Prioritizing Team Growth for Company Success

This type of growth isn’t easy for organizations. Acquisitions can quickly expand services and solutions, but will also require more staffing and the need for new leadership and expertise in a company. 

Mingo has always been a big believer in promoting from within — but growing 600 percent over 20 years had him looking for outside leaders who could help navigate complexity and continue to build something exciting at Marsden. He made a point of bringing on leaders and managers with experience at larger companies, to help steer Marsden into the uncharted territories brought by such rapid growth. 

At the same time, he made the decision to invest in leadership development throughout the organization. To encourage awareness and eligibility of growth opportunities, ongoing education has been a priority, with a department that leads the company-wide classroom training program. 

Mingo is especially excited about a modernized version of an internal training program revived from the 1980s — the STEPS Program, which stands for “Striving Toward Every Person’s Success”. The revamped classroom training program was reinstituted earlier this year and as of September had started its third session.  

In total, roughly 700 employees have gone through this structured STEPS training at Marsden, but that’s not the only program they have in place. Countless others are offered to keep staff engaged and aware of growth opportunities. 

“The initiative here is to be able to promote from within and have a big enough engine to support our continued evolution so we can hit our next target growth goal,” Mingo says. That big goal is to reach $1 billion in annual revenue by the end of 2026. 

Investing in people is a no-brainer at Marsden, where a people-first mentality and servant-leader philosophy have always been in place. 

“Skip believed that the more you invest in your people, the more successful you are and the luckier you get,” Mingo says. “This is a people business. It’s where our investment has to be. I think the greatest part of my job is the people side of it.” 

Creating good experiences and presenting opportunities for employees, especially frontline workers, is top of mind for Mingo. The cleaning industry is well-known for providing not only stability but work people can be proud of. In turn, those workers show loyalty and gratitude. Mingo believes in his people and prides Marsden for being the company to give someone their shot.  

"Many of us came from the same place. We were given a shot,” says Mingo. “I got a shot because of Skip Marsden.”

The focus on people tracks with Mingo’s personal brand, says Peter Cain, Marsden’s president of Enterprise Service Delivery. “What I admire about him is, he’s a people person. He believes that our success, and I would say Marsden’s success, is because of his people.” 

Loyalty is one of the things that contributed the most to Mingo’s success, Cain says. “He’s a loyalist above all. He’s the standard bearer for what it looks like for a leader to be loyal. He hasn’t forgotten his roots.” 

Even as CEO, Mingo takes the time to communicate and show up for others and doesn’t act like he is above certain types of work. In fact, Mingo made an unforgettable first impression when he offered to pick Cain up at the airport when he flew in for his interview in 2007. 

“I thought about that — he didn’t send somebody else out because he was too good. He picked me up himself,” Cain says. 

Tom Kruse, Chief Development Officer of Marsden, says an important part of both Mingo’s and Skip’s legacies is their passion to help people who take the initiative to grow within the company. 

“It’s very important to Guy — because he started at the bottom himself — that people have the opportunity to grow as far as they are capable and to the extent at which they are willing to put in the effort,” Kruse says. 

Helping employees advance and develop their careers is said to be one of Mingo’s favorite parts of the job. 

“To be able to see people grow into leadership roles within the company and go from a frontline worker to a manager or a director or vice president — we’re proud to be part of that progression and provide those opportunities,” Mingo says. 

Open Communication  

To best support lines of business and operations in the field, Mingo is focusing on breaking down barriers and improving communication from both the front lines up, and the top down. He reminds his leadership team that they are working for the people in the field, not the other way around. 

To keep abreast of trends, Mingo chairs a President’s Council made up of cross-functional leaders in the organization. He likens it to a think tank that looks for ideas and solutions from inside and outside the company and brings back recommendations for action. 

“We must remain open to feedback, new ideas and concepts,” says Mingo. “If leaders at the top don’t know what’s going on in the field, it’s really difficult to be a good leader.” 

Mingo’s leadership style is admirable for many reasons, says Kruse: he is humble, open-minded and has extremely good business instincts. 

“On many occasions, he has listened when I had a different opinion from his. He does not have the bad habit that many CEOs have of expecting their word to go unchallenged,” Kruse says. “As long as you are making a case from a ‘what I think is best for the company’ standpoint, he is very patient to hear you out.” 

Listening is a core piece of Mingo’s leadership DNA. 

“Being humble is important,” Mingo says. “More times than not, you’re better off to just listen and not talk until you understand what the issue is, then try to resolve it.”