Disclaimer: These communications are intended for the employees of HB Global. We recognize that the general public will have access. The views expressed in these communications represent Bob Whalen in the context of HB Global and may not apply to broader audiences.
Our mission to create value and empower employee owners to make HB Global a great place to work aligns perfectly with the fact that we are an ESOP (which is no accident). That means we’re constantly focused on how we can generate the most value to share with our employee owners while not sacrificing our core values or culture. To do this, we have to focus on making decisions that are best for the entire organization, especially due to our size and breadth.
While most of the time, these decisions are easy to make, there are times where the best answer isn’t so clear. When those situations come up, it’s important that we have a healthy debate and that we keep focus on what will create the most good rather than allow politicking to happen to benefit a certain individual or group. That’s why focusing on the whole is one of our principles.
Our Focus on the Whole Principle
“We focus on the whole, not the individual. As an organization, we can’t be all things to all people. We strive to make decisions that will create the most good for the most people. This lens of decision-making creates the most value for us to share back with employee owners. These decisions often aren’t easy so it’s important for there to be a healthy debate and a clear description of the “why” behind the outcome.”
Why This Is Important to Us
As an ESOP, all employee owners have a stake in the decisions that are made in our company. Even if a decision doesn’t impact an employee owner’s day-to-day work, it will still have an impact on them because the value that is created for the company is shared back to them through the ESOP plan.
This means that it is particularly important that we make decisions that are for the good of the whole. Not all decisions will always directly impact every employee owner, but all decisions will always indirectly impact them through the ESOP value.
When we have an awareness that this perspective is taken when making decisions, we can understand that the decisions being made aren’t personal in nature. Rather, they are being made to create the most value for all employee owners. It’s important to remember that “value” is not always financial in the short-term.
Part of our mission is to empower employee owners to make HB Global a great place to work. However, we recognize that we can’t be all things to all people because of the size and breadth of our organization. When we are all clear and aligned on this principle, we can commit to supporting decisions that maybe weren’t our first choice as long as the reasoning is clear and communicated.
What This Means at HB Global
Because all employee owners are impacted by every decision, it’s important that we have sufficient discussion around the potential outcomes, both direct and indirect. This becomes especially critical for decisions that are less straightforward. In those cases, it’s beneficial to have a healthy debate around each side of the decision to ensure the decision maker comes to the best answer for the greatest good.
It’s important that the decision-maker then communicate the reasons behind why the decision was made and the anticipated outcomes of the decision, especially when the stakes are high. Does this need to be done for every single little decision, especially those that are straightforward? No. But leaders within our organization should be mindful of the fact that this is critical to do for larger, more significant decisions because each decision either directly or indirectly impacts each employee owner.
While seemingly in contrast, focusing on the whole also relates to Radical Autonomy. Radical Autonomy allows each employee owner to demonstrate their expertise. Because we each have unique skills and experiences to bring to the table, focusing on the whole allows us to leverage and support all of those skills and abilities, rather than focusing on one particular group at a given time.
It’s also important to know what “focus on the whole” is not. We care deeply about each individual employee owner. This principle doesn’t mean that we don’t still value each individual but rather means we need to make the best decision for the most individuals.
How We Live This Principle
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The shift in our leadership structure to one in which Bob Whalen serves as CEO and Adam Smith serves as President and COO was made with the whole organization in mind. As we continue to grow, it’s beneficial to have this additional leadership support, where Bob focuses on big-picture items like culture and investments, while Adam focuses on operations.
- Tabatha Sedio, VP of Risk and Safety, switched our workers’ comp coverage 4 years ago. Over those 4 years, HB Global collectively has seen significant savings in insurance costs. While different divisions saw varying degrees of these savings depending on their circumstances, the savings all go towards the ESOP value that is shared with every employee-owner.
- We’ve walked away from acquisitions that aren’t culturally aligned. While they may have created short-term value, they would have been detrimental to the long-term value of our ESOP.
This Principle and Our Core Values
Our four core values directly relate to our focus on the whole. Both this principle and our values work together to support each other.
Trust
Trust is fundamental to our culture and business. Part of how we live this core value is assuming positive intent in others. Trust helps us to focus on the whole because, when decisions are made, we can lead with the assumption that they were made to create the most good for the most people. Also, when we focus on the whole, we are striving to do the right thing, which builds trust.
Team
Part of living our core value of Team means checking our ego at the door, which is also essential to focusing on the whole. When we do this, we can understand the perspective of what will create the most value overall, and not necessarily what is best for us specifically.
Grit
Focusing on the whole requires us to demonstrate grit. By doing things like going the extra mile and not making excuses, we’re ultimately creating the most good for the most people rather than prioritizing our convenience.
Growth
Our focus on the whole is ultimately what allows us to grow. As a company, we can scale when we have the good of the whole in mind. This creates more opportunities for each employee owner. Furthermore, as individuals, we’re better able to keep an open mind and commit to getting a little bit better each day when we focus on the impact we can make overall.
Have your own thoughts or questions about the HB Global Focus on the Whole principle? Send them to [email protected].