Although Denning Saum’s role is Vice President of Strategic Marketing & Innovation, she prioritizes her role as a wife and mother above all else. But when she joined BW Flexible Systems, she found a more expansive definition of family that brought new perspective to her life at home and at work.
As one of our BW Packaging group of companies, BW Flexible Systems has over 100 years of experience in manufacturing packaging machines that fill and bag thousands of products in the agricultural, animal nutrition, bulk ingredients, food and industrial industries. Chances are, you come into contact with an item that was packaged on a BW Flexible Systems machine when you open your afternoon snack, feed your pet or fertilize your garden.
Although BW Flexible Systems manufactures packaging machinery, its main focus is on people — both customers and team members. They try to put relationships first, treating everyone like family.
The word “family” is used frequently throughout Barry-Wehmiller. In fact, it’s in the title of our CEO Bob Chapman’s book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family.
In a blog post titled “All in the Family,” Bob discussed the use of this term:
The concept of “Caring for Your People Like Family” is not intended to be paternalistic. That’s not the purpose at all. It is about changing the view of our workplaces in a relatable way.
The subtitle of my book comes from the experiences of many people inside of Barry-Wehmiller and visitors who have seen our culture firsthand and then describe it as a family. Not “like a family,” but as family.
I believe — in our company’s language — family doesn’t mean blood-related. It means an environment or culture of unconditional care.
This description rings true in Denning’s experience.
“As I look around at my colleagues throughout the entire enterprise, it does, it feels like a family where you're excited to share, you're excited to spend time together,” she said. “It's not like, oh, I have to hang out with these people again. It truly is like you want to be around them and that you want to share in the good and the bad. Where there's the bad, you kind of want to figure out how to do it differently.”
These meaningful relationships in an environment of care help to facilitate trust and contribute to a sense of safety. But it also speaks to what a successful high school football coach once told Bob Chapman when asked what he taught his players about winning and losing. He said they didn’t. He said that they teach them to play their position well for their fellow team members. Do it as an act of respect for their fellow team members.
The coach told Bob, “When people truly care for one another, it’s amazing how hard they will work for each other.”
When you create an environment of unconditional care that fosters trust and safety, people want to “play their position well” for their teammates.
“I spent 10 years at my previous company, and I've been in the packaging space for most of my career,” Denning said. “I had heard, just being in the industry, I'd heard a little bit about who Barry-Wehmiller was and really about the culture. And you hear about it, and I knew when I made my next move how important that was to me. When I got here, I learned very quickly that it is a real live thing, and it is a lot more than just something to be talked about. It is something that people live every day. That was different for me. And you say how is that different? Really, a culture of caring, of just shared responsibility and accountability and wanting to win together.”
At Barry-Wehmiller, we hope that when you feel cared for at work, you carry that feeling into your home life. Story after story from team members reveal that the environment of care within Barry-Wehmiller improves their marriages, enhances their parenting, enriches their friendships, makes them better neighbors, causes them to want to volunteer in their communities more often, and so on. In other words, when our team members feel fulfilled by their time with us, they go home and leave a positive impact on the lives of those in their own corner of the universe.
“I mean, you spend the majority of your time at work, so don't you want it to be enjoyable? You want it to be a place where it's built on trust, it's built on respect and built on love, where then when you go home, you feel like you still have energy to give it at home.”
As is often said at Barry-Wehmiller, the way we lead impacts the way people live. Denning has found that the family you have for 40 hours a week can affect the family you have for the rest of your life.
“I have two young daughters, they're eight and nine,” she said. “And so that's still obviously a huge part of my life and what drives me every day. And I get excited too that they get to see me fulfilled at work. I want them to see what it means to have a fun career. That means more than just a job.”
Better Work. Better World. is a video series designed to shine a
light on team members throughout the global Barry-Wehmiller
organization. Watch the video through the link above to hear more.