Fast Lane
Paying attention to details
Howt the little things make culture fun
By Meredyth McKenzie
Smart Business Broward/Palm Beach | April 2008
Page 1 of 1
Chip Sollins
CEO, Prime Management Group Inc.
Chip Sollins not only listens to his employees,
but he also takes action on what he hears. Several
years ago, Sollins learned
that his 1,300 employees at
Prime Management Group Inc.
were unhappy with the office
coffee machine, so he tried a
cup and agreed. Then he
bought a new machine for
his employees.
The president and CEO of
the property management
company says that supplying employees with good
coffee and fun activities,
such as ice cream breaks,
company games and birthday cards, makes them
happy. And happy employees help his company succeed, pushing fiscal 2007
revenue to $41 million.
Smart Business spoke
with Sollins about how creating a healthy culture and
establishing a solid vision
leads to happy employees.
Q. What makes a healthy
culture?
Fun employees. If employees are having fun, they make
customers happy. It’s about
making it fun and having
recognition and incentives.
Communicate to employees
and let them know what’s
going on. Being open and
honest with your employees
creates a healthy culture.
God gave us two ears and
one mouth for a reason, and
you have to listen twice as
much as you talk. Listen to
what they’re saying because
sometimes they know more
of the pulse of what’s happening. I have the pulse, but
sometimes they know other things that are important.
It’s even things around the
office. You feel good when
you walk into a nice office.
When you walk into a lousy
office or the upkeep isn’t
there, people say, ‘They don’t
care about this; how are they
going to care about the outside world?’
These things don’t have to
cost a lot of money, but people love them.
Q. How do you make sure
you’re hearing employees and
remaining open to feedback?
You talk to people. Go out
when everyone’s having
lunch, sit there and talk to
everyone. You’ve got to ask
the questions, and
you’ve got to be able to
listen to the tough
answers as well as the
good answers. People
don’t always love surveys because sometimes they don’t like to
see what they get.
You’ve got to see
what you get to make a
difference because it’s
all the little things
there that if you can
make the difference,
people are happy.
Q. What are the keys to
creating a fun culture?
Take the time and
make it a priority, and
make sure it’s followed
through. Too often, they do
the thing and think they’re
done. Culture is not a onetime event; it’s an ongoing
process.
Dedicate a person to be
your culture person, to create the fun and make it happen, and make sure they follow through. There are so
many things going on during
the day that you don’t think
about culture, but every
once in awhile, you’ve got to
make that time, and too
often, people forget because
they take it for granted.
It’s sending an e-mail saying, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ or,
‘I heard a great thing about
you.’ It takes two seconds,
but acknowledgement is
huge. It’s easy to blow it off,
but if you take that extra
second, it goes a mile.
Q. How do you establish a
solid vision for your company?
You’ve got to look into the
future and say, ‘Where would I like my company to be in a
certain amount of years?’
and, ‘How would I like it to
look; how would I like it to
feel?’ Look out there and say,
‘What is the customer going
to want?’ and be able to beat
your competitors to the
punch. If you do, then you
can be the Super Bowl
champ. When you’re that
Super Bowl champ, you can’t
rest on your laurels, you
have to recreate yourself and
your company all the time to
make sure you are staying
ahead of the pack.
Be detailed, be truthful, be
honest, and be clear and not
vague. You have to be black
and white with your vision
so people can see it. If you’re
wishy-washy, they will not
believe it or follow it.
Being truthful and honest
is, when I go to bed at night,
I go right to sleep. If you
don’t lie, you don’t have to
worry about anything; you
don’t have to make up stories because then you’ll get
caught in them.
Be honest with what your
vision is, and when you’re
wrong, tell employees. Admit
when you make a mistake;
people appreciate that. When
you talk about details, spell
it out to them, and be clear
and concise.
Q. What are the benefits of a
successful vision and culture?
It’s a better place to work,
people are happier, and people tell their friends about it,
and they get them to come
and work here. People can
make more money and have
opportunity to grow within
the company.
HOW TO REACH: Prime Management Group Inc., (561) 997-4045 or www.primemg.com
