The Power of Values

Core values are a handful of non-negotiable behaviors that anchor a company's culture. They're not something that just looks good on a plaque. They're not something you do because a coach, consultant or good book told you.

You should do it because it anchors your culture.

Now, I have a great client in the healthcare industry that I've been working with for years. They're some of my favorite people in the world. When I started working with them, the thing we had to start with was their culture.

At the time, they couldn't focus on growth, they couldn't focus on a vision for the future, their growth was stunted. Because day in and day out, they were focused on drama. Problems with their staff, decisions on whether to get rid of employees that were toxic to their company, people leaving because they weren't getting along with other people. It's incredibly frustrating for them. And at that rate, they weren't ever going to grow in a healthy, consistent way.

So one of the first things we did when I started working with them, was to come up with a set of core values. We had a great conversation, came up with some ideas, and one of their key leaders was so excited about it, she decided right away that night to wordsmith it and create a created a presentation for the staff.

She came up with something called the pact.

Living the pact has totally changed their culture 180 degrees to improve them around the quality of their people, their ability to focus on the future on a compelling vision of the future, versus the drama of the day.

Not only did they come up with a set of core values that reflected what was best and right and most notable about them. But they put in place the right actions to make sure they were living them every single day. They totally changed their hiring process to make sure they were only hiring people that already live their core values. They put in place a quarterly talent assessment that help them understand who they're A, B, C, and what we call toxic C-players were.

Toxic C-players are folks not living the values, regardless of their productivity, if they're not living the values, they're toxic to the organization.

By putting these core values in place, by putting in place the right hiring practice practices based on those values, the right talent assessment and performance evaluations based on those values.

They've gone from a focus of the drama of the day, to a compelling vision of the future.

Now, that didn't happen overnight.

At first, every quarter when we did their talent assessment, there were maybe 10 or 15% of their staff that were toxic C's, not living the values. And there was still the wrong kind of turnover. They're recruiting, typically focused on hiring for where they were short-staffed, because they had unexpectedly lost someone.

Fast-forward to today.

They rarely have anyone in that toxic C category. And when they do, they take care of it very, very quickly. And their hiring is not due to drama, and unexpected retention problems or unexpected turnover. It's due to growth. And when you're hiring for growth, you tend to take your time and find the right person. When you're hiring because of drama and unexpected turnover, you tend to hire quickly and make mistakes. And make no mistake your culture starting with living your core values can have an incredible impact on your company and your ability to focus on growth as an organization.