Delivering Results through People-First Culture at The Driving Force Group of Companies
Betterworks helps power “Mission to Mars”
The Driving Force Group of Companies is a network of vehicle rental, sales, leasing, and fleet management companies that operate across Canada and the United States.
Transportation
Employees
600+
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Key Outcomes
Deployed a cohesive performance management process that employees like
Achieved better goal clarity and workforce alignment to meet 5-year transformation plan
Advanced an employee-first culture focused on collaboration, teamwork, and development
“We were looking for an outstanding performance management tool. When we learned we could set up goals, do recognition, and use Betterworks Engage for surveys, those were all bonuses for us. We chose Betterworks because of the customer service we received. There’s a whole team working together to help us succeed.”
Andrea Malec
Manager of Talent Management and Development,
The Driving Force Group of Companies
Situation
Fueling a “Mission to Mars”
To help drive its ambitious five-year transformation plan, “Mission to Mars – Vision 2025,” the company created a game-changing ‘people-first’ strategy to complement the financial components of its plan. Its people strategy focuses on teamwork, collaboration, delighting customers, and caring for the environment.
However, without a comprehensive performance management program, the company’s 600+ employees had no consistent approaches for measuring performance and the organization couldn’t elevate its workforce. In many cases, managers and employees weren’t having conversations at all.
Core Challenges
The Driving Force Group of Companies identified three areas it needed to address:
Transform fragmented performance management activities
Promote understanding and alignment of goals for major transformation initiative
Emphasize company values, career development, and employee appreciation
Solution
Cohesiveness, alignment, and belonging fuel meteoric rise
Because people are powering the “Mission to Mars,” the company knew it had to replace its localized and inconsistent performance management practices with a model that would promote goal alignment, satisfaction, productivity, and recognition companywide. To power its journey, it turned its fragmented performance management practices into a streamlined, strategic process that prioritizes well-being using Betterworks. Its efforts are winning employee praise and industry awards.
Goal transparency, clarity, and alignment are critical because every employee has a role in the mission. The Driving Force Group of Companies has started at the top by ensuring all C-suite executives and VPs have established goals tied to the top Mars priorities. These have been shared with employees to help them better understand the mission, encourage ownership, and drive accomplishment. “When people are clear on goals and feel they are part of our bigger ‘Mission to Mars’ picture, that makes them feel like they belong,” Andrea says.
Betterworks has been instrumental in helping people feel aligned, developed, and recognized. Using the Betterworks Conversation module for managers and employees, the organization promotes performance and professional development, giving managers a framework for having conversations with employees and supporting employee-led performance reviews — both changes that employees had been asking for.
Employees and managers alike find the platform easy to use, and administration is simple for Andrea and her team.
Betterworks in Action
Betterworks Goals enable alignment and visibility, increasing clarity for employees and meeting transformation targets.
Betterworks Conversations elevate performance and development conversations, providing structure for managers and boosting positivity and collaboration.
Betterworks AI tools and capabilities reveal areas for further focus and improve the quality of manager conversations and feedback.
“I think the reason some managers weren’t having conversations is that we didn’t have a structure. They weren’t sure what to say, what they could or should say. They really appreciate having that structure now. They don’t have to feel anxious about it. People are happy that we’re having positive performance conversations, and managers share that they find the process we built to be easy.”
Andrea Malec,
Manager of Talent Management and Development, The Driving Force Group of Companies
Using AI to simplify
Continuous improvement and feedback with AI
The Driving Force Group of Companies is using AI in the Betterworks Engage module to improve the employee experience. It surveys employees to identify core areas for improvement and then takes action based on their feedback and ideas. “Having the Engage platform helps us know where to focus,” Andrea says. “It’s very powerful.”
Betterworks AI features have been helpful in other ways, too. The company has begun using Conversation Assist, which improves the quality and clarity of manager communications by drawing on employee goals, feedback, recognition, and other data to help managers clearly and confidently coach, express their expectations, and provide actionable takeaways for employees.
Achievements
Extreme goal clarity
100% goal adoption among executives and 88% of employees report clarity on goals and responsibilities — exceeding the 85% target
More development guidance
70% of employees have received meaningful career development feedback to date
Skyrocketing employee sentiment
70% of positive employee sentiments are related to teamwork and collaboration
Looking Ahead
Building out performance enablement capabilities over time
The Driving Force Group of Companies aspires to fully utilize Betterworks with a staged approach. In addition to using Betterworks Engage, recognition, and performance features, the organization expects to add more conversations and check-ins, expand goals to the manager level, and roll out succession planning and employee development plans.
“We launched something new that we haven’t done historically, and it went so smoothly. There was no pushback or real challenges, just people embracing it with positivity,” Andera says.