In the second half of 2008, Cobalt faced an exciting challenge; the need to hire approximately 400 new employees. As recruiting challenges go, this was a big task that raised some interesting questions about how a company can significantly grow its employee base quickly, while maintaining its core values and guiding principles. How do you find 400 people that will support and carry on the values that have been in place for over fourteen years? And, how do you hire and nurture leaders that have the skill set needed to take the company to the next level?
That was the challenge Julia Pizzi, vice president of HR, and her team were tasked with last year. To support the growth and to prepare for the continued growth that lay ahead, Julia and her team worked with the company’s growing executive leaders to create a Culture Model that was uniquely Cobalt. The model was a labor of love that set out to incorporate the key values that have been a part of Cobalt’s culture since it was founded in 1995, as well as the aspirational characteristics and traits needed to take Cobalt to the next level.
The result is a Culture Model that details four overarching key values; creativity, achievement, stewardship and accountability. It also defines the detailed traits that Cobalt will be looking for in new team members and in developing leaders. Some of these are traits are universally sought by companies; others are more unique to Cobalt.
“Many companies have successful leadership models, but we wanted Cobalt’s to be organic and meaningful to our organization,” said Julia Pizzi. “We wanted it to reflect our history, but also where we want to go. With growth like ours, there are skills and values that matter now more than ever and there were others that no longer apply.”
The Culture Model is intended to be a tool for hiring managers and employees of Cobalt to help them understand what is expected of them to succeed and move ahead on their career path. The new model, which was first launched company-wide at an all hands meeting in June, is being incorporated into the appraisal system, the quarterly goals and evaluation process. The department managers are being encouraged to define what the leadership model means to their team members and how it looks when it’s in practice in their work environment.
“When the new Culture Model came out, our team sat down together and created our own mission statement in support of the Model,” said Peggy Byus, Billing Team Manager at Cobalt. “It was one of the best team meetings we’ve ever had. We all discussed what the traits mean to us and our team. The Model not only showed us what is expected of all Cobaltians, but it really outlines what all employees should expect from their managers and supervisors, and that’s exciting.”
“We are entering a new level of growth here at Cobalt, and we are putting more value on traits like emotional intelligence,” Pizzi said. “It is more important than ever that we coach our employees around the values that will ultimately lead to their success, as well as Cobalt’s success.”
“The Model clearly outlines what is expected of all employees at Cobalt, but even more than that it challenges the leaders of Cobalt to really rise to meet the traits that are expected of them and through that challenge we are seeing more exciting growth at Cobalt,” Byrus said. She further explained how the team put the Model to work recently as they planned their new goals. “When we worked to define our Q4 goals, we each pulled out the traits and planned how we could use our goals to challenge ourselves and to enhance our strengths and also work on traits that could be stronger.”
What about new candidates looking to work at Cobalt? “We want experienced candidates and content experts, but they must possess the leadership traits. Our customer facing organization grew the most last year, and so it is more important than ever that our employees are emotionally intelligent, able to listen and engage well with our clients and each other,” said Pizzi. “Two experienced candidates going for the same position may have the same skill set, but the candidate with the emotional intelligence and leadership skills will be the one to tip the scale.”
The new Model will prove invaluable as Cobalt heads into another big season of hiring. With over ninety open positions across Cobalt in departments from engineering, business intelligence, sales, marketing and beyond, Julia and her team have their plates full again.
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