Columbus CEO’s Top Workplaces 2023: Three Special Award Winners Discuss Why They Stand Out

Among the 92 organizations named to Top Workplaces 2023, employment research firm Energage presents special awards in 13 categories, from Appreciation to Communication to Leadership to Work/Life Flexibility. Here’s a snapshot of three of the award winners.

Revolution Mortgage

Special Award: Managers

Revolution Mortgage originated with four founders who joined forces to form the Westerville-based company in 2018. CEO Tony Grothouse, President Tim Johnson, human resources director Dave Lukacsko and sales director Joe Frank each brought years of experience to the table.

“Us four owners were [mortgage] originators,” Lukacsko says. “We’ve worked for other, larger companies. … We just wanted to be known as the company that treats its staff fairly and does the right thing.”

Because of their familiarity with the industry, they were attuned to the particular stresses it places on a workforce. “There are a lot of things going on, and nobody’s situation is exactly the same,” Grothouse says. “It keeps you on your toes. Sometimes it can demand a lot of extra hours.”

Employees are asked to power through prosperous times—when interest rates dipped several years ago, Revolution asked for an “all-hands-on-deck” effort—and the company tries to pay back that loyalty during periods of challenge.

Like businesses everywhere, the company went virtual during the pandemic, but today leaders continue to encourage, and provide support for, many staff members working from home. “We’ve instilled trust in our staff,” Lukacsko says. “If you’re going to work from home five, six days a week … we’re going to empower you to not just get the job done, but get it done at a high, high level.”

The recent downturn in the housing market has impacted staffing, but not as much as some lenders. “We had to let go of a few people, but generally speaking, versus our peers, it was far less,” says Grothouse, adding that the company lost between 6 percent and 8 percent of its staff.

During good times or bad, however, the company views an open line of communication between managers and other workers as essential. The process begins with selecting good managers, Grothouse says. “We look for leaders, people that can drive behaviors from other people and put them in a great position,” he says. “Our managers do an incredible job of putting their fellow employees in a place to succeed.”

Managers are asked to be at the ready to solve problems or answer questions. “We’re trying to push each other, not to see who can outwork the other one, but to be available, to answer questions quickly, to give back to your counterparts,” Lukacsko says.

Barriers between departments, such as sales and operations, are discouraged; teamwork is encouraged. “[Employees] don’t always have the right answer, so they’re willing to listen to another manager, another leader, another executive that might—and [managers] are willing to listen to their subordinates,” Lukacsko says.

In the process, a family feeling is fostered. “You spend a majority of your life at work, and we don’t want it to seem like work,” Lukacsko says.

Employees embrace one-on-one training as a comfortable environment in which to improve. “A lot of people are afraid to admit where they struggle [and] don’t want to be picked out of the pack and have all eyes on them,” Grothouse says.

The company also offers group training, which provides a chance to collaborate. “They can share across the ecosystem: ‘Hey, what’s working? What’s the best procedure?’ ” Grothouse says. “That group setting … really is an opportunity to have that mastermind session to figure some of those things out.”

Team-building activities were more common before the pandemic, but sometimes even small gestures have an impact on employee morale in a business as volatile as mortgage lending.

“I had my assistant go out and send all the underwriters a bottle of wine and just thank them for everything,” Grothouse says. “Kind of like, ‘This one’s on us.’ … Sometimes it’s more those little things.”

About Revolution Mortgage

480 Olde Worthington Road, Suite 300, Westerville; revolutionmortgage.com

Business: Residential mortgage lender

CEO and Co-founder: Tony Grothouse

Number of employees: 560

2022 revenue: would not disclose

Flying Horse Farms

Special Award: Meaningfulness

Anyone familiar with Flying Horse Farms is likely to find meaning in its mission.

The nonprofit camp in Mount Gilead invites around 1,000 children with serious illnesses onto its campgrounds annually. Activities such as boating, archery, swimming, rock-climbing and arts and crafts are available for youngsters experiencing a range of health conditions.

“We have what is like an urgent care in the woods: We’ve got a medical team, a psychosocial team,” says Flying Horse Farms President and CEO Nichole E. Dunn. “That allows for the program team to provide [campers] with traditional camp experiences.”

This year, the program, which draws families from Central Ohio and beyond, will welcome its 10,000th camper.

“When a child lives with a serious illness, they often cannot spend a night away from home except for a hospital room,” Dunn says. “We make it possible for them to come here for a weekend, if not for an entire week, then that gives respite to the family [and] the child gets to live a life that they wouldn’t have otherwise.”

As much as the experience will be treasured by the campers, it will also be remembered by the employees at Flying Horse Farms, which has a full-time workforce of 25 but swells as high as 70 when factoring in seasonal staffers. “The thing that we hear time and time again from team members, whether it be our seasonal team or our year-round team, is that … we see a camper come day one—arrival day—and then by the end of the week, they are a whole different kid,” says Cody Cavinee, human resources manager.

Dunn refers to the camp’s “spirit of service leadership.”

“One of our guarantees is that everybody that interacts with Flying Horse Farms has the opportunity for a transformational experience,” she says.

In evaluating prospective employees, the organization’s leaders look beyond the hard skills unique to each position in a search for workers who are “all-in,” trustworthy, exemplify an attitude of optimism and take initiative—the organization’s key operating values.

These values are reinforced during conversations with supervisors every 90 days. “It just allows for open, transparent conversation: How are you being perceived and how do you self-identify and demonstrate awareness of these behaviors?” Dunn says. “It just puts a speed bump four times a year to have the conversation.”

Employees have come to appreciate the mantra of “campers first,” which emphasizes children’s safety first and foremost. “The guiding principle about ‘campers first’ is every decision has to start with safety and ends with ‘have fun,’ ” Dunn says. “Because if we’re not having fun while we’re doing all those things, then why do we have camp?”

That doesn’t mean working at Flying Horse Farms is easy. “It’s not about being positive all the time,” Dunn says. “It’s about being solutions-focused and being able to show up with that all-in attitude.”

Flying Horse Farms seeks to acknowledge employees’ needs throughout the year, particularly at a time of crisis.

“Last year we had a tornado,” Dunn says. “It was during our heart diagnosis week, so we had kids who were here with heart conditions. That that can be stressful. … How are we debriefing? How are we acknowledging and accepting that each person might react in the moment, two days later, two months later?”

Those who work at or with Flying Horse Farms walk away feeling nurtured, supported and inspired, Dunn says, citing the example of nurses who come to work with campers.

“They see a lot of badness, not great things, when they’re working in . . . hospitals or even pediatrician offices,” Cavinee says. “They get to come here, and they get to see a whole different side to their patients and the kids when they’re working here. It just really does reaffirm why what we do is so important.”

About Flying Horse Farms

5260 State Route 95, Mount Gilead; flyinghorsefarms.org

Business: Camp for children with serious illnesses

President and CEO: Nichole E. Dunn

Number of employees: 60 to 70 (25 year-round staff members)

2022 revenue: would not disclose

Slalom

Special Award: New Ideas

It shouldn’t be surprising that ideas are the coin of the realm at a consulting company. The consultants at Slalom, a Seattle-based business and technology consulting organization that operates in seven countries, seek to serve clients in a variety of fields, including health care, manufacturing, banking, retail and the public sector.

“We do the broad stroke of management consulting,” says Columbus general manager Channie Mize, whose office works with clients not only in the capital city but also in Cleveland and Cincinnati. The 85 local consultants can be supplemented by employees from other markets who may have niche specialties.

Such assignments require expertise and imagination, and Mize says Slalom aims to foster an environment in which those qualities are nurtured and developed. “We are always looking for people to lean forward,” she says. “Everybody has a right to have a thought or a new idea, and we’re constantly going out and asking our team for that kind of feedback.”

The approach not only benefits Slalom’s clients, but also creates a satisfying atmosphere within its own walls. “Being able to be part of a culture of innovation is one of the things that our consultants highlight as being most important to them in their overall career satisfaction,” says managing director Pat Tyler.

Key to the open exchange of ideas is what Mize describes as a flat organizational structure. “People always say, but really we mean it: We have an open-door policy,” Mize says, pointing to a weekly stand-up meeting during which ideas can be generated. “We throw out different topics, and everybody talks,” she says. “It’s not based on hierarchy. Everybody who joins that call is going to have time to talk in that call. … Everybody has a voice.”

Multiple groups offer Slalom consultants a chance to participate. Any given week, an innovation group might be talking about new tools to help clients—say, ChatGPT—and a “maker space” within its own office invites employees to develop an idea in a controlled setting. “It’s something that they can showcase out for everybody else to see,” Mize says.

Miro boards are used for those who might not always want to speak up within a group. “I think too many times, people do problem-solving and brainstorming, and the loudest people talk,” Mize says. “But some of the best ideas are from the quietest people.” Technology like Miro, which offers an online whiteboard and other tools, can bring those voices forth.

By their nature, ideas don’t always pan out—and that’s accepted at Slalom. “We reward new ideas even if they fail. … There’s no harm in honest failure,” Mize says.

The company’s culture of ideation pays off when consultants are working with clients. “The team isn’t afraid to raise their hand,” Mize says. “They’re not afraid to talk to a client and say, ‘By the way, I noticed this, and I heard this the other day [with] another client. … Have you thought about doing something like that?’ It allows us to bring the best thinking to our clients.”

Ideas don’t have to be ready to implement to be beneficial to clients, Tyler says. “We’re finding that if we start those conversations earlier, even before we have fully baked solutions, that gives our clients an opportunity to build upon where the momentum is in that particular innovation area,” he says. “That type of iterative approach to innovation we found works a lot more effectively, particularly at the local level where we have Columbus consultants talking to Columbus clients.”

In the end, it all adds up to a workforce dedicated to generating fresh and relevant concepts—and a high level of personal satisfaction.

“People are really happy being here, and I love that,” Mize says. “I hope that never changes.”

The company’s culture of ideation pays off when consultants are working with clients. “The team isn’t afraid to raise their hand,” Mize says. “They’re not afraid to talk to a client and say, ‘By the way, I noticed this, and I heard this the other day [with] another client. … Have you thought about doing something like that?’ It allows us to bring the best thinking to our clients.”

Ideas don’t have to be ready to implement to be beneficial to Slalom’s clients, Tyler says. “We’re finding that if we start those conversations earlier, even before we have fully baked solutions, that gives our clients an opportunity to build upon where the momentum is in that particular innovation area,” he says. “That type of iterative approach to innovation we found works a lot more effectively, particularly at the local level where we have Columbus consultants talking to Columbus clients.”

In the end, Slalom’s collaborative approach is designed to create a workforce dedicated to generating fresh and relevant concepts—and a high level of personal satisfaction. “People are really happy being here, and I love that,” Mize says. “I hope that never changes.”

About Slalom

375 N. Front St., Suite 325, Columbus; slalom.com/locations/columbus   

Business: Global business and technology consulting company

General manager (Columbus): Channie Mize

Number of employees: approximately 13,000

2022 revenue (Columbus only): $45 million

This story is from the Top Workplaces 2023 supplement in the Spring 2023 issue of Columbus CEO.