10 YEARS OF PEOPLE FIRST

On paper at The Gunter Group we are a consulting firm. We provide focused and results driven services to help our clients maximize their potential. 

Thoughtful action. Tangible results. Just like the website says. 

But since our inception in 2011, The Gunter Group has been (and will always be) a people centric organization. Because ultimately every decision we make comes back to people. How we develop people, how those people contribute to growing the firm, and how we collectively serve our clients in their most critical endeavors. 

With all that said, it should come as no surprise that a crucial component to our success formula over the past 10 years has been the caliber of individuals we select to join the TGG family. 

Our “people always” organizational philosophy is delivered through an interview and hiring process that is, by design, strategically unique.

As we engage with consulting candidates we are diligent and purposeful in our “listen-first” approach. The same “listen-first” approach that drives our client work also drives our interview and hiring process.  

It is with this mindset we commit to explore seven focused themes to understand a candidate’s unique potential to move our firm and our clients forward. 

1. 1. Who Are They?: To build a people powered organization you must get to know the people. We seek to understand who the individual is. What is their story, their unique history? Equally important, what led them to The Gunter Group? Why us? Why now? 

2. 2. What Have They Done?: What is their professional map? What are their experiences and skills? Do they have the core competencies to be successful within the dynamic nature of the work we do for our clients? We have long sought talent from non-traditional consulting backgrounds by recognizing the value of unique and diverse personal journeys.  

3. 3. What Are Their Values?: How well do they embody our “Non-Negotiables?” Throughout the conversation can we hear and observe our Non-Negotiables from the individual? Do these characteristics not only drive the way they go about their work, but also what they are seeking in their next team. 

4. 4. Is There A Pattern Of Success?: Are they over-achievers? Do they have a story where they delivered under challenging or doubtful circumstances? We will always value a pattern of success over pedigree. People who have demonstrated an ability to make those around them better in pursuit of a common goal will always be appealing candidates. 

5. 5. Are They Team Players?: Have they shown the ability to bring people together to accomplish a goal? What was their role in the process and how do they talk about that experience? It is more than just working “well” with others, do they thrive with a team?

6. 6. What Are They Looking For?: It is not just us buying into them, it is also them buying into us. Are we a great fit for them? What type of culture are they looking for? Can we support them in realizing their professional goals?

7. 7. Can They Help Us Better Serve Our Clients?: Will they make us better with something they bring to the organization? If we have a team of consultants that all have the same approach and skills, then we are limiting our ability to help more clients solve more unique and challenging problems. We take pride in seeing talent in uncommon places to build the best team…… not just the best collection of impressive resumes. 

Do these questions always provide the same level of insight? No. These questions have, however, served as a critical barometer throughout the last 10 years to ensure we are bringing in the best people to thrive in our culture and exceed our clients’ expectations. 

We are often asked if this philosophy is time consuming. The simple answer is… yes. Yes it is. It takes time to explore each of these questions in depth with a candidate. But the time spent is an investment. It’s an investment in growing our firm, building relationships and our team capabilities, and enhancing our culture the right way. Not just the expedient way.  

Since our early days as a firm this investment has been a conscious choice by our TGG team, and it will continue to be in the years to come. With our “people first” mindset, we wouldn’t have it any other way.  

More about Matt Bader:
Matt’s passion and leadership purpose is all about helping teams reach their highest potential. He loves building and leading high-performing teams and seeing what can be accomplished when strong values, sound strategy, and a relentless commitment to execution collide. He is a trusted advisor who thrives on building lasting partnerships and driving high-quality solutions for clients. With more than 13 years of strategy, program leadership, and organizational transformation experience in a wide variety of challenging and ambiguous environments. Matt has advised clients in the retail, education, finance, and professional services industries and served as a leader in the military and nonprofit sectors. He graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with a B.S. in Business Management and is a Certified Scrum Master, a Certified SAFe 5 Agilist, and has certifications in program management, LEAN, and contract management. Outside of being a loving husband and father, Matt enjoys the intersection of all things hockey, heavy metal, fitness, and beer.

MIKE & ASHLEIGH GUNTER:
LOOKING BACK & LOOKING AHEAD

We are really excited to be celebrating The Gunter Group’s 10 year anniversary! It has been an incredible journey these past 10 years, and we have so much for which to be thankful and proud.

Mike founded the company in 2011 with the intention of building a firm that could do meaningful work for clients, locally in Portland (to start), and that would serve our community. He also wanted to create a learning culture in which people of different experience levels and backgrounds could chart their own course and thrive, and do that in a super collaborative environment where the team not only valued working together, but also enjoyed each other’s company as part of the deal.

We are pretty proud to say we feel like that’s the environment that has been created at TGG over the last 10 years! Not only in Portland, but in our other markets in the Pacific Northwest and Western U.S.

We are fortunate to have not only worked with a lot of different clients and client companies, but to have also made many friends along the way. We feel a deep level of gratitude to all of our clients who, in the beginning especially, were willing to take a risk on a scrappy start up consulting firm trying to establish itself. Thank you!

We are also so proud of our team. It is meaningful and significant to us to have team members that have been with us since the beginning; when we could all fit around a lunch room table. Those team members have been so critical to the success of the firm, and to attracting more and more highly skilled and experienced people to the firm. Our company is our team, and our culture is what drives us.  

The culture that has been built at TGG is what led to our Non-Negotiables.  These 6 core values – Collaborative, Integrity, Intellectual Curiosity, Thrives in Ambiguity, Emotional Intelligence, Grounded Confidence – emerged organically a few years ago from discussing how we were already operating as a team. They represent our North Star as a firm, and govern how we work together as a team as well as with our clients and communities.

We look at things like this: we get to be surrounded by 50 something people that we respect professionally and enjoy personally. We are so fortunate!  The desire to maintain our culture is what drives our decisions around growth and the future.

We are so excited about what the future brings for TGG in the next 10 years and beyond, and we want to thank everyone who has been with us on this journey so far. Here’s to the next 10 years!

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS
OF CLIENT SERVICE

The Gunter Group is kicking off our 10 Year Anniversary celebration, and will commemorate a decade of serving clients throughout the summer of 2021. As part of the celebration we will share videos, and historical photos and moments, as well as content that highlights the meaningful work and insights for which we have become known over the past 10 years.  

Since our inception, The Gunter Group has taken great pride in providing consulting services to a broad range of organizations spanning Fortune 100 companies to locally-based businesses. We look forward to commemorating the past decade of relationships and service with our clients and consultants.

Founded in 2011, in Portland, OR, The Gunter Group features an experienced team of consultants serving clients across a variety of industries in the Pacific Northwest and Western regions. The Gunter Group currently employs a team of 55 consultants with office hubs in Portland, OR and Reno, NV. The firm has been named one of the “best companies to work for” in Oregon by Oregon Business Magazine for seven consecutive years and named one of the “best small firms to work for” by Consulting Magazine two years in a row.