S1: Welcome back to work woman. It is going to be
S1: another awesome episode. We are in a series, The Teamwork Series,
S1: which is the book that I wrote. I opened the
S1: book up by talking about how many employees we had
S1: at the time of writing this book. Cartoon ventures had drumroll, please,
S1: 66 team members. So when I wrote this, we had
S1: 66 team members. We now have over 180 team members
S1: across all of our organizations. So I have learned a
S1: few things since writing this book. And so this Core
S1: Values chapter, I go deep into the thought process behind
S1: your core values. I'm on chapter four and I want
S1: to share with you. First off, why have core values
S1: if you're not sold on even having core values in
S1: your organization? I like to think of it as this
S1: organizational code. It's the expectation. It's defining who we are,
S1: what we believe in, and how we can hold each
S1: other to the standard code. You have to decide as
S1: a leader, as a business owner, what type of business
S1: do you want to run? If you are of this
S1: mentality of ten x and you want to grow quickly
S1: and you want to exit and you're here in order
S1: to create massive value that pays out financially, your core
S1: values probably can't be fun or excitement or even productivity
S1: wouldn't really be a core value because what you're actually
S1: looking for is results. Whereas if you're a business that
S1: is a little bit more laid back, maybe your family business,
S1: you don't have aggressive growth targets, but you'd like to
S1: grow 50% year over year, or you'd like to grow 10%
S1: year over year. If that's more in alignment with where
S1: you're at in your business life cycle, you could probably
S1: afford to have some softer core values to ensure that
S1: that culture and that environment is in place. But if
S1: you're not clear on the type of business that you're
S1: running on, you're not clear about where you're headed, which
S1: would be the previous podcast on vision. It's going to
S1: be difficult for you to craft core values that actually fit,
S1: because all of a sudden it just turns into this
S1: long list, and business owners get caught in this long
S1: list all the time. Because when I think about our business,
S1: if I didn't know what my target was, it would
S1: be really easy for me to just start to think, well,
S1: I want a business that's fun and energetic and playful,
S1: but I also want things to get done, and I
S1: want it to be organized, and I want things to
S1: be efficient, and I want people to be innovative. And
S1: so every quality of a culture, all of a sudden
S1: you're like, well, I want all of that. And here's
S1: my tip on this. You have to be clear on
S1: the values that are going to be the underpinning. That's
S1: going to be the bedrock of whatever that target is.
S1: When I think about our core values, they were created
S1: to get us as quickly as possible with as much
S1: leadership and like true, great business savviness, that's a word.
S1: I'm not sure if that's a word, but hey, we
S1: make things up on the show. It's my show and
S1: I get to make words up. We created them with
S1: with this idea of we are creating this environment to
S1: hit a target. And if we hit our target, a
S1: lot of people's lives will change in the process. But
S1: if we don't hit our target, we're going to be
S1: like a lot of other companies that just kind of
S1: have employees that stay in the same roles year after year.
S1: If you haven't gone through the vision piece, I would
S1: really encourage you to go back and establish what your
S1: vision is, because it's going to help you craft these
S1: core values. I naturally have a bend and I'm going
S1: to sell you. On why I believe Cardone Ventures core
S1: values are the right core values, but what I sell
S1: you on that, it's oftentimes because I'm thinking with man,
S1: your goal is the same goal as mine is, which
S1: is to make as big of an impact as quickly
S1: as possible. But I do have to acknowledge some people
S1: don't want that as their goal. And right now, I'm
S1: not going to sell you on why you should want
S1: a bigger goal. However, if you are that person, I
S1: would suggest reading the ten x rule to change your mind,
S1: but I digress. So in the book I introduce the
S1: criteria for how to establish your core values. And three
S1: main criteria that I start with is this idea of hiring, rewarding,
S1: and firing off of these core values. Now, hiring isn't
S1: that complicated. I will touch more on how we incorporate
S1: this into our hiring process, but I want to laser
S1: focus you in on when you're choosing your core values
S1: and when you're implementing your core values, how do you
S1: use them in order to promote the behavior that you
S1: are looking for inside your organization? How do you use
S1: them for the purpose of promoting people in your business
S1: if you're not using them for promotion and. You're only
S1: using them to hire people or to fire people. You're
S1: missing like 95% of your workforce that is with you.
S1: And not just in onboarding and not just on a
S1: performance improvement plan are about to get terminated. Like the
S1: whole the whole life cycle of the employee, for the
S1: most part, is actually spent in, okay, how do I
S1: become best at my job once I've done onboarding? How
S1: do I excel at that role so that I can
S1: be the person that gets promoted when that opportunity arises?
S1: One reason I love every one of our core values
S1: is you're really able to use them across every single
S1: position in an organization. There is a significant difference of
S1: the inspirational level that somebody is contributing at, at an
S1: entry level in an organization versus an executive or a
S1: senior level in an organization. There's different levels to inspiration,
S1: and at the highest level, should be the person who's
S1: creating the vision and the ideas and living out and
S1: fulfilling the core values across the board to the organization.
S1: But at every level, you should expect inspiration. So we
S1: open this office in Scottsdale almost a year ago now,
S1: and for me, executive presence would be our leadership team
S1: members ensuring that there's office culture, ensuring that there's community there,
S1: figuring out ways to engage our our team members, not
S1: just their department, but showing up for the company at large,
S1: the whole place being present there, instead of just hiding
S1: in their office or sitting back on their heels and
S1: watching things happen. Like that's true inspiration. As a receptionist,
S1: the lack of inspiration would be I would find it
S1: not inspirational if somebody, um, was greeting us at the
S1: front desk every single morning and never turned the lights
S1: on and never really, like, looked up and smiled at
S1: people and didn't make it a warm and welcoming environment.
S1: You're not being inspirational when you're just kind of blah
S1: and have a more monotone energy, so you see how
S1: you can use inspiration as a way to correct behavior.
S1: Because if I had an executive who wasn't actually contributing
S1: on meetings and for you leaders out there, I know
S1: you've had this experience before where you're leading a meeting,
S1: you're like creating the agenda and coming up with all
S1: of the items. And then when you ask for feedback,
S1: when you ask for questions, when your peers or your
S1: subordinates should be like saying something, it's just crickets. Crickets
S1: are not great. Crickets do not show inspiration. There should
S1: be somebody else in the room that's like, oh yes,
S1: and then there's this piece of it who can just
S1: build off of it. That's executive presence. So if I
S1: was having that issue, I'd say, hey, you're not showing
S1: inspiration when you show up to these calls because you
S1: just sit there. And again, it's a way of of
S1: reinforcing these core values without just picking on people for
S1: nitpicky things. It's, hey, we represent something that's bigger than
S1: just ourselves. We represent these core values. One core value
S1: that people love to throw around there is safety especially.
S1: We have a lot of clients in the construction space, um,
S1: and team members who do in some cases could be
S1: doing dangerous things where their safety is put in check.
S1: Can all of us agree safety is important? Yes, safety
S1: is important. But does safety apply to your bookkeeper? Does
S1: it apply to your recruiter? Does it reply to your
S1: marketing manager? I probably wouldn't adopt safety as one of
S1: my organizational core values. I would put safety in that
S1: roles job description and if the person isn't meeting their
S1: job description at that point, I would fire them. Everyone's
S1: favorite topic firing people. When I use a core value
S1: to terminate or put somebody on a performance improvement plan,
S1: I'm trying to focus on what is the thing that
S1: we already told that person, hey, this is the expectation.
S1: The core values function as this baseline accountability, uh, metric.
S1: If somebody isn't sending in their reports or they're not
S1: showing up on time or they're not hitting their targets,
S1: I can automatically default to our core value of results.
S1: That person could be the happiest, the smallest, the kindest,
S1: the sweetest, the class clown. Like whatever. Like the most
S1: liked person. But if at the end of the day,
S1: they aren't hitting their results, if the target isn't being met,
S1: then there's no other thing I have to come up
S1: with in order to say, hey, this isn't working out.
S1: Because if the result isn't there, why? Why is that
S1: person on the team? It shouldn't be emotional when you
S1: think about it that way. Is. If it's taking longer
S1: or it's not at the quality or it's just not
S1: getting done at all. You have to remember for for
S1: my people pleaser leaders in my people pleaser business owners
S1: out there, you have to remember that the reason that
S1: somebody is working for you is because you're paying them
S1: to do something. It's not like a friend hangout day.
S1: It's not a daycare. It's not your babysitting. Like you're
S1: there to say, hey, I'm paying you $40,000 a year.
S1: I'm paying you $80,000 a year. I'm paying you $120,000
S1: a year to do XYZ thing, to complete some task.
S1: And if they aren't able to complete that task, should
S1: you be renegotiating their salary to decrease it because they're
S1: not actually able to do the job you wanted them
S1: to do? Probably like that. That would actually be very logical.
S1: But instead we feel like we have to coddle people
S1: and we have to hold their hand and we have to,
S1: you know, bend over backwards to allow people in our
S1: environment who just really aren't meeting the mark. When you
S1: think of it like this, it becomes so much less
S1: emotional because if somebody isn't meeting the mark, all you
S1: have to do is say, hey, this is the target.
S1: Is this a skill or will issue? Is it because
S1: you're not willing to put the time in to figure
S1: out how to hit the target? Or is it because
S1: you don't have the skills necessary to hit the target?
S1: If it's a skill issue, we can fix that. You
S1: can give people skills. People can go to trainings, people
S1: can do things online. They can read books. There's no
S1: shortage of different ways to increase people's skills. But what
S1: you can't do as a leader is fix somebody will.
S1: If somebody just doesn't want it bad enough, if somebody
S1: isn't interested in doing the thing that you've asked them
S1: to do for whatever reason, why are you letting them
S1: stay in the environment? So this idea of results oriented
S1: as a core value for me is the ultimate core value.
S1: If I had to pick just one core value, I
S1: would absolutely pick results oriented because without results, there's nothing
S1: else to fall back on when people aren't completing the
S1: things that they need to complete. And when you tell
S1: people that you value results, when you tell them that
S1: you value your results, you actually have to value results.
S1: This crazy thing happens with core values, where you have
S1: to live into the things that you say that you are.
S1: And as a business owner, you might not all the
S1: time feel like your results oriented, and you might actually
S1: have not set up your team for success because you
S1: never told them what the targeted results should be. You
S1: thought that they should just read your mind and it
S1: just doesn't work like that. So when you're expecting people
S1: to be results oriented, you can really clearly start to differentiate, hey,
S1: was it my responsibility that I didn't set them up
S1: for success? Or is it this lack of willingness issue
S1: because I did everything I could to provide that person
S1: with the skills necessary to be the best in their
S1: role at Carton Ventures? Our core values are something that
S1: we talk about every single day, and on the next
S1: episode of this podcast, I'm going to get into how
S1: we actually use our core values, how we perpetuate them,
S1: and how we tie out mission vision core values altogether
S1: and really use them in a performance related conversation. But
S1: some other core values that I would like to share
S1: with you guys as like potentially good options. Um, but
S1: just ones that aren't ours would be responsibility. They love
S1: this idea of responsibility. If across the board you expect
S1: that people don't just think, oh, that's not my job.
S1: And they don't just think, oh, they're responsible for this
S1: one thing, but they take ultimate responsibility for things going wrong.
S1: You're not going to end up at the end of
S1: a year, at the end of any given period of
S1: time where you didn't hit your target thinking, man, nobody
S1: cares as much as I do. Well, nobody cares as
S1: much as you do because you never let them know
S1: that you wanted them to care that much. And again,
S1: it's something that you think as a business owner. Oh,
S1: this is so obvious. Of course I would want my
S1: my team members to bend over backwards. But if you
S1: never communicated that, like, why would they expect that some
S1: business owners, contrary to your current belief, some business owners
S1: don't actually want their team members getting all up in
S1: their business and changing things because they want to do
S1: things the way they've always done them, and they don't
S1: want to grow, and they're stuck in their ways. Like,
S1: that's a lot of experience, experiences that employees have. And
S1: when you open your mindset up to say, man, what
S1: am I actually demanding out of my environment because I
S1: communicated these things, you're going to find that your team
S1: is like, okay, I either agree with this or I
S1: don't agree with this. And when they don't agree, they're
S1: not a fit. But when they do agree, when they're
S1: not doing those things, here's like, hey dude, what happened here? Oh,
S1: there is this issue. Well, who's responsible for that? Well,
S1: so and so.
S2: Should have done this. And then they didn't communicate that.
S1: But. But who's responsible? Well, if it's that person's department,
S1: it's their responsibility. And ultimately everything rises and falls on leadership.
S1: That's what John Maxwell says. So ultimately, what you should
S1: always know as a business owner is regardless of how
S1: your team fucks up, it's your responsibility. It's your responsibility
S1: that you didn't train them, that you didn't communicate with them,
S1: that you maybe didn't hire the right person, that you
S1: overestimated what they could contribute. Like all of that comes
S1: down to you. So if you take that ultimate responsibility,
S1: it's going to be easier for your team to actually
S1: take that on as well because they know, okay, it
S1: should have been me, but it actually is you. And
S1: if I think if the business owner thinks, man, I
S1: made the wrong hire because this person isn't willing to
S1: do what it takes, then you're being the responsible person.
S1: By no longer having that person in your environment. You're
S1: being irresponsible. When you allow somebody in your environment that
S1: you know isn't capable of doing that work. So I
S1: love this idea of responsibility similar with a core value
S1: of like, ownership. Um, taking full ownership and having professional
S1: pride is something that nobody talks about. And yet everybody expects,
S1: which is so silly because if you expect it, then
S1: you should say it. One of the biggest fights Brandon
S1: and I have ever gotten into. I give you guys
S1: all of the little back stories that we don't tell
S1: everybody else. The Workman Podcast is a very special place
S1: because I love you guys. Um, the biggest fight that
S1: we ever got in, as it related to the business
S1: was this idea of the core value of intentionality. And
S1: I was just like, I am going to win this argument.
S1: I am right on this argument. I want intentionality as
S1: our core value. So it was between intentionality and alignment,
S1: and it was just one of those battles I, I
S1: picked it, you know, my grandma used to say, pick
S1: your battles. This one was like, I'm fricking picking this battle.
S1: This is my battle to win. I don't know why
S1: I was so dead set on it. I turned out
S1: dying on that hill. Because we move forward with the
S1: core value of alignment. But I'm still a little salty.
S1: But I love this idea of a core value of intentionality.
S1: It's something that I wish I had as a core
S1: value to hold my team accountable. Because when you're when
S1: you're telling your team, hey, we're intentional, it prevents, like
S1: winging it. It prevents the one off stuff, it prevents
S1: thoughtless action. And there's a balance between massive action and
S1: being intentional, but really getting people to think with, man,
S1: what was my intention before I showed up to work today?
S1: What was my intention before I started this meeting today?
S1: What was I trying to get out of it? When
S1: you train people to start thinking like that, you'll find
S1: that they will be more proactive. But again, if you
S1: never are talking about these things, you're going to you're
S1: going to really struggle having your team develop this culture
S1: that becomes these things because they were never told. No
S1: one ever let them in on the secret. And then
S1: you're all pissed off and frustrated because you have a
S1: team of people that doesn't really help you, and that
S1: isn't the way that you want them to be, but
S1: it's because you did silly things like put fun in
S1: your core values, when really fun wasn't what you were
S1: trying to incentivize people. How would you fire somebody for
S1: not having fun? I know we haven't touched too much
S1: on this criteria firing. I highly suggest you read the
S1: book to go into like the thought process around this,
S1: but think about that. If our core values are used
S1: to hire, reward and fire people, when there's a termination
S1: that occurs, in what instance are you going to give
S1: somebody in their performance improvement, um, or in in their
S1: annual performance review? You need to be more fun. Like
S1: is that legitimately something that you would be worried about
S1: not having in the environment? There's a lot of things
S1: I worry about not having in the environment discipline, follow through, accountability,
S1: but fun. Like I'm going to get somebody in trouble
S1: for not doing fun. Okay. That's just that's outrageous to me.
S1: So again, I get that it's something that people want
S1: in the environment. You want to create a fun environment.
S1: There's no rule that says just because it's not a
S1: core value doesn't mean that the culture can't reflect that thing.
S1: Our team has plenty of fun, there is plenty of
S1: jokes and laughter, and our organization loves dad jokes. There's
S1: no shortage of dad jokes that go in our group
S1: chats every single morning on our daily team call, but
S1: it's not something that is like a pillar of the organization.
S1: I also think our clients would think that was ridiculous
S1: if we mandated that fun took place. Fun is great,
S1: but results come first with that, next week's episode is
S1: going to be extra juicy because I'm going to dive
S1: into how you use your mission, vision, and core values.
S1: If you are at this point in the podcast and
S1: you've been listening through teamwork and you do not have
S1: your mission vision core values hammered out, please solidify these. Please, please, please.
S1: Because if you don't, you're going to watch how. The
S1: whole business operating system crumbles when you don't have clarity
S1: into these things. So this is one of those things
S1: don't pass. Go get your vision, get your mission, get
S1: your core values written down, and you're going to see
S1: all of the other places that we use these. And
S1: if you don't have them, then you're going to continue
S1: to be confused. And the last thing that we need
S1: is to create confusion inside your environment. So I will
S1: leave you with this. Define your why, clarify your where
S1: and figure out how you want to describe your culture.
S1: It's that easy. Don't overcomplicate it. Don't put it in
S1: this corporate jargon. Oh, I need to come up with
S1: my mission or vision or core values. Just just where
S1: are you going? Why does the business exists? What is
S1: the culture look like? And when you can jot down
S1: those ideas, this should take you no more than 30 minutes.
S1: This is not a two week project. It's not a
S1: six month project. It's not something that you should try
S1: to figure out over the course of the next year.
S1: Take action. Commit to something. If you need slight tweaks
S1: or a slight rework here and there, it's not a problem.
S1: Fix it later, but get something that's good enough on
S1: paper right now. As always, I absolutely love connecting with
S1: you guys on the Workroom podcast. If you enjoyed this episode,
S1: if you got value out of this episode, if you
S1: know business owners who struggle defining their core values or
S1: are really struggling in their growth, please send them this
S1: podcast and knowing that you got value out of it.
S1: I would love a review. It would mean the world
S1: to me. We read the reviews on our team every
S1: single week, so a five star review and then any
S1: comments that you have or suggestions for content that you'd
S1: like to hear? We would very much appreciate it. I
S1: cannot wait to talk to you guys next week on work. Woman.