Page 101 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

88B RE-ENGAGE

Great leaders know how to think—the mindsets help us in that
effort.

Q: Why is pride one of your key leadership principles?
Hoogeveen: I think helping people to feel pride in their work is one of
the greatest untapped assets in the workforce today. We want our as-
sociates to have a strong sense of pride in our company.
We have a very specific understanding about pride. It’s not pride,
but bragging, if I tell you how wonderful my kids are. It’s an act of
kindness if I tell grandparents how wonderful their grandchildren
are—that develops pride. We think it’s an act of kindness to be associ-
ated with a great company, and we want our associates to be proud
of that.

Q: How do you help find that kind of pride?
Hoogeveen: It’s impossible to feel pride in something you don’t know
about. So we spend a tremendous amount of time informing our staff
about QLI. We constantly reinforce what the company is doing for
them and for the people we serve. We tell our staff, frequently, I might
add, “It’s your company.”
We don’t think, for example, that it’s bragging to remind our staff
that last year we spent more than $150,000 (nearly $500 per person)
on special employee benefits. That’s an act of kindness. And when a
chain of e-mails goes around our company that shares a success that
one of our staff has had with a resident in our program, that’s a
way we can all feel pride. A company “has no throat”—it can’t talk.
Leaders must do the talking for the company.

Q: You believe leaders must adapt to different people. Tell us
more about that.
Hoogeveen: I believe that exceptional leaders must modify their ap-
proach to the unique characteristics of each employee. I’ve always ad-
mired successful coaches, for example, who adjust their coaching style,
including the plays they run, to bring out the best in their players.