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Pride, Passion & Positivity: Inside the Culture of the Landscape Forms Lighting Team
Celebrating over 50 years of continued growth and influence within its industry, Landscape Forms attributes much of its success to the organization’s guiding pillars of Design, Culture, and Craft. Each pillar plays an equally important role in shaping Landscape Forms' core philosophy, but Culture often stands out as a keystone firmly locking together the company and its team members in their shared mission.
It is this quality of culture, combined with the level of passion and dedication required to build and uphold it, that has seen the company rocket to international workplace culture acclaim in recent years. Coming off receiving Michigan Manufacturer of the Year in 2020, back-to-back-to-back Great Place to Work Certifications™ in 2020, 2021 & 2022, and a Fortune Magazine Best Workplaces in Manufacturing & Production™ three-peat, there’s an air of mutual celebration and humble pride around the company’s facilities, and team members are eager to share what makes their workplace special.
Especially eager to weigh in are members of the company’s Lighting Team, a close-knit group that has overseen the company’s lighting division rise rapidly to industry leadership over the last decade. They’re a dynamic team with a culture of excellence that brings together the energy and nimbleness of a fast-growing organization with a legacy of design and craft 50 years in the making.
Chad Gleesing, Lighting Sales Operations Group Leader, explains: "Here in Lighting, we occupy a special part of our organization. The industry itself is exciting, complex, and quickly evolving. So it’s a very special time to be working in lighting at Landscape Forms.” He continues, "Over the last ten years, we’ve assembled an amazing team, with such great communication and camaraderie, that has put Landscape Forms on the map as not just as furniture company that does lighting, but as an industry leader in furniture and lighting.”
For Lighting President, Jordan Agustin,the company's success in lighting is a natural outgrowth of its participatory culture, a merging of different perspectives across art, design, technology and engineering that power comprehensive expertise in outdoor space design. “You can approach lighting from purely an engineering standpoint, but that ignores the way we as humans experience a space lit well,” says Agustin. “We’re incorporating many different viewpoints to fully consider lighting's rational, emotional and experiential components. Which is why when I describe our approach to lighting, I really like to talk about the ‘why behind the what,’” he continues. “Ultimately, lighting is a clear extension of our company’s longstanding core philosophies—activating outdoor space, enhancing outdoor experiences, and helping our design clients create their own sense of place.”
One passionate member of the Landscape Forms Lighting Team is Manager of Manufacturing, Adam Gallegos, a long-time team member who oversees the Lighting Department at the company’s Midlink Facility. Gallegos is a perennial source of the team’s trademark camaraderie, responsible for helping unite, develop, and inspire the diverse talents and perspectives that power daily operations. "Lighting at Landscape Forms has always been an area that people are excited about, passionate to get in to, and eager to stay for a long tenure. And in recent years, the energy and excitement in the group has been greater than ever,” says Gallegos. "We’ve been incorporating some new talent who are connecting really well, we’ve launched quite a few new and interesting lighting products, and showcasing lighting has been a real focus for the organization. Our work has been a focal point for the company at recent ASLA conferences, and we’re so proud to have lighting be the sole focus for our 2022 Road Show which will be continuing into 2023.”
A good example of the fresh talent Gallegos mentions is Isaac Eshuis, a celebrated new addition to the team who transitioned from his position in the Paint Department to his much-sought-after post as Lighting Manufacturing Process Leader. "I’ve always been passionate about light, electricity and highly-detailed technical work, but given how relatively small and fast-paced the lighting team is, I never thought I’d be able to join so soon. But an opening came up for Manufacturing Process Leader, I applied, and I was pleasantly surprised to be offered the position,” Eshuis smiles. "There’s a culture present throughout the whole company—and especially so in Lighting—that makes us different from just about everywhere else,” he continues. "There’s a calm, welcoming atmosphere where everyone feels free to strike up a conversation, collaborate and be friendly with anyone from any team. That’s what got me to stay here when I first started, and that’s what’s going to keep me here for years to come.”
The pride, passion and positivity expressed by the members of the Lighting Team is just a small cross-section of what has garnered the attention of establishments like Great Place to Work® and Fortune Magazine, and what has repeatedly landed Landscape Forms atop their workplace culture rankings. While the source of this culture comes from within, eagerly expressed and upheld daily in the hallways and on the manufacturing floor, these recognitions serve as important reminders for the excellence all team members have a hand in creating. "The emphasis and intentionality around the culture of our organization, and around being great leaders in every sense of the word, is vital,” says Jordan Agustin. "But we spend so much time within our four walls, it’s sometimes hard to get a sense for how exactly we compare to peers in our industry. We believe we’re leaders, but outside recognition like that from Fortune and Great Place to Work is that little extra fuel for the fire and that added validation that we really are a world-leading organization."