Our history and our values characterise and accompany us in our everyday lives.
Understanding the past, organising the present and shaping the future.
A process in which we are constantly moving along our Upstalsboom path, constantly questioning and reflecting. Together we shape our life together in our power stations.
The origin of the name "Upstalsboom" goes back to an important core of Frisian life: their unshakeable sense of community. It refers to a medieval gathering place of the Frisians from the 14th century.
There was a tree ("Boom") where the horses were stalled ("upstallt") when the Frisian chieftains met to recharge their batteries in the company of like-minded people. The Upstalsboom is a unique symbol of Frisian freedom.
Upstalsboom Hotel + Freizeit GmbH & Co KG is one of the leading holiday providers on the North and Baltic Seas. As an operator of around 70 hotels and holiday resorts and as a service partner for investors and owners of holiday properties, the medium-sized group of companies based in Emden offers the highest quality standards in the three- to five-star segment at 18 locations along the German coast in selected prime locations.
With its Frisian warmth and progressive ideas, the group of companies with around 650 employees has developed dynamically since its foundation in 1976. With a value-orientated corporate philosophy, the focus is on people.
An employee survey conducted in 2010 was the starting point for a cultural change at Upstalsboom that changed everything. "We need a different boss than Bodo Janssen" was just one of many critical voices from the workforce that really affected me; the employees felt they were being badly managed. The realisation that the "fish started to stink at the head (i.e. me)" was very sobering and painful. As a result of these devastating findings, I regularly went to a Benedictine monastery over the course of a year and a half to learn new perspectives from Father Anselm Grün and the "Team Benedikt". At the same time, we studied the findings of positive psychology and neurobiology.
In the field of tension between spirituality and science, we began to go our own way - the Upstalsboom way. In the meantime, "The Upstalsboom Way" has become synonymous with our corporate culture, which is based on values that are particularly close to the hearts of us Upstalsboomers. The topic of "freedom" plays a central role here. Because we want everyone to have the freedom to develop personally in their work and to stand up for what is important to them. To paraphrase Pericles, "The secret of happiness is freedom. And the secret of freedom is courage".
Our values form the basis for our social commitment - including our "The North does good" or the construction of schools in Rwanda (Friesenherz grenzenlos - Moin Moin to Rwanda). The origin of many internal projects, such as the ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro Kilimanjaro with our own trainees can also be traced back to our culture of values.
Our approach offers all employees the opportunity for personal development, has led to a move towards self-organised teams and the partial abolition of positions within the company. In our day-to-day collaboration, we are guided by principles such as "Value creation through appreciation", "Leadership is a service, not a privilege" and "Developing potential instead of utilising resources". Freely adapted from Goethe: "Here I am human, here I can be!" Our aim is to allow everyone to be who they are at work... without having to fulfil a role or pretend.
"The Upstalsboom Way" is always a path into the unknown for us - it gives us a lot of pleasure because it completely transforms our working world. But it also challenges us time and again to question our usual processes and ways of thinking. This is not always possible without leaving our personal comfort zone and taking risks.
For a working world with more meaning and humanity!
- Bodo Janssen
Upstalsboom value tree - In 2013, a new mission statement was jointly developed in a workshop. The resulting value tree contains twelve values.
To ensure a uniform understanding, a slogan was developed for each value to explain its meaning. Since then, our value tree has been at the heart of our corporate culture.
"We meet as people, free of function and position" is just one of a total of 32 "Upstalsboomers' theses".
These were developed in 2017 by 120 Upstalsboomers from all areas as a further development and underpinning of our values at the so-called "development workshop".
The theses serve as in-depth guiding principles for every Upstalsboomer, as well as a common understanding of how we work together and strengthen our relationships with each other.
