As noted in the quote above by Edgar Schein (a former professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management), the senior leaders of an organization either create and shape culture through intentional attention to it, or they allow it to develop through inattention and tolerance for behaviors in the single-minded pursuit of financial results. One has only to read about the culture at Facebook (rebranded recently as Meta) to see that even intentional culture can be fashioned to result in a toxic, destructive environment.
One of the senior leaders I know who has worked on creating an intentional culture of trust, respect, and empowerment is Tom Raffio, President & CEO of Northeast Delta Dental (NEDD). He started out by saying, “Before COVID-19 hit, which in our world meant March 16, 2020, when the American Dental Association announced that people should only go to the dentist for emergencies, and when the CDC was sending our serious announcements about the pandemic, we had a highly engaged workforce, measured annually against companies who conduct the same surveys as part of the best place to work for in New Hampshire competition. Northeast Delta Dental’s average overall metric from 2016 to 2020 was 86%, 11% above the other “best companies” in NH. We also evaluate our corporate culture via formal annual 360 evaluations of everyone on the management team, including me, as well as informal mechanisms such as employee focus groups facilitated by our VP of Human Resources, and “coffee with the coach” – regular coffee meetings with me, which include a random group of newer and more seasoned employee colleagues.
Trust is the Secret Sauce
I asked him about the company’s culture after all but 30 of his 233 employees began to work from home. Tom continued, “When COVID hit, we continued to administer the annual employee engagement survey, 360s, and our informal mechanisms, but the latter was now virtual coffees with the coach. Remarkably, the Best Company metric in 2021 was even higher at 87%, and the metric on Communication improved from an already high 89% to 90%, 14% above the Best Company benchmark. We recognize that virtual is not the same as in-person (to this day, still only about 33 of our colleagues come to the office, with the vast majority still working from home), but we used every method possible to stay connected. This ranged from daily (literally) communications from the CEO via a morning email, regular Zoom meetings, including a monthly all-employee Zoom which all 233 colleagues participate in, department/team Zooms, meeting new hires in person, and providing a robust onboarding. The worry is not now, because, with the exception of a very few new hires (we still have little turnover), I have known the vast majority of our 233 employees for many years (I started as CEO in 1995), so the virtual/Zoom connections are more like a natural extension of a long-term, in-person relationship. My concern is what about 5 years from now, when perhaps we have hired 25 people via Zoom and I have only met them in the parking lot. One of the secret sauces of Northeast Delta Dental is trust, which, per Stephen Covey, speeds up transactions. Will all NEDD employees in 2026 have the same level of trust for each other as we do today?”
He described what he and the senior leaders are doing to be proactive. “We recognize this, so we are taking steps like virtual “water cooler” talks and bringing back some in-person events, ensuring safety protocols. Awareness that we might lose the “trust connectivity” if we are not mindful, I think is the first step. We continue to offer to and remind all virtual colleagues that they can come back in person if they wish. New space planning design encourages work teams to come on campus for team meetings.”
He emphasized, “Communicate/communicate/
Working Virtually has Improved Productivity
In conclusion, I asked Tom if he had experienced any unanticipated positives from working remotely, and he promptly cited six! “(1) We have ‘saved’ a few employees who were going to have to relocate for family reasons (e.g., aging parents) to move to Arizona and Georgia and other places, but they could still work for us! After all, if they could work virtually in NH, they could do the same from their new homes! Seems obvious, but pre-COVID, we would have had a sad goodbye but not thought that these employees could work effectively remotely. (2) As a result of pandemic planning, we now have a phone system that allows our customer service representatives to take calls from home in a distributed way (next available agent) with all of the metrics that we need to track for customers and regulators. Our phone metrics (average speed of answer; accuracy of responses) are better than ever (and pre-COVID, they were already best in class) and the morale of our Customer Service Reps is also better than ever, as many have taken advantage of no commute to use that time for wellness walks and other lifestyle changes, resulting in weight loss and healthier lives. (3) Our computer programmers absolutely love working from home, and they are more innovative and productive than ever. (4) The same can be said for our legal team, staff attorneys who delight in doing their work from home. (5) Even our core, basic claims processing, is more accurate and faster than ever from home, once our claims processors got the rhythm of working remotely. (6) For the few job openings we have had, particularly in technology, it has expanded our potential employee universe, as we can now hire programmers from any part of the country.”
Bounding Forward to a New Normal
I appreciated Tom’s insights and also how he continues to be intentional about the culture he shaped and now wants to preserve in a “new” now “normal.” What practices that Tom and his senior leaders employed could you implement to become the Best Places to Work in your region?