The Tavelli Co. Ethos – “Defining What We Value”

If you’re new to our team or curious about what sets us apart, this is the article for you. If you’re short on time, you can simply skip to the last paragraph of the article.

While it may be lengthy and somewhat dry, it provides valuable insights into the core values that define Tavelli Co. As a Sonoma County collection agency, our values have evolved over the years but remain surprisingly consistent. This article serves as a foundational guide for new hires, current prospects, and anyone interested in understanding what makes Tavelli Co. a unique and special place to work.

A Culture of Encouragement Instead of Complaints

We’ve all had friends who seem to carry a rain cloud above their heads. It’s rare to find someone who doesn’t occasionally gripe about certain things or circumstances in their lives. In business meetings, it’s essential to have a clear purpose, ground rules, and a focus on finding solutions. New managers quickly learn that starting a meeting by inviting complaints is a mistake; instead, they should encourage ideas for solutions. The key question is, “Are you looking for a resolution?” We aim to brainstorm propositions to enhance the company. A culture focused on complaining rather than encouragement is destined to fail. Complaining often lacks hope or vision unless done in a lighthearted way. Life is full of twists and turns, ups and downs, and during hard times, we need a culture that can sustain us, filled with vision, hope, and encouragement.

Up the Ladder

Recently, I listened to a podcast where the host discussed a business culture called “passing your problems up.” The concept is to determine whether you genuinely seek a resolution to your issue or if your complaint is starting to fester among those around you. This doesn’t mean leadership is immune from criticism. Leaders should have thick skin, a tender heart, and listen to the people they lead. We aim to be solution-driven, look for ways to fix broken things, and strive for continuous improvement.

When I have an issue, I go to my superior to brainstorm resolutions. However, I also make a noticeable effort to respect their time and not inundate their calendar. By addressing our concerns up the ladder, we work towards a common goal. Additionally, when trying to resolve an issue, I often have several solutions ready for my manager or supervisor to consider. The aim is to reduce the workload or added stress above by having several options thought out beforehand while remaining open to any additional ways to fix the issue.

Respond Right Away

In a previous article, we emphasized our company’s dedication to quick response times. While we acknowledge that there is always room to grow, our goal is to foster a culture that prioritizes promptly returning calls and addressing urgent tasks. High-quality accounts receivable management firms distinguish themselves by valuing their clients’ time and promptly addressing their needs, setting them apart from lower-quality firms.

Light Not Heavy

A heavy work environment often stems from poor standards, ethics, and leadership. It’s crucial for management to consist of high-integrity individuals with strong character who can create a supportive atmosphere that minimizes mental fatigue and stress. At Tavelli Co., our goal is to ensure our frontline staff leave their work behind when they go home. If they start their day feeling burdened, we aim for them to leave feeling lighter, hopeful, encouraged, or at least having enjoyed their colleagues’ company.

Enjoy the People You Work With

Our staff once took a strength-finder skills indicator test, and the accuracy of some results was surprising. While these tests are often more fun than useful, I found they helped identify traits in myself that I hadn’t recognized as important in the business realm. For example, one of my key indicators was “connectedness,” which involves understanding how things or people are linked or interact. Other indicators included communication, development, positivity, and reflecting on how the past shapes our present.

When combined, these traits emphasize the importance of team building. Although it may not be a common focus in interviews, it has proven to be a significant asset in various work environments. Boosting morale, fostering a sense of unity within the group, and building connections between individuals who might not otherwise interact are key skills that contribute to a positive and productive workplace.

Creating a work environment where people enjoy their co-workers and look forward to interacting with them each day is highly valued. It seems intuitive, but wouldn’t it be better to be friends with colleagues rather than dread seeing them? In hiring, this is often referred to as a “culture hire” or a good “culture fit.” Some individuals have a unique talent for cultivating environments that enhance the mood and atmosphere for everyone. As a team, the goal is to ensure that everyone brought on board is a great culture fit and is mindful of how their actions impact the environment of those around them. The aim is to facilitate a workplace that encourages, serves, and refreshes everyone.

Similarly, we want everyone to feel comfortable being themselves. While professionalism and adhering to our culture are crucial aspects of being a working professional, we also value the uniqueness each individual brings to our team. A fitting way to encapsulate this is with the Latin phrase “E Pluribus Unum,” meaning “Out of many, one.”

Enhance Our Client’s Reputation

[The following excerpt (paragraph) is from a previous article entitled: “Collection Agency Rates, Recovery Rates, Reputation and Relationships”]

A few months ago, a receptionist in the medical/dental field called, expressing concerns about maintaining patient relationships. She sought a collection agency that cared for patients and wouldn’t damage established connections, and her employer was very concerned about how sending accounts over to collections might impact the relationships they care about and have fostered throughout the years. Later I realized – this is exactly what our company excels at! Not only that, but – these are the types of companies we want to partner with!… nothing could encapsulate what our company excels at better than this one phone call. Our goal is accommodating and partnering with prospects like this, because their largest concern is the one area where our company has set the gold standard. This also denotes an alignment of values. Our company values people and relationships, so when potential clients call in and they demonstrate a concern for the needs of their patients or consumer base, this generally serves as an indication that a future partnership with this group will endure for some time to come.

Make Their Day Better

In any office where calls are made or received daily, it’s likely you’ll encounter many people eager to share their life stories. At Tavelli Co., our goal is to ensure that the person listening on our end genuinely cares. If someone doesn’t naturally empathize with others, understand negative situations, or put themselves in another’s shoes, this job might not be the right fit for them. While we can easily train someone to resolve past-due balances, teaching compassion is much harder. That’s why we strive to make each phone call a positive experience. Although some conversations about debt resolution can be uncomfortable, we hope our staff can balance the tension between honoring our fiduciary responsibility to clients and connecting with the real person on the other end of the line. Our aim is to make their day a little bit better.

No Information Silos (Competence & Confidence)

Human nature inclines us to enjoy activities we’re naturally good at or those that require minimal effort. This explains why many people work in fields they were involved in as children. For example, a child who takes piano lessons might become a music teacher, or someone who mows lawns for concert money might later run a lawn care business. Essentially, we gravitate towards activities we’ve done since childhood or skills we’ve developed early on.

As a young man with dyslexia, I faced challenges. In my early teens, my dad asked me to reorganize his office filing system, which I did perfectly, though in reverse alphabetical order. Instances like this have appeared throughout my life. Fortunately, excellent tutors, teachers, and friends helped me grow and address my dyslexia. Without their support, school would have been too difficult.

Reflecting on this, I quickly understood the importance of starting people off on the right note. We begin by placing new hires in areas where they excel, while also helping them grow in their weaker areas. As a teenager, I felt discouraged doing data entry and administrative tasks, believing I had little to offer the family business. However, over a decade later, I rejoined in a sector where I thrived and have since improved in administrative tasks. Now, it feels like a different company. During hiring, we may ask, “What do you enjoy doing most in an office setting?” and “What comes naturally to you?” Our goal is to introduce people to their strengths and help them grow in their weaknesses. We staff our team to address collective weaknesses, seeking hires who increase efficiency without redundancy. People enjoy their work more when placed in roles that play to their strengths.

After the initial hiring period, we aim to foster individual growth and development for employees seeking further learning or training. This could involve acquiring new skills or evolving into specific roles over time. To support this, we prioritize eliminating information silos—areas where knowledge is hoarded to protect one’s position. In a thriving company, there should be no need for such competition, which only leads to stagnation. If there is a lack of positions for vertical growth within TavelliCo., we hope that employees can gather new skills or discover new talents that may carry over into another job or position of interest in the future. Our goal is always to encourage growth, even if it means losing out on the opportunity to keep certain individuals along the way. We prefer to see individuals and their families thrive during their time with our company, even if they eventually outgrow us.

Take Your Job Seriously, Not Yourself

In daily life, maintaining a reserve of grace involves overlooking minor annoyances in others while acknowledging personal flaws. Although challenging to practice consistently, this approach helps in recognizing one’s own shortcomings and extending charity to others. Forgiving minor offenses builds up grace for the future, especially on days when we might not say the perfect thing or feel overwhelmed by life’s pressures. While this method isn’t applicable to serious moral failings at work that require accountability, it is valuable in daily interactions, friendships, and communication with colleagues.

An old friend once shared that in a legal context, justice is getting what one deserves, mercy is withholding punishment for a transgression, and grace is receiving a gift instead of judgment. This concept can be applied to a work situation where a staff member overhears a co-worker criticizing their abilities or production. The person has several options: 1) Get upset and respond, 2) Ignore the comment, or 3) Find a way to befriend the critic. One is easy. Two is hard. Three seems impossible. Each response involves some discomfort, but an individual might be surprised by the positive outcomes that grace can produce in the people around them, often turning potential foes into friends and smoothing over divisions that can easily take root within an office organization.

The main point is that an office cannot function properly or effectively under dramatic, “reality television-like” conditions. If we can overlook minor personal offenses and focus on improving the lives of those around us, we will all feel refreshed and productive. Additionally, responding with grace can be morally uplifting and can bring about positive changes within us.

Conclusion

To summarize, our leadership envisions our office as a welcoming environment filled with friendly, low-maintenance, high-producing, goal-oriented, and driven individuals who strive to brighten someone else’s day with each clock-in. We aim to create a company that fosters safety, respect, and kindness, and we expect these qualities to shine through in every outbound call and daily communication. We also want each employee to feel a sense of familiarity and homeliness within our walls. While production is crucial, our goal is for Tavelli Co. to feel almost like a second home. At least a place where people can feel comfortable and enjoy the people around them. Achieving this will help us continue to see great results.

Great leadership isn’t about writing books or creating courses on how to be a great leader. Instead, great leaders cultivate healthy, productive environments where people can be themselves while maintaining professionalism. They seek to protect their team from harm and place them in positions to succeed. Great leaders should often go unnoticed, because they are in the background fostering a healthy culture. Not on a platform, emphasizing their importance, standing, or accomplishments.

This article aims not only to familiarize our staff with our culture but, more importantly, to reinforce the standard of support we set for our team. We want our people to enjoy their work, as it is a significant part of life. Therefore, we strive to create a place where people feel encouraged, an atmosphere that is light, and a workplace where we are refreshed by refreshing others. We aim to enjoy the company of our colleagues, feel comfortable sharing daily operational issues with our managers, represent our clients well by promptly addressing urgent matters, and always extend grace to others, just as we might need it in the future.

In other words, if an employee reads this article and focuses solely on their potential shortcomings in the suggested categories, they would miss one of its key themes by concentrating on just a small part of what truly matters. At Tavelli Co., if we have 100 employees, our culture emphasizes not just how one person affects the 99, but how the 99 influence the one. When people hear “standards,” they often think of rules and discipline. However, consider the opposite of the standards we’ve outlined: an office filled with complaints, where people carry heavy burdens, take issues home, and feel no pride in their daily accomplishments. It’s common sense—our culture isn’t just about individuals meeting standards; it’s about those standards fostering the health, flourishing, and mental well-being of each person. As a Sonoma County collection agency, we believe that true success comes not only from meeting expectations but from fostering an atmosphere where people feel supported, comfortable, and valued. By creating a positive environment where collaboration and well-being are prioritized, employees can thrive both individually and as a team. To learn more, contact Tavelli Co. at (707) 509-5565.