Dave Van Belle was working on Van Belle Nursery’s five-year plan when he was presented with what he thought was a huge opportunity. The president of the Abbotsford nursery got a call from someone he described as a “superstar” asking if he would hire him as a brand manager.
Van Belle, a former Business in Vancouver Forty under 40 winner, recalled, “We thought, ‘Holy cow, if this guy can come work for us, it’s going to be unbelievable. We’ve got the five-year plan … let’s just bring him in here and accelerate it.’”
But Van Belle said it turned out to be a mistake.
Throughout its 40 years in business, Van Belle Nursery has established and maintained relationships with customers that have spanned 20 years or more. It relies on this loyalty, and Van Belle said he didn’t want anything to affect the company’s established associations. However, the new brand manager had a completely different style of doing business.
“He was promising things to [our customers] that I was not feeling comfortable with.”
Van Belle said this approach made both the company’s customers and its other brand managers nervous because it was not the way Van Belle normally did business.
“At the end of the day, it kind of put everything in jeopardy,” he said, explaining that some of his customers were considering reducing their business. “I lost a little bit of face, and they were wondering if I was still committed to them.”
The company and the star employee agreed to part ways.
“He didn’t really fit our culture the right way,” Van Belle said. “It’s more important to hire for cultural fit than skill. Skill is important, but culture is a bit more important yet.”
The silver lining of the experience is that when Van Belle told clients what had happened, their relationships became even stronger as they respected his candour.
But overall, Van Belle decided he should have gone through his normal process of evaluating potential new employees for their value and fit, ensuring everything was aligned.
“I should have done my homework better,” he said. “I got sidetracked by the ‘celebrity lights.’”
