Dalton Utilities is a municipal utility offering electric, water, natural gas, wastewater, and broadband services to the communities of northwest Georgia. When Tom Bundros stepped in as its CEO in 2016, he noticed the company culture was focused solely on results and not about its people. That’s when he saw an opportunity for change.
“When I first came into the CEO’s chair in 2016, we had an organization where people were looking to be led from the top,” says Tom Bundros, CEO of Dalton Utilities.
“I believed that if we were going to be successful, I was going to have to engineer a cultural change in which each DUT (Dalton Utilities) member felt that by coming to work every day, they were treated with respect and given the resources and tools to do their job, but were going to be asked to engage in problem-solving.” – Tom Bundros
So in an effort to positively shift the culture, Bundros decided that the company would invest in the personal development of every Dalton Utilities team member as well as help them grow together as a team.
Over the past few years, team members have noticed a complete shift throughout the company.
Amber Bierlein, Customer Service Supervisor, describes the changes made at Dalton Utilities as “an immediate environment shift in the company where things got better.”
Instead of working as individuals, they were striving to become a unified force that better understood its team members, how they each work, and how to utilize their strengths to accomplish their mission.
Two ways they worked to positively change the company culture were by utilizing WinShape Teams Coaching and Retreats.
“My favorite thing about a WinShape Teams Retreat is the growth that happens there among the team members and the way that everybody sort of relaxes a little bit and opens up.” – Candice Peeler, Employee Relations & Recruitment Manager
