Great Core Values = A Strong Company Culture

This past week we held our first quarterly meeting of 2022. We’ve held these quarterly meetings?for several years and each time I take the opportunity to talk about how we’re doing financially as a company, thoughts on the future, and I share a few ideas that are on my mind. We also eat lunch together and pass out bonus checks, which is always fun for me! I love sharing profits with the team that’s working hard to generate profits for our company.

This quarterly meeting was a little different because I shared with our team a set of Core Values our leadership team recently developed. I thought you might enjoy the “speech” I shared with our staff. If you don’t have a set of core values that define who you are and what elements are essential to your culture, I encourage you to do so. I’m a firm believer in this process and going forward everything we’re going to do at ADV Integrity will be driven by these core values.

“Although ADV Integrity, Inc. officially started in June 2017, the idea for this company dates back to December 2014 when I begin to consider the idea of starting a company. To be brutally honest, I was scared to death to start a company. Most start-ups fail for a multitude of reasons, but one common one is they run out of money. This thought was on my mind as well.

By the end of 2016 I had decided to start a new company. I was scared of the future but wanted to build a company where I could have fun, feel appreciated (and appreciate others), be rewarded for bringing in business (and reward others for doing so), and have a vision for the future.

In 2019 ADV Integrity stopped being "my company" and became “our company." Wendy Courtright, Chantz Denowh, and Zack Hurst joined me, and we moved into this facility in Waller. I think all four of us look back on those days and are glad they’re in the rear view mirror. As a young president I struggled to build the company I wanted, one where work was fun, we could serve clients, and generate profits from which we could pay bonuses. One of the main struggles was we weren’t all on the same page, and I allowed certain personalities to be disruptive and discouraging.

What I’ve come to realize, along with other leaders in our company, is we have a set a defining characteristics who make us who we are.         

Today, we’re a different company. We’re not perfect (no company is), but most days we work well together and there is a spirit of cooperation that exists. What I’ve come to realize, along with other leaders in our company, is we have a set a defining characteristics who make us who we are. Another way of saying this is we have a defining set of Core Values. I’d like to share them with you. I bet you’ll agree with them because you all have them.

• Trust - We are reliable and do what we say.
• Resourceful - We are able to overcome difficulties and provide solutions.
• Encouraging - We motivate with a positive attitude.
• Accommodating - We are empathic and willing to help.
• Teamwork - We enjoy working together.

Going forward these Core Values are going to impact everything we do. They’ll impact who we hire and who we fire. Ironically, all of the people who are no longer part of our company in some way violated at least one of these Core Values. It doesn’t mean they’re bad people, they just didn’t fit our culture.

We're doing a lot of things right. Last year in 2021 we worked for 57 companies on almost 130 projects. Over the past five years we’ve done $20 million in revenue and last year alone we did almost $6 million. We’ve acquired over $2 million in equipment and this time next year we’ll be in a 37,000 sq. ft. facility in Magnolia on 7.5 acres. Never could I have dreamed that we would have achieved so much in such a short period of time.

We’ve been successful in large part because God has blessed our company. Many companies have struggled over the past two years. According to the Wall Street Journal, during the first year of COVID in 2020 more than 200,000 companies shut down. That same year we grew 37%. We are strategically positioned in serving the high pressure transmission pipeline industry.

Our future looks bright. We have managed to attract extremely talented technicians, engineers, administrators, along with a dynamic marketing and sales team. I envision over the next 5 years we’ll be a $15 million company and in 10 years we can be over $35 million. Although financial numbers might not be important to everyone, steady growth is a sign of a healthy company. We all want to work for a healthy company. Our clients and vendors also want to work with a healthy company. Much of the work we’re getting could be done at other companies, but we’re doing a good job taking care of clients and they keep coming back.

Thank you for being part of ADV. There is no way we’d be where we are today without you. I’m excited to be part of a company that is garnering attention in the pipeline industry. I hope you are as well. In closing, I’d like to remind us of our four simple goals – help clients, have fun, keep me out of jail, and make a let’s make a little money!”