Back in January, Induron Coatings held our first Management Retreat, with the goal of crafting a Mission Statement, set of Core Values and Goals. Although we are a 65-year-old company, we pride ourselves on staying nimble, and are in the process of transitioning to the third generation of family ownership.
I asked my team to put together a mission statement, values and goals. What occurred was nothing short of magic. Instead of coming up with a whole new way to run a successful organization, we ended up focusing on what got us to our 65th birthday. It turns out, reinventing the wheel really is wasted time.
Unlike many other regional paint manufacturers that have gone out of business or been gobbled up by our giant publicly traded competitors, Induron Coatings – previously Indurall Paints and Industrial Paint Manufacturing Co. – has remained in business because of the time-tested values that our management team came up with.
These simple but very real values are: Integrity, Respect, Reliability and Innovation. Each stands alone in value for our company, our employees, our suppliers and, most importantly, our customers. However, when all four are honed day-in and day-out, their combined results can only mean one thing: Success.
The Induron management retreat team consisted of key department heads, including sales, manufacturing, accounting, pipe sales, executive staff and our technical director. We visited a remote destination so everyone could be free of their daily interruptions and distractions (and maybe even our Blackberries). I’m certain that all of us had different expectations and/or fears about the retreat. Our process was to agree upon a measureable goal for the entire Induron team, then come up with a “few” core values, move into an overall Mission Statement and culminate the meeting some steps we could take to implement these new values. Continue reading Our New Old Values