It’s Mindset that Matters Most
at Access Corporate Group
When growth is doubling every year, building the right culture has become a driving priority for the leaders at Access Corporate Group, the innovative brand management company that has been growing exponentially since its inception just three years ago.
While the company is identifying, developing, and investing in premium health, beauty and lifestyle brands, it is also building a team made up of top talent from their respective fields and this team is growing rapidly. In this month alone, the human resources team is recruiting more than 20 positions across a range of areas from design to marketing, data analysis to IT and many more.
Identifying people with strong specialist skills is obviously critical but finding the right type of people who also fit easily into the Access culture is very important.
According to Livia Wang, Chief Brand Officer of Access Corporate Group, when it comes to work culture, it’s all about a shared belief to “Embrace & Exceed”. There are four parts of this: Embrace Challenges, employees are inspired to meet challenges face-on and see them as opportunities to build resilience and achieve goals; Customer First, to meet and exceed customer expectations at all times; Integrity and Innovation, people must have integrity and be able to communicate in an open and transparent way, so that brave, unconventional ideas are encouraged and heard; and of course, Teamwork. This is not merely working well within your own team, but collaborating across different parts of the company and interacting with a range of different people, as it is these interactions that really build better understanding of the business and its strong culture.
“Hard skills can be enhanced with training, study and other forms of development,” says Livia. “More important is attitude and an ability to embrace changes and exceed expectations whenever possible. I’m delighted to see more and more talented people joining Access who share this mindset.”
People like Helen Moreno, who recently joined the team to oversee one of the company’s premium skincare brands. Formerly vice president of global marketing for Jurlique and also general manager for Clarins Australia and New Zealand, Helen’s depth of knowledge about beauty products and skincare is second-to-none.
Helen describes Access as a workplace where an entrepreneurial spirit is celebrated.
“It is such a dynamic place to work with exposure to all facets of the beauty business, from consumer insights and product conceptualisation, to brand management, digital architecture, consumer journey mapping and full-funnel marketing strategy,” she says.
“At Access, you’re given intimate exposure to the Asian market and a rare opportunity to make a significant impact. Access is a consumer-centric, digital
first organisation where big ideas, and out-of-the-box thinking is celebrated. Perfect for the entrepreneurs in all of us!”
Similarly Rod Henderson who was a tax advisory partner at KPMG prior to joining the company defines Access as having a strong entrepreneurial culture with minimal hierarchy.
“There is a genuine emphasis on partnering to share the vision and the value. Access is very good at bringing together people driven by the entrepreneurial ethos, both as employees, advisers and of course of brand and business partners,” he says.
There is a great deal of flexibility for anyone working at Access whether they are a newcomer or a senior executive, in how they are treated and an openness to new ideas.
“Innovation, creativity and a broad forward-looking strategic vision is also very strong and when this is mixed with business, the outcome is very powerful. Most of all, there is a lot of genuine fun and a feeling of egalitarianism. While things can be very serious and focused to get the job done, there is also a very light-hearted and generous approach to the daily ups and downs of people and wonderful shared values,” Rod adds.
Once the right talent is recruited, the company also provides plenty of training, coaching and interacting opportunities. That begins with the “New ACERs 30 Days Starter Program”, a comprehensive training program to immerse them in the business, and provide an understanding of how things are done at Access, as well as to make sure they understand the cultural norms and expectations from the start. As a part of the company’s Innovation Hub initiative, there is also an interactive Cool Hunters program on the horizon, that encourages employees to hunt down 50 new and interesting products each month, at the company’s cost, followed by a product experience day where everyone at Access is invited to try the products and vote for the top 10, give feedback, suggestions and ideas, with the person who has discovered the most popular new product is named “Hunter of the Month” and awarded a trophy.
2,000 employees
Across 4 locations
With over 2,000 employees across four locations in Australia, New Zealand and China, Access believes that cross-border and cross-cultural collaboration is key in building a healthy, sustainable people’s culture.
– Livia Wang, Chief Brand Officer, Access Corporate Group