Everything, According to Our Values

Having detailed why a framework for building the foundation of our organizations around our core values is so important and now having three simple steps in laid out to serve as the framework - consistent communication, keeping our values visible all the time, and intentionally weaving them into every aspect of our operation - there’s one thing left to work through, and it’s the most critical piece of making anything we’ve done stick. We absolutely must develop the discipline to do everything, every single day, according to our core values.

As we started this look at the role values play, I shared my experience in early 2022 that’s served as a textbook example for how quickly leaders can change a culture in a 75 year old organization through applying those three steps. The consistent and heart-felt approach Craig and Kim used earned buy-in with even the most tenured team members where a forced intensity would have likely had the affect of swatting a fly on someone’s forehead - with a hammer! I mentioned it earlier but it’s worth sharing again for emphasis: the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the annual average for voluntary turnover is just shy of twenty-five percent across all industries. Using their core values as a the foundation for everything they did from the day they acquired the company resulted in just five percent voluntary turnover over TWO YEARS.

In his book Traction, Gino Wickman, says, “Once they’re defined, you must hire, fire, review, reward, and recognize people based on these core values. This is how to build a thriving culture around them.” To date, I’ve been involved in nearly every hiring decision Craig and Kim have made - not because I necessarily enjoy that work at this point or have time in my schedule, but because I know the atmosphere they will provide for anyone joining their team. We’ve been blessed to interact with a constant flow of qualified candidates for just about every position that’s been open, and even some for positions that weren’t open. Regardless of qualifications, though, we’ve been very careful to look for a match in values. Quite frankly, that’s something we’ve seen in many of the organizations I’ve pointed to as examples through this process. But even when this is top-of-mind throughout the onboarding process, no one gets it right every time.

Wickman’s suggestion to “review, reward, and recognize people based on these core values” should be almost automatic if we’ve developed the discipline to truly weave our values into all that we do. The part I’ve seen even some of the toughest and crustiest executives struggle with, though, has been the firing part. Truth be told, I struggled with that too when that responsibility first landed in my lap. Although terminations are often considered “involuntary turnover” in studies like the one from the BLS, I’ll submit to you that when someone repeated chooses behavior that isn’t aligned with the core values we detailed and modeled, any disciplinary action or termination that follows was absolutely voluntary. When our foundation really is built on our values, everything else is simple; our decisions are made by watching the behaviors each team member (candidate or client) chooses.

Notice I said everything else is simple; not easy! The best leaders I’ve ever had the privilege to be around have genuinely cared for every member of their teams. And even when someone repeatedly chooses to violate our core values, it can be incredibly hard (at least mentally and emotionally) to hold them accountable. But when we do, and when we consistently make every other decision around those core values, the momentum will build - and that’s where we’ll pick up next.