March 2007: The 100 best companies to work for in Oregon
NO. 1 LARGE COMPANY: U.S. CELLULAR
U.S. Cellular keeps team spirit high with store events
such as this pre-Super Bowl party at its Medford
store.
Photo by Jon Meyers
|
Leader of the pack — again
When U.S. Cellular took home the trophy last year for the very
best large company to work for in Oregon — months after
announcing 160 layoffs in closing its Medford call center
— the local paper covered the award with the headline:
“It was a great place to work.”
Ouch.
The closing of the call center posed a challenge to the
Medford managers who worked hard to get the word out: U.S.
Cellular was still here, still providing jobs, still
participating in the community.
And the fact that Chicago-based U.S. Cellular was again named
the No. 1 large company to work for in 2007 means that, despite
bumps in the road, the company’s vaunted culture —
friends of those who work there often say “you
can’t love your job that much” and some even accuse
employees of belonging to a cult — is still
intact.
They call it the D.O.
It stands for dynamic organization. It has to do with open
lines of communication and servant leadership and playing to
employee strengths and coaching to the company’s values
(the standard list: customer service, respect, diversity,
empowerment) and so on.
“When I first started here I asked about the whole
dynamic organization thing,” says Erin Anderson, who
joined the company two years ago to run marketing for Oregon
and California.
“I said, ‘I had a plaque on the wall at my old
company, too.’ But I’ve learned more about
leadership and about myself than I did in six years at that
job.”
“It’s almost like we improve people and sell cell
phones on the side,” muses her colleague, Kimberly
Cocha.
It isn’t so, of course. At the end of the day it’s
all about numbers and market share. But that’s what the
D.O. is built on: the notion that effective leadership means
satisfied employees and satisfied employees will take care of
customers and sell more phones. And 2007 was an eventful year
for the leadership of U.S. Cellular in Medford.
“It was a fantastic year of change,” says Calvin
Emigh, the director of sales for U.S. Cellular’s Oregon
and California region and the highest-ranking manager in
Medford. “I’m very, very, very proud of this
team.” The team includes 140 employees who cover 14
retail locations in Southern, Central and Coastal Oregon.
Emigh has removed his Bluetooth earpiece to talk. His image
— wearing a smile and a crisp button-down with the U.S.
Cellular logo embroidered over his heart — is reflected
in the polish of his desk. Snoopy hangs on the bulletin board
over his shoulder, unfurling the words: Happy Birthday From the
Whole Gang.
Part of that change was a dozen managers who were promoted to
the next level with the company, several of them to other,
newer markets such as St. Louis and Texas. While being tapped
as a management training ground for U.S. Cellular is a pat on
the back, losing seasoned leaders to promotions created its own
challenges.
“We had some hiccups. It kicked our butt for two months.
Annoyingly, it did,” Emigh says.
Lisa Deascentis was one of the new leaders who stepped up to
fill the void. After six months in the sales manager position,
she’s now comfortable at her desk in the office behind
the bustling Medford store sales floor, though she still wants
to paint the walls a brighter color.
She’s been with U.S. Cellular for nine years and says
she always put herself in an unofficial leadership role.
“Being what we call a ‘clocker’
wasn’t enough for me,” she says. But with a young
son at home, she didn’t feel she could commit to
full-time management.
“My son just turned 11. He’s got his own little
thing going on,” she says. “It’s time to
focus on me.”
She’s had two weeks of leadership and management
training — one of them in Chicago — and says
she’s relishing the new challenges of the job, especially
figuring out how to get her own clockers to see past what they
do every day to the true potential in the job.
“I knew it would be rewarding,” Deascentis says.
“I love it.”
— Christina
Williams
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