A Family of Uncompromising Leaders

FIRST & 42 is featuring the winners of our 2020 Wonderful Workplaces competition with stories about amazing organizational cultures and human resources practices that truly stand out in our region. Today we are celebrating CSM Group, a specialty services provider within the architecture, engineering, and construction (A/E/C) industry. Its founder, Steve East, turned a passion for construction into a small business with a big idea. He started a family-run business in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1983 that sold a service no other general contractor could provide: tailored project management solutions that fit the needs of the client. Steve’s business, which set a standard for customer service, took off and helped build the foundation of CSM Group, eventually becoming a trusted expert in its field.

“Together, we are a family of uncompromising leaders; that means we recognize leadership is a collective responsibility, not just the job of a few individuals. Every employee at CSM Group believes in the organization’s core values and practices them in every facet of their work. That’s what makes CSM Group a wonderful place to work,” said Jim Feltch, CHC, president and chief executive officer of CSM Group. Going above and beyond to not only care for its employees throughout the pandemic, but also serving the community in a huge way by meeting the urgent need for personal protective equipment (PPE) is just one of the many reasons why CSM Group is a 2020 Wonderful Workplace winner. Read on to learn more from CSM Group.

What was CSM Group’s biggest achievement during 2020?

Kalamazoo is our home. Since our inception in 1983, we have established a long history of respectful, collaborative relationships, while also being an active partner in this city. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Southwest Michigan, we saw an opportunity to help our community once more. We responded quickly by reaching out to our supply base to see how we could quickly meet this urgent need.

Alongside Radiant Church, we were able to collect $110,000 in donations from individuals and organizations across Southwest Michigan to purchase personal protective equipment—such as masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer for frontline workers. We facilitated the purchasing process, including vetting suppliers, directly purchasing the supply, as well as managing shipping and logistics.

Without the gracious donations of the organizations listed below, we would not have been able to achieve this act of giving:

• Radiant Church
• Architectural Glass & Metal Company, Inc.
• Meyer C. Weiner Company
• Moore Electrical Service, Inc.
• S & T Lawn Service
• H & H Painting Company, Inc.
• W. Vanderveen Co
• Sheet Metal Workers Local Union #7 – Zone 1
• Max Haase & Son Custom Builders
• Laborers’ Local Union #355
• Earley & Associates, Inc.
• Kalamazoo Plumbers & Pipefitters UA Local 357
• Southwest Michigan Building & Construction Trades
• A. Morman & Co.
• Michigan Plumbing & Mechanical Contractors Association

What is unique about CSM Group’s workplace culture?

CSM Group is a family-oriented, people-first organization. We firmly believe that our people are our biggest asset, and a principle example of this philosophy is our ability to develop lasting relationships with our clients. Over 75 percent of our work is with repeat clients and our ability to maintain trust and lasting relationships is only possible because of our high-energy, fully engaged, and dedicated workforce. We have great processes and procedures, but it’s our people that keep our customers coming back.

Our relentless pursuit of inclusion and cooperation helps us create a high-performing culture that leads to a talent-driven organization. We seek out employee feedback at every opportunity and make adjustments so that employees understand our commitment to providing the best possible work environment that will allow them to thrive.

Our ability to retain high-performing employees is a result of our focus on engagement, culture, continuous learning, and professional development. We invest considerable time and effort in selecting the right people for our team, and we equip them to deliver beyond compare and partner them with like-minded teammates who understand the importance of service. We do this by utilizing StrengthsFinder 2.0® and the DISC® assessment tools, along with ongoing training, team building activities, wellness programs, and an annual company summit.

Why does your team love going to work each day?

When you work at CSM Group, you enjoy a family-like atmosphere where we know each other’s business—in a good way. This is our home-away-from-home, and we all know each other’s families, what hobbies each other is interested in, and what everyone’s travel plans are in the coming months.

In our corporate office in Kalamazoo, we have what’s called our “Stories Board” where everyone is encouraged to put up photos of their families, recent travels, birth announcements—you name it. It’s a way for us all to stay connected while not in the same physical space.

We also utilize our employee mobile app to send push notifications for birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, new hires, and more. This helps keep our remote workforce engaged, especially if they aren’t able to come to the office as often as they’d like to catch up with everyone.

How do leaders at your company build engagement within their teams?

What’s unique about our organization is the level of transparency that is present; our senior leadership team is open, honest, and understands that effective communication is what supports our high-performing culture.

Rather than yell or be dismissive of someone, we use it as an opportunity for everyone. We sit down, face-to-face, and talk through what happened and how it could have been prevented. If additional training or personal development for that individual or team is needed, we make it a priority. After all, the success of our performance is only possible through the dedication of all employees. We believe this level of transparency is what continues to build a high level of engagement that we witness across all levels of the organization.

How did CSM Group care for and keep employees informed during COVID-19?

We at CSM Group believe the safety and well-being of our teammates, stakeholders, and the public have always been and will continue to be the paramount priority. Our leadership team has been following the development of the COVID-19 pandemic through information released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), as well as industry organizations, client partners, and business peers.

When the shelter-in-place Executive Order was issued, our non-essential employees quickly transitioned to remote work. This required a quick response by our leadership, human resource, and information technology teams to ensure that the teammates now working from home had the knowledge and equipment needed to continue their work with limited disruption.

For our essential field staff, our leadership and safety teams quickly wrote and implemented project-specific preparedness and response plans that were distributed to all essential job sites. This documentation included procedures for entering and exiting the job site, proper cleaning and sanitization protocols, required personal protective equipment needed, as well as what to do in the case of a positive test result.

We also implemented Zoom to begin weekly all-company calls hosted by the leadership team. During that 60-minute window, employees were updated on the status of Michigan’s Executive Orders and how they impacted operations and were given the opportunity to ask our leadership team any questions they had. We continue to hold these all-company calls on a monthly basis as a way to provide on-going support for our employees across the country.

When it was deemed safe to return to the office, our human resources and marketing teams created an office re-entry video that described the processes and procedures implemented to keep everyone safe. This included reducing the number of individuals allowed in conferences, implementing a one-way traffic pattern around the office, asking everyone to sanitize commonly touched work surfaces after each use, and most importantly completing a self-declaration form before entering our suites. If any of our employees indicate that they are experiencing a symptom, such as a runny nose, our human resources staff is notified in real-time and that individual is asked to return home and monitor their symptoms, returning to work only when they are symptom-free.