
Jost ADK Brings Back Wolf Pack Core Value Sessions
Jost ADK places a great deal of emphasis on core values and leadership, something that is evident in many aspects of the business, including the choice of the wolf as a spirit animal and the saying “Our Pack HOWLS.” (Each letter of “howls” stands for a different value.)
The group is pleased that they have been able to reinstate their Wolf Pack Core Value Sessions, which, along with many other things, had to be put on hold during the pandemic. The Wolf Pack Core Value Sessions were revived at one of Jost ADK’s clubs, and this was the first session they were able to host since before the pandemic.
These sessions serve as an introduction to core values – what they are, how Jost ADK created theirs, what they mean, and so on. The next level following Wolf Pack Core Value Sessions are Work Pack Workshops, which delve into more detail on leadership-related topics like conflict management.
“This is really to ensure that we have a good foundation,” said Jonny Jost, managing partner of Jost ADK. “It takes our company’s core values and lets our teams dig in deeper. Before the pandemic, we tried to do them in each club once a quarter since the teams do change. We liked to tag a team meeting on with a core value session – those things have a lot of synergy.”
The sessions are tailored to the individual teams, and each team writes a charter that reflects their core values. They also spend time discussing what behaviors are and are not appropriate when those values are taken into consideration.
The core values of Jost ADK itself came from collaboration and feedback from their team. Jost explained that the group sent a survey to team members to ask about top core values in their lives. “We wanted to include all the team members in the whole organization, whether it was their first day or they’d been there for five years or more,” he said. The group then took those results and refined them down to five concepts – and those five words became the acronym HOWLS.
The meaning of HOWLS is that the Jost ADK team strives to be honorable, to be open-minded, to be world-class, and to lead with spirit. Each of these five concepts encapsulates multiple ideas and beliefs; for example, integrity fits under honorable. The definitions of each of the words – honorable, open-minded, world-class, leadership, and spirited – is of utmost importance to the group.
There are many benefits to running these sessions. “My favorite part is making a deeper human connection with team members. Watching the team go through this process, learn about our core values, and share their own experiences helps with that,” Jost reflected. “At the end of the sessions, we get to see team members go back to their daily routines and apply the learnings they took away from the core value meetings.” It is clear to see why the group is so excited to be able to bring back these sessions with their teams.