Cultivating a Winning Culture

As Bell­mont Part­ners cel­e­brates 25 years, a core pri­or­i­ty as the agency’s grown has been to cul­ti­vate an orga­ni­za­tion that focus­es on empow­er­ing employ­ees and sup­port­ing one anoth­er to become bet­ter pro­fes­sion­als. Recent­ly, we were hon­ored to be named one of Min­neapo­lis-St. Paul Busi­ness Journal’s Best Places to Work – for the fourth time – which got us talk­ing about what real­ly makes a best work­place. Here, we share some insights from our team mem­bers about what con­tributes to a great place to work – and how busi­ness­es can focus on cre­at­ing a pos­i­tive cul­ture to attract and retain top talent.

Our Data and Insights Lead, Johan­na Hol­ub, shares one appeal­ing qual­i­ty for a best work­place: “Bell­mont Part­ners is a non-com­pet­i­tive envi­ron­ment where every­one sup­ports each other’s work and con­stant­ly works to build each oth­er up.” She enthu­si­as­ti­cal­ly says that hav­ing a com­mu­ni­ty that helps each oth­er learn and grow to be the best com­mu­ni­ca­tors pos­si­ble will lead to stronger results.

Mak­ing sure every­one has a seat at the table is impor­tant, says Account Coor­di­na­tor Julie Goulette. “Being val­ued not just for your work, but as an indi­vid­ual is huge. It’s absolute­ly like that here, all the way to the top. We tru­ly are a team, and we want to see each oth­er suc­ceed both pro­fes­sion­al­ly and per­son­al­ly. That’s a qual­i­ty I real­ly val­ue as an employee.”

“Bell­mont Part­ners is well known for hav­ing a com­pa­ny cul­ture that allows auton­o­my for peo­ple to think cre­ative­ly and lead in a dif­fer­ent way,” says Account Direc­tor, Health Strat­e­gy, Hye­di Nel­son. With this, also comes the abil­i­ty to have a flex­i­ble work sched­ule make sure that employ­ees have time for fam­i­ly and friends.” Flex­i­bil­i­ty and the abil­i­ty to tru­ly lead are con­sis­tent themes we see when it comes to attrib­ut­es that help cre­ate a best place to work. In addi­tion, know­ing that a team works hard, but that there is also time to take breaks and do fun activ­i­ties allows employ­ees to recharge and reduces burn out.

Our Pres­i­dent, Bri­an Bell­mont, high­lights the key role empa­thy plays. “Putting your­self in some­one else’s shoes and imag­in­ing how things may look from their per­spec­tive is a vital ele­ment of a strong cor­po­rate cul­ture.” His phi­los­o­phy of a great work cul­ture is ensur­ing real con­nec­tions and tak­ing an empa­thet­ic approach. Sus­tain­ing long-term rela­tion­ships with clients and the entire team is essen­tial to build­ing an agency with empa­thet­ic values.

Cul­ti­vat­ing growth and con­tin­ued edu­ca­tion through tak­ing DISC assess­ments and Strength Find­er work­shops, or indi­vid­ual cours­es, pro­vides a path for employ­ees to keep learn­ing. Our Graph­ic Design Lead, Bri­an­na Grue­newald, recalls one of her favorite pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment expe­ri­ences has been tak­ing assess­ments to grow and learn how to work in the best way with her cowork­ers and clients. “By under­stand­ing our own skills, we can see where the gaps are and make sure new team mem­bers get added to cre­ate a well-round­ed, long-stand­ing team.”

Syd­ney Schoe­ber­le, Account Exec­u­tive, says, “Bell­mont Part­ners is a valu­able place to work because employ­ees are pushed to pur­sue their pas­sions and learn more about the things that they’re curi­ous about.” She explains that every­one is encour­aged to join teams that they are inter­est­ed in and help orga­ni­za­tions that they are pas­sion­ate about. Ensur­ing peo­ple are inspired and chal­lenged by their work is a top way to keep them on the team for years to come.

Mean­ing­ful and valu­able work can be cre­at­ed not just for clients, but also to bet­ter the com­mu­ni­ty and the world. Pro­vid­ing paid time to vol­un­teer has been a grow­ing trend, one that our agency has  encour­aged for sev­er­al years to help give back to the com­mu­ni­ty. Part­ner Shel­li Lis­sick shares that “Our agency has allowed me the time to lead a group for stu­dents and vol­un­teer at Feed My Starv­ing Chil­dren” to help fill a need while also serv­ing as a role mod­el to our future lead­ers. In addi­tion, learn­ing more about our com­mu­ni­ty, neigh­bors and needs through diver­si­ty, equi­ty and inclu­sion ini­tia­tives helps us all become bet­ter mem­bers of our communities.

By pri­or­i­tiz­ing a col­lab­o­ra­tive, inclu­sive envi­ron­ment, we’ve been able to grow and evolve as a com­pa­ny, and sup­port our employ­ees through­out the last 25 years. We hope these ideas help spark con­ver­sa­tions among you and your team about what employ­ees at your orga­ni­za­tion val­ue, and how to cul­ti­vate a cul­ture that helps make it a best place to work. Thank you to the Min­neapo­lis-St. Paul Busi­ness Jour­nal for nam­ing us a Best Places to Work – and to our team, clients and part­ners who make Bell­mont Part­ners what it is – and cheers to con­tin­u­ing to grow together.