— Piedmont Service Group
How Piedmont Service Group Built a Culture by Design and More Than Doubled in Size
Client Overview
Piedmont Service Group is a large mechanical contractor specializing in commercial HVAC, energy engineering, and new construction build-outs. Operating across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, the company has expanded from a single-location business into a multi-state enterprise with over 450 employees across 12 branches.
Lee Marlow joined as Director of Culture and Development in late 2021 — a role created with one specific mandate: identify where the company culture truly was, and chart a course toward where it needed to be. He now serves as Chief Culture Officer.
Why It Matters
Piedmont's journey illustrates what happens when a company outgrows the culture it built by default. As the organization scaled across states and locations, informal culture gave way to drift — and drift, left unchecked, shows up in friction, turnover, and a workforce that's good but not great. By committing to creating a culture by design, Piedmont created the shared language and behavioral framework that allowed its people — from executives to field technicians — to grow together.
The Challenge
When Piedmont operated from a single location, culture was effortless — employees took cues directly from the owners. But as the company expanded to multiple branches across three states, that organic unity began to erode. Without the owners present in every building, each location started developing its own mini-culture, shaped by whoever had the strongest personality in the room.
The result was cultural drift. While 95% of operations ran smoothly, it was the remaining 5% — the disconnects, conflicts, and misalignments — that dominated conversations and drained energy. Accountability was talked about constantly, yet rarely achieved, because clear expectations were never established first. Lee's diagnosis: Piedmont needed both a name for its culture and a system to drive the behaviors that would bring it to life.
We began to recognize that there was this drift, and we started developing multiple, many cultures based on the strongest personality in each location
Piedmont Service Group
Lee Marlow
Chief Culture Officer
The Solution
After two years of groundwork across branches, Lee and Piedmont's incoming president, Chris Turner, attended a Vistage meeting where they encountered CultureWise. They immediately recognized that the framework matched exactly what they had been planning to build from scratch.
"Why try to reinvent the wheel when this product is already developed?" Lee said. "The system is already in place — we just needed to find out where it fits."
The executive leadership team gathered for an offsite working session in Madison, Georgia to define the behaviors that would best reflect Piedmont’s business, leadership approach, and goals. CultureWise helped each leader identify the behaviors they believed mattered most, and through discussion and alignment, the team shaped them into 31 core behaviors—now known as The Piedmont Way.
"No one drifts to a better culture, just like no one drifts to a better financial status, no one drifts to better health, no one drifts to better relationships."
— Lee Marlow, Chief Culture OfficerPiedmont launched The Piedmont Way in January 2024. Over five days, Lee, the incoming president, and the CultureWise team traveled to every branch — conducting 10 rollout sessions, sometimes two locations per day. "It was exhausting, but it was exhilarating," Lee recalled.
Every new hire goes through a personal walkthrough of all 31 fundamentals with Lee — a mini rollout embedded into onboarding. New employees are asked to do two things: commit to living the behaviors themselves, and hold leadership accountable when the fundamentals fall short.
The Results
A shared language across every level. One of the most immediate impacts was a common vocabulary — one that spans executives and hourly field technicians alike. Employees at every level now reference the fundamentals in daily conversations, during evaluations, and when navigating conflict.
Accountability grounded in clear expectations. Before CultureWise, "accountability" was Piedmont's most-used — and least-effective — word. By embedding "Get Clear on Expectations" as a fundamental, Lee shifted how leaders communicate: confirming deliverables, checking for understanding, and giving grace when life intrudes on work.
A culture that leans into hard conversations. "Speak Straight" is one of Piedmont's core fundamentals — and the impact is measurable. The organization now engages difficult conversations more readily, because everyone has a shared framework for having them.
Two years in, Piedmont is on its fourth full round through all 31 fundamentals. Executive buy-in is strong. The current focus is deepening adoption among middle managers — the critical layer who interact with field technicians every single day.
Key Outcomes
- Shared language from C-suite to field technicians
- Stronger accountability through clear expectations
- Culture of direct, constructive communication
- Rapid, sustainable growth across three states
- Executive team fully aligned on behavioral framework
"Culture by design is choosing a destination, and then intentionally going that route. Because no one ever drifts to their desired destination"
— Lee Marlow, Chief Culture OfficerThe Culture You Need
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