Read any of the career advice blogs and they’ll tell you – the number one red flag to look out for when searching for a job is if the company refers to a family culture. The words “work family” are enough to make you cringe – so laden with toxic positivity, picture-perfect smiles and a kumbaya “we love each other no matter what” disposition. Whenever I hear the phrase, I can’t help but think of “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie (if you’ve never seen it, watch it here).
I don’t know about you, but this is hardly how I’d describe my actual family. Maybe trade in the toxic positivity for a little empathy and a hard dose of reality and it sounds more like a typical phone call with my mom or dad.
My family is far from perfect. We challenge each other, we cheer for each other and we show up for each other, come rain or shine.
I know my family will be the first to give me a high-five when I succeed and the first to tell me when I’m wrong or not being my best self. They’re who I call, not because they’ll always tell me what I want to hear, but what I need to hear. They have supported me through hard times and helped me move mountains to get to where I want to go.
My family isn’t perfect, but we’re strong.
For as different as we are from one another, we manage to come together like the most intricately designed puzzle, filling each other’s gaps to make one another whole.
Call me crazy, but why wouldn’t we want this from our work? Perhaps we’ve had our eyes set on the wrong family archetype all this time while we’ve searched for perfection rather than strength.
This is where Franco gets it right.
Our values of Forward Motion, Opportunity, Courageous Truth, Empathy and Persistence lay the path for our Family + Team + Community value. Within each of these singular values lays an inherent imperfection – an acknowledgment that it’s not always going to go your way, but as long as you show up for yourself and each other and do your best each day, you’ll be surrounded by support to grow and prosper.
As we round out the final month celebrating Franco’s 60th anniversary, I find it only fitting that we end the series with Family + Team + Community as our final Franco value because it’s what separates us from every other agency and it’s the reason we’ve been here longer than everyone else. Once you’ve experienced the power of a collective group all moving together in unison toward a greater purpose, you can’t imagine working any other way.
We are nothing without our people and without each other, and we show up every single day knowing that. It’s why our clients work with us and it’s why people have chosen Franco for over 60 years.
Franco is proof that building a culture based on Family + Team + Community can not only give way to a thriving business but its employees thrive, too.
Cayce Kosch is an integrated communications manager at Franco. Connect with her on LinkedIn.