Contact

Culture

Nov 08, 2016

Life at Credera: Growth is Not a Strategy, it’s an Outcome

Lauren King
Rob Borrego

Lauren King and Rob Borrego

Life at Credera: Growth is Not a Strategy, it’s an Outcome

Credera never set out to be the biggest consulting firm. We simply wanted to be the best in the spaces we play (i.e., our focus areas). Our goal has always been to build a healthy, profitable and well managed consulting firm. Over time we have worked diligently on organizational health and excellence, and as a result, we’ve grown.

Credera incorporated in February of 1999 in Dallas, Texas and focused on building websites. Today, we provide strategic services, technology solutions, and amazing user experiences. Credera has grown to 280 employees in three major U.S. cities.

Credera was recently highlighted by Inc. 5000 as an Honor Roll, 5th consecutive year member. This is a prestigious list of the nation’s most successful private companies and has become a hallmark of entrepreneurial success.

Credera is honored to be recognized for its success, but also recognizes that the financial growth is a by-product of the personal excellence of each of our employees and the selfless Credera teams who serve our clients so well.

What Really Matters

While revenue growth and geographical expansion is exciting, we believe the true measure of success is the continuation and strength of our values-driven, family-like company culture.

We want to be a place where employees care for one another, serve one another, forgive one another, respect one another—never a stale “corporate” self-centered culture that only serves the almighty dollar.

Yet, we recognize that the larger Credera grows, the more difficult it becomes to maintain a work environment where every employee feels known, cared for, and equipped to advance in their careers while enjoying their work.

The reputation we want to have with our employees will continue to be one of our highest priorities. Our reputation impacts our recruiting chances with future employees, which influences the quality of our work, and the resulting satisfaction of our clients. No other area has that kind of influence.

For this reason, we twice annually request employee feedback in a Best Places to Work survey. The responses to these surveys are carefully considered and help us improve the way we serve our employees. We have made many company-wide changes based on this feedback. A few examples include the way we run our performance review process (also known as CPM), the training opportunities available through Credera University, benefits like paternity leave, and even salary adjustments.

Unity is another topic that is often overlooked when tracking growth. We have learned that as our leadership team expands, maintaining unity is paramount. And it requires work! As a Partner Team, unity is something we actively work to maintain through regular meetings, frequent and transparent communication and team retreats. Though this practice can be time intensive, it pays off. The seasons when we are able to make the most progress as a company is when our leadership team comes together under the banner of unity and mutual understanding to achieve shared goals.

Looking To The Future

Looking to the future, we have set an aggressive goal to double the size of Credera over the next four years.

For healthy growth to be achieved, we will focus on more than growing revenue and headcount. While those metrics are important, the qualitative metrics matter just as much.

As Credera grows, we will never lower our standards when it comes to talent, performance, culture and values.

Our people are what make Credera great—their character, deep expertise, and genuine desire to help others solve tough problems makes them excellent consultants for our clients and great co-workers to one another. We will continue to recruit only the best and the brightest leaders to join our firm, even if the task of finding those talented, high-integrity individuals slows down our growth.

We will continue to develop thought leadership and stay on the leading edge of technology so we can serve our clients with excellence. Innovation will remain a focus as we continue to improve our internal processes and service offerings, and work with clients to tailor industry-leading solutions that drive their revenue and growth.

Credera will also work to develop in areas where we have identified improvement opportunities. For example, we will pursue increased diversity, provide coaching for managers/architects in leadership development, refine how we grow geographically and create significant leadership opportunities throughout the Credera career progression.

Growth is not a strategy, it’s the outcome of doing other things well. We must scale culture, leadership, demand, and internal systems and process with excellence while also maintaining unity, transparent and authentic communication, and the quality of our work.

Ultimately, it’s the day-to-day details that matter. Credera will grow by hiring one great consultant at a time and we will expand by being known for excellence. I am hopeful and expect that the way we treat each other along the way will make it a pretty fun ride!

LIFE AT CREDERA

We’re “open-sourcing” the Credera culture in a series called Life at Credera. We are sharing an authentic perspective on what we are learning and where we are growing. We are talking about friendships and fungrowth, higher purpose, talent and character, leadership, and communication.

We hope this series is a helpful resource on the continuous pursuit of a great culture. And we hope the results are encouraging to our company, employees, clients, and friends.

Looking for more? Check out these great Life at Credera perspectives:

Conversation Icon

Contact Us

Ready to achieve your vision? We're here to help.

We'd love to start a conversation. Fill out the form and we'll connect you with the right person.

Searching for a new career?

View job openings