Building Ensono’s New Culture: One Employee’s Perspective

While approaching downtown Chicago this past weekend, I found myself staring at the soaring skyline. This is a drive that I have made numerous times yet the sight still captivates me. The outer beauty of the skyscrapers enjoyed by so many is sustained by the inward structures and, more importantly, a solid foundation that was designed to stand the test of time. It’s more than the eyes can capture.

I’ve been thinking about company culture a lot lately since our company first was acquired by new owners in mid-2015, then transitioned to its new identity, Ensono, in early January. When I think of company culture, I think of those soaring skyscrapers of my hometown of Chicago. It’s the inner structures and solid foundations that you don’t see that make those seemingly impossibly tall and beautiful buildings possible.

As a certified ITIL expert, I focus on improving the delivery of IT services, not building or changing company cultures. I not only have a big stake in our company culture but like all my fellow employees, we collectively determine what that culture is.

Our new management team understands that. They solicited our input to develop a product roadmap, set our vision and mission, and identify our cores values. On January 12, along with the new company name, management announced Ensono’s core values as honesty, collaboration, reliability, passion and curiosity.

Those are my values, too. And to make these values more than a list on a wall plaque, our CEO Jeff Von Deylen asked each of us to commit to doing something different than we do today to help advance the business. He led the way by sharing his commitment statement: I will be a servant leader, listen and welcome feedback, continue to challenge our organization, and lead us to achieve results beyond our expectations.

Following Jeff’s lead, I decided to develop a personal commitment statement: I will imagine the possible by fostering great relationships with our clients, prospects and co-workers on our journey to $300 million while challenging myself and others to get little better each day.

I have weathered management changes before, and I can be as skeptical as the next person about what appears to be the newest fad designed to change cultures or companies. But I can honestly say this feels like a genuinely new start and opportunity, with management backing what they are saying with action, attention and investments. I’m convinced we’ve put in place the right foundational pillars, and now we are working every day to demonstrate these values to the benefit of our clients.