The 2022 Best Small Firms to Work For: Pathways Consulting Group

Client Industries Served: Financial, Media, Telecommunications, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Retail

Consulting Service Lines: IT Strategy and ServiceNow

CMAG: How would you say you've managed to stay among the industry's Best Small Firms to Work For amid these unprecedented times?

It all comes down to one thing, and that's our culture. We've always placed a great deal of importance on culture. Our core values are "be collaborative and be exceptional." Holding each other accountable to those things — and bringing your best self forward each day — is critical. That's how you produce quality work and deliver excellent results for clients, and at the end of the day, it leaves you feeling good about yourself and the company you work for.

CMAG: Were there any specific programs or initiatives (internal or external) that contributed to you being a Best Small Firm to Work For?

We're all involved in our awesome culture; we're all a part of that program. We do have a culture ambassador group, but the overall culture and core values, "be collaborative and be exceptional," are the embodiment of everyone working together to achieve a common goal. We all care about one another, and we all care about our clients' success.

Outside of work, we're also very community-minded. We wanted to be involved in helping not-for-profit organizations, and we have a program that we call We Care that raises funds and needed items for the people who need them. We started that in 2018 and I never get tired of reading about the impact our team has on the groups we support each month.

CMAG: What's unique about your firm? What sets it apart?

The simple answer: It's our people. I think what sets us apart is that we're extremely flexible, we're transparent and we listen, we care and we execute. It's a model that we live by. Our clients notice in the way we are able to support them and drive initiatives to meet their goals. I do think that the retention of our key individuals helps to keep us strong.

Our words and actions match, I think that's important – some companies say one thing but do another, but I think it's really important to staying in line with our clients on their road to success. The clients know they can count on us to deliver, whether it is a hands-on project or ongoing partnership. When we talk with our clients, we're always hearing about how flexible our team is and how much they enjoy working together and the quality work we produce. So many times our customers say we're the best vendor they've ever worked with because of our flexibility and transparency!

CMAG: What's the top priority over the next 6 to 12 months?

We are a ServiceNow Elite partner and have been a partner of ServiceNow since 2010. To continue to scale as we grow, and to be able to maintain the level of culture we have as a growing company. In some organizations, culture gets lost during growth. I think we need to keep our culture strong and stay in-sync. Our top priorities as we scale include ensuring that we are intentional about maintaining the culture we have built, the structure that works and especially the quality of work that our clients have come to expect.

Pathways is building a bigger national presence. Recently, we opened an office in Boston to get a bigger presence in the New England area and we are gaining traction quickly. More offices to come.

This past year we transitioned to a women-owned business. This is a big shift for us, and it is opening more doors for opportunities not only with clients, but also recruiting.

We will also continue to seek out the right clients to partner with as we grow. We are excited to work with clients who are also growth-minded and ready to utilize our skill and expertise to work toward achieving goals together.

CMAG: When you look at the remainder of this year and 2023, what excites you? What opportunities do you see in your future?

We're continuing to expand our footprint into other regions. We've spent time with our clients and have listened to them about the pain points they need to address and we are implementing some new strategies and go-to-marketing approaches. With our new strategies we will be creating new offerings and solutions and expanding our practices in the Enterprise Service Management areas of ITSM, HR, Audit, Customer Service Management, ITOM, etc., which will only create a bigger presence in our industry We have built a talented group of people working with us to help us achieve our goals, and I think that our future is very, very bright.

CMAG: What impact do you think being a Best Small Firm to Work For has on the firm? Employees? Clients?

It speaks volumes to the individuals that we have on our team. Their dedication, their adoption of our culture – we're nothing without our people, so it's definitely something that helps with morale.

It really reflects well with our clients. I've had clients ask us about our culture. "How do you do that?" and I think it's reflected in the work that we do which is always collaborative and exceptional. They can see the difference between working.

CMAG: Thank you, and congratulations.