Our Culture
The mission of KEG is to provide exceptional, innovative, and comprehensive solutions while building trusted partnerships with our clients.
We plan, design, and build projects that enhance communities, spur economic development, and respect the environment. We give back to our communities through service projects and active participation in community organizations.
I think being a KEGer is not only being a great engineer but a great person.
KEG Babies
KEG Dogs
Core Values
RESPECT FOR THE INDIVIDUAL
Each one of us is unique and gifted. We have esteem for ourselves, our co-workers and collaborators, and our clients. We treat all people with respect simply because they are people. As a company, we value individual strengths and diversity.
Faith
Faith assures us that we are not in this alone. We believe and trust in ourselves, each other, and our clients. We are a community of people who have made the commitment to care for each other, and join together for a common purpose.
Trust
Trust is vital to our relationships and is central to the creative process of our projects. Trust allows us to connect with and depend on each other. Employees who have established trust can create more value for our clients. Trusting employees can leverage each other’s resources and gifts and can compensate for each other’s weaknesses.
STRIVING FOR ULTIMATE POTENTIAL
We are born with a limitless potential. Whether this means being a better partner, spouse, parent, sibling, or coach; having more patience; being better organized; teaching with precision; meditating faithfully; or whatever someone wishes to improve, we are constantly working to better ourselves and KEG.
GRATITUDE
Gratitude is, without question, one of the secrets to a happy life. Recognizing the blessings, talents, and gifts in our lives and using them regularly increases our awareness and appreciation for all that we have been given. Sharing our gratitude and appreciating each other adds meaning and value to our lives.
PARTNERSHIP
Within a partnership, differences of gender, age, race, religion, or ethnic origin contribute a valuable depth of experience. True partners accept, appreciate, and value each other, even when they disagree. Partnerships promote creativity, trust, empathy, mutual respect, and caring.
SERVICE TO HUMANITY
Engineering is first and foremost about making the world a better place. This core value fuels our passion and keeps us focused on making a difference in the world. At KEG, we are committed to service as individuals and as a team.
Our Roots
PICTURED HERE, Geri’s Uncle, Charles ‘Lonnie’ Cassoutt, was the custodian of the Kaskaskia Bell Memorial and Immaculate Conception Church on Kaskaskia Island.
Kaskaskia Engineering Group, LLC was named after the Kaskaskia Indians that first inhabited Kaskaskia Island, home of Geri’s maternal relatives. The company chose the symbol of dual feathers gathered at the stem to honor her Indian heritage and the company’s core value of partnership.
Philospophy
KEG is a company made up of ordinary people.
As individuals, we are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers; we are friends, neighbors, and community members; we are engineers, biologists, drafters, technical experts, money managers, and organizers. Together, we are a team of people who have great faith; respect ourselves, each other, and our clients; trust; develop partners; strive for our ultimate potential; and serve humanity.
KEG is a sustainable community, working collaboratively to effectively use our resources (natural, human, and technological) to build a company that can support each of its members needs today and in the future. KEG understands that we have been given the opportunity to make people’s lives better through our projects.
KEG is leveraging the “rising tide raises all boats” concept of management. The phrase is attributed to John F. Kennedy, who used it in a 1963 speech to combat criticisms that a dam project he was inaugurating was a pork barrel project. Like President Kennedy, we understand that Win-Win is possible. Projects, agreements, solutions, and individual development are mutually beneficial and mutually satisfying. Rising tide raises all boats, or Win-Win, sees life as a cooperative, not a competitive arena. Most people tend to think in terms of dichotomies: strong or weak, hardball or softball, win or lose.
At KEG, we know that kind of thinking is fundamentally flawed, because it is based on power and position, rather than principle. We operate on the paradigm that there is plenty for everybody, and that one person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others. It’s not your way or my way; it’s a better way, a higher way. We believe the betterment of one leads to the growth of all. Our collective quest for the development of the individual’s ultimate potential is based on our keen understanding that we are all responsible to grow ourselves and the company.
Organizational Structure
Flexible work scheduling allows employees to achieve a work-life balance – providing ways for employees to contribute ideas and suggestions in every area of the company. We work hard to maximize individual potential, maintaining an emphasis on the quality of our projects, and cultivating an environment where creativity can flourish. A fundamental belief in our employees and their abilities continues to be the key to our success.
We communicate directly with each other and are accountable to other members of our multi-disciplined teams. We encourage those closest to a project to contribute in decision making.
KEG’s lattice organization allows employees to act in different roles for different projects. Allowing all employees to participate and contribute to the development of projects using their strengths allows them to expand their skills and grow. The structure doesn’t preclude leadership but allows leaders to emerge
A lattice organizational structure allows KEG to be more flexible and to adapt more quickly to changing market conditions. As a lattice organization, KEG has broad pathways for its employees to move laterally and diagonally in order to support our projects and individual growth. Being able to work across service sectors make employees more versatile, increasing KEG’s strategic flexibility.