People stand together in front of fireplace

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.

Leave a Reply

Trade Shows are Back! Three Ways to Maximize your Trade Show Presence
March 22, 2023
Five women stand together on a stage
Seven Takeaways from the 2023 Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference
March 16, 2023
Graphic of three headshots in circle frames
Bellmont Partners Promotes Three Team Members to Support Continued Growth
March 10, 2023
Reporters listen to the governor speak at a ceremonial bill signing
Five Ways to Break Down Communications Barriers and Champion Change at the Capitol
March 6, 2023
Two women sit talking
Q&A With Bellmont Partners’ New Project Manager, Gretchen Sitzer
January 31, 2023
Going Green Earns Gold
January 25, 2023

Categories