A Relational vs Transactional Company

In my previous Owners Corner Blog post, I introduced and explained that our Core Focus - Passion (why we exist, why we come to work) is “We keep you going”. Check that out if you haven’t had a chance to read what that means not only to Team Standley, but to our clients. This blog will pick up on that idea and takes it a bit deeper.

A little about me, I am passionate about cycling. It’s a way for me to enjoy God’s creation, a peaceful place to be in my thoughts, and to stay active. So, earlier this year, while on a ride, I listened to an At The Table with Patrick Lencioni podcast, “Workquake”, where Patrick and his team discussed the idea of companies being relational versus transactional (episode 156 if you want to check it out). The discussion put into words for me a belief that we have held at Standley Systems since our founding, that we are a relational company.

During the podcast Lencioni encourages companies to declare what type of company they are; saying to be transparent, provide clarity and be intentional about it. Transactional companies can be very productive, but for us the value of work is more than just productivity. We certainly value being productive. In fact, throughout our organization we have scorecards and benchmarks in place so that we can consistently measure how we are doing in certain areas, but productivity is not our only focus.

We care about the whole person, whether that’s our clients or our team. When an employee is cared for, encouraged to grow, and feels like they’re an important piece of the puzzle then productivity and success will follow. Building legendary relationships is important.

Being recognized on the Best Places to Work list is a measure of our success, as are employee engagement and retention ratios, all of which speak to how we value the relationships we have been blessed to foster. One of our Core Values is “We Build Legendary Relationships”, which is another way we declare what is important to us.

In March 2020 most business leaders were faced with the difficult decision to send people home to work, and at Standley Systems we were no different. Our imaging technicians, warehouse and delivery personnel continued to come to our locations and visit client’s offices to “keep them going”, but most of our administration and support personnel were given technology to work from home. Having so many of our team working remotely allowed us to get the work done, but it certainly didn’t fit our culture and as soon as we were safely able to get everyone back in the office we did.

Today, job applicants will inquire about remote and hybrid work options only to hear that we don’t offer those, but I also hope we provide the reason we believe in-person work is best, and that reason sounds something like this.

Standley Systems is a relational company. Our team members don’t work remotely because we value relationships and working together as a team. We believe that people are healthier mentally, physically, and emotionally when they are doing life together, surrounded by peers who care and are working for a common goal. Work together. Win together.”

Providing service to our imaging clients 24/7/365 at no additional cost is relational, answering all incoming phone calls with a live and local client care representative is relational, providing clients with factory trained technicians is relational, giving all team members 24 hours of paid volunteer time is relational.

At Standley Systems we value the relational experiences we have with our clients and co-workers on a daily basis. This is our culture, it’s our passion, it is why we exist and why we come to work.