Decoding Our Cultural DNA

We know there’s something special going on throughout the Barry-Wehmiller organization.

Our team members feel it. Our customers feel it. Anyone who comes for a benchmarking visit feels it.

Wherever I go to speak about Barry-Wehmiller’s distinctive culture, I am consistently asked: “What is it about your culture that is so different?”

Fortunately for us, two talented academic researchers, Chris Long, Ph.D., of Georgetown University and Markus Baer, Ph.D., of Washington University in St. Louis, offered to help us uncover the components of our successful people-centric culture. Together with our Organizational Empowerment Team, Drs. Long and Baer developed a unique combination of interviews and questionnaires to survey more than 800 of our team members.

The results of their research identified the three components that are fundamental to creating our special culture. We refer to them as the 3Ps: Positive Relationships, Purpose and Personal Growth. 

In essence, when people experience positive relationships, purpose and personal growth within their work roles, they report a more fulfilling life, they feel that they contribute more in their job and their leaders see a rise in their performance.

What astounds me is how self-evident these 3Ps are to enjoying a balanced life yet, unfortunately, rarely can all three be experienced inside our workplaces. A 3P environment is the kind of environment we strive for every day at Barry-Wehmiller. Shouldn’t all businesses?

Dr. Long and Dr. Baer are working diligently to publish their full results to share with other organizations. We’ll share them here too. In the meantime, we invite you to watch the video above about their research project with us.