You do what you want to do.’” TOP-DOWN LEADERSHIP In journalism, there’s an old rule called show, don’t tell. Boulger has also learned that’s true with management. “When it comes to business in general, it trickles from the top down. If you treat clients with respect, your employees are going to see that’s the way you run your business and you’ll be successful. We’ve been blessed in that regard. I’ve had a good teacher in my dad. My dad had a good teacher in his dad. You like to carry that on. If your employees are happy, they’re going to make your clients happy and you’ll be successful. “I know I’ve got my own faults. I would never say that I’m the best manager in the world but I would like to think I try and I will always hear my employees and treat them with respect. If we can solve a problem, we’re going to do it.“ boulgerfuneralhome.com

Burnout accounts for an estimated $125 billion to $190 billion in healthcare spending each year. * Stats according to Gallop study

Dr. Faith Ngunjiri

Q What’s your favorite part about what you do? A The favorite part of what I do is talking… I am an ambivert who loves to engage with 72

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people around the issues that I'm passionate about – leadership, ethics, values, women’s leadership, spirituality, diversity. It’s a long list. I love teaching because it also involves conversation, dialogue between myself and my students, whether that is in my classroom or in different organizations when I give workshops and talks on various leadership topics. Q How have you seen women’s roles in business change throughout your career? A I have thought a lot about women, business and leadership lately. OK, not just lately, it is one of my areas of passion, research and teaching. When I was coming up, women generally tended to be in the helping professions. In fact, my own undergraduate degree is in education. But within the past 20+ years, I have seen women rising to all kinds of interesting roles and positions. When I was doing my doctoral dissertation, most of the women

in leadership roles were older, 55+. That was 15 years ago. Now you will find women serving as CEOs of business, non-profits, educational institutions and their own enterprises as early as their 20s. The barriers continue, however, women are finding ways to either break those glass ceilings or sidestep them altogether. Q Are business ethics changing as younger generations enter the workforce? A One of my students commented in a course evaluation – “I don’t understand why we study ethics, this stuff is common sense!” At first I was a little miffed, like surely, after a whole semester, you ought to know why! But the more I thought about it, the more I realized this student had a point. Younger people are taking this ethics stuff to heart so much that it becomes common sense to them. I hear students often talking about how they are not willing to work, invest or shop in

BY LAURA CAROON AND DANYEL MOE

As the director of Lorentzsen Center for Faith and Work and a professor at Concordia College’s Offutt School of Business, Dr. Faith Ngunjiri is initiating meaningful conversations about valuebased leadership, business ethics and purpose.

Q In a brief summary, what do you do? A I have a fairly fluid job description as far as the Director of Lorentzsen Center for Faith and Work portion of my job is concerned. I spend a lot of time talking to people in the community—looking for speakers who are willing to share their life and leadership journeys and how they integrate their faith/ spirituality into their leadership. The focus of the Lorentzsen Luncheons, which we host six times a year (three each semester) is on conversations about value-based leadership, ethics, purpose, calling, meaningful work, inclusive workplaces, employee care, etc. Anything related to our working and leading lives and the role of ethics, values and spirituality in that context. In addition to hosting luncheons, we also do intimate dinner conversations, breakfast events – essentially getting people together around a meal to talk about the world of work and leadership. My other role is as a professor of management. I teach courses on ethics and leadership, organizational behavior and women as leaders.

organizations that keep getting caught up in ethical scandals. This is totally awesome, we have to have zero tolerance for bad behavior and ethical misdeeds. Q What advice do you have for someone who is trying to navigate an ethical dilemma in their workplace? A First of all, realize that this is a normal part of life and work. Ethical dilemmas are the norm rather than the exception. Secondly, because ethical dilemmas are the norm, prepare yourself beforehand, know what you will or won’t do to fit with your values. Do not attempt to do the wrong thing “just this once,” or what Clay Christensen of Harvard Business School calls “the marginal cost mistake.” Because doing it “just this once” leads to another time and another time, and eventually, you won’t have any qualms about behaving unethically. And finally, values matter. If the reason for getting tempted to do the wrong thing is because the culture in which you are working perpetuates bad behavior, step away. Do not let yourself be compromised. If, however, the culture does encourage speaking up, then speak up and seek help. Most ethical dilemmas can be easily resolved if only one will speak to others and gain their perspective. You don’t have to walk that path alone. Q What do you hope for businesswomen in FargoMoorhead? A What I hope for businesswomen in our community is that they will continue to lean into their businesses, continue to thrive, they will find the resources they need to grow their businesses and that the rest of us women will support our sisters to ensure that they are successful. Luckily for us, this is a community that is truly one-of-a-kind, where help is available to those who seek it. Go Ladybosses!

Faces of

Fargo Business

JESSE CLOOS Commercial Sales Specialist

Push Pedal Pull Who he is... Jesse Cloos, Commercial Sales Specialist at Push Pedal Pull The worst advise he's ever received.. Live everyday like its your last and sleep when you're dead. How his job differs from what people think he does... I would guess peoples' perception of exercise equipment sales is that I try to sell them what costs the most but, in reality, I am helping them with long term situations and costs. Saving them the headache of repairing a product that is continually broken. What do you want to let the community know about your business.. Emphasize customer service and knowledge about exercise equipment. Letting the community know that we have on site service technicians that can repair any of our exercise equipment and some other brands as well.

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If he could thank one person it would be... My father. He taught me to work hard and if you're going to start something, you better finish it. Work harder and smarter than the person next to you! "If you're going to do something, you gotta mean it!" Why he enjoys his work.. I do what I do because I like to stay healthy and fit and believe everyone should have the opportunity to have access to good working exercise equipment to maintain a healthy lifestyle. A leader he's currently watching.. Grant Cardone

Faces of

Fargo Business

TOM MARX Owner

Window Tint Pros & Automotive Accessories How he got started and where heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going now... Growing up, I always looked up to my dad, who has now been a business owner in the FM area for 30 years. Because of him, I always knew I wanted to be a business owner myself. I had a huge interest in the automotive industry and started tinting windows when I was 16 in my parents garage. I worked at a few automotive accessory shops before starting my own business when I was 21. Since the start, I have expanded my business from strictly automotive window tinting to offering commercial and residential window tinting, as well as a wide variety of automotive accessories and services. I am currently working on a new venture along with Window Tint Pros. Ultimate Auto Sales will be a car lot specializing in selling customized cars, trucks and SUVs. I have enjoyed being a business owner in the FM area and am excited for the future of small businesses in the area.

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The worst advice heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ever received... In high school, my automotive teacher told me I shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take his class because I would never make it in the automotive industry. It was the worst advice because at that age it is tough to know what you are going to want to do later in life. I think it made me want to be in this industry even more, and could have been a big reason why I am where I am today. What he wants the community to know... Being a small businesses owner, I like to do business with other small businesses. I think that helps other businesses, as well as our local economy. If more local businesses worked together, I think it would benefit our community. One characteristic he thinks every leader should have... Every leader should have an open mind. Every person has their own unique ideas and experiences. Talking to someone with an open mind can spark so many different ideas and can turn into something great.

3 Summer Events TO ENHANCE YOUR COMPANY CULTURE

pon interviewing for a potential job, one of the most important questions your interviewer will ask you is, “What can your next job provide you?” Your answers could range from excellent benefits to opportunity for growth to something as simple as culture. Devoting 40+ hours of your week to your workplace is a commitment that you want to enjoy. Fortunately, capitalizing a fun and healthy work environment is highly attainable when you use your resources. Living in the Fargo-Moorhead community provides us with a plethora of ways to build on your company culture; you just may not know it yet! The summer, especially, is a great time to get out and take advantage of these opportunities. Below are three of Office Sign Company’s favorite activities to take part in during the busy summer season. You can easily implement them within your company!

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BY Rylee Wznick PHOTOS BY Office Sign Company

FAMILY/TEAM PICNIC Given the two to three months of sunshine we are allowed in the great state of North Dakota, us Fargoans have to take advantage of the warm days while we have them. Summer is a busy time for businesses and families alike, and what better way to celebrate both than with a picnic? The Fargo-Moorhead area has a variety of parks (with shelters) that your business can rent out for an evening to hold a celebration. Whether you’re celebrating a successful quarter, a company’s birthday or you simply want to celebrate the people who make up your company, throw them a picnic! Last year, for example, Office Sign Company turned 10 years old. To celebrate, we rented out a park, grilled food, set up games and invited all of the staff and their families to enjoy the party. Not only are family/team picnics a great re-energizer for the team, but they allow families to get to know your cohorts and the company in which you spend the majority of your time.

COMPANY-WIDE OLYMPIC GAMES Going for a walk outside the office to stretch your legs is a welcomed relief. But sometimes you need to step it up a notch. Take a full afternoon, gather your coworkers and show off your water balloon dodgeball dominance. Call up a local park with ample space to run around and hold a company-wide Olympic Games ceremony! It has become a tradition for the folks at Office Sign Company to take an afternoon to do just that. “OSClympics,” as they call it, pairs up teams of individuals who may not have the opportunity to work together very often, and they are challenged with games ranging from an obstacle course to a “sponge launch.” Entertainment is provided, fun is had and camaraderie is plentiful!

REDHAWKS COMPANY OUTING RedHawks games are such a highlight for our community. The team behind RedHawks keeps their promise of covering the bases for fun. Their games are themed for families, businesses and giveaways, and we highly encourage taking your team out to their monthly “Business Day Game!” We make this game a priority for our team because it requires minimal planning so that our entire team can enjoy the day. This game serves as a great networking event outside of your business and a fun, relaxing afternoon for your coworkers to enjoy America’s pastime. BUSINESS DAY GAMES: THURSDAY, JUNE 20, JULY 11 AND AUGUST 1

Outside of Office Sign Company’s three big cultural events that go on every summer, we try to include a variety of events for our team to take part in. We host spikeball and ping pong tournaments when time allows, we get a group together to try our hand at the Corporate Cup and we volunteer together. From cooking meals at Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Red River Valley to raising funds for CHARISM to go “Over the Edge,” Office Sign Company encourages company culture. There are so many ways to use all of the resources that our community provides to capitalize that culture, and in turn, you’re helping to make those 40+ hours a week that much more enjoyable for your valued team. 80

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Recapping

North Dakota’s legislative session By Craig Whitney | Craig Whitney is the president and CEO of the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo Chamber of Commerce.

L Session length January 3 to April 26 Outcomes 905 bills and 79 resolutions introduced 326 House bills and 253 Senate bills adopted Governor’s action Signed 527 bills into law and vetoed three bills

ate in April, the state of North Dakota wrapped up its 66th Legislative Assembly. There were many interesting outcomes, developments, funding decisions and, of course, a few disappointments.

We were fortunate to have five local legislators join us at a recent event to tell us more about what really went down in Bismarck. I want to thank Senator Judy Lee (District 13), Rep. Shannon Roers Jones (District 46), Rep. Josh Boschee (District 44), Senator Ronald Sorvaag (District 45) and Rep. Thomas Beadle (District 27) for taking the time to speak to our membership. Among the items they discussed were social services redesign, addiction treatment and criminal justice reform, pretrial services programs, behavioral health funding, budget decisions, status of the legacy fund and more. As always, we applaud Senator Lee for her deep knowledge of human services and especially the work this session as it pertains to the ever-growing issues in the behavioral health space. House Minority Leader Boschee shared several outcomes that pertain to gun

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safety, including one that passed and now authorizes school boards to decide if non-law enforcement staff (such as school resource officers) can have access to firearms. We also appreciate the attention to detail that Sorvaag provided regarding the “prairie dog bill,” which provides state oil tax revenue to non-oil producing counties across the state to use for road and airport improvements, property tax relief and other infrastructure projects that local leaders will determine. Locally, we’ll see about $25 million per biennium come available. We extend a heartfelt thank you to Senator Sorvaag who was seen as a leader and workhorse as he diligently navigated the legislative seas and helped push this bill through that will be very important to nonoil producing areas like ours. Regarding diversion funding, we know that the state has committed to $750 million, which leaves the project $120 million short, in light of increased costs and changed plans. Beadle told the crowd that he felt hopeful that the rest will be provided in the next session. As others have mentioned, things will be looking up once shovels hit the ground.

And after many attempts, North Dakotaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blue laws were repealed. This will go into effect August 4 and allows businesses to open prior to noon on Sundays. The previously voted in law to allow medical marijuana has a new expansion to include autism and brain injuries. After the voter passing of Measure 1 last fall, an ethics commission has convened and is underway. It now has become Article 14 of the state constitution.

I also want to take a moment to give credit to the work of The Chamberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Public Policy Committee, led by chair Tim Flakoll of Tri-College University, who stays tapped into legislation and policy work that affects our community. I also invite you to check out an upcoming Eggs & Issues event, where we will talk about the timely topics affecting us all. Upcoming events will feature talks on higher education, safety and crime, the impact of our military and more.

7 WAYS to turn your staff into a Social Media Army and grow your brand organically By Brian Larry

D About Brian

Brian Larry is a father, entrepreneur and community advocate. Brian is the visionary behind ConnectLabs, a company that is hell-bent on connecting the community through people and technology. His background wasn’t always in technology but, five years ago, he saw how the world was changing in the way where people could connect to anyone in the world through technology. Learn more about him at connectlabs.io. 84

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o you know how important social media is to your bottom line? Forbes did a study and found that 81 percent of U.S. respondents indicated posts from their friends directly influenced their purchase decision. This finding supports an earlier study done by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and Lithium, a social media tech firm, which revealed 80 percent of respondents “tried new things based on friends’ suggestions.”

When working with local businesses on their social media strategy, I typically noticed that the brand would benefit from the employees sharing content about the business on social media for them. But rarely do I see anyone deploying this strategy. By now, most businesses should know that social media influencer networks are driving consumer decisions. So by using your staff to create a social media army, your business can create your own

influencer network, growing your brand organically. These numbers will give you a hint of the power of a staffdriven social media army. Let’s say you’re a restaurant with a total of 4,000 followers collectively on Facebook and Instagram. Now, let’s say you have 50 employees, each with (a relatively modest) 500 followers of their own for a total of 25,000 connections, which we’re going to cut that in half because they probably

have a similar group of friends. So, by asking your employees to share, like and comment on company posts, you can boost your audience from 4,000 to 16,500–instantly. The more engagement (shares, likes and comments) your content gets, the more exposure your brand gets organically. So how do you turn your staff into a social media army that grows your brand organically? Like all marketing strategies, there needs to be a plan in place. As you read on, I will lay out the plan and some strategies that I used to help a local restaurant/bar start to implement a social media army using their staff to grow their brand organically. It isn’t just a numbers game, of course. A referral from friends and friends of friends are widely seen as more relevant and trustworthy than social media posts from business accounts. (It’s like when you use Google search, you never click the ad paid for by the business, you go to the one after it, which isn’t a paid ad.) Why? My results with these brands show that content shared by employees can get more engagement than content shared by brand channels and is re-shared more frequently. After studying one brand’s social media account, I noticed an even more impressive thing. When employees share a post, the company not only expanded their social media reach organically, they start to create a bond between their staff and the consumer. Creating better social media engagement and better results. Now while the numbers and engagement sound great, let’s come down to earth for a moment. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see this social media strategy going horribly wrong. Will your employees actually want to share your companies content? Will their followers even care? Who decides what content gets put out? You also could risk annoying your followers with too many posts. So here are my seven tips to grow your social media presence.

you’re probably 1.Sowondering by now

have to 2.Employees want to share your

where do you start.

brand’s content.

Well, let’s start by finding your social media employee champions. First, put an internal questionnaire out asking if anyone would like to be a part of your social media army and get rewarded for promoting the company on social media. After you have a few sign-ups, these so-called champions will need to fit the following: Have knowledge about social media, be very active on social media (1-3 posts a day), have a following (500 or more) and be energetic and knowledgeable about your brand.

Your employee-driven social media army has to be voluntary, making someone post on social media will only turn into a bad post with bad engagement. This all starts with having the right company culture. If employees are engaged and enthusiastic about your brand, then helping the company get the word out is fun, as long as the process is easy. At the same time, by sharing a relevant post, employees can ideally build their own professional social followings, establishing themselves as influencers in their professional space. Making this a win-win for all involved.

right post needs To a large extent, 3.Theto reach the right 4.employees should audience.

In other words, audience alignment is key. Posting the right content on the right platform will generate the most social engagement. It’s simple, create content that is relevant to your brand, for the right social platform, posted by the right person, at the right time. Creating the perfect staff driven social media army.

be creatively composing their own messages and sharing company content without any special prompting, just as part of their normal routines. Of course, some groundwork is required to get to this point. I recommend putting your staff through mine or someone else’s basic social media training course to get everyone up to speed on the different social channels your brand uses. It is also key to lay out guidelines for how employees should talk about the company on their social accounts. At the same time, however, it’s important to offer employees suggested posts. This might seem presumptuous at first, but it’s not easy to come up with catchy messages or posts and your staff have other jobs to do. Sometimes you need to offer a little inspiration.

CASE STUDY Why should you encourage your employees to post on your company’s behalf? Let’s say you’re a restaurant with a total of 4,000 followers collectively on Facebook and Instagram. Now, let’s say you have 50 employees, each with (a relatively modest) 500 followers of their own for a total of 25,000 connections, which we’re going to cut that in half because they probably have a similar group of friends. So, by asking your employees to share, like and comment on company posts, you can boost your audience from 4,000 to 16,500– instantly.

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Southtown Pourhouse is a new restaurant in south Fargo that is working with Larry to use their employees to grow their social media following.

HOOTSUITE’S AMPLIFY One of those apps that helps encourage employees to grow your social reach is Hootsuite’s Amplify. This app allows you to create pre-approved content that you can push out to your employees. Learn more at hootsuite.com/ products/amplify.

process Use your social army Reward, reward, 5.Themustsharing 6. 7. be extremely sparingly though. reward. simple.

When it comes to getting employees to share a suggested post, it pays to minimize steps and make it effortless. A predrafting post is helpful but still poses logistical challenges. Well thank god for technology in 2019, there are apps that let suggested posts be pushed out directly to employees’ smartphones. Employees can then scroll through the proposed messages on their phones, tap to decide which social networks, to share on and done. The ease of just one or two taps makes this a fun and easy add-on to their job. It also makes a huge difference in participation rates.

It goes without saying that social media runs on trust. Your post will have an impact because they come from real people–in many cases people you actually know and whose views you value. Employers, keep this in mind when asking your team members to serve in your social media army. If your employees’ feeds are suddenly swamped with work posts, the brand’s credibility suffers and people simply tune out. So it’s important to use this strategy in the right way. It’s not really a matter of how many posts you send, as to what kinds of post you send. The best updates for employees to share are genuinely useful or entertaining. They align with company interests without being too promotional or narrowly focused.

Creating an employee-driven social media army isn’t new, but social media has made it significantly easier to enlist your full staff as a marketing resource. So reward your social army. I recommend rewarding based on how a post does. The most likes will get a prize or the most shares get a prize. Applying the right strategy and a little technology to tap into employees’ existing networks can radically increase the reach of your social media post, so why not make it fun.

So start by simply asking staff members if they want to be a part of your social army. Then encouraging employees to share your company’s social media updates by rewarding them–when done properly this can dramatically expand a company’s total following, extending the reach and impact of its post. The best thing about this is it does not require you to hire more employees. The resources you need to execute your social media army are already on your payroll!

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he year was 1987 and I had just graduated from college and embarked on my first real job in my profession. Oh my, how naive I was and how much I had yet to learn, even if I didn’t realize that, myself. I wish I had been given some insight and idea of what it would be like. So, in this month’s issue, which focuses on culture, I decided to author a letter to my younger self, some 32 years later with a bit of advice that would have been beneficial to have.

BY STEVE DUSEK

DakotaBusinessLending.com

Dear Stephen, Congratulations! You’ve made it. Now what? As you enter the “real world” (as you have heard referenced so many times over the past year), I want to share with you my nine principles for a successful and rewarding life. Here goes:

Professionalism Dress and act professionally. Show up to work on time, return messages promptly and remember that details matter. Be patient and courteous. Convey dignity in everything you do and say. Exhibit best practices day in and day out, not just when it is convenient or advantageous.

Responsibility and accountability We have all been given a huge responsibility to cultivate success in our professions and in our lives. This responsibility requires accountability to do a good job, to be available to help out or answer a question when necessary and owning up to one’s actions. This might entail saying “I’m sorry” and truly meaning it, not just because it is what is needed at a particular time. It means you’re accountable, not just for your own job, but for the integrity of the mission of your entire organization. Your actions and behaviors will also have a positive or negative effect on your co-workers and those you serve. To use an old cliché, “walk the walk and talk the talk.”

Collaboration Collaboration is plain old-fashioned teamwork. It is the process by which we pull together for a common purpose, work hard, help each other out, fill in where needed and do whatever is necessary to get the job done. Sure, we all have a certain and specific set of duties and responsibilities, but collaboration goes beyond our individual jobs. It’s fluid and is constantly adjusting until team goals are met.

Have fun Remember how much fun it was to hang out in the neighborhood with friends? Take time to inject some fun into your everyday life. Change things up, exhibit enjoyment in your work or be the source of amusement from time to time. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Enjoy where you work and what you do; otherwise, your work will become joyless and life is far too short for that.

Passion It may sound superficial, but you must have passion for what you do. Passion isn’t something you can simply manufacture at will. It is a powerful, compelling desire to do the type of work your organization provides. The satisfaction you derive from your daily work will be vital to sustaining your levels of energy and excitement for what you continue to do. Often, the quiet, behind-the-scenes accomplishments drive this inner passion, carrying one through a challenging day or a stressful situation. Finding passion in what you do is key to the individual and collective success of an organization. No amounts of money or benefits can take the place of passion for what you do.

Work smart Be prompt and eager. Increase your intelligence and performance capabilities through constant learning. Don’t get caught up with micromanaging, watching the clock or minute scheduling details. Know your strengths, but also be willing to ask for help if you need it. You might stay an extra five minutes to get something done, today, that contributes to fulfilling your vision for tomorrow.

TO MY YOUNGER SELF 88

JUNE 2019

Community and the bigger pie It’s not just about you. It really isn’t. It never was, and it never will be. While employees are always a business’s most important asset, you need to give back, help out, show a caring attitude and display a greater concern for the larger community. Even small contributions make a big difference. I encourage you to volunteer and assist in ways that do not directly benefit you or your family. While not required, it will grow you and round out your awareness of other people, their challenges and their needs.

Be a better version of yourself each and every day Be better today than you were yesterday. Be better tomorrow than you are today. The only person you need to compete with is yourself. The choices you make and the lessons you learn will aid you along the way. Sounds a bit corny, but at the end of your life, you will be evaluated by the example with which you lived your life. Are you reading to improve your personal and professional life? Do you set goals and take time to really evaluate how you are doing? Do you take any continuing education or do you continue to learn well beyond college? Don’t compare yourself to another employee or to someone else. Consider how you are growing as a person.

Invitations and opportunities Accepting invitations to join an organization or place of work will help you cultivate success and meet new people. As such, you will have much to contribute; however, you’ll also enjoy the opportunity to grow personally and professionally. Managing additional duties and responsibilities will be challenging, even difficult, at times. Regardless of whether you agree with someone or not, or despite the fact that things may not always go your way, continue to care about those you meet and work with each day. In the end, what kind of person you are, how you have accomplished your work and what kind of care you have shown others, is all that matters. I hope this bit of advice and wisdom helps. Now go forward and do the very best you can with what you have. Take a few risks, work hard and stay humble. I look forward to seeing what you do with your future. Your future self,

Steve

JUNE

CALENDAR

BUSINESS EVENTS

2019

JUNE 4 Safety Update with Area Law Enforcement Tuesday, 7:30-9 a.m.

With our metro on the grow, it is important to keep a focus on our community’s safety. Join the Chamber for this Eggs & Issues to hear from all three of our cities’ police chiefs as they discuss crime in our communities and overall safety of our region. They will touch on issues going on in their respective cities and collectively talk about areas where they collaborate. fmwfchamber.com Courtyard by Marriott 1080 28th Ave. S, Moorhead

JUNE 5, 12, 26 The100, INC’s Wednesdays 12 to 1

JUNE 6 Ladyboss Summit 2019 Thursday, 7:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Nearly every Wednesday, you’ll find an experienced group of owners and executives from The100, INC having lunch in The Porch at Porter Creek. This is open to members of the100,inc., all key personnel and special guests.

Spend a morning with Ladybosses of Fargo-Moorhead at the beautiful Pines venue to learn from their kickass lineup of speakers and build meaningful connections with other amazing women at their second annual Ladyboss Summit.

the100.online Porter Creek Hardwood

facebook.com/ladybossfm The Pines

Wednesday, 12-1 p.m.

1555 44th St. S, Fargo

4487 165th Ave. SE, Davenport, N.D.

JUNE 6 - AUGUST 5 Intern Experience

Thursday, June 6 - Monday, August 5

Emerging Prairie coordinates an Intern Experience Program in the summer that provides learning sessions, leadership opportunities and community building programming for summer interns. The Intern Experience program is built on the Social Change Model of Leadership, which emphasizes positive action to improve self, teams and community. Engaging interns in eight weekly small group learning session plus four largegroup sessions, the Intern Experience connects interns to each other and the community. emergingprairie.com/internexperience

JUNE 11

Photo by Dennis Krull

The State of the Arts Tuesday, 7:30 a.m.

This year, the Art Partnership’s State of the Arts event serves as the conclusion of our inaugural Business Breakfast Series. At the State of the Arts, they highlight the importance of the arts in our community, debut their organizational goals for the upcoming fiscal year and award City Arts Partnership grants to area nonprofits that add vibrancy to our community through art. They also present awards to local arts advocates, organizations and businesses for their significant contributions to the arts in the past year. bit.ly/SOTA2019 Hjemkomst Center 202 1st Ave. N, Moorhead

FARGOINC.COM

JUNE 11 Capital Convention Tuesday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Are you in business or want to get into business and you are wondering where the sources of capital are to help grow or start your business? Join the Southern Valley Economic Development Authority at the Capital Convention at the City Brew in Wahpeton as they talk all things money for businesses in ND and MN. You will hear from federal sources, state sources, regional development groups, private capital groups and local EDA’s. facebook.com/Southernvalleyeda City Brew Hall 120 4th St. N. #Suite A, Wahpeton, N.D.

JUNE 12

JUNE 18 & 20

Combat Workplace Negativity and Boost Engagement When Times are Tough Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Throughout this interactive session from the Chamber, you will discover how your workforce is impacted when times are tough, understand practical ways to boost engagement, reduce stress and worry and handle difficult conversations so you are prepared to positively influence behaviors and attitudes and drive productivity. fmwfchamber.com Courtyard by Marriott FargoMoorhead

Chamber 101: Connect. Engage. Maximize.

Tuesday from 4 - 4:45 p.m. and Thursday from 9 - 9:45 a.m.

If you’re not familiar with the Chamber, are a new member, new contact, new hire or just want to re-engage with them, this gathering is for you! Chamber 101 is a laid-back discussion designed to share some of the great benefits of Chamber membership and what opportunities exist that you need to know. fmwfchamber.com Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce 202 First Ave. N, Moorhead

1080 28th Ave. S, Moorhead

JUNE 18

JUNE 19

Military Appreciation Night at the RedHawks Tuesday, 6:30 - 10 p.m.

This annual event brings together hundreds of military members and supporters allowing our community to honor and recognize them and their families with a night full of patriotism and fun for the whole family. Tickets to attend the game in The Chamber’s reserved section are $10 and includes $3 in Hawks Bucks. fmwfchamber.com Newman Outdoor Field

Sacrifice: Why Leaders Must Give of Themselves More Than They Take Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.

A choice is not a choice until we decide what we will give up. We must subtract first, then multiply. The three components of a good relationship between a leader and their team - friendship, loyalty and cooperation - can only be developed if the leader gives of themselves. Learn more at this the100,inc event. the100.online Avalon Events Center

1515 15th Ave. N, Fargo

2525 9th Ave. S, Fargo

JUNE 20 Business After Hours - June 2019 Thursday, 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.

JUNE 2019

Kilbourne Group Walking Tour Monday, 3:30 - 5 p.m.

Business After Hours continues to set records as the region’s largest networking event. Booth space is often sold out, and attendees can connect with their peers and exhibitors ranging from cell phone companies to financial institutions and more.

Join the Chamber for an exclusive walking tour of downtown Fargo from one of its core developers, Kilbourne Group! Learn hot spots and their histories in this interactive tour with plenty of stops to take a look around and ask questions. Free, but registration required.

fmwfchamber.com Courtyard by Marriott FargoMoorhead

fmwfchamber.com Kilbourne Group

1080 28th Ave. S, Moorhead

JUNE 24

210 Broadway N. #300, Fargo

JUNE 25 Dream Big ... Live Big Tuesday, 3:30 - 6 p.m.

Join the Chamber and hear life lessons and strategies on how and when to dream big and take risks. Whether it is Pam McGee taking a risk and moving into a VP role at her employer or Tonya Stende selling her business… it takes authentic courage and, most importantly, support from your tribe. fmwfchamber.com DoubleTree by Hilton & West Fargo Conference Center

JUNE 26 Great Plains Land Expo Wednesday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Don’t miss this one-day “university” with industry leaders speaking on a diverse portfolio of topics relating to land and minerals. The 2019 Great Plains Land Expo will focus on the economics of agriculture and energy, the daily challenges and opportunities of managing land, mineral rights, easements and investing in farmland. You can meet local and regional experts who will speak at the breakout sessions. greatplainslandexpo.com Holiday Inn Fargo 3803 13th Ave. S, Fargo

825 East Beaton Dr, West Fargo

JUNE 27

Lattes with Leaders: Josh Teigen

New Member Social Thursday, 4:30 - 5:15 p.m.

New to the Chamber’s Young Professionals Network or thinking about joining? Then this event is for you! Connect with new and current members, learn more about the program and all the ways that you can be involved. Don’t forget to stick around for YPN’s Annual Picnic immediately following.

Thursday, 7:30 - 9 a.m.

Josh Teigen already had C-level titles under his belt as a young college student, and today is one of the most accomplished yet humble leaders in our community. Learn his journey, from working for Doug Burgum, to founding companies, and his current role at Mind Shift. Don’t miss hearing how this rising star got his start and what you can learn from his story.

fmwfchamber.com Lindenwood Park - Main Shelter 1905 Roger Maris Dr, Fargo

fmwfchamber.com

JUNE 27 Ninth Annual YPN Great American Picnic Thursday, 5:15 - 7:30 p.m.

Join the Chamber’s Young Professionals Network, family and friends for their ninth annual Great American Picnic! Food and beverages are provided along with lawn games for those who are looking for friendly competition. fmwfchamber.com Lindenwood Park - Main Shelter 1905 Roger Maris Dr, Fargo

JULY 1 YPN: Share a Meal at Ronald McDonald House Charities Monday, 4 - 6 p.m.

Join fellow Chamber’s Young Professionals Network members as they prepare a meal for the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Red River Valley.

Thoughts from the experts

“This summer, attend a local event or conference. You’ll leave with at least a few work tips and some new connections. Challenge yourself to meet at least three new people. Introduce yourself and enjoy the conversation that follows. The FM area has lots of great gatherings coming up. Register for one today.” - Anita Hoffarth, co-owner of Reach Partners. * Reach Partners helps organizations hold standout events and manage successful projects. reachpartnersinc.com

fmwfchamber.com Ronald McDonald House Charities 4757 Agassiz Crossing S, Fargo

FARGOINC.COM