The Strength of a Biblical Culture in Crisis
Article originally hosted and shared with permission by The Christian Economic Forum, a global network of leaders who join together to collaborate and introduce strategic ideas for the spread of God’s economic principles and the goodness of Jesus Christ. This article was one of CEF’s 2019 White Papers.
— by Doug Hundt
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
(James 1:2-4)
Founded in 1948 and built on the rolling cornfields of founder Gary Vermeer’s land, Vermeer Corporation is a global manufacturer of large, industrial and agricultural equipment employing more than 3,200 team members. The story began when Gary, a farmer at heart and tinkerer by trade, had one desire: to find a better way to do things around the farm. It started with a simple invention—the mechanical wagon hoist to help neighboring farmers unload their crops. But it didn’t stop there; the company grew through many of Gary’s early inventions, including the stump grinder, tree spade, and round hay baler. Gary and his wife Matilda were devout Christians, living out their faith in all aspects of their lives, including their business. Matilda would tell you, “All the praise is truly for the glory of God.”
The company grew and so did Gary and Matilda’s family. Their three children all took on leadership roles at Vermeer and today, Gary’s grandson, Jason Andringa, serves as CEO. As the family led the company, they were focused on growing a successful business. But more importantly, they were focused on refining, growing, and living a biblically-based culture. This culture is articulated by the Vermeer team as our 4P Philosophy—principles, people, product, and profit. We believe people are our greatest asset and our guiding principle, the Golden Rule, helps guide our business interactions. The 4P culture manifests in many ways, including four full-time chaplains, the decision to not lay off team members during the 2009 financial crisis and following downturns, the relentless pursuit of excellence in product and operations, and ultimately the stewardship and respect for all Vermeer team members, dealers, and customers.
The true test comes when your company is in crisis. For us, that day was July 19, 2018. It was a hot, beautiful summer day in Iowa and Vermeer was celebrating 70 years in business with team members, shareholders, and more than 400 dealers and customers from around the world. The day was filled with energy as everyone celebrated new product introductions, equipment demonstrations, and factory tours. Mid-afternoon our team was notified of potentially severe weather in the surrounding area. The team took these warnings seriously and the decision was made to move all visitors and team members to shelter. When the severe weather alarms sounded onsite, people were where they needed to be. God guided our decision-making and protected us as we were able to proactively relocate all team members and visitors to storm shelters before the tornado struck.
Then it hit. At 4:12 pm, an EF3 tornado struck the Vermeer campus. Across our mile-long campus, 40% of our production facilities took a direct hit from the storm while more than 3,000 people were hunkered down in shelters. By the grace of God, no one was seriously injured. It is true that we benefited from many years of planning and practicing for disasters, but no amount of training or preparation can truly prepare you for how to respond in a crisis.
What do you do when you come out of the shelter? What do you do when you see cars piled on top of each other, feel glass crunching under your feet, and hear shouting and sirens all around? What do you do next? How do you lead others through this? How do you communicate? What do you communicate? Do your decisions and actions honor God and His principles? What are those in your care feeling, hearing, and experiencing right now?
In the moments of a crisis, there isn’t time to answer these questions. What happens is the core of who you are is fully exposed and the deeply embedded values of your culture take over.
In our case, 70 years of a biblically-based culture turned into action. Immediately after the tornado struck, our priority was accounting for the health and well-being of every team member and visitor on campus. Key leaders quickly established a war room and worked late into the night to account for and ensure the safety of everyone. Our chaplains jumped into action to tend to those who were injured and traumatized. The Vermeer communications team went to work to formulate a multi-dimensional communications strategy—leveraging text, email, social media, local, and regional media to communicate with our people, the families of our team, our visitors, our dealers, our customers, and our community. Across the Vermeer Mile, team members were taking care of one another. And that was it, two of our guiding 4Ps—principles and people—were fueling all decisions and actions around our organization as we accounted for every single person on our campus during the tornado.
Just a few short hours later, bright and early on the morning of July 20, Jason pulled key leaders together and shared his vision to have all displaced team members back to work in 45 days. Cross-functional teams immediately went to work to make this happen. With two production plants completely destroyed, plans were quickly put into place to reposition 40% of all production in just 45 days.
On the morning of Monday, July 23, 66% of our team members returned to work. Knowing the trauma the team went through just days before, they were welcomed back with 14 small gatherings held by Jason, a VP of their team and an on-site chaplain. After expectations were given and prayers said, team members were encouraged to share their stories over refreshments.
For the 34% who could not yet return to work, five town-hall-style meetings were held at four high school auditoriums or gyms in the communities where our team members lived. Again, a chaplain prayed for the team and Jason spoke to each group. HR representatives and unemployment resources were available at all meetings to help team members maintain financial consistency in this period of uncertainty.
During this time, communicating well with those onsite and offsite continued to be a top priority. Daily updates were sent to all team members sharing the latest information on progress and expectations. We learned that visibility and communication is crucial so all stakeholders feel informed, aligned, and, most importantly, cared for.
Due to super human efforts by hundreds of team members, we were able to exceed our goal and had everyone back to work within 30 days.
The story and recovery process continue to play out today. We are rebuilding. Production rates are higher than pre-tornado levels (with 40% less space) and we celebrated a year of record sales and growth across our business.
The stories of how God protected, guided, and inspired people are too numerous to mention. God was working ahead of us through years of enterprise risk management planning, disaster recovery drills, lean efforts, succession planning, organizational development, and financial stewardship.
The means to the end is the strength of your biblically based culture. When we lead and act through His principles, business becomes an agent for His goodness. People are cared for. Dealers and customers are viewed as partners. Communities thrive. Stewardship and humility are paramount. Founded in a biblically based culture, business can shape the culture around you.
“Let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
(Matthew 5:16)
In a crisis, biblical culture will be your rock. It is our rock. It gave us hope. We were guided and strengthened through a crisis. In the hours, days, weeks, and months that followed our halls were filled with hugs and high fives, tears and pride. Together in Christ, our team cared for each other and those around them in ways like never before.
As Christians, credibility in our faith is not what we say, but what we do. Intentionally shaping, nurturing, and enhancing a biblically based culture in your business will multiply in ways only God can orchestrate.
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[Special thanks to Lucy Chian for the cover photo]