La Macchia focuses on employees’ unique talents
What makes Shawn Gulyas unique? By designing creative experiences that challenge his colleagues’ thinking, he helps them discover what’s unique about themselves.
“That’s who I am,” said Gulyas, the vice president of human resources for La Macchia Enterprises. “When I get to do that part of my job, I am energized because that’s where I’m at my best. It’s not about my job. It’s about me.”
Gulyas said unique ability taps into the instinctive way people work. He still has to do budgeting and accounting, but he knows where he can be the best asset: The travel company wants each of its employees to understand their unique ability.
“It helps us get the right person in the right seat and adding the right value,” he said.
For that commitment to its employees, La Macchia is being honored with the 2017 Deloitte Wisconsin 75 Distinguished Performer-Talent award.
La Macchia has more than 1,000 employees, including 627 in Milwaukee. It has helped customers enjoy travel destinations across the globe for more than 40 years.
Under the umbrella of The Mark Travel Corp., La Macchia runs vacation brands including Funjet Vacations, United Vacations and Southwest Vacations. It also owns Trisept Solutions, a company that develops leisure travel technology.
Gulyas said a person’s unique ability applies not just to work but to life. Finding it involves a soulsearching process in which employees ask themselves: “What do others come to me for? What are my talents? What is my passion? What do I bring to situations that drive me?”
The company uses such statements to build teams within the organization. All members of a team have unique abilities complementary to those around them. That way, every team member knows his or her exact role.
“Understanding how someone works and what they are passionate about ties into how we interact,” Gulyas said. “We know people on a different level. It helps relationships be strong — understanding someone’s unique ability and understanding it’s different than your own. Together we’re stronger.”
Andrea Risch started at the company 30 years ago as an associate project manager. Risch said after beginning her career there after college, she grew up in the marketing department.
La Macchia provided a broad breadth of experiences to her so she could identify her unique ability: leading with initiative, insight, passion and commitment that drives action. She’s now the vice president of solutions integration for Mark Travel.
She’s like many of the people working on the company’s executive team who started out in entry-level or basic management roles with La Macchia.
Beyond unique abilities and how employees operate in their roles, the company focuses on overall wellness.
One initiative is to have 52 company leaders conduct a wellness session each week throughout the year. Risch, for example, led a knitting circle to teach others the craft. For her, it’s not just a way to turn idle time into productive time. “My mother taught me to knit,” she said. “I
taught my children to knit. It’s something emotional for me.”
Risch wanted to show a passion of hers that could be a great outlet for others, too.
In addition to Risch’s session on knitting, the company has hosted wellness programs around the power of laughter, tai chi, aromatherapy, Zumba, decluttering and taking care of aging parents. The idea: Try something. You might get hooked on it.
The idea for La Macchia is that all engagement that takes place at the office goes home, too.
“If you feel like you have balance in your life, it helps you grow in your career,” Risch said.
That balance stems from La Macchia’s six core values.
The values weren’t developed in a boardroom or by leadership. La Macchia brought together team members from across the organization for a discussion about what success looks like at the company. The core values: Be unique. Embrace change. Get your hands dirty. Ask. Live end to end. Be well, work well, live well.
“The bottom line is to give team members confidence,” Gulyas said. “We believe as an organization that you do your best when you’re most confident.”