Clarity and Trust in the Novus Management System

Speaker A My name is Peggy Wondermoraz. I've been with Novus for almost three years, and I started actually as an administrative assistant, and then I've worked my way up to human resource is generalist. I am currently a two. Two is what they call it. Role level two, grade level two. First incoming to Novus was a breath of fresh air for me. I was working at a company where transitioning through, and I knew it wasn't the place for me because I didn't know what was next. And a sense that I was working for a management team that really didn't look far beyond, didn't look out six months, didn't look out three years. And I was concerned about even having a vision. And when I came here, I knew there was one. I was very excited to be a part of Novus as soon as I walked in the door. We weren't hiring, really, at the time, and it was a lot of one on one, getting me acquainted with what was expected and what the Novus management system was. I actually reached out to whatever books I could find, whatever information, because I was here nearly a year before I went through the training. And then once I did, I've then helped repeat that experience probably no less than seven times with other employees and taking them through that experience. And in many ways, I should say, too, I was also former military, so my first experience outside of being a student was being in the military and recognizing right away when I came here, that manager once removed, I'd already experienced that I'd had the different layers. I had the performance reviews and the same kind of system and similarity, the compensation structure, and seeing the similarity of the simplification of a role level and breaking it into, you could say, the private, the sergeant, the lieutenant, that different layer. And when I came in to Novus, I could quickly recognize that that we do have a very simple and short layers, but within those layers, they're very specific, and we apply that time span to it. How long is that project going to take, and we make sure that people are appropriately placed. When I came into Novus, I started at a level one, and I had those projects that were daily, maybe a few weeks to accomplish. But now as I progress through Novus, my projects are more long term. They're stretching out up to a year, things like that, that are more complex, and that meets with my growth and with those I work with. And I think that helps me measure up to my potential at the same time that I'm always being pushed to grow a little more. Words like clarity mean so much when you don't have it. The word trust has so much more value when you don't have it. And when you have it, you take it for granted that you can trust one another. But that is huge. And that's something that I do feel at Novus, and that's something that sets it apart from other processes and programs. I've been a part of that. There's a lot of things that are similar. Performance management, it happens. Compensation, it happens. But how we put it together and how we work together as individuals is what sets us apart and that we do believe in the system and we do trust each other.