Creating a Great Workplace
This week, Jake sits down with Randi Elrad of Crime Prevention Security Systems to talk about what it actually takes to build a company people don't want to leave, and why the trophies on the wall are the byproduct, not the point.
Crime Prevention has racked up the kind of recognition most dealers only chase: the Best Place to Work honor, SDM 100 plaques lining the Orlando office, the Ethics in Business Award from the Gainesville Rotary Club, and a cover of SDM Magazine. Randi keeps steering the conversation back to the people behind those awards, and the culture that makes them possible. She runs a company where employees who left to chase a dream job somewhere else keep coming back, and where the ones who stayed help set the tone for everybody new coming in.
The through-line of the conversation is that culture is not a poster. It is a chaplain on retainer for anyone who needs to talk. It is a monthly awards vote and a year-end banquet Randi hosts at her own house with a category for best-dressed and one for worst driver (she gives herself a run for that one). It is a company that puts serious money and time behind Stop Children's Cancer, Ronald McDonald House, and Tyler's Hope for a dystonia cure, because Randi believes the growth follows the mission, not the other way around.
In this episode, we talk about...
✅ Why the Best Place to Work award hit different for Randi than the SDM 100 or the SDM Magazine cover, and what that award actually measures inside the building
✅ The Ethics in Business Award from the Gainesville Rotary Club and how community involvement (Stop Children's Cancer, Ronald McDonald House meals, Tyler's Hope for dystonia) has been the biggest growth stimulus Randi has found
✅ How Crime Prevention picks employee-of-the-month: a leadership team vote, an all-company meeting recognition, and a year-end awards banquet Randi hosts at her house with categories for the serious wins and the funny ones
✅ Why the pat on the back somebody gives you behind your back matters more than any trophy on the wall, and how Randi tests that inside her own company
✅ The employees who left Crime Prevention to go find their dream company, why they came back, and the culture shift they saw once they were on the outside looking in
✅ Randi's honest take on making mistakes as a leader ("I am probably the biggest mistaker in the company") and why owning it is part of the culture, not a threat to it
Coffee Break With Jake is recorded live every Friday at 11am ET. Join us live or register to attend at https://go.ssandsi.com/coffeebreak
Crime Prevention has racked up the kind of recognition most dealers only chase: the Best Place to Work honor, SDM 100 plaques lining the Orlando office, the Ethics in Business Award from the Gainesville Rotary Club, and a cover of SDM Magazine. Randi keeps steering the conversation back to the people behind those awards, and the culture that makes them possible. She runs a company where employees who left to chase a dream job somewhere else keep coming back, and where the ones who stayed help set the tone for everybody new coming in.
The through-line of the conversation is that culture is not a poster. It is a chaplain on retainer for anyone who needs to talk. It is a monthly awards vote and a year-end banquet Randi hosts at her own house with a category for best-dressed and one for worst driver (she gives herself a run for that one). It is a company that puts serious money and time behind Stop Children's Cancer, Ronald McDonald House, and Tyler's Hope for a dystonia cure, because Randi believes the growth follows the mission, not the other way around.
In this episode, we talk about...
✅ Why the Best Place to Work award hit different for Randi than the SDM 100 or the SDM Magazine cover, and what that award actually measures inside the building
✅ The Ethics in Business Award from the Gainesville Rotary Club and how community involvement (Stop Children's Cancer, Ronald McDonald House meals, Tyler's Hope for dystonia) has been the biggest growth stimulus Randi has found
✅ How Crime Prevention picks employee-of-the-month: a leadership team vote, an all-company meeting recognition, and a year-end awards banquet Randi hosts at her house with categories for the serious wins and the funny ones
✅ Why the pat on the back somebody gives you behind your back matters more than any trophy on the wall, and how Randi tests that inside her own company
✅ The employees who left Crime Prevention to go find their dream company, why they came back, and the culture shift they saw once they were on the outside looking in
✅ Randi's honest take on making mistakes as a leader ("I am probably the biggest mistaker in the company") and why owning it is part of the culture, not a threat to it
Coffee Break With Jake is recorded live every Friday at 11am ET. Join us live or register to attend at https://go.ssandsi.com/coffeebreak
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