We often hear members of the business community acknowledge that F&G’s company culture precedes us. Our team members are overheard in elevators being kind to strangers or sharing why F&G is a great place to work. This authentic word-of-mouth is why it’s important to include employees in creating and defining a company’s core values. This allows you to learn what employees value most, then together craft a culture around that.
The grounding of who we are is in our people and the values that they continue to define.
In 2017, a group of 15 team members recognized the company culture needed attention. They went to leadership and asked, “Can we work on the culture?” Naturally, leadership welcomed the group’s ideas and let them lead the way.
The group worked with a local company to get organized and put in the time and work to accurately capture our culture. Defining the company values included focus groups made up of cross-departmental representatives and open discussions. The group came up with four cultural values that would be more than just words, they would be behaviors.
Those values became our guiding principles.
In 2018, the team rolled out the values by holding half-day sessions that helped team members embrace the values. They also created materials that showcased the values: a Rubik’s cube with the values on each side, culture cards to share recognition to other team members, a table tent to keep at our desks as a reminder of our values, and more.
In 2019, CEO Chris Blunt joined F&G, and the team pitched these values to Chris. He told them, “I believe in these values. Go with it!”
Since then, our core values keep us aligned and able to successfully work towards our mission and vision.
“It’s you that makes our culture. And you have to keep it.”
– Beth Keith, Retired VP of Pricing & Design
The four cultural values that our team members live every day are collaborative, authentic, dynamic and empowered. This means that we believe in the power of partnerships, encourage innovation and creativity, and enable every person to make an impact by promoting accountability, trust and inclusiveness.
Below are each of our values and the definitions our team members created.
We believe in the value of partnerships to create the absolute best value. Collaboration is at the heart of what we do because we succeed together.
Partnerships and teamwork bring creativity, innovation and positive results. As F&G employees, we work together on a shared vision through open dialogue across departments. We are cooperative and responsive to ensure that vision moves forward.
We are transparent about the decisions we make. We speak our mind and deliver on our commitments.
At F&G, we value authenticity because we know the importance of clarity. Remaining clear keeps everyone on the same page and allows others to see your integrity. We also respect one another and value others perspectives. This emphasis is what makes us results-oriented and driven to deliver on our promises.
We encourage innovation and creativity to drive continuous growth and improvement.
F&G is full of forward-thinking individuals who contribute new ideas to help achieve larger team goals. We pride ourselves on being resourceful and solution-oriented to reach the strongest possible outcome. We are agile — we work to remain responsive and nimble to best serve our team and our customers.
We promote accountability, trust and inclusiveness, enabling each individual to make an impact.
F&G employees have ownership over our individual and team projects, which enables us to take initiative in order to get things done. Leadership and team members are flexible with one another in order to reach our common goals. F&G makes significant effort to recognize and honor individual and team contributions, achievements and successes.
We believe that by embracing these values, we’ll continue to build and strengthen our company while continuing to be a great place to work.
Do these values feel right for you? Find your next opportunity in a values-driven culture.