What Makes CRG Different? Interview with Jason Heller

What Makes CRG Different?

There are many things that make CRG different, but it’s imperative to us that we explain this aspect of who we are when hiring internally. When a member of our staff is working with a client or a candidate and there is an issue that needs to be resolved, we ask our internal employees to prioritize in this order: What is best for our client and our candidate, first and foremost, and then prioritize what is best for CRG. If the first two make sense, then the last one is going to make sense.

Why Choose CRG?

I believe that we are fantastic at what we do and that starts internally. CRG chose to focus on Staffing, Executive Search, and IT Managed Services, and we do them well. Understandably, there are businesses all over the Charlotte area, let alone all over the country who do what we do, so why would you choose us? Because we’re great at it and we have a ton of fun doing it! It becomes obvious when observing our people and our culture. When you talk to any of our clients, they say the same thing. They’ll say they’ve worked with many different competitors and the reason they come back to CRG and what made us different is how they were treated. They know CRG cares. We care about them as a client, we care about them as a candidate, and we listen to what it is they want, as opposed to putting them in a canned product.

How To Build a Culture

The best way to build a culture starts with treating people like gold. It’s a defining difference in the way our people listen and treat our clients and candidates versus our competitors because our leadership team listens to what’s important to our employees. We treat our own people like gold and because we do that, they treat our clients and candidates the same way. An important thing to remember is as a company grows, it becomes more difficult to maintain our culture. There are multiple hands in the pot called your culture, but it starts with the very first person you hire. You must ensure they understand you have their best interests in mind. As soon as you set that standard, you document that standard and then you live out loud daily. So many companies say they are committed to an employee-first culture, but their actions speak something different. We live this culture through our actions first!

You can learn someone’s true character when times are tough. When times are good, everyone can say they’re great, put it to paper, saying “we’re fantastic at what we do,” but when times are tough and you’re pushed in a corner, you’re going to see what you’re made of. Your employees, your clients and your candidates are going to see that as well. Adversity is what makes and drives a culture even more. Facing adversity head on and acting out who you say you are makes a big difference.

When Times Are Tough

We’re nine months into a recession. I have faced three of them in my professional career, but the question is: how do you prepare for them? CRG has been faced with adversity, from recessions to the pandemic and even the recession we’re in right now. No matter what storm you are faced with as an organization, your culture is only as calm as your leadership. Worrying is nothing more than a lack of faith in your people and your business. How you react to a situation is exactly how your team is going to react. I view that as a huge responsibility for us as a leadership team, and we take that very seriously.

The key to creating confidence in the direction we’re heading as an organization is to over-communicate. One thing I always say is ‘lack of information breeds insecurity.’ Most everyone has been in a situation where they don’t have the full story and that can cause us to assume the worst is going to happen when it might not be the case. Our leadership team at CRG is very transparent to our entire organization. We encourage people to come and talk to us when they feel discouraged or confused about a situation. I believe that level of humble communication and confidence sets the stage for us to be prepared for anything life throws at us. Whatever it may be, we’re going to attack it with humility, transparency, and communication.

Becoming a Great Leader

As Chief Operating Officer and Owner at CRG, there is one word that stands out to me and defines the difference between a good leader and a great leader; and it is humility. It comes with understanding your trade, setting a great example, and not just asking people to do things, but doing things with them. By having a humble approach with people, no matter what division of the company you work in, I will be open to hearing your ideas. I genuinely care about what you’re thinking, and I care about your success. This is the key difference, in my opinion, for leadership.

The Meaning of O.T.H.E.R.S. Focused

The name O.T.H.E.R.S. Focused goes back to the conversation of leadership and humility. Most people’s assumption of leaders is they are just ‘in charge.’ Wrong! No one is inspired to work for this type of leadership. You are inspired to work for someone who cares about you, the organization, and their clients. If our core values encourage that kind of ideology, then it will drive good business and inspire employees to far exceed their own potential.

Everything we do, whether it be for an employee, client, candidate or vendor, we want our teams to be thinking, not about what’s best for ourselves, but thinking about what’s best for them. Obviously, I want what’s best for CRG. I want CRG to grow and flourish and be successful for everyone, but if that’s going to be the case, it must be best for our employees, clients, candidates and vendors. O.T.H.E.R.S. focused is just that. We want everyone who works at CRG to think about how we can positively impact others by what we do. Who are those others? They’re our clients, our candidates, our partnerships, and it’s how we treat each other internally. I want when you come to work to be O.T.H.E.R.S. focused with everything you do. If you’re that way day in and day out, we’re going to be successful.