• US$150

• 67 designs

• 21 designers

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Logo Design Brief

In our book “Become Unmistakable - A Journey from Commodity to Oddity,” John Parker and I (Mike Novakoski) share the story of our construction management firm, Elzinga & Volkers, unique practices that have brought the company award-winning success through their ten-year journey. For years companies have focused on having a client-centered culture. We were one of these companies that thought putting the client in the middle of all decisions was going to drive success. Little did we know, that when the organization changed to an employee centric company we created a more positive dynamic that has led to outstanding performance for our clients and greater business success. In the book we share our advice on creating a company where your kids and even your neighbors actually want to work. Imagine a world where business feels more like the technicolored “Land of Oz” than the black and white dustbowl of Kansas.
This idea isn’t crazy. We believe it can be achieved using a few key principles. We believe that Right Brained Leadership is essential. Most leaders are formally trained in utilizing the left side of the brain; the one that controls rational thought. Logical, analytical, strategic, practical, and accurate thinking comes from here. People respond much more positively to the intuitive, right brained leader. These people have a gift and bring compassion, creativity, emotion, vulnerability and selflessness into the work day. This creates opportunity for meaningful relationships built on trust and with this great joy, enthusiasm and personal/professional reward.
People want to be led, not managed. People also need to understand, in simple terms, what the mission of the company is and how they are to take part in it. At our company, our tag line or brand is “Unmistakably E&V”. Employees know that our goal is to be different from everybody else; unmistakably different. In simplest of terms each of them has a responsibility to put a smile the face of all they interact with on a daily basis. They are also asked to look at every single task they do and do it in a way that is unlike any other person in a similar position at a different company would do it. Sounds simple right? Maybe not; but it’s a boatload of fun when any one of our 200 employees come up with a really cool idea and sees how our client, partner or others react to it! There is a lot of pride in their creativity. We make sure the whole company hears stories about all of these great ideas so that they are inspired and influenced to do the same.
All of this has led to real business results. We have a more engaged workforce, zero voluntary turnover, and have created what we have an employee “waiting room” of people ready to join our company. Our highly engaged workforce has made it possible for our organization to have no sales departments. E&V’s services were once a commodity product, but is now an oddity in the market! No one seems to perform like our people. Owners are looking for our services and calling us. Architects also prefer to work with a contractor that has a culture such as ours. The way our people perform is well above and beyond those of our competition. This makes it easy for us to continue to grow and along the way, we’ve received a tremendous amount of recognition from organizations outside of our company…to name a few;
• 101 Best & Brightest Companies to Work For- 10 years running we’ve been chosen as one of the top in our region as a preferred company to work for. Additionally, each year ten companies are awarded an elite award of which we have won eight in our 10 year journey. No other company in our region has accumulated such a high number of elite awards.
• We have been ranked as a Best & Brightest Company to Work For nationally as well. We have received the Small Business of the Year award nationally by B&B. Recently, we were informed we have won the top elite award I the country for Employee Enrichment, Engagement and Retention.
• E&V is currently the highest ranked and holds the top safety award given by our trade association “Associated Builders & Contractors West Michigan Chapter (ABC)” and has held that for multiple years. We were recently notified that we are receiving top national award by ABC. We are one of 21,000-member companies in the association and have stood out and are being given the top award. (Please note that we are being told not to publicize this until after the award ceremony in March 2018.)
• EV has also been recognized by the American Subcontractors Association of Michigan (ASAM) as the Michigan Contractor of the Year two times (2013/13 & 2016/17).
• This past year our company was also recognized as the top company in our region by the West Coast Chamber of Commerce. We were honored with the top annual award titled “Leadership in Business Award”
In Become Unmistakable, Novakoski and Parker share their journey from commodity to oddity and put it into a fascinating narrative packed with heartfelt stories and practical takeaways that give readers compelling insights into how we can change the way we do business. We need a logo to use for branding “Become Unmistakable” to be used on all marketing/promotional material and the book cover. The cover art will be a hard hat with “left brain” and “right brain” graphics. A prototype is attached.

Logo Text

Become Unmistakable

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