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Core Values – They Tell The World What You Stand For

Monday, July 25th, 2011

Once a year, on January first, my family’s tradition was to celebrate the new year with a walk to the beach (we lived on Cape Cod), have a great dinner (we’re Italian – food is the way to celebrate everything) and then get to writing New Year’s resolutions. This was the one formal time of year we were reminded that to advance in life, not only do we need a plan, but we need to be clear about who we are and what we stand for.

Most organizations could benefit from a similar process of clearly defining their core values – what they stand for. Company core values can do the following:
1. They clearly define the behaviors the organization commits to in its day-to-day activities – it defines beliefs and performance commitments.

2. They tell job applicants what they can expect in the workplace – and attracts A-level talent (great employees want to work for organizations who share your values – and to share the values, they must know your values).

3. They share with clients or customers the core behaviors customers will find in dealing with employees (and creates a standard of performance).

4. Distinguishes the organization from others and openly shares its commitment to excellence.

Core values are so critical that in the Zappos culture, all job interviewing includes an assessment of the candidate’s talents/skills as well as an assessment of values fit. Both components are required for an employee to not only get the job but also to keep the job.

Here are the 10 core values of my organization:
1. Consistently deliver an extraordinary client “experience.”
2. Embrace and drive change.
3. Be creative, solutions-focused and open-minded.
4. Build a positive team and family spirit.
5. Always learn and grow.
6. Communicate openly, honestly and respectfully.
7. Be accountable – do your share.
8. Add value and make a difference.
9. Be a force for good in the community.
10. Have fun and keep it real.

Values create organizational culture; culture inspires employee performance and customer loyalty. At least once a year, like my Italian family, go through an exercise of defining (or redefining) your guiding beliefs and values.

What are your values and what do they tell the world about your organization, workplace, client experience and focus on excellence? Why should the best work for you or buy from you?

Tags: company values, core values, customer loyalty, employee performance, workplace culture
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Make All Your Employees Talent Scouts

Sunday, July 17th, 2011

Today’s intellectual (thinking) workplace has redefined what we need from our employees. Employees no longer complete rote tasks; today’s service workplace now requires employees to think their way through constantly changing customer situations to provide responses that are customized and personalized. This means today’s employees must think in particular ways to be consistently effective, to inspire customer loyalty, and to drive profitability.

An organization’s most significant asset is the intellectual capital of their employees – how they think, invent, create and respond. Therefore, every organization needs employees who are the right fit for the job – employees who have the right talents, skills and experience – they connect to customers and drive results. This makes the sourcing and selection process both more critical and more difficult.

No longer will most any employee be able to do any job. Fit matters. And to find employees who fit the role, the organization now needs a greater list of candidates to select from – to ensure the attributes needed to drive performance exist within the candidate. This focus on fit now requires a fuller pipeline of viable candidates. And one of the greatest ways to fill the talent pipeline is to use your workforce’s connections and sourcing ability.

Consider the following ways to use your workforce to identify, find and recruit A-level (the right fit) employees:

1. Clearly identify the talent profile of for each role (this should identify the talents, skills and experience needed to be effective in the role). Share this information with all employees. Now employees know the attributes needed to be effective in each role.

2. Have all employees take a talent assessment, to be better aware of their natural abilities (talents and strengths) and to become familiar with the nomenclature of talents. Having a common language of talents allows the organization to better define, discuss and understand what attributes are key for each role, and what attributes must be sourced.

3. Provide talent scout business cards to all employees; these cards have the employees’ name and “Talent Scout” as their role. Coach employees to give cards to those people they see in their normal day who exhibit the talents and attitudes needed in company roles. Invite these people to find out more about the company. This starts to fill the talent pipeline so that when openings do happen, the organization has already started to source good fit candidates.

4. Have employees talk about open company roles to their (social and professional) networks.

No longer can management be solely responsible for sourcing all talent. Employees see and talk to (talented) people all day. They are connected to personal and professional networks. Be sure they know what attributes encourage great “fit” in each role and send them out to the world to scout for (the right) talent.

Tags: A-level talent, find the right employee, Hiring employees, hiring the right employees, job fit, manager, social networks, talent
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Ordinary or Extraordinary – Your Choice

Monday, July 11th, 2011

I was on a Southwest Airlines flight last week. One of the flight attendants had great one-liners, an amazing singing voice and outrageous and entertaining lyrics; she raised the quality of the service event. And why not? If it could be ordinary or extraordinary, why do ordinary?

I was recently at a Starbucks. I watched as one of the staff danced around the store to some really upbeat and fun music, handing out samples of this week’s coffee. It was fun and completely extraordinary.

I was at a great Italian bakery this week – artisan bread and pastries that are incredible. Yum! I asked about one pastry I did not recognize. The woman behind the counter took it off the plate, cut it into pieces and offered one to me and to the others in line, then told us with great passion how it was made. Extraordinary.

I was talking to colleague whose child has an amazing teacher. As they study geography, this teacher brings in authentic food, plays the country’s music and introduces some of the language. The kids are captivated and interested. They learn. Extraordinary.

Notice that I did not bring up the ordinary events – I don’t remember them. They are bland, boring and leave no impression. If you want to get noticed in the workplace, you have to do something “extraordinary.” If you blend and are boring, you lose. Your business loses. No one remembers. They expect you to get it right; what they don’t expect is that you do some form of Wow! They remember the Wow.

The employees in the above situations chose to do extraordinary things. In fact, they did far more and far better than anything management could have suggested. They chose to make the service event personal, engaging and extraordinary. They chose to show up, step up and stand out. Doing the extraordinary is rarely about spending more; it is almost always about contributing greater effort, creativity, interest or passion. It is about choice.

Management can inspire employee greatness when they define the outcome (“do extraordinary things for our customers”) but not the steps to achieve it. Micromanaging the response takes all the life, energy, and “extraordinaryness” out of it – and stops employees from thinking through (and having some fun in) their workday. Hire the right employees then have them go impress your customers. Don’t impose limits – create expectations.

Tags: creativity, customer loyalty, employee effort, employee performance, extraordinary, hire the right employees, management, performance expectations, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks
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When the Boss is Away, The Employees Take Charge

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Yeah, right. More likely, when the boss is away, employees goof off. It doesn’t have to be like this. Let me share a quick story with you.

A client of mine travels extensively. He couldn’t always do this. There was a time when he was too concerned to leave because he didn’t have a team capable of handling the business in his absence. They would goof off and do as little as possible. So he never left. And the business suffered.

So here is what I worked on to help him get out of the office and get focused on adding greater value to his business:

1. We defined the performance attributes of every job (what attributes are necessary for an employee to be successful in the job). This gave us a clear picture of which jobs had people who were a good fit, and those who were not adding any value. We first realigned existing staff – right people in the right jobs.

2. We then reviewed the now “open” jobs (open because we didn’t have anyone in the organization who had the right success attributes for the jobs) and sourced candidates from the large amount of unemployed talent (because of the recession). The clarity of knowing what we specifically needed, coupled with a larger job candidate supply, allowed for successful hiring. Time consuming but critical for the success of the company.

3. With the right people in the right roles, we then created clear daily performance expectations that defined what needed to be done but allowed employees to develop how to complete the work. This inspired employee ownership; they became more emotionally connected to their work and workplace. And with the right employees in the right roles, they welcomed the ability to do their work in their best way.

With the right employees in the right roles, so much more work gets done. Employees who are in roles that play to their talents, strengths and passions, feel more capable and competent. They like what they do. They feel part of a family. This kind of employees doesn’t goof off when the boss is away.

I present more of this process in the book Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition.

Tags: employee accountability, employee engagement, hire, hire for fit, manager, productive employee, right employee, right job, talents
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