Crystal Maggelet is not a leader with a household name.
She should be.
For more than a decade, she has run a holding company with businesses in the petroleum, convenience store, and healthcare sectors. With over 7,000 employees, most of whom are hourly workers, she has found a surprisingly refreshing way to increase employee retention and motivate people to provide the best service possible to their many customers. She has created programs to invest in what matters most to the company’s workers: their children’s future.
As the CEO of Flying J travel centers and Maverik convenience stores, Maggelet has created the ultimate incentive for hourly workers to remain loyal to the company and the important services they provide. She has developed several programs to invest in the education of the workers’ children.
The FJ Management company provides tutors for the children of those that work at their centers and stores, pays for good grades for those that have children in school, and offers one of the most lucrative tuition reimbursement programs in any industry for both the workers and their offspring. Maggelet knows what every great leader should. Understanding what really matters to people and investing in it creates an unusual bond.
Few parents hold anything more valuable than their children and their educational futures. By creating a host of programs that invest in the children of those who work for the company, the leadership team at FJ Management tells their employees how much they — and their children — matter.
Team members who work at the company know instantly this is not like any other opportunity. So, they dig in and make it their workplace.
Investing in what matters most to your team is a recipe for loyalty and long-term success. Too many leaders allow the norms of what other enterprises do to sap the creative insight needed to invent programs that change team member engagement. Every team and workplace is somewhat unique. Great leaders learn what matters most to their team members and invest in it. When they do, loyalty happens.
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