After our Leadership 500 honor, many people have asked for more information on our leadership development program. For the next two weeks we are going to spend some time going through how IDR operates and why Leadership Excellence magazine awarded us on their Leadership 500 results.
Today, we are going to focus on our vision and mission, how they have been realized through our work, and how our employees and customers experience and appreciate them:
Our mission statement is “We play to win; Love to live; Create leaders; Give back; Become Legendary.” When a new employee begins with IDR, we give them the choice to participate in some of our various leadership programs, from book club to a weekly 4-mile group run. We even offer to reimburse them for a monthly gym membership. We believe in the 7- Habits of Highly Effective People method, and provide each employee with a copy of the book to begin reading. Each new employee is paired with a mentor within the company, and is able to go to that person for advice, listening, discussions, and chapter reviews of the 7-Habits. As with many people who first read the book, we believe that they must first become self-aware and learn how to hold themselves accountable before being able to hold others accountable. Once through the first 6 habits, we help them to learn how to sharpen the saw continuously in the 4 dimensions: physical, spiritual, mental, and social/emotional. Every employee sits down with their supervisor at the end of each quarter to review their performance for the previous quarter and to determine what their goals are for the upcoming quarter, and to discuss the expectations and minimum requirements for their controllable metrics; it is through the controllable metrics that we can see who is truly holding themselves accountable to the work necessary to perform the job. As an employee demonstrates that they are able to achieve the requirements of the job, and shows their ability to lead others, then we promote that individual to the level that best fits their capacity.
When it comes to sharpening the saw, it is easy to ask our employees to work on the four dimensions on their own, but we believe it is better to provide them with the resources to do. Each week, the company pays for each individual to participate in a fitness bootcamp, and after reaching certain goals, the company pays for 1 hour of personal training for the employee; each office has a room dedicated to yoga and meditation; each branch does an outing at least once every quarter that the branch as a whole decides on and family members are invited as well; we have an extensive library of books at each branch that employees can take home and keep; we offer a mentorship program between a junior and senior employee; we provide a copy of the Leadership Excellence articles to all employees each month; and we encourage spirituality in our employees of any and all forms.
IDR’s vision is “To become the best IT Staffing Company the world has ever seen.” While sales and revenue numbers tend to be how many companies measure who is the best company, we believe it is more than just that; it is the service and experience that
our clients and employees have in any and all interactions with our company. While we understand that our employees will make mistakes, we expect that our employees will be honest, and will resolve such issues in a manner that is principled and that upholds the values of IDR.