is Aquascape,” another committee that has helped shape its success as a staff is Project Initiative, or PI. “It’s a process for people to put their ideas through and get a true assessment by a manager, who will either sign off on it or say no and provide a reason why the idea doesn’t work right now,” Wittstock says. “This is an improvement over the old system we had, where people would put ideas through and then ask, ‘What happened to that idea I pitched?’ and not “In this industry, if you stop learning, you stop earning,” says 2005 Best Bosses Award winner Greg Wittstock, a.k.a. The Pond Guy. The energetic CEO and president of Aquascape Designs, an organization that’s billed as “the world’s number one water garden and pond resource,” isn’t kidding. His customers are a network of certified contractors in the United States, Jamaica and Canada that install ponds and water gardens. As the technology in the water gardening industry evolves, contractors need to stay ahead of the learning curve. That’s where Aquascape Designs comes in.

The organization offers a plethora of training opportunities for contractors, from Aquascape University and Pond College to the company’s big annual event, Pondemonium, which takes place in July this year. A weeklong event, Pondemonium isn’t notable for its training alone – it also features networking opportunities like a golf tournament and barbecue, as well as events for contractors, Aquascape employees and their families like a campfire and “No-Talent Kareoke.” As Wittstock says, “We are our customers. These programs allow our customers to train and learn, to network with us and their peers and to socialize.”

Perhaps this philosophy of combining training, networking and socializing has worked well in terms of Aquascape’s customers because it started from within the organization. For several years the Kontinuous Operational Improvements (KOI) committee has been functioning as a conduit for employees to improve internal processes, procedures and communications. Michelle Kurschner, Aquascape’s director of marketing, was one of the first members of KOI. “When you’re a small company and growing quickly, it’s easy to lose communication,” she says. “That’s why KOI is there.”

In addition to KOI, and in keeping with what Wittstock calls the “acronym-laden world that is Aquascape,” another committee that has helped shape its success as a staff is Project Initiative, or PI. “It’s a process for people to put their ideas through and get a true assessment by a manager, who will either sign off on it or say no and provide a reason why the idea doesn’t work right now,” Wittstock says. “This is an improvement over the old system we had, where people would put ideas through and then ask, ‘What happened to that idea I pitched?’ and not

try evolves, contractors need to stay ahead of the learning curve. That’s where Aquascape Designs comes in.

The organization offers a plethora of training opportunities for contractors, from Aquascape University and Pond College to the company’s big annual event, Pondemonium, which takes place in July this year. A weeklong event, Pondemonium isn’t notable for its training alone – it also features networking opportunities like a golf tournament and barbecue, as well as events for contractors, Aquascape employees and their families like a campfire and “No-Talent Kareoke.” As Wittstock says, “We are our customers. These programs allow our customers to train and learn, to network with us and their peers and to socialize.”

Perhaps this philosophy of combining training, networking and socializing has worked well in terms of Aquascape’s customers because it started from within the organization. For several years the Kontinuous Operational Improvements (KOI) committee has been functioning as a conduit for employees to improve internal processes, procedures and communications. Michelle Kurschner, Aquascape’s director of marketing, was one of the first members of KOI. “When you’re a small company and growing quickly, it’s easy to lose communication,” she says. “That’s why KOI is there.”

In addition to KOI, and in keeping with what Wittstock calls the “acronym-laden world that is Aquascape,” another committee that has helped shape its success as a staff is Project Initiative, or PI. “It’s a process for people to put their ideas through and get a true assessment by a manager, who will either sign off on it or say no and provide a reason why the idea doesn’t work right now,” Wittstock says. “This is an improvement over the old system we had, where people would put ideas through and then ask, ‘What happened to that idea I pitched?’ and not

s well as events for contractors, Aquascape employees and their families like a campfire and “No-Talent Kareoke.” As Wittstock says, “We are our customers. These programs allow our customers to train and learn, to network with us and their peers and to socialize.”

Perhaps this philosophy of combining training, networking and socializing has worked well in terms of Aquascape’s customers because it started from within the organization. For several years the Kontinuous Operational Improvements (KOI) committee has been functioning as a conduit for employees to improve internal processes, procedures and communications. Michelle Kurschner, Aquascape’s director of marketing, was one of the first members of KOI. “When you’re a small company and growing quickly, it’s easy to lose communication,” she says. “That’s why KOI is there.”

In addition to KOI, and in keeping with what Wittstock calls the “acronym-laden world that is Aquascape,” another committee that has helped shape its success as a staff is Project Initiative, or PI. “It’s a process for people to put their ideas through and get a true assessment by a manager, who will either sign off on it or say no and provide a reason why the idea doesn’t work right now,” Wittstock says. “This is an improvement over the old system we had, where people would put ideas through and then ask, ‘What happened to that idea I pitched?’ and not

tinuous Operational Improvements (KOI) committee has been functioning as a conduit for employees to improve internal processes, procedures and communications. Michelle Kurschner, Aquascape’s director of marketing, was one of the first members of KOI. “When you’re a small company and growing quickly, it’s easy to lose communication,” she says. “That’s why KOI is there.”

In addition to KOI, and in keeping with what Wittstock calls the “acronym-laden world that is Aquascape,” another committee that has helped shape its success as a staff is Project Initiative, or PI. “It’s a process for people to put their ideas through and get a true assessment by a manager, who will either sign off on it or say no and provide a reason why the idea doesn’t work right now,” Wittstock says. “This is an improvement over the old system we had, where people would put ideas through and then ask, ‘What happened to that idea I pitched?’ and not

is Aquascape,” another committee that has helped shape its success as a staff is Project Initiative, or PI. “It’s a process for people to put their ideas through and get a true assessment by a manager, who will either sign off on it or say no and provide a reason why the idea doesn’t work right now,” Wittstock says. “This is an improvement over the old system we had, where people would put ideas through and then ask, ‘What happened to that idea I pitched?’ and not get an answer because there was no oversight system in place.”

Like many organizations, Aquascape publishes an employee newsletter. Unlike other companies, though, its weekly newsletter, The Froggy Chronicles, connects employees in truly unique ways. Marketing Communications Manager Jennifer Zuri says that besides department updates, the newsletter features articles that employees write about themselves. “Unbeknownst to anyone until he wrote an article, we had an employee who wrote about his experience living in Japan to be part of a drumming group,” she says. “Another employee put a plea in the newsletter to help him surprise his wife with a pond in his backyard.”

One inspirational story that played out in The Froggy Chronicles involved a runner. “He had been training for the Boston Marathon for six years, running the Chicago Marathon in order to qualify. He had to get his time down to three hours and 10 minutes, and he kept missing the cutoff by only 90 seconds,” Zuri says. “So he wrote in the newsletter asking for encouragement, and employees gave him that and he finally qualified and ran the Boston Marathon.” Stories of employee interconnectivity like these prompted Inc. magazine Editor-at-Large Bo Burlingham to call Aquascape’s newsletter one of the best around.

Aquascape’s employees have also been tapped for many big-picture issues. One of the most recent large-scale projects to involve employees was the company’s development of a new headquarters, which began almost three years ago when Wittstock contacted an architect and culminated in the opening of the organization’s new building, known as Aqualand, last December. The new facility’s look was selected by a committee that included employees at all levels. “There had to be a group buy in,” Wittstock says.

According to Kurschner, Aqualand is more than the company’s