Aquascape Designs Applying Training And Networking To Employees And Customers Alike

Writen by Mark Harbeke

"In this industry, if you stop learning, you stop earning," says 2005 Best Bosses Award winner Greg Wittstock, a.k.a. The Pond Guy. The energetic CEO and president of Aquascape Designs, an organization that's billed as "the world's number one water garden and pond resource," isn't kidding. His customers are a network of certified contractors in the United States, Jamaica and Canada that install ponds and water gardens. As the technology in the water gardening industry evolves, contractors need to stay ahead of the learning curve. That's where Aquascape Designs comes in.

The organization offers a plethora of training opportunities for contractors, from Aquascape University and Pond College to the company's big annual event, Pondemonium, which takes place in July this year. A weeklong event, Pondemonium isn't notable for its training alone – it also features networking opportunities like a golf tournament and barbecue, as well as events for contractors, Aquascape employees and their families like a campfire and "No-Talent Kareoke." As Wittstock says, "We are our customers. These programs allow our customers to train and learn, to network with us and their peers and to socialize."

Perhaps this philosophy of combining training, networking and socializing has worked well in terms of Aquascape's customers because it started from within the organization. For several years the Kontinuous Operational Improvements (KOI) committee has been functioning as a conduit for employees to improve internal processes, procedures and communications. Michelle Kurschner, Aquascape's director of marketing, was one of the first members of KOI. "When you're a small company and growing quickly, it's easy to lose communication," she says. "That's why KOI is there."

In addition to KOI, and in keeping with what Wittstock calls the "acronym-laden world that is Aquascape," another committee that has helped shape its success as a staff is Project Initiative, or PI. "It's a process for people to put their ideas through and get a true assessment by a manager, who will either sign off on it or say no and provide a reason why the idea doesn't work right now," Wittstock says. "This is an improvement over the old system we had, where people would put ideas through and then ask, 'What happened to that idea I pitched?' and not get an answer because there was no oversight system in place."

Like many organizations, Aquascape publishes an employee newsletter. Unlike other companies, though, its weekly newsletter, The Froggy Chronicles, connects employees in truly unique ways. Marketing Communications Manager Jennifer Zuri says that besides department updates, the newsletter features articles that employees write about themselves. "Unbeknownst to anyone until he wrote an article, we had an employee who wrote about his experience living in Japan to be part of a drumming group," she says. "Another employee put a plea in the newsletter to help him surprise his wife with a pond in his backyard."

One inspirational story that played out in The Froggy Chronicles involved a runner. "He had been training for the Boston Marathon for six years, running the Chicago Marathon in order to qualify. He had to get his time down to three hours and 10 minutes, and he kept missing the cutoff by only 90 seconds," Zuri says. "So he wrote in the newsletter asking for encouragement, and employees gave him that and he finally qualified and ran the Boston Marathon." Stories of employee interconnectivity like these prompted Inc. magazine Editor-at-Large Bo Burlingham to call Aquascape's newsletter one of the best around.

Aquascape's employees have also been tapped for many big-picture issues. One of the most recent large-scale projects to involve employees was the company's development of a new headquarters, which began almost three years ago when Wittstock contacted an architect and culminated in the opening of the organization's new building, known as Aqualand, last December. The new facility's look was selected by a committee that included employees at all levels. "There had to be a group buy in," Wittstock says.

According to Kurschner, Aqualand is more than the company's stylish new digs: "It's our corporate headquarters, but it also holds our sports complex and fitness center," she says. Stemming from Wittstock's background as an outdoorsman (he's tall, tan and built like a football player), the values of physical activity and fitness are integrated into Aquascape's work culture. "It's great to have what is basically a nice health club on site to relax after a hard day – and a lot of employees use it," says Zuri.

Employees' connection to fitness is prevalent outside the company as well. Zuri makes note of a 5K race that will take place later this month to raise money for the North American Water Garden Society. Wittstock will not only be participating in the race, he's upped the ante for employees to join in and compete. He's putting up a cash prize for anyone that logs a faster time than he does. "I'd better be prepared to split the prize among several people, because there are probably more than one who can beat me," Wittstock says jovially.

Aquascape's 165 employees are committed to the values Wittstock founded the company on in no small part because he's proven he's committed to them and their families, as well as their customers. Kurschner points to a recent tragedy involving a customer as an example of the organization's unity and flexibility in handling crises. "The customer's house burned to the ground. The next day Greg and several employees sent him some marketing materials plus some product so he could keep his business running," she says. "That was all Greg – mobilizing everyone and getting them on the same page."

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