April-May_2022 - 6

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
What's driving your organization?
An organization's values need to exist on more than just paper; they
need to be understood and embraced by all members of a team to
leverage their full potential.
W
hile planning, writing and putting together this issue, the topic of corporate values
emerged as an unofficial theme with our features on CapMetro and HIRTA. This issue's
cover story on CapMetro in Austin, Texas, shines a direct spotlight on the agency's five
values - equity, transparency, safety, sustainability and innovation - and the resources
its team puts into those values. The result has been a turnaround in corporate culture, as well
as a positive shift in the agency's favorability rating within the Austin region.
HIRTA shares two of the same values with its focus on equity and innovation. Perhaps not the expected
values for a system in Iowa, but as readers of the article will find, it's what HIRTA expects from itself
and what its customers need from the organization.
An entity's values serve as cultural cornerstones and direct an organization's purpose. One indicator
I use of a topic's importance is how much has been written on the subject. Amazon currently has more
than 2,000 books covering organizational values, how to develop them, why they are important and
advice on ways to go about weaving these values into various teams.
Having a set of corporate values is one side of the equation; making sure those values are communicated,
understood and embraced throughout the organization is the other side. What CapMetro has
developed throughout its organization is a sense of ownership and empowerment among employees to
ensure its values sit at the core of everything it does.
CEO Randy Clarke noted at several points during the magazine's interview with him that the agency's
staff are the most important part of the organization. He wants CapMetro to offer careers rather than
jobs and that means offering good training, paying a livable wage and expressing gratitude for staff
efforts throughout the organization.
Early morning team breakfasts occur regularly for frontline staff
An entity's values
serve as cultural
cornerstones
and direct an
organization's
purpose.
and the management team frequently rides CapMetro's network
equipped with gift cards and a note of thanks to hand out to operators
and other team members who provide good service.
Clarke believes the best management structures are matrix style,
which encourages questions to be asked. He promotes a practice within
management teams he calls collaborative tension, which is designed to
push colleagues to find potential deficiencies in plans (in a respectful
and collegial way) to better the organization overall.
Clarke thinks these efforts have stoked a sense of passion among
CapMetro staff, which helps the organization deliver service because
the obligation to perform has been removed and replaced by the
desire to perform.
HIRTA Executive Director Julia Castillo promotes the same type of
commitment and care in her agency's staff. She explains their drive is to
" give people the freedom to move around their own communities. "
We enjoyed learning about these two organizations and hope their
efforts inspire their industry peers.
Mischa Wanek-Libman, Editor
 mwanek@masstransitmag.com  224-324-8532  linkedin.com/in/mischawaneklibman
6 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | APRIL/MAY 2022

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April-May_2022

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