I had the great pleasure of interviewing Mike Easton, President and CEO of Argus recently and touring their manufacturing facility. Easton is a huge believer in the idea that culture drives success, and that to build a great culture you have to be intentional and you have to make it fun. At Argus, they strive to build what they refer to as a tribal culture: An inclusive culture that breaks down silos and ensures that everyone truly feels cared for, respected; a workplace where everyone has a voice.

 

The list of things they do to build a tribal culture and inject fun into the workplace is far too long to include here (I'll feature it in an article on the old website soon) but it includes how they run their meetings (where everyone is reminded to leave their egos, boxing gloves and titles behind), mac' n cheese cook offs, and theme days such as "Monochromatic Day" where everyone dresses only in black & white. A particularly effective thing they do to break down silos between the front office folks and the back office manufacturing workers is to hold "X Game" competitions, where teams compete in fun events while learning the challenges of each other's jobs. To find out how Argus adds some monkey business to work with hidden cameras and a monkey costume, watch part of my interview with Mike Easton at: Humor at Work TV.