In this episode we speak with Deanna Colombo of Butler/Till a women owned, 100% employee-owned, and Certified B Corporation marketing agency located in Rochester NY. We talk about culture and communication, and how both can be maintained and strengthened through periods of rapid change and growth. In the past two years, Butler/Till has nearly doubled its workforce, opened up a new headquarters, and implemented a hybrid work option – all while navigating covid. Throughout this period, the company has maintained, and even strengthened its company culture. We get into the philosophical questions regarding what drives culture (bottom up vs. top town), practical ways to create communication channels for employee-owners, and how Butler/Till celebrated Employee Ownership Month. If you are looking for some great ideas to rethink your communication strategies, or even some ideas for employee-ownership events at your company – this episode is for you.
Deanna Colombo is the Executive Assistant at Butler/Till, a 100% employee-owned, women-owned, and Certified B Corporation. With nearly 10 years of industry experience, Deanna directly supports the Executive Leadership Team, while maintaining and enhancing the unique, innovative culture our marketing agency has. Deanna is a champion for inclusion and belonging, ensuring leadership is accessible for all 300+ employee-owners through thoughtful events and ESOP education efforts. Deanna has been with Butler/Till for 3-years and is the Communications Lead on the Employee Communications Committee. She graduated from Johnson & Wales University with a BS in Creative Advertising.
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This episode of the Owners At Work podcast is sponsored by the OEOC’s Employee-Owned Network. The Employee-Owned Network is a member-driven network of employee-owned companies – which jointly sponsor a year-round series of education and training programs designed to make employee ownership work more effectively, including roundtables, webinars, conferences, forums and retreats.
The Owners at Work Podcast is a continuation of the biannual Owners at Work Newsletter which ran for 19 years (1990-2019). We are hoping to continue the same conversations and focus on providing updates on everything employee ownership. We plan to interview practitioners with expertise in different facets of employee ownership, academics doing new and interesting research, and most importantly, individuals who have a personal experience with employee ownership, including current and former employee-owners, mid-level to C suite management, and selling owners.
We want to produce a show that engages with relevant questions and provides practical lessons and information. We want this podcast to include the voices of those who practice employee-ownership each and every day. To that end we want to hear from you! We want to highlight what you are doing, whether you are an employee-owned company, a practitioner, or researcher.
***Please reach out via email: oeoc@kent.edu
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