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A Strengths-Based Culture Drives Performance

Why are sports analogies commonly found in business? Because nurturing talent in sports is all about finding out what someone is good at and then making them really great at it–strengths-based culture. Coaches rarely focus their effort on developing the weakest part of an athlete’s game or ability. They will always find their best attributes and strengths and apply those–hence the term positional player.

Too often in business we place an individual in a position, give them performance reviews and identify the areas they need to improve on. Then we spend time and money working to improve the individual’s weaknesses while spending no time developing their strengths or placing them in positions that utilize their strengths to the fullest extent possible.

A strengths-based culture is developed by focusing on aligning strengths with requirements. To do this, a company’s talent management strategy must focus on hiring based on strengths, developing those strengths and applying those strengths appropriately. You must also adopt the tools and resources necessary to identify and evaluate those strengths.

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Strengths-based Hiring

The interviewing process needs to be swift, targeted and effective in the limited time you have available. This doesn’t mean sacrificing quality, rather it means being intentional and focused on what you are trying to achieve. The intent of most hiring managers in an interview is to identify if someone is qualified for the position. Qualifications are also considered abilities. So ultimately you want to understand their abilities.

What you don’t want to achieve is a list of all the things a candidate is not good at. Interviews that focus on weaknesses will almost always lead the hiring manager to find reasons not to hire someone. Instead, focus the interview on strengths and then identify how those strengths fit the requirements of the position, or another position. Look for the reasons to hire somebody.

A good method to conduct a strengths-based hiring program is to have a few layers to the process. First, interview for strengths that fit the organization as a whole. Don’t get blinded by the exact requirements of the position they are interviewing for. Second, interview for strengths as they relate to the position. Even then, stay focused on the critical few required for success in the position.

Develop Strengths and Forget about Weaknesses

Don’t fall into the trap, and don’t let your employees fall into the trap, of strictly focusing on improving and developing their weaknesses. Be aware of weaknesses and avoid situations that highlight them. Instead, be keenly tuned in to strengths and actively seek to apply them in various situations.

In, “Strengths Based Leadership,” by Gallup authors Tom Rath and Barry Conchie explain their research that demonstrates effective leaders know their own strengths and invest in the strengths of others. The point being, you can get much further aligning strengths with objectives than you can developing someone’s weaknesses.

Have you ever been in a relationship where you focused on the other person’s faults and forgot about their features? Worse yet, you thought you’d be able to change them. How well did that work out? Investing in strengths is no different.

Develop Roles and Teams Based on Strengths

Your typical job description usually consists of all the things an employee is required to do — known as essential functions. There’s usually some ceremonial skills, education and soft requirements thrown in there, but usually without much thought.

Approach job descriptions from the “one-thirds / two-thirds” perspective. One-third of the job description should be the core essential functions only. The other two-thirds should consist of how success will be measured and the competencies and strengths required to be successful in the position. Evaluate employees and potential employees against these for strength-based placement.

How to Choose an Assessment

There are hundreds of assessments out there to chose from. They range anywhere from full day interactive processes that cost a few thousand dollars to 15 minute survey based assessments that can cost less than $100. After determining your budget and needs, you can begin the hunt for an assessment.

Choose an assessment that allows an employee to self learn such as the Strengthsfinder 2.0. ExactHire offers an array of assessments available to achieve the right job fit.  If you’re making an organization wide push for a strength based culture, utilizing assessments associated with books allows everyone to receive the same information and be speaking the same language. Additionally, these well established assessments typically come with training and development tools.

The downside to online only assessments is that they rarely provide an interactive learning process. A summary will be provided to the respondent, but that is usually it and leaves the employee guessing what the results were. You want to be able to sit down with an employee and be transparent about the results. Highlight their strengths and establish a collaborative plan to apply and develop those strengths.

Things to Remember When Using Assessments

Assessments are a tool in the toolbox. This is very important to remember. You should never use an assessment as the ultimate decision factor in hiring or placement. Think of the decision as a three-legged stool. You need all three legs for the stool to stand.  The assessment is only one of the legs. The other two legs consist of the person’s experience (what they’ve actually accomplished) and their competencies or abilities (what they can actually do). You must bring these three things together and evaluate them against the environment in which the employee will be performing.

Make sure the assessment is applicable to what you are trying to evaluate and achieve. Also, keep the assessment consistent across the organization. Using different brands of assessments for different individuals can be problematic. However, you may need to identify different assessments for different levels within the company, such as leadership assessments for leaders.

If you are able to align your core talent management practices of hiring, training and development, and placement with individual and team strengths you will see much better overall performance. Additionally, employees’ motivation and satisfaction will increase as they will succeed more often, be more engaged in their roles and satisfied with the work they are doing.

 

Looking for tools to improve your employee selection process? Contact ExactHire to learn how our assessment tools can connect the right employee to the right position.

 

Photo Credit:  www.historicalstockphotos.com

How to Motivate Management to Support Company Culture Improvement

Hopefully you’ve had the pleasure of working for an employer with a deeply rewarding work culture. One of the reasons you enjoyed the experience probably had something to do with the actual work you accomplished there, but that likely wasn’t the only factor. Or, maybe you long for culture improvements at your existing employer, but struggle to make a business case to senior management to win their support and resources for what can sometimes be deemed as a “fluffy” back-burner endeavor.

However, the impact of corporate culture is anything but fluff. In fact, Lindsay McGregor and Neel Doshi, the authors of Primed to Perform, have repeatedly done work with organizations to quantify the marked impact that company culture has on employee motivation. They’ve based their work on research initially presented by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan a few decades ago, that suggested that there are six primary reasons why people work–three of which are direct motives being related to the work itself, and three of which are indirect since they are not connected to the actual work.

Direct Motives

  • Play – the extent to which you love the work itself
  • Purpose – the extent to which you identify with the impact of your work
  • Potential – the extent to which you stand to gain from the impact of your work

These direct motives tend to increase performance, with those motives being closest to the work itself having the most significant impact (i.e. play is more powerful than purpose, and purpose more powerful than potential).

Indirect Motives

  • Emotional pressure – the extent to which you work to avoid your identity being marred by some external force
  • Economic pressure – the extent to which you work to be rewarded or avoid penalties
  • Inertia – the extent to which you work simply because it’s what you’ve always done and not because you have any other sound reason

Unlike direct motives, indirect ones generally weaken performance. Emotional pressure doesn’t weaken it as much as the subsequent indirect motives because it is still connected to your identity even if it’s not connected to the work itself.

So Why Does This Matter?

Simple. Engaging senior leaders to your company culture improvement cause must start with applying the very same motives that will eventually drive your actual culture improvement efforts–once they’re approved, that is.

Let’s break down six common objections human resource professionals may hear when trying to make a business case for work culture change. Each of these objections will touch on one of the six aforementioned motives. By reframing each objection into an opportunity to maximize a direct motive or minimize an indirect motive, HR professionals stand a much better chance at creating total motivation (ToMo) to convince senior leaders to invest the time and resources necessary to engage employees via culture revolution.

6 Senior Leader Culture Development Excuses

Culture is warm and fuzzy. We have bigger fish to fry.

 

PLAY

Do you sometimes think your company’s owners are singing “Shiny Happy People” by REM when your HR team brings up anything culture-related in conversation? Or, maybe their version is “Shiny Happy HR People.” They’d rather relegate warm and fuzzy culture development to the people who are more likely to enjoy that kind of work. It’s not their idea of play.

Maybe some senior leaders don’t love the work of cultural activity planning themselves, but maybe they do love enabling their department heads to do the work that invigorates them so that they find their own sense of play. Perhaps the owners’ idea of the play motive is entrepreneurial at heart…getting the right people on the team and then giving them the reins to do great things, to experiment and fail, but most importantly to learn what works and what doesn’t.

If this describes your relationship with management, then brainstorm ways in which you can appeal to your company owners’ work passions. That might include an experiment with trying a new, entrepreneurial approach to teaching the workforce how to play the game of business, or using business analytics to find patterns in what has engaged employees in the past.

I don’t understand what good will come from making changes.

 

PURPOSE


The purpose motive highlights whether you personally identify with and are motivated by the outcomes of your own work. If your senior management team is skeptical that anything will materially change as a result of getting new swag for employees and holding a foosball tournament, then I wouldn’t fault them. They may not have experience with knowing what specific impact a focus on culture may have on the organization (and therefore on their identity as the leader of that organization).

Of course the previously mentioned cliche culture activities are not a sound solution to your employee engagement problems. Many other moves may fall short, as well, if you fail to set expectations with ownership about the desired positive outcomes that you hope to realize as a result of any changes. Help them identify with the potential impact of the organization’s focus on culture improvement on others and themselves.

Here are positive outcomes to which businesses often aspire when endeavoring culture evolution:

  • Greater sense of shared purpose (does your work save lives, help people in need, make life more efficient, etc.)
  • Intrinsic motivation (employees are self-directed)
  • Knowledge sharing (no department silos and selfish data hoarding)
  • Momentum for change; enhanced learning leads to richer workforce skills inventory
  • Expanded opportunity for “play” which leads to innovation
  • Better adaptive performance; or, the ability to be flexible with unanticipated demands and not just tied into rigid tactical performance
  • More productivity; higher revenue
  • Healthier workforce; fewer costs related to health insurance and absenteeism
  • Less turnover; faster time to productivity (this outcome alone is very easily quantifiable to the CFO)
  • Wide span of idea sourcing; really good suggestions come from all areas of the organization
  • Increased access to A-player talent when sourcing new hires

Frame your conversation in a way that makes it clear that these positive outcomes will result, in large part, from the owner’s own work to publicly support culture development initiatives.

I fail to see a link between the investment required and a future financial gain.

 

POTENTIAL


To be successful, you must quantify how culture change will move the organization from point A to point B in a financially lucrative way. But how do you quantitatively benchmark culture…that warm and fuzzy, you-have-it-or-you-don’t organizational je ne sais quoi?

The good news is that you can assign a ToMo score to organizations using an analysis of employee responses related to the six work motives. In their consulting work, the authors of Primed to Perform have done this over and over again at many different organizations. And, they found that “in many industries, the most-admired cultures tend to have 15 points higher ToMo than their peers” (e.g. Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Apple Retail Stores).

The research suggests that a focus on having a positive work culture can materially move the needle and deliver a positive ROI. By sharing examples of these kinds of organizations and painting the picture of the impact your organization might have not just on employees, but also on your industry, potential will become clear to your leadership team.

I don’t think we have a culture problem. / I’m worried we’ll try and fail.

 

EMOTIONAL PRESSURE


It’s not really my thing. I don’t want us (or me) to look dumb. I don’t want to acknowledge the cultural elephant in the room. Reframing excuses that relate to one of the indirect motives can be a bit trickier, but never fear. Any of the aforementioned comments reek of emotional pressure and are understandable, as we’re all human.

To overcome the insecurity that they seem to suggest, don’t just explain the “why” of culture improvement to your senior leaders, but supplement your plan with the “how.” You’ve heard it before: come with a solution, not just a problem. Letting your senior management team know that you’re in it to win it when it comes to improving your work environment alleviates some of the emotional pressure (or burden) they may have been feeling about it themselves all along. Double down by enabling senior leaders (and others) the opportunity to “play” to brainstorm ideas on how the culture change might go down. Acknowledging to others in advance that a change is desired, and that it might not be perfect the first time round, is okay. It’s a step in the right direction.

Additionally, during the brainstorm process make sure that managers’, employees’ and customers’ motivations are aligned to succeed. For example, if customer and management expectations for service involve a customized, hold-my-hand relationship, but customer service representatives are paid based on the number of cases handled, then emotional pressure is sure to weaken organizational performance.

It will cost too much.

 

ECONOMIC PRESSURE


Not every company is going to even come close to Google’s budget for culture. However, every company needs to set aside either some funding and/or employee time to intentionally focus on culture development. Focusing on ToMo score in this scenario is helpful in making an argument in favor of culture change, as well. When you think about companies that are admired for their culture like Southwest and Whole Foods–companies with leading ToMo scores in their industries–you’re also reminded that they’re highly successful.

So then the compelling argument to senior leadership becomes, what’s the opportunity cost of doing nothing? Surely, that type of economic pressure warrants consideration relative to the cost of endeavoring change (given that you’re reading this article). In fact, budgeting for culture and engagement may end up eliminating costs in other areas…areas that may include incentives that are eventually found to create the wrong behaviors that weaken total motivation.

It’s how we’ve always done it.

 

INERTIA


The dreaded inertia might as well be called “insanity” in the context of this conversation. After all, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. But inertia is comfortable, familiar, it doesn’t make waves. It’s insidious.

While on its face, this motive seems like the mildest of the three indirect motives, it is the most harmful to total motivation and performance. In fact, it may even be the culture itself…“the way” things get done around your organization.

Tackle this senior leader objection head on with proof that what has always been done no longer (or has never) produced the desired results when it comes to engagement and performance. This may involve an honest look at how your organization stacks up against his competitors in terms of market share, ability to source top talent and length of customer relationships (among other indicators). You may lessen the likelihood of continued inertia by disrupting the status quo with clear suggestions on how opportunities to incorporate play, purpose and potential can be baked into the change process.

 

Convincing senior management to support your company culture improvement endeavors doesn’t have to be a cringe-worthy event. By bearing in mind that the six main reasons people work are the same six reasons your owner works, you can isolate objections and counter with objectives that will both maximize direct motives to support your plan, and minimize indirect motives.

Company Culture Ebook Download | ExactHire

The Best Intentions That Ruin the Pursuit of Great Company Culture

My son recently turned eight years old, and because his birthday falls in July during the summer months, our family generally seizes this opportunity to throw a low-cost party in our backyard rather than laying down a small fortune for the latest laser tag / foam ball pit / inflatable bounce house venue. As a result, I usually scour Pinterest to come up with a suitable party theme complete with activities to engage kiddos ranging from four to nine (when you count siblings). This year was no exception, and my best intentions of having a fun-filled water sport extravaganza reminded me of an important lesson along the way.

Sometimes even the best intentions can ruin the pursuit of…

Fun

Success

Productivity

…and perhaps at times…Sanity!

 

Water Balloon Fight Gone AwryHere’s why. You know that Zuru Bunch of Balloons product? It’s a magical invention that allows you to fill copious water balloons at once with your garden hose. Well, in my haste to keep a forthcoming water balloon fight “fair,” and prevent any one kid from having a cache of balloons to take out others, I tried to force the rules of the game too much at the expense of fun. By making all the kids line up twenty-feet away while they salivated about potential aerial aquatics domination, their aggressive race to the pile of balloons resulted in shoving, slipping and shouting.

The point is…I should have considered other potential outcomes for my carefully laid plans. Like what could happen when you route twenty kids down a narrow, grassy passage between a paver wall and a plastic sheet to a pile of water balloons?

The same thing happens with company culture all the time. Sometimes the consequences are extreme in their destruction, and at other times we can recognize them as valuable red flags that alert us to change our approach. In this blog, I’ll identify a series of good intentions that can burst like an ill-formed water balloon if not planned and executed with care.

1 – Attempting sweeping change, but biting off more than you can chew

Particularly if your organization has issues with how its work culture has turned out, when it does decide to take action to improve it, it can be easy to jump at every opportunity at once. With both economic pressure (“maybe sales will improve if we get our employee engagement act together”) and emotional pressure (“the latest employee survey makes it clear that our staff members are fed up”) to change, organizations might scramble to roll out recognition programs, performance management, lunch and learns and an in-house kegerator all at once. The key to sustainable improvement, however, is embarking on just a few key objectives at once.

2 – Starting with a clean slate, but forgetting where you came from

When rolling out a new set of corporate values, companies should be honest about the habits, behaviors and “ways of doing things” that are ingrained in the business. Just because some of them may be less desirable on their face, doesn’t mean they should be swept under the rug and ignored. Look for ways to leverage them as a positive cultural trait when possible. For example, an organization’s tendency for employees to be abrasively free-wheeling with their opinions could, with a little bit of emotional intelligence training, be channeled into a strength of championing candor for the effective continuous improvement of processes.

When you go against the grain, organizational change becomes harder than necessary. Follow Google’s example by incorporating ways to go with the flow. For example, according to this Harvard Business Review article, before creating paved, permanent pathways on Google’s campus, senior leaders waited to see where the informal pathways, created by worn down grass from heavy foot traffic, emerged. Then, they built the permanent pathways on the blueprint created naturally by employees.

3 – Ignoring prominent influencers in order to call upon everyone in the class

Great Company Culture Intentions | ExactHire

No one likes the kid that constantly raises his hand first in class and squirms in his seat until he’s acknowledged directly. Does it feel like you have a few employees in your organization who play that role only to cast other less vocal employees in the shadow? If so, you naturally want to encourage participation from others in the group. Just be careful not to shun the eager participants to the extent that they are no longer passionate about sharing ideas and improving your organization. Employ their enthusiasm into a more productive means of sharing ideas that doesn’t also alienate others. For example, have periodic one-on-one discussions to get their thoughts so that they aren’t as compelled to blurt out their grand plans in a group setting on a regular basis. Remember that while they are well-positioned influencers in your business, without constructive nurturing they can just as easily become unfortunately placed toxic influencers.

4 – Benchmarking KPIs, but ultimately measuring just for the sake of measuring

The sophistication of measurement tools has skyrocketed in the past decade. The availability and relative affordability of so many more resources has naturally led many organizations to embrace a metric mindset that is unprecedented.

Marketing qualified leads to won sales deals? Data coming right up.

Revenue generated per employee? That’s a breeze.

Time to first response on customer support inquiries?
Come on, at least make it challenging.

 

Pretty soon, some companies have a dashboard to end all dashboards…in fact the dash has wrapped around the entire vehicle and you need to have eyes in the back of your head to keep up with all the statistics. Eyes glaze over…and because everything is important, nothing is important. Don’t just measure because you can…measure because it is a critical performance indicator for your business. And when it comes to KPIs for culture, take a disciplined approach to evaluating which leading indicators are the true predictors of subsequent employee performance, engagement, and alignment with corporate strategy.

5 – Not getting overzealous about some success, but missing the little wins

Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched. We may have won the battle, but the war isn’t over. Our performance last quarter was good, but…

Sensing a pattern? If an organization tends toward a glass half empty mentality (e.g. values conservatism, perhaps?), all is not lost. However, when a company’s focus can’t be shifted even momentarily to celebrate the little wins and milestones along the way, then by the time it gets to its destination, there may no longer be anyone else left to really celebrate. Genuine recognition is at the heart of a healthy culture, and small–but not insignificant–everyday achievements gone unnoticed in the interest of delayed gratification are a grievous offense to a positive culture.

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6 – Recognizing the wins, but oh wait…not in a forced manner

So you listened to the previous point about awarding recognition and celebrating achievement when it’s due; however, there’s a wrong way and a right way to do so. Relying only on formal recognition programs, complete with an unoriginal plaque and all-too-familiar group email message stink of insincerity.

Enliven your culture with spontaneous and/or organically-sourced recognitions and celebrations. If your business values continuous learning and collaborative personal development, then celebrate the efforts of others with a subscription to an audiobook service like Scribd or Audible. The individuals are rewarded with a unique benefit, and the organization benefits exponentially as the employees share the latest entrepreneurial ideas they heard during that morning’s commute.

7 – Incentivizing behavior, but unintended outcomes emerge

Going back to my birthday balloon story, as you might imagine, I was left with a lawn full of broken balloon bits. Itty, bitty ones. So, I told a few of the kids I know to be predisposed to be good helpers (you know the ones who raise their hands a lot in class), that if they helped pick up all the little bits in the yard that they’d each get a glow stick toy. The more bits they brought, the brighter their potential hand movements at dusk. Genius plan, right? Well, my little strategizers made the rules work on their behalf. Once they picked up the existing yard bits, they started grabbing unbroken balloons (perhaps out of the hands of those four-year olds I mentioned before) and popping them so they could get more bits, and thus, more glow sticks. A similar issue developed from a pesky snake population problem described here. I’ll take balloon bits over cobras anyday, but I think we can all agree…metaphor or actual maligner to your business…you must be careful about the design of your incentive programs. Otherwise, they can constrict your culture!

Constricted Company Culture Intentions | ExactHire

8 – Communicating, but in all the wrong ways

Many times a company’s problem with culture stems from a lack of communication. However, occasionally the communication is there, but executed in an unsavory manner. For example, consider the difference between blasting out an edict email message with numbered rules for a forthcoming policy change relative to a town hall-esque meeting between senior leaders and front-line employees with a chance for Q&A. Both scenarios have a different feel, eh?

Additionally, mind your grammar to communicate in a way that is accountable, responsible and never vilifies others.

According to a post by Jeff Shuck with Plenty Consulting

“One giveaway of a dysfunctional culture is that we hear the passive voice. Remember that from English class? Active voice sounds like responsibility: ‘I made the decision.’ In passive voice, the subject is removed: ‘The decision was made.'”

Passive communication leaves to passive engagement and a poor culture.

9 – Accommodating the newest generation, but minimizing the role of other generations

Depending on which definition of the generational birth year spans tickles your fancy, I arguably straddle the boundary between Gen X & Millennial. There is a gob of content about attracting and engaging Millennials. Undoubtedly, this is a critical endeavor as they lead increasingly important initiatives in the modern workforce and certainly impact organizational culture.

Just don’t get so wrapped up in the motivations of the most recent generation to be employed that you alienate the established, seasoned generations in the process. The older I get, the more I appreciate the perspective that I’m able to develop and how it guides the decision-making process. I mean, Robert DeNiro’s character was thought-provoking and indispensable in The Intern, right?!? And while that may be a stereotypical, if not obvious, encapsulation of the idea of including older workers, too, the message is clear.

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” — Isaac Newton

10 – Being too collaborative, and everything comes up vanilla

Last year, my organization attempted to come up with terms (we didn’t necessarily elevate them to true values) that we felt accurately described our organization. The activity was incorporated into a series of strategy sessions and ALL employees were asked to brainstorm and help narrow down a final list of potential terms together. The result was a resounding “FIR.” That is, Fun, Innovative and Responsive.

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe that all of those things are true about us. The problem is that they could probably describe bunches of companies just like us. They are expected, and are borderline platitudes. Since everyone was involved in this collaborative effort, the senior leaders were beholden to reach consensus. However, the senior leaders are the ones who forged the initial behaviors and attributes that guided our business…not everyone. Moreover, since the three terms we selected are relatively innocuous, we haven’t embraced them in a way that makes them central to our daily behavior. Everyone (including myself) had the best intentions during the brainstorm effort, but our group think resulted in the desire to get the exercise done and land on terms that were just good enough.

11 – Promoting special benefits, but accidentally creating entitlement

So the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. While fatalistic in nature, this statement is a good reminder that organizations should periodically remind employees why specific benefits and perqs are offered so that no one starts to take them for granted and/or feel they are absolutely entitled to them.

At one of my previous employers, business was pretty slow during the December holidays, and so the two owners decided to roll-out a partial company shut down over the course of 2-3 weeks in December. It afforded hard-working employees five extra paid days off to rest and recharge their batteries for the new year. The problem is that after a couple of years, tensions arose over which weeks specific employees would get to take off based on department need, tenure, etc. Bickering erupted amongst employees and one day the owners threatened to just take away the extra time off since it wasn’t being appropriately appreciated. Fortunately, the proverbial horse learned to not bite the hand that fed it before any threats were carried out. But not without the evidence of an entitlement culture subtly influencing future management decisions in the process.

12 – Embracing company culture improvement, but failing to acknowledge mini-cultures

In your excitement to unify employees and managers behind a work culture revolution, be sure to leave space for subsets of that culture within the organization. Failing to manage and acknowledge mini-cultures will make it difficult to move any kind of cultural initiative forward. Respecting the attributes of these subsets is the key to making them come together cohesively in a culture that represents the values of the organization and the needs of its employees.

What about the difference between how in-office employees celebrate teammates’ birthdays and work anniversaries relative to those individuals who telecommute frequently or work entirely remotely? Let’s say the organization as a whole values the individual and prides itself on celebrating career milestones. If tradition dictates that in-office employees share a birthday cake once a month, then perhaps remote workers can revel in watching a good-hearted JibJab video starring the faces of their co-workers as an alternative.

 

Don’t let these cautionary examples of good intentions gone awry deter you from continuous company culture improvement. Do, however, bear the potential outcomes of your efforts in mind as you plan your activities. No one wants to get caught in the face with a metaphorical water balloon when they least expect it. Even if it was super easy and fast to fill up in the first place.

Company Culture Ebook Download | ExactHire
Image credits:

[ raise your hand ] by Luca Boldrini (contact)

cobra nero by Jim Heising (contact)

7 Catalysts for Developing an Enviable Company Culture

Be intentional. That’s it. Shortest blog ever, right?

Let’s at least call intentionality the prerequisite for positive culture development. While it is true that you can’t force culture because it happens (insert buzz word) organically, purposefully paying attention to the actions and behaviors an organization takes that affect culture is like putting Miracle-Gro on your cherry tomato container plant. It just makes things turn out more favorably. In this blog, I’ll focus on seven intentional behaviors that can agreeably impact the attitudes people have about your organization’s culture. Let’s get fertilizin’.

1 – Senior leadership’s voice and leadership incubation

Your company’s management team sets the tone. Hopefully it’s melodically dependable like Straight No Chaser.

Or, maybe your managers’ behavior and communication falls flat…or not at all. Especially in fast growth companies, it’s easy for senior leaders to be wrapped up in the operations and investment pipeline for the business, and to just Band-Aid employee engagement initiatives. However, a mentality that stalls culture-focused activities until a later date once the company has established itself is a mentality that finds itself with an unintended and often undesirable culture. In contrast, a company that appreciates how culture evolves alongside operational processes and growth spurts right from the inception of an organization is one that is agile enough to dynamically affect its culture’s direction. Moreover, the latter organization will not be left trying to convince employees that “this time, culture will be better/different/important.” A sad repercussion of becoming intentional later in the game is that members of your organizational ecosystem will be more resistant to and skeptical of change.

Senior leaders forge the habits that inherently shape culture. Some may reflect the personal habits of the founders, while others become necessity based on the industry. Regardless of the habits, recognize and embrace them. Then, use them as a foundation for developing tomorrow’s senior leaders. Sentiments about company culture take a turn for the worse when up and coming managers are out of tune with core organizational habits–often because no initiative exists to groom their development.

via GIPHY

Consider the following contrasting organizational habits and examples of how they may shape culture:

  • Risk taking vs. risk aversion and stability – the willingness to accept external venture capital funding or the choice to be entirely self-funded
  • Open book transparency vs. closed books – the responsibility to better educate employees about “the numbers” or the consequence that employees will invent their own ideas about company solvency
  • Compliance-driven vs. relative nonconformity – the necessity to conform to expectations and/or government/industry regulations or the latitude to go in any/many direction(s)
  • Deference to history vs. the open road ahead – the tradition of celebrating a long-standing history of accomplishment or the desire to forget the past and start with a clean slate
  • Liberal work schedule autonomy vs. traditional 9 to 5 – the promotion of attractive work-life balance or the adherence to a standardized, brick and mortar schedule

2 – Value-based approach to culture evolution…maybe even revolution

Every company has values, they just aren’t always artfully framed and displayed on the office wall. But what matters more than using them as wall decorations is that they become an undeniable presence in your work operations. I’ll be honest, we’ve got some work to do on this front at ExactHire. I think we already have a distinctive culture which I enjoy; however, we haven’t specifically called out our organizational values (Alas, it’s a Q3 goal this year!). I think part of the struggle for us and other businesses is that if we make the effort to commit to our official values, we don’t want to fall short of supporting them and run the risk of having meaningless wall hangings. That can happen if companies approach the value conversation with their ideas of “aspirational values” (according to Patrick Lencioni), but not if they embrace the gritty, raw nature of their existing core values. For example, being “candid even when times are tough” doesn’t sound as nice as “integrity” (in gold lettering on stamped leather) but it may better describe your business, and if so, wear your pieces of flair proudly! And by the way, all companies should just omit “integrity” from their value lists because I think we can assume all companies should have it as a baseline “no duh” value.

So let’s say you don’t have any defined values yet. Where do you start? Only the senior leadership team should draft and determine the corporate values. Involving the entire company, whether via open discussion or survey, is a journey down a long, meandering path that results in vanilla values…and ones that won’t necessarily recognize the existing habits of the company.

Once senior leaders determine values, they should simmer on them for a few months before announcing them to the rest of the staff. The point of the waiting period is for management to intentionally work to model the values for the workforce and make sure they fit before outing them to the entire company.

Eventually, employees will help interpret the values through behaviors that impact company culture. The key to sustaining this is to recognize efforts that align with values. For example, if an organization happens to value proactive social communication, then appoint someone to create and post celebratory image posts to Twitter whenever a teammates crushes an important goal. Take it a step further by periodically recognizing individual employees who specifically support your different values through their actions. Or maybe have everyone wear black and white to celebrate “candor” day per my previous value example (“Divergent,” anyone?). Okay, that one was silly. But on a serious note, by being accountable to your values your organization will naturally foster a culture that supports your objectives.

Download ExactHire Company Culture E-book

3 – Communicate and empower involvement to build your community

A culture is really like a community too, isn’t it? And if you think about what makes all the communities of which you are a part thrive, I bet communication is at the top of the list. Being aware of all the happenings in your community is really what makes you feel comfortable. My husband and I have lived in our current neighborhood for ten years, but it has only been in the last three to four years that I have really felt engaged in our community. This is primarily due to a notable increase in communication now that we’re more involved in school activities (kids are that age now), kid sports, church committees and neighborhood HOA meetings. Because we know all the latest information about the activities in which we are involved, we are more engaged in those activities and empowered to participate.

Expect the same effect by employing more regular communication in your organization. Senior leaders should regularly address employees about what’s going on with the company, and HR and hiring managers should make sure that newly hired employees are added to recurring meeting requests and newsletter distribution lists. Be certain that communication habits align well with core values, and setting that example starts at the top. For a traditional banking institution that may mean formal notices in employees’ mailboxes, while a completely distributed workforce of remote employees may rely on messaging via a corporate intranet or a chat platform.

4 – Standardize training, but still champion individuality

Do you have “Ambassadors of Quan” conducting training for new employees and succession planning purposes? Or…just warm bodies carrying out this critical activity?

via GIPHY

The quality and complexity of your training efforts directly impact the degree to which employee actions align with corporate values, and therefore, the extent to which your culture is desirable. Be sure to invest time to train your trainers so that a relatively consistent, comprehensive experience is available to trainees; however, engage trainers in the effort by allowing them to leave their own unique mark on the activity, as well. This may include latitude in methods for testing the retention of knowledge and/or strategies for gathering continuous feedback to improve training activities–both critical exercises.

5 – Hire and onboard with a laser focus on job fit

Let’s not forget that a significant driver of company culture is the workforce, itself. When it comes to hiring new employees, make sure that candidates will jive well with your values. To do so, incorporate behavioral-based questions into the interview process that will elicit whether a candidate’s own values will have synergy with your organization’s set. It can be easy to hire a rock star candidate that has the highly technical skills necessary for a role, but if his/her attitudes will start an internal riot within the company the best move is to move on to another person.

Beyond the initial interviews, create opportunities for candidates to proactively demonstrate their behaviors and attitudes by inviting them to job shadow prior to an offer. Additionally, employee assessments will give you a glimpse into the behavioral hardwiring of an individual so that you may ask targeted questions that will help you clear up any remaining uncertainty about an applicant. Many applicant tracking systems can make these additional steps easy by integrating assessment tools within one hiring software interface.

Achieving optimal job fit doesn’t stop with an employment offer to the top candidate. Use the employee onboarding process to have discussions with new hires about core values and how they support objectives and catalyze your culture. Consider a formal mentoring program that pairs new employees with existing employees who especially exemplify values and champion culture. Another fun activity during the employee onboarding phase would be to invite new hires to complete a scavenger hunt during which they complete value-aligned activities at the organization. For example, if cross-departmental collaboration is cherished at the company, then new hires might be prompted to Pokemon-Go (gasp!) over to other departments’ work areas in order to learn how their roles interface…while catching an elusive animated character, of course. Make sure these culture-enriching activities don’t fall through the cracks by creating a workflow specific to your organization with an employee onboarding software tool.

6 – Reward culture evangelism

Do this by recognizing and celebrating value alignment. If employees are praised for representing corporate values and intentionally nurturing culture, then they will want to keep doing it. Recognize what motivates different employees as it is the key to unlocking a new level of productivity and engagement. At ExactHire, being a smaller business, many of us are motivated by seeing one’s individual impact on the work of the entire company, for example, so we have monthly meetings in which we review financials, celebrate progress on individual and departmental goals and plan the roadmap for the next quarter together.

Recognition should be appropriately customized for the department or individual to which it is directed. Additionally, be specific with praise (no boiler plate email templates please!) so that one has clarity on the exact behavior that resulted in commendation. Be sure to explain the impact of one’s efforts, and do so in a timely fashion. For example, if your business has cultivated a culture of responsiveness then you certainly don’t want a supervisor missing the window of time for maximizing the appreciation an employee may feel for his/her efforts. The thank you note that is received three months after the birthday party doesn’t quite mean as much does it? That kind of misstep forms cracks in the authenticity of an organization’s culture.

7 – Make sure feedback doesn’t land in a black hole

Evolution. Dynamicism. Relevancy. Three adjectives I’d use to describe company culture nirvana. But you can’t get to Shangri La by sticking your head in the sand and going about business as usual. You must continuously evaluate your culture-minded activities and organizational engagement as a whole in order to keep your culture healthy.

via GIPHY

Collect feedback in a way that supports your core values. For some this may mean periodic in-person focus groups where one employee’s idea can feed off another’s in a public forum. For others, weekly “pulse surveys” that prompt anonymous feedback on just one or two questions at a time may be ideal. Plus, don’t forget the value of human resources staff and management keeping their ear to ground and informally gathering feedback everyday.

Mine your feedback for hidden gems by collaborating with others to unearth the ideas that will become the next culture-focused priorities or experiments for your company. Keep in mind that one idea doesn’t fit all and that employees will be motivated by different activities and opportunities. Their opinions may be formed based on past employers’ (perhaps failed) culture efforts and generational differences, among other factors.

Most importantly, communicate what you are doing with the feedback to your workforce! Depending on corporate values related to transparency, you may share all of the feedback or just highlight the ideas that are being implemented. The point is that you communicate action steps resulting from the input and then promote and recognize the worth of the contributions. Report on how ideas have changed the company in the future, as well.

 

With these seven catalysts in mind, you will put your organization in a better position to synthesize the kind of culture that will attract talent from your competitors and engage employees to take the organization to new heights.

Company Culture Ebook Download | ExactHire

Mobile Recruiting Strategy Fails – When Your Organization Isn’t Prepared

You built a mobile recruiting presence, the applicants came…but then your organization wasn’t ready. Or, maybe you’re well on your way toward social recruiting Shangri La and you sense that a few hiring managers may be late to the party. In this blog, I’ll review five mobile recruiting strategy fails encountered when a business is not prepared in the hopes that you can avoid the same mistakes.

1 – Failure To Get Buy In

Even if you’ve already put a few mobile-friendly recruiting elements into play, or if you continue to evolve your social media content calendar to include career-related advice, you will still struggle if the rest of the team at your company isn’t prepared to buy into and participate in the new talent acquisition model. Start by educating them with statistics that paint a picture of this trend–no, this new way of doing business–to get their attention.

According to a 2015 survey by SHRM, 65% of employer respondents indicated they had sourced candidates from social media in the past year. And if it’s not your organization regularly leveraging the power of professional networking sites like LinkedIn or career community-focused networks like Beyond.com, then you can bet your competitors are.

Skilled workers who are willing and able to participate in the workforce aren’t as easy to come by these days. For example, in October 2015, recruiting difficulty reached a four year high for the 19th consecutive month according to SHRM’s Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report. Your organization must utilize the latest resources available in order to grab its share of scarce talent.

2 – Failure To Be Candidate-Centric

Remember when Tom Hanks’ character told Meg Ryan’s character that she needed to take it “to the mattresses” to save her business in the movie You’ve Got Mail? As you may recall, the dialogue was actually a reference to the famed Godfather; however, I like to mention the former, more recent movie because it represented how (at the time) email was a revolution in the dating game. It changed the face of courtship forever.

So now has social media and the proliferation of smartphones and tablets forced the evolution of talent acquisition. Take it to the mattresses. Be candidate-centric…maybe not in the same context that a staffing agency might because you have to fill a specific job rather than amass resumes for the future, but in a way that empowers your company to find the candidates where they are…on the networks and devices they are using. Don’t make it difficult for candidates to research your company online; and do make it easy for them to share jobs and positive career-related content on social networks when they want to chat with their peers about what they heard about working at your organization.

3 – Failure To Know Your Candidate Personas

If you fail to identify your target applicant audience across various job categories, then you will miss the mark when it comes to selecting specific social networks, mobile job posting apps and even customizing the applicant interface for your jobs portal to optimize your user experience (UX).

And while the thought that “mobile is coming” often conjures images of my favorite Stark family characters warning that “winter is coming” along with an onslaught of white-walkers in the binge watch-worthy Game of Thrones, the extent to which your organization needs to plan out its mobile and social strategy is dependent on the types of jobs you offer and the demographics and preferences of the top talent filling those positions. According to a 2015 Pew Research Center Report on U.S. smartphone use, it is lower income smartphone owners who are the most likely to use a phone during a job search.

Translation: The mobile candidate experience will make or break your recruiting success when it comes to your less specialized and entry-level positions.

 

In fact, according to the report, “compared with smartphone owners from households earning $75,000 or more per year, those from households earning less than $30,000 annually are nearly twice as likely to use a smartphone to look for information about a job — and more than four times as likely to use their phone to actually submit a job application.” So ask yourself what percentage of your recruiting efforts focus on that population and then take appropriate action.

This insight doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels if you manage HR at a professional office setting with higher income levels such as a physicians group or an engineering firm. Mobile is coming and the statistics on usage in the job seeker space will continue to climb across all income brackets.

4 – Failure to Communicate Internally

In your haste to reach out to candidates in their own space and ensure that your applicant tracking system is mobile responsive, did you miss explaining the consequences a more savvy candidate hiring experience will have on your internal stakeholders? If you’re not catching my drift, think about whether the following comments elicit a grin…or a chagrin.

  • Have you engaged hiring managers in the process of revamping your recruiting process? If not, then the shorter, concise job descriptions you may want to use may irritate them since they don’t understand why you are condensing details about their department’s opportunity. (The answer of course would be due to the shorter attention spans and impatient click behavior indicative especially of mobile job viewers).
  • Ever since social media has inserted itself into the selection process, the next generation of candidates who used to place phone calls to hiring managers and HR staff are now inviting employers to connect on social media; or, they are simply tweeting at your organization’s Twitter handle with specific job questions. With this increase in inbound activity comes the heightened responsibility for employer representatives to be ready to respond in the same manner solicited. And, for your organization to have documented policies on how you handle social media inquiries (using the best hashtags BTW) and candidate social screening.
  • Have you documented details on which social platforms and external job boards you use to post which types of positions? After all, what works for attracting manufacturing-minded machinists will probably fail miserably at securing interest from content marketers.
  • Have you discussed how to approach scenarios in which you may need to privately source talent for a position that is not yet open? If individuals in management but outside of recruiting are involved, a lack of coaching to show constraint when it comes to covertly posting future jobs can spell disaster for many…especially the existing employee who has not yet received the termination memo.

5 – Failure To Enable A Talent-Focused Culture

When was the last time you paid a placement fee to an external recruiter? Not something you want to do for every open position, huh? While there is certainly a time and a place for such engagements, in the meantime you should be focused on maximizing awareness for your job opportunities via in-house resources. The right approach starts with making sure that your existing employees, vendors, clients, alumni and friends know about the amazing roles available with your organization. The best approach kicks it up a notch (like Emeril) and incentivizes crowdsourcing behavior with a socially savvy employee referral program.

Make it easy for individuals to share your job listings with their networks using a unique permalink (URL address with an individual identifier) that tracks their referral activity and rewards them when their candidates are hired. Then, when it comes to amplifying the reach of your latest career-related content, share examples of suggested wording for social posts so that your co-workers can quickly copy and paste to spread your message (for ex., if they are outside of human resources and don’t necessarily want to spend time/thought on crafting their own version of a message). Also, consider whether any rigid social media policies or limited access to certain websites will limit your long-term hiring objectives by handcuffing your employees’ talent-focused social behavior.

This is the first post in a series of blogs about mobile recruiting fails. Stay tuned for the next post which will examine what happens when the technical aspects of your mobile-friendly recruiting experience don’t align with the rest of your hiring process.

ExactHire’s HireCentric applicant tracking system is a mobile responsive software application for your job posting and recruiting needs. Contact us for details today.

Image credit: FAIL Stamp by Hans Gerwitz (contact)

My Work Team Rocks – And Why It Matters To You

Canoe Trip | Boat on ShoreRecently I took a week’s worth of holiday time. It was used to recharge my mental health and reestablish bonds with my loved ones, as most holidays are. Our plans called for a canoe camping trip in the Ozarks. No internet. No phones. No radio. No electricity. Just us and the outdoors and any other people (or animals) we might happen to encounter along the way.

It’s common to hear people lament how stressed they will be about work when preparing to leave for a vacation; or, how swamped they’ll be when returning. Others may even ask, “Are you going to be able to enjoy your time away and not be concerned with being unable to ‘check-in on things’?”

My own answer to that question: Not at all. My work team rocks my world!

Teamwork at ExactHire

ExactHire has a solid, successful plan in place for shifting work when someone on the team goes on vacation. The team believes in the philosophy that a recharged team member makes a successful team member. We shift the workload while someone is out of the office and for a few days upon their return. Because this is an important part of our company culture, vacationing employees return from their breaks refreshed and ready to produce attentive, quality work.

Yes, it may take us an extra hour to respond to requests while someone is out of the office; or, the special projects we work on behind the scenes might get put on hold. However, we have prioritized and planned in advance, making the entire team aware of expectations. At a minimum, some combination of two people on the team are trained on how to do every task our staff executes. This is how we keep things running seamlessly while someone on our team is on holiday.

This type of team environment rocks! As a client or a potential client of ExactHire this should be important to you. We want you to know you will always be in good hands, and there will never be a moment when you are left without because someone is on vacation.

If you’re ready to begin work with the ExactHire team, visit our resources section to explore our hiring software solutions or contact us today. Or, check out some fun ways to improve culture and bring your own team closer together.

Engaging Applicants – New Economy New Rules

It’s March in Indianapolis, Indiana. That means two things: wildly fluctuating temperatures (March 6: 2℉…March 11: 65 ℉); and basketball (this year will mark the 7th time since 1940 that Indy has hosted the NCAA Men’s Final Four). It’s through hosting events like the Final Four–and that spectacle in Speedway–that Indianapolis earned the nickname “Amateur Sports Capital of the World.” However, increasingly, the word “amateur” is becoming unnecessary.

Last week, I had the privilege of listening to three leaders in the Indianapolis professional sports scene. Rob Laycock of the Indiana Pacers, Dan Plumlee of the Indianapolis Colts, and Tom Dunmore of the Indy Eleven spoke at New Economy New Rules–a monthly event organized by TechPoint. The event seeks to introduce new ideas about how business is done today and how it will be done tomorrow, often with an emphasis on technology as a catalyst for change. Accordingly, the discussion topics at this event were less about on-field action and more about evolving technologies that enhance the fan experience and fill seats.

The talk was exciting for me in my career as a digital marketer–these guys have metrics on everything–and eye-opening from my perspective as a sports fan–who knew they could track bathroom traffic at stadiums in real-time?! But how can Human Resources departments–large and small–incorporate technology into their operations?

Start With A Clear Destination

Before adopting new technology, an organization should first have a clear understanding of its business objectives and goals.  From there, it’s a matter of exploring and selecting technologies that will provide employees with value-added assistance in meeting important objectives–those that will directly impact business goals.  In varying degrees and ways, each sports organization uses technology to meet important business objectives. However, all three emphasized the importance of using technology to engage the community, with the goal of cultivating passionate, loyal fans to fill their seats.

In the world of Human Resources, our organizations can use technology to engage job applicants and fill our “open seats” with passionate, loyal new hires too. Let’s explore how this can be done by taking a look at how these sports organizations engage and cultivate fans.

Engaging Applicants-More Than Filling Seats

A common theme throughout the conversation was that, yes, the goal is to fill the seats, but focusing on gross tickets sales as the sole indicator of success is a mistake. For these organizations, it’s more about building relationships with fans for the long haul. In fact, Mr. Laycock likened it to dating, wherein a team gradually develops a closer, stronger relationship with a fan; the end-goal is to gain and maintain a fan’s lifelong loyalty, which is hopefully expressed through annual ticket purchases.

For HR Departments, we are looking to find the right match for our organization too–although this is speed dating, and we have many significant others, and…well let’s just stop the metaphor there. The point is: we want to attract talented people to our organization who stay and become passionate brand ambassadors. These individuals will value both our organization and the relationship they have with it.

Does your hiring process seek to find, hire, and onboard individuals who will be passionate, loyal fans of your organization? If not, you’ll be looking to refill your seats real soon, and your organization will suffer for it. To avoid this, consider investing in an Applicant Tracking System that streamlines the hiring process and increases applicant engagement through  automated job postings to multiple job boards, integrated social media sharing, and timely, personalized applicant status updates and follow-up requests. By utilizing this technology, you’ll provide a more welcoming hiring process for the applicant and have more time to meaningful interact with job candidates–your future fans.

Engaging Applicants-Highlight Star Players

With the right perspective on what your hiring goal is (hiring passionate, loyal fans of your organization) and a strong foundation of hiring technology in place (a robust Applicant Tracking System), you will be ready to attract top talent to your team. To do this, you must impress job seekers with how awesome it is to be a part of your team. It’s important that you do this in a way that is–and is perceived to be–authentic. There’s no better way to do this than to highlight your star players.

Pat McAfee of the Indianapolis Colts has over 300,000 followers on Twitter. His tweets inform, entertain, and ultimately galvanize the Colts fan-base. The content isn’t always about his place of employment, but this works to the Colts’ advantage as it helps in reaching new fans–especially younger ones. Do members of your team have a platform from which to tell their story?

engaging applicants as fans

McAfee engages fans through Twitter.

Job seekers need to experience it to believe it. If your organization is only providing a list of “Why ‘ABC Corp.’ Is A Great Place To Work”, then you’re missing out on an opportunity to engage job seekers who are looking to bring their talents to a special place. Highlight your current employees via your website and social media to illustrate not just what your organization is about, but who it’s about. If you already employ passionate, loyal fans of your organization, then you’ll likely attract the same.

Engaging Applicants-A FANtastic Experience

FANtastic Experience
This is FANtastic!
Courtesy of totalprosports.com

 

We know that an Applicant Tracking System can provide an HR Department with the time and features needed to make a positive impression on job applicants. But what happens after you’ve hired and filled the open seat? What is the new hire’s experience?

Onboarding a new hire is equivalent to welcoming a new fan to their first game. The Pacers, Colts, and Indy Eleven don’t stop engaging fans once the ticket is sold. They continue strengthening their fan relationships with the goal of cultivating life-long fans. These organizations use technology to accomplish this where it makes sense, but these are simply tools to convey a sentiment: you belong and you are appreciated.

How does your organization provide a fantastic experience for new hires? This question, of course, is part of the larger topics of  “work culture” and “employer brand”. But a simple way to create a pleasant experience for your new employees is to provide them with a highly organized and personalized onboarding experience. And again, this can be accomplished with the help of technology…Onboarding Software.

Just as a new fan’s first-game experience should not be marred by long waits at the gate, concession stand, and restroom; a new hire’s first day should not be marked by completion of forms, redundant tasks, and an office supply scavenger hunt. Onboarding Software can streamline the common tasks associated with the onboarding process and eliminate the need for new hires to fill out stacks and stacks of forms.

When your organization’s new employees are not swamped with an endless number of mind-numbing tasks or confused about what form is needed next, they are free to interact with new colleagues and begin building a relationship with your organization. This also provides the organization with the opportunity to be creative with how it welcomes and orientates new employees. An onboarding like this will show appreciation for new hires, and it contributes to their sense of belonging.

New Economy New Rules

In today’s competitive economy, finding and hiring talented individuals to fill your open seats (and stay in them) is vital for an organization’s continued growth and profitability. Successful organizations like the Colts, Indy Eleven, and Pacers invest in technology to efficiently reach business objectives, HR departments can do the same by embracing technology as a tool to improve the hiring and onboarding processes. It’s important to know that an investment in hiring technology will certainly create efficiencies in operations; however, more importantly, it will support a powerfully engaging experience for applicants and new hires–one that will cultivate passionate, loyal employees–and fans–of your organization.

 

ExactHire offers hiring technology that helps small to medium sized organizations scale for growth. Our HireCentric Applicant Tracking System features social media and job board integration to maximize an organization’s recruitment operations. Additionally, our Onboarding Software helps ensure that new hires enjoy a FANtastic experience with your organization.  Learn more by contacting a member of our team today!

 

Image credit: Game Over by Andrew Malone (contact)

12 Quirky Ways to Build Company Culture

One of the most powerful employee woo-ing tactics a company can use is maintaining a unique and rewarding organizational culture. Everyone loves a good story, and as brands compete to stand out from the landslide of content that is posted everyday, traditional storytelling has once again become one of the more effective techniques for converting prospects into customers and engaging job seekers to apply for jobs.

This blog celebrates twelve nontraditional ideas for championing company culture…which is such a huge part of a company’s story.

1 – Make it easy and fun for employees to share the culture story

HubSpot does this especially well. I had the opportunity to hear Co-Founder, Dharmesh Shah, speak about HubSpot’s culture and their wildly successful Culture Code presentation at Element Three’s Go Inbound Marketing Conference last summer. What a fantastic way to celebrate why employees love their company…while at the same time creating a powerful marketing message to earn more business and attract more top talent.

 

2 – Have a coloring contest

But not just any coloring contest…one in which jerky unicorns are celebrated. Hey, SNL’s bathtub Simon has got nothing on mystical creatures gone fiendish. ExactHire employees recently rolled up our sleeves and peeled the paper back on our crayons. Special thanks to “Unicorns are Jerks” coloring book author Theo Nicole Lorenz for bringing new flavor to our competitive coloring competition! Below you can find a few entries from those of us cool enough to participate:

 

 

3 – Get outdoors and do something active

 

The extent to which you experience the great outdoors will of course be dependent on the needs of your staff…but just changing your scenery and breathing some fresh air can do wonders. Set up a grill in the parking lot or take it to the next level and plan a group zip-lining adventure! Our team took to the treetops last fall after achieving an internal quarterly goal. We’re all smiling in this picture…which was taken before we stepped off the ledge into the woodsy abyss. Everything was perfect in the end, though, thanks to the adventure provided by GoApe.

4 – Pose for a unique holiday card

Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love the crisp weather, the colorful leaves, everything pumpkin-flavored, and of course, our annual ExactHire Thanksgiving card to clients. We like to get a jump on celebrating the holiday season around here, while at the same time remind our customers that we may be small, but we are mighty when it comes to personalized service from a core group of people.

 

 

5 – Have “show and tell” day or a talent show

While you may get to know your workers pretty well after months or even years of working together, do you know their passion for various hobbies? Plan an event where staff members may optionally participate by demonstrating their craft or sharing their creations with the team. Talents could include photography, scrapbooking, woodworking, cake decorating, brewing craft beer or making wine, food preservation, making jewelry, flower arranging and quilting, for example.

6 – Group exercise

It’s no secret that wellness initiatives have increased in the workplace as organizations fight to control health insurance costs and maintain current employee benefits. If your building has a gym on site, then grab a buddy and burn some calories. No gym? Bring a pilates DVD from home and designate an empty conference room as a group exercise spot at lunch on certain days. Just make sure to check on any policies that need to be put in place first, and research potential liabilities with your business insurance provider. Have participants sign releases, as well.

7 – Embrace themed lunches and dress up days

Having a potluck isn’t so quirky or unique. However, not every company puts the effort into planning themed culinary events….complete with suggested coordinating attire. One of our favorite lunches at ExactHire featured Tex-Mex dishes and Western wear outfits. Giddyup! Of course Halloween always gives us an excuse to don a costume, as well. And if food prep isn’t your forte, keep it simple and plan an office Spirit Week! Yes, just like high school…college sweatshirt day, farmer day…but maybe not backwards clothes day (we do have some limits, of course). At ExactHire we chose to relive the glory days last year by bringing in our letter jackets, senior portraits and yearbooks.

 

 

8 – Follow the action of big events together

Tourney Brackets | ExactHireWhile we certainly don’t stream basketball games from our laptops to the overhead projector in the conference room year round, we do watch the NCAA tournament over a lengthy lunch during a couple of days in March (if any of us care about the teams playing, that is). In addition to dressing up in our favorite team gear (I told you we were into themes, didn’t I?), employees are invited to optionally complete a bracket just for fun. If basketball is a cultural mismatch for your company, consider other spirited competitions such as the World Cup, the Oscar nominations, NASCAR races and the Olympics.

9 – Holiday decorations

Somewhat unconventional holiday decorations are even better. Make sure that however you celebrate the season, it includes representation from all of your employees’ beliefs and preferences. This past December someone in our office got a little stir crazy one afternoon and found some older, eclectic decorations in the hallway closet. Here you can enjoy a collage of some of the displays…

ExactHire Holiday Decorations

10 – Go to war, but in an altruistic way

If you happen to have any children in school, you likely already know all about “penny wars.” Do your combat the harmless way by arming yourself with loose change to deposit in jars according to which company department you prefer to see as victor. Award some amazing prize (such as an extra PTO day, a coveted parking space or some highly desirable swag) to the winning department members. Then, donate all the proceeds to your company’s favorite non-profit organization or charity.

11 – Head to the fair to hang together

Depending on your office location, a local fair may not always be practical. Maybe you go to a circus or festival instead. My co-workers and I always look forward to the annual office outing to the Indiana State Fair. Where else can you climb on tractors, watch professional log rollers, admire crocheted afghans and eat at least eight different fried items on a stick together? And, don’t forget to get group photos together in front of various landmarks year after year!

 

12 – Develop your own internal system of communication

Sometimes you hear about twin toddlers developing their own twin language to communicate to one another. Similarly, the cool thing about company culture is developing your own fun set of traditions and communication methods that are unique to your organization. We like to welcome new employees by sharing some of our own common communication quirks:

  • A great deal of professional candor and friendly banter that embraces all of our behavioral traits (we live and breathe our employee assessment scores everyday)
  • New dry erase wall clings popping up with messages all the time
  • Exaggerated hand gestures (yes, I’m guilty of air typing with monster arms)
  • Singing your thoughts on a topic

Don’t be afraid to try some unconventional approaches to build company culture. Sometimes the wackiest ideas are the most successful.

 

Company Culture Ebook Download | ExactHire

5 Ways to Use Video in Your Recruiting & Hiring Process

Looking for ways to spice up your company’s recruiting brand? Check out this quick list of five ways to use videos in your recruiting and interviewing processes. Then, start converting more of your career site visitors into actual applicants, and eventually, new and engaged employees.

1 – Highlight Videos on Your Company’s Careers Portal

Use Video to Promote CityThis may be the most obvious and already widely used idea; however, it just might be one of the most effective for engaging your site visitors to stay on your pages longer. A wide variety of subject areas can be covered on the branded careers portal available through your applicant tracking system (ATS). Videos might focus on the following topics:

  • Testimonials given by current employees about why they enjoy working at the company
  • Highlights from various company events and charitable projects to demonstrate the company culture to potential applicants
  • Informational videos about the city or region in which your business resides – this is particularly helpful if you do a great deal of nationwide searches for candidates and relocate new employees to your area

2 – Make Your Confirmation Emails Memorable & Informational

These days it can be very difficult for even medium-sized businesses to personally respond to each individual that submits an employment application. As a result, its quite common for organizations to use their ATS to set up auto-generated email responses whenever a new application is received. These are critical as they confirm to the applicant that his/her submission was successful, and they can greatly reduce the number of phone calls received by applicants who want to check on the status of their application. However, even though personalization strings can be used in these email templates, how exciting is email text for the applicant who is anxious to learn more?
 Use Video in Application Confirmations
In your email message, why not embed or link to a video that your company has created to explain the steps involved in the hiring process:

  • In the intro, thank the applicant for his/her interest in your company.
  • Explain how long it might take to process all applications for the position and when responses are generally sent to inform applicants of next steps.
  • Describe the different interview phases that are usually involved in the hiring process – including time intervals between each phase as well as who is generally involved from the company.

Not only will applicants be impressed that you have created a video for this step, but they will come away from the experience with more information about what to expect — without additional effort from your recruiting staff.

3 – Embed Video in Job Descriptions in Your Applicant Tracking System

When adding a new job listing to your ATS, embed code from your video hosting website to feature relevant videos from right within your job description. In this scenario, videos focusing on your office or field environment, and/or interviews with other employees in the same position or department would be well received. ExactHire applicant tracking system even has a designated field allowing video embed code to be pasted in when adding a new job description.

R+L Truckload & Global Logistics in Fort Myers, Florida, is a big believer in incorporating video into the organization’s job listings. Many different employees have roles in the videos it has produced. Here’s how one of its videos appears within the ATS on a recent job description:
 Use Video in Job Descriptions | ExactHire
And, check out their video:

4 – Insert Safety Videos Into Employment Application & Survey Applicants

Embed Safety Video on ApplicationsIf certain positions available in your organization require heeding important safety procedures or following certain protocols, then consider the benefits associated with embedding a video for applicants to watch during their employment application submission. This can be a powerful way of better qualifying your applicants for a position that normally attracts a high volume of application submissions – especially if many of the submissions have traditionally been from people who aren’t qualified or truly engaged in the role.

A short video might discuss certain steps that are followed as a regular part of the job. In the application, ask applicants to watch the video and then answer a series of short questions about the video. Serious applicants who want to work for your organization will watch the video and then answer the questions correctly. Candidates who are just applying for anything and everything will hit the video speed bump and think twice about taking the time to finish. For those candidates who do answer the questions, utilize scoring and/or disqualification filters in your ATS to rank applicants based on the number of questions they answered correctly.

5 – Video Resources for Long Distance Interviewing

There are times when it isn’t practical or cost-effective to interview candidates in person. Luckily, a number of affordable (and in some cases free) tools are available to enable organizations to video conference with applicants. Companies that conduct nationwide searches for specific positions can especially benefit from the modern convenience of interviewing applicants on-screen. Applications such as Skype, Google Hangouts, FaceTime, and GoToMeeting are just a few that can meet this need.

Take it a step further and record the video interview to make it available to other managers who are unable to participate in the interviewing process. Or, reference the recorded session to remind yourself of interviewee answers when you are comparing final candidates and near making an offer.

Image Credit: Indianapolis at Night by Rob Annis