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Shared values > A resume

Taken from Simon Sinek’s TED talk entitled, “First why and then trust” (paraphrased):

If we need a babysitter and have 2 options – one being the 16 year old down the street who we know but who has little if any babysitting experience and the other being the 32 year old who just moved to the neighborhood and has numerous years of babysitting experience, who are we going to choose?

The 16 year old. Mind blowing. We’d rather trust our children – our most valuable possession – with someone from within the community with NO experience, OVER someone with vast experience but we don’t know their background or what they believe.

So why do we do it differently at work?

“Why are we so preoccupied with someone’s resume and where they’ve worked and what they’ve done for our competition, and yet we never think to consider what they believe and where they’re from? How can we trust them? How can they trust us?”

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I’ve been extremely preoccupied with reading about trust in organizations, thus why I chose to do my practicum on just a tiny piece of the puzzle. I’m sure I’ll share more as the days and months go by. :)

Simon’s TED talk is well worth the listen. Check it out.

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Whew it’s been awhile!

Hello friends! I’ve been quiet on the blogging front. I went back to work full-time and am wrapping up my graduate degree within the next 2 months (glory!) so my time has been occupied by that for the past several months.

But I’m coming across some great material as I work on my practicum about trust, so I’d love to share some of it as I find it.

I won’t promise regular updates yet. Life will be insane for still a couple more months. But some things are too good to not share.

Blessings to all!

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Building relationships

A lot of this article may seem like common sense. Your employees need to know you care… Blah blah blah. For those of you who have read my blog more than just this post, you already know my feelings on this. If not, keep scrolling!

Employee engagement is being looked at more than ever. And with good reason. The Gen Y and Millennials are looking to feel connected to what they do. Unlike the Boomers, they won’t be content with finding a job and keeping it for 20+ years.

So if companies want to hold on to employees (which not only is beneficial for the bottom line in the long run, but also for everyone else on staff), steps have to be made to invest in staff. Show you care. Recognize them for a job well done. Realize that people may have REALLY important strengths that your bonus structure or pay-for-performance model doesn’t reward. (Fix that, BTW.) And please realize that people can read TRUE care, compassion, and gratitude. And if you’re faking it they will read you like a book. Building relationships takes work. It’s not something you do just to check it off a list.

Here’s a great quote from the article.

The reality is, today’s workforce remains largely disaffected and lacks trust in senior leaders. A 2011 employee satisfaction report from Maritz Research found that “Poor communication, lack of perceived caring, inconsistent behavior and perceptions of favoritism” were cited by respondents as the largest contributors. As a result, the report identified that “only 10 percent of employees trust management to make the right decision in times of uncertainty” and only 12 percent believe their employers genuinely listen to and care about their employees.

It may sound cliche and simple, but people often don’t care what leaders know until they know that they care. Employees value leaders who connect with the workforce on an emotional level. A 2010 Towers Watson global workforce report found the most-desired attributes employees wanted in senior leaders were trustworthiness (79 percent) and concern for the well-being of others (67 percent).

To read more of this great article from The Ken Blanchard Companies, click here: http://talentmgt.com/articles/view/close-the-relationship-gap-in-your-organization

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Character & integrity

I once heard a preacher say the true test of a person’s character is who they are behind closed doors vs who they are in public. Or what they say when they don’t think anyone is watching. It’s a measure of his/her integrity. I would discuss this with every new hire at a previous job, as well as in classes I facilitated. I would share with them that their integrity is everything, and whether I- their boss- was there with them or not, what they chose to say and how they chose to act was a reflection of their character and integrity as a person. And when they choose to compromise their integrity and scar their reputation, getting it back is nearly impossible.

Tip of the day: don’t risk losing your reputation of character and integrity because you don’t think anyone is watching. This says so much about you that you don’t want it to say.

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how do you screen a company for culture fit?

My opinion of the importance of a strong company culture in the workplace is nothing new.

However, if you’re job hunting (like I, and several of my friends and colleagues, are), how do you screen a potential company for culture? Some places (ie restaurants and retail) you can go into and may get a feel, a vibe from the employees that may be indicative of company culture. But what about when it’s a NPO, or “office job”, and not a place you can just saunter into to feel a vibe?

I recently reached out to some peers via a LinkedIn group for ideas. (Isn’t networking grand?) But then in one of my many helpful emails from the ASTD, I saw an article called “How to Screen a Company for Good Culture Fit“. Um, can we say “timely” anyone?

The authors say the following:

Screening for culture fit should be the foundation of any job hunt or decision to stay with a certain organization. If both the company’s culture and core values do not line up with yours, there is little hope that the two of you will grow old and gray together. You might experience a brief infatuation—with the hefty paycheck, the extra paid week’s vacation, the corner office with a view—but those are just distractions from the truth. The truth is that without a good culture fit, it’s extremely difficult to love your company.

I couldn’t agree more. But it’s not always easy to do. Just like interviewees do, companies put on their best face when interviewing candidates. That’s their job. Here’s what the authors recommend:

  1. Study the company’s website thoroughly – do their core values match yours?
  2. If their values are missing from their website, ask yourself, Will this cause me stress and anxiety? The answer, the authors state, is almost ALWAYS “yes”.
  3. If the core values match your own, are they visible everywhere? If so, there’s a better chance the workforce is in alignment, too.

I’m sure we’ve all had experiences where the values were posted everywhere, and then we realize it’s just for a warm fuzzy, and they’re not really lived out. So in reality, there’s always a chance you’ll be “duped”. But I think this advice is helpful, and having questions prepared for interviews to ask about culture is also helpful.

What have you done to screen for good culture fit? Any advice to job-seekers?