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Great companies find ways to rise above the pack. Usually this happens with their incredible work, but some take it to another level. Recently, The Forum sat down for a quick chat with the movers and shakers at Dering Pierson Group, a full-service, WBENC certified, commercial general contractor serving clients throughout Minnesota and surrounding markets. We asked them to give us the lowdown on creating a work culture that stands out in the construction industry. Joyce Dering, CEO + Chief Manager – Construction is not a nine-to-five job, sometimes you’re here 50-60 hours, sometimes 20, but we wanted to make a space where you wanted to come to work. Mike Pierson, Vice President – It makes it easy when you truly do enjoy what you do. This is a job, but it’s not just a job, it’s what we do. I have friends of mine that don’t like what they’re doing, but that’s not the case here. We got into construction a long time ago, it’s something we love doing. Adam Dering, Vice President – I spent a lot of time in the corporate world before we started in 2011. We wanted to create something sort of anti-corporate. Something that still had a strong business drive, but with a more human approach in the day-to-day. Mike – It’s about setting your purpose, hey – we love building stuff. It’s challenging but that’s the fun part too. Most of our employees here thrive on challenge, and when things are busy and challenging that is the fun part. Joyce – It’s really neat to be at a place every day that you enjoy coming to. We have a really good team of people around us that do a lot of great work and love being here; we strive to create a family environment. Adam – Our office reflects who we are, as clients walk in the door, they understand who we are. We work hard but enjoy what we do. We have a lot of fun things people can do to disconnect and you have to be able to break away. Like a full kitchen, full gym, basketball, and a bar on the mezzanine; it’s not your typical workplace. Mike – There’s a reason for all this. We operate, as many companies do, on core values. One of our core values, and we really do try to live by this, is “Succeed as One.” When we work on a project; all these amenities really feed the team environment. Beyond that, we make sure our communication is complete, top-to-bottom. Get involved a lot. More than most, I think. That way everyone takes some ownership in the work and is pushing forward to complete the job and make it an overall success. Which, in our opinion, is the whole point.

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"I WANT TO BE THE FIRST FEMALE GOALIE IN THE NHL."

"MY FAVORITE THING ABOUT MY MOM IS SHE'S ALWAYS SUPPORTIVE OF WHAT I DO."

"I LOVE MY MOM AND MY DAD, THAT'S IT."

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