Service. Quality. Teamwork. Dedication. These are just a few of the main themes of this year’s Leadership Conference which took place March 11th.
Instead of booking an event center, this year’s event took place virtually for the majority of our team. The conference was held at our Mattoon office with our Corporate team gathered and socially distanced, while our other offices attended via Zoom.
Derek Meinhart, ISS President, kicked off the event recapping the challenges of 2020 and what we learned as we confronted the challenges borne by the pandemic.
“If you’ve worked with me a while you know I’m a big goal planner…I love that strategy.” says Derek, “I am thankful that we even get to do that this year” he continues “if you would have asked me a year ago if I thought we would get this opportunity, I don’t know what my answer would have been but I am also excited that we get to move forward.”
Nathan Meinhart, Vice President, presented on the topic of Company successes including opening a new branch which seemed impossible as we got further into the pandemic.
“That was something that came on rather quickly. We opened up Terra Haute in October of 2020, located right behind Honey Creek Mall.” noted Nathan, “the only issue is that we are growing so quickly there that we may need a bigger place.”
Nathan also offered a sales update, introducing new focuses for 2021 to streamline and enrich our new client acquisition and retention effort.
Operations Director, Erica Boone, provided insight into updates and successes from 2021. One major success for the company that wasn’t necessarily on the radar at the end of 2019, was expanding the call center to accommodate phone interviews.
“If you would have told me after our last conference that we would have had to put together a means to do phone interviews I wouldn’t have believed you,” says Boone, “the call center has allowed us to be more flexible and I think that’s what 2020 taught us: to be flexible and adapt to change.”
One of the main themes throughout the event was the importance of customer service and its focus as the cornerstone of Innovative Staff Solutions, regardless of what 2020 presented.
“What has separated ISS (from the competition) all these years?” Derek asked the team, “We deliver what we say we are going to deliver.”
The message throughout the event was clear that though 2020 hit ISS as hard as many other business, and we fell short of some of our growth goals, ensuring that we continued to deliver the level of service that is our standard was always and shall remain paramount. Recognition was given to the individuals and the collective for their hard work in achieving this.
“I am excited for 2021” Derek Meinhart concludes, “Do I think it’s going to be challenging? Absolutely. We need to keep looking forward and put our energy towards that.”