Our executive team has spent many hours planning, reviewing, and evaluating our fu-

ture growth plans while examining our suc-cesses and failures. As always in those strate-gic conversations, we recognize everything that we do and will do depends on our people.

Sometimes we bring in outside professionals to advise us. One such professional sug-gested that the main reason we are in busi-ness is to sustain the Marsden legacy for our people—nearly 10,000 families across these United States depend on it. This idea has resonated with us as an undeniable truth. The Marsden legacy can only be sustained if we recognize that every person is important to our future and we take action to maximize every person’s success.

We are very lucky in our organization that we have a unique leadership development roadmap to follow. Our CEO, Guy Mingo, began his Marsden career as a cleaner. He was mentored by our founder directly and grew through management roles and into executive leadership roles. When Mr. Mars-den retired following the sale of the company in 2002, Guy was promoted to CEO. From Guy’s experience, we know that successful leaders come from within our company.

What can you do to advance your career here at Marsden? First, be great at what you

are doing now and find every opportunity, internally and externally, to learn more. Sec-ond, make sure your manager knows what your career goals are (even if they don’t ask you). Third, when the opportunity presents itself to make your career goals known to hu-man resources or a member of the executive team, follow through with it. Together we can all ensure the Marsden legacy will carry on for the benefit of our employees and custom-ers alike well into the future.

In early May, a team of Marsden’s most tal-ented (available and willing) athletes stormed the Minneapolis Convention Center in search

of their first Blue Bike Challenge victory in as many tries.

This year’s competition was a bit of a depar-ture from how the stationary-biking event has traditionally been conducted—this time add-ing a separately-scored social media contest that would ultimately yield two grand prizes of $2500 (for each team’s chosen charity).

Portico had dominated the past year’s con-test, with impressive performances on both the physical and social-media fronts, and this year they were the projected favorites de-spite a slightly restructured scoring system.

Aside from the favorites, Marsden joined a group of teams as diverse in racing tal-ent as in industry; Allina and event-sponsor Blue Cross (participating, abstaining from

UPDATEVolume 1 | Issue 2 | Summer 2015

Y o u r o f f i c i a l s o u r c e f o r n e w s a n d d i s c u s s i o n w i t h i n t h e M a r s d e n f a m i l y o f b r a n d s

Sustaining a LegacySita Morantz | President & CAO Marsden Holding

Have News to Share?Send us your stories and ideas!

AEngstrom@marsden.com

M A R S D E N

Marsden Impresses at BlueBike ChallengeTeam Marsden Makes a Strong First Year Showing

Shannon Foss, Damon Fraser, Marcus Rien, Josh Cramer

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In order to pinpoint and recognize service employees, office staff, and those in man-agement roles that provide remarkable ser-vice, Marsden Bldg Maintenance has rolled out an employee recognition program called MARS Awards for employees of Marsden Bldg Maintenance, Fidelity Building Servic-es, Palen Kimball, and Final Touch Services.

Here’s how it works:-Managers will be on the lookout for employ-ees that stand out in areas such as safety, teamwork, best improvement ideas, custom-er service, attitude, training achievements,

quality work, going above and beyond, and community involvement.

-Managers will then hand-deliver a certificate of appreciation, a personal message, and a candy treat to the selected employee.

-The certificates are submitted for review by a committee, and the top 3 every quarter earn a cash award of $100 and are then eli-gible for the annual cash award of $500.

Employee recognition programs such as these are important for many reasons. As Vice President of HR Administration, Vicki Hildebrandt explains:

“Sincere appreciation is the best communica-(continued on page 3)

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SpotlightKrystal Rosmannfrom CleanPower

Krystal has worked for CleanPower for over 1 ½ years and takes care of two sites. The clients that she services rave about the quality cleaning she provides. She also goes above and beyond….one time when the client forgot to order soap, Krystal brought some in until they could get to the store. The customer was so impressed by her thoughtfulness. In addition, she does a great job communicating in the log book, keeping them informed of everything that is going on.

She has become someone her manager can count on for anything, whether it’s help-ing to cover open areas, or picking up extra hours. Whatever we need, she is there!

Know someone who deserves a Spotlight? Nominate a co-worker by submitting his or her name, and a brief description of what makes him or her great to:

JCramer@marsden.com-- be sure to include the term “Spotlight” in the subject line.

‘Sweet Recognition’New MARS Program Awards Standout MBM Employees

Thank you Krystal!

tion method. It shows all associates that they are a valued member of our organi-zation. Reaching our goals is just a lucky by-product!”

Since its implementation in April, MBM has already received 17 nomination forms. Iowa manager Sally Mortoza was one of the first managers to present a certificate, candy treat, and message.

“Having them see it in writing goes a long way. We’re letting them know that it’s not just the managers telling them great job, but that it’s Marsden as a team.”

In the coming months, MBM would like to see MARS Awards grow as a tool to not only recognize and motivate, but to encourage greater engagement across all functions and roles in the organization.

Managers that are interested in partici-pating can reach out to HR staff in St. Paul, Des Moines, and Omaha for more information.

In March, leaders from the Marsden Holding family of companies met in Las Vegas for a three-day conference to launch the 2015 company-wide goals. To kick off the event, the more than 65 leaders engaged in a team-building event with a greater purpose – sup-

porting deployed military members by creat-ing care packages for Mission: Military Care.

Sometimes the simplest of things can remind those deployed and separated from family that they are supported and that their ser-vice is valued. Our leadership team created care packages consisting of basic care items including toothbrushes, soap, deodorant, and snacks. Along with the care packages, our leadership teams included personalized messages expressing appreciation for the service that these courageous women and men provide.

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Effective Incident InvestigationsCan Improve Our Safety PerformanceMike Kilsdonk | Safety, Training, & Sustainability ManagerMarsden Bldg Maintenance

It’s important that managers understand the purpose of any incident investigation is to prevent future incidents, not lay blame. Research findings indicate hazardous conditions, alone, represent only about 3% of the causes for incidents in the workplace, while unsafe behaviors make up about 95% of the causes. Managers are encouraged to look for the root causes of worker behaviors and assume that each incident has more than one cause.

An effective incident investigation starts with gathering relevant facts about the incident. These should include information from a visit to the incident site; interviews with workers and any witnesses; and details about the work procedures, equipment, weather, experience and training related to the incident.

The facts must then be analyzed to look for causes. Some causes related to working conditions are: time pressures, task planning and availability of tools. Causes related to organizational factors are: staff selection, training, work proce-dures, communication and the type of equipment available.

The final phase of incident investiga-tion involves recommending corrective actions designed to prevent future inci-dents. Corrective actions should include the name of the person responsible for completing the action. When the corrective ac-tions are implemented proactively, before another incident can occur, the result is improved safety performance.

A necessary step towards improving safety performance is for managers to accept the fact that human error is a normal characteristic of human behavior. Because human error can’t be totally eliminated managers should seek to design and build processes and procedures which have built-in defenses against the effects of human error. Some examples of these are: supervision, hazard awareness training, standard operating procedures, PPE, and ma-chine guards.

Spotlight

Mission: Military CareMarsden Leaders Team Upto Support Our Troops

Damon Fraser, Chad Jewell, and James Rice

Entrance sign to Dow Chemical. Scioto is 1 yr Injury-Free!

4

Looking AheadNational Parents’ DayGave a lame gift on Mothers’ or Fathers’ Day? Mulligan!

Senior Citizens DayHug your favorite octogenarian!

Have News to Share?Send us your stories and ideas!

AEngstrom@marsden.com

(continued from cover)

awards) appeared understandably healthy and spry, while the Gander Mountain and Great River Energy teams showed grit and rough-sawn determination. The Land O Lakes team would definitely have won the spirit competition, as resting participants treated each other to high fives, burpees, and yoga poses in the foreground warmup area.

By lunch time, team Marsden had logged 200 miles. And as they caught their collec-tive breath over lunch, they discussed their strategy for round two. Despite the shortened afternoon session (and perhaps their better judgment), the team resolved to double their score. Due to the extraordinary cooperation of the team and some well-placed whoopee

cushions (courtesy of Blue Cross), team Marsden exceeded their hard-fought goal of 400 miles with jubilation—just before the final buzzer. It may not have been the highest score reached that day, but it was certainly a victory nonetheless. The second part of the scoring process depended on social

media points. Each team had been given a set of hashtags (in Marsden’s case, #Marsden and #BlueBike) that were of-ficially tracked during the 1 week ramp-up period before and during the physical event. Any Facebook post or tweet containing the two hashtags would count as 1 point toward the competition. People could participate as many times as they wanted, so the team with the most social influence would win.

As with the last year, Portico’s highly orga-nized and publicized attack proved success-ful. Although, Marsden did quite well—reach-ing the middle of the pack in social media engagement in its very first year of participa-

tion. Plans are already set in place to chal-lenge next year, so be sure to look out for details on how you can help us win next April!

Marsden employees have a rich tradition of friendly competition; it’s something that

brings us great pride. However, it’s important to keep in mind our high-er purpose. Marsden’s charity of choice this year was Cleaning For A Reason—a nonprofit or-ganization that provides free housecleaning for women undergoing can-

cer treatment. Because of our participation, they received a $500 donation toward their worthy cause. If you’d like more information about their services or would like to donate, visit them at www.cleaningforareason.org.

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Q: Where does seaweed go to look for a job?A: The Kelp Wanted section.

Fun Fact: German chocolate cake doesn’t originate from Germany. It was named for Sam German, an American who developed a sweet bar for Baker’s Chocolate.

Shannon Foss, Chris Bicha, Damon Fraser, Josh Cramer, Marcus Rien, Matt Johnson, Ocea Bicha