Creating Internal Cohesion, One Employee at a Time
Wendy Burk, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Cadence Travel, leads a team united in creating customer delight.
Cadence Travel is a full service, premier travel resource that designs personalized experiences and managed travel programs. Based in La Jolla, CA, the company is recognized for its creative approach to business travel, vacations, events, and incentive trips.
Wendy’s firm operates in the ever-changing and highly competitive travel industry. She knows that Cadence’s ability to “wow and out care the competition” is directly related to having employees who feel appreciated and bring energy and enthusiasm to every customer interaction.
As the company grew larger, Wendy began noticing that information was not being shared across the travel divisions. Departments were operating in silos that were reducing efficiency and affecting employee morale. Wendy knew this challenge had to be addressed. After interviewing several organizational development advisors, Wendy chose my firm, Marsha Friend-Berkson Consulting.
The first step was for each member of the Cadence Travel team to complete the Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment. This tool was created by a team of scientists and psychologists to help people discover and describe their talents. It’s based on the belief that people have more potential for success when they invest energy in developing their strengths instead of correcting their deficiencies. In the workplace, this information enables team members to understand their coworkers’ perspectives and embrace each other’s unique style and approach.
With the assessment results in hand, I held one-on-one meetings to review the findings and explore how the employees’ top strengths were being utilized (or not utilized) in their current position. We discussed the aspects of their job that are particularly energizing, and those that are challenging. Then we ?connected the dots? between strengths and success.
“At a company retreat facilitated by Marsha, we revealed our strengths to each other. This led to a discussion about the way people process information and why we act the way we do. It began our journey to deepen connections across the company. Strengths quickly became part of our culture,” said Wendy.
“I’ve worked with many different consultants over the years. What makes Marsha unique is that she is incredibly insightful and refreshingly honest. She listens to understand, not respond. She “sees” the problem and works side-by-side with you to execute the strategy.”
“For Marsha, it’s not about checking a box and completing the task. She rolls us her sleeve and owns the problem with you. Marsha speaks from the heart, something most consultants would be afraid to do - sharing information in a most disarming way. This makes it easy to hear and address sensitive issues,” said Wendy.
The changes at Cadence Travel over the past year have been dramatic. Employees are more collaborative and genuinely happy for each other’s success. It’s no surprise that Cadence Travel was named one of the Best Places to Work in 2018 by San Diego Business Journal.