Gallaher governs itself with Biblical principles

The values structure that governs Gallaher today has been in place since Roy Gallaher established the asset protection and life safety company based in the Knoxville area suburb of Alcoa nearly 45 years ago.

His son, Tom Gallaher, the president and CEO since 2010, has refined the company’s principles even further and carries on his father’s principled legacy today.

Here’s a question and answer session with Tom about the company’s dedication to its overall values-based framework, which are not only good for the company but benefits its employees and customers, as well.

Q: How did your guiding ethical compass come to be?

A: I was fortunate to be influenced by Godly role models at home and in my faith.  On the business front, most everything is driven by teamwork, but as the company’s leader, the responsibility rests exclusively on my shoulders to develop foundational framework for the organization.  Several years ago, I was very intentional to go through the exercise of building a vision, mission and set of values that the company would to use moving forward to represent itself. In doing that, there was a lot of time, effort and energy on the front end to say, ‘What have we been and what do we want to make sure we’re accomplishing moving forward?’

There was intentionality in providing additional context around our core values, because our people needed to be capable of referring back to simple, tangible principles, so it would become a common language that our people would be use as a guide in any situation.  Documenting our framework was the first and most important thing that had to happen and from there, cultivating the mindset of a higher organizational purpose became the next goal. In operating as an organizational culture that emphasizes personal growth and overall success as a consequence of our collective and unrelenting pursuit of our values, agendas driven by the mighty dollar or personal power had no room take root in our company.  Remaining focused on doing the right things for the right reasons with the right people serves our organization and the customer alike the process.

Q: How would you briefly describe the principles and values you try to encourage?

A: We have five published core values: Demonstrate integrity regardless the outcome; serve others with passion; always display humility; thirst for continuous improvement; empower the work environment.

For our company there’s a difference between decisions being easy and difficult versus the results being painful and painless, and for us, making the right decision must come naturally and easily. Our mindset is we are going to do what’s right, no matter what right is, regardless of the amount of pain it might cause, even if it hurts financially. Ultimately, we are going to do right by our people and right by the customer, and in that process, we know that our people and the organization will receive its just reward.

Q: Do you use an orientation process to brief new employees on these principles or determine ahead of time whether they are a good fit?

A: Both. We are intentional in our hiring process to have these discussions. Though work product and performance potential are essential components to vet in the interview process, we focus heavily on properly assessing candidates’ character and their ability to adhere to our organization’s value set. Upon joining our team, we have a higher degree of confidence they will integrate effectively and quickly into our culture, fully committed to their long-term growth and overall success, which starts on day one. 

As part of the onboarding process, I invest at least an hour personally with every new hire, spending very little time discussing work product.  I am intentional to outline why the company exists and my personal interests in being a business owner, which point directly to our higher purpose and belief that financial success comes as a consequence of the right people doing the right things right.  What empowers people to be successful here is willingness to commit to our set of values as an organization. To ensure that we effectively reward our people for living out these values on the job, fifty percent of our employee performance review process ties directly to our published values.  If we can compel people to live by our company’s values during the workday, it has the power to transform people’s personal lives, family lives, and their spiritual livelihood as well.

Q: One of your values is based on the Fruit of the Spirit. What does that mean?

A: Galatians 5:22-23 outlines a set of characteristics that are visible in people’s actions but also in the motivation behind their actions. We encourage our people to demonstrate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in every interaction with team members and with customers alike.  There’s been only one perfect person in the world, but we can all become better people through our intentional focus on living out these characteristics daily and taking the time each day to assess our progress. With this emphasis, we will accomplish much more than satisfied customers and business success; collectively, we will grow as people in areas that will equip us to have stronger family relationships, strong friendships, and overall personal stability.

Q: How does this help your employees and customers?

A: Our people are called to carry themselves a specific way that demonstrates a strength to avoid backbiting, gossip, losing control of your temper and along those lines in testy situations… all the divisive behaviors that cause groups of people to tear each other down.  Our approach is to empower and challenge each other to be constructive rather than destructive and to call our fellow team members up, not out.  When this approach is not observed, there are countless scenarios in life where conflict or lack of perceived value is the end result. Ultimately, we are at our best for our customer when we are culturally healthy, ready to support each other through challenging situations, and we believe we consistently deliver a higher value to the customer because of the absolute trust that we will do right on their behalf.

Q: These values were first instilled in the company by your father, Roy Gallaher?

A: The values we have are not new. It was through his influence as a business owner and a father I was able to craft something that emulated the culture we always had.  The only thing missing was the written component, which protects our culture through growth and scaling up. As we’re growing and moving into other markets, we have a documented framework tied to a performance review system that everyone understands and can refer to and recognize that life is made up of choices along the way. When faced with several choices each workday, employees can develop strength in making honorable, sound decisions by being intentional to choose their words and actions with care.