The Truth About Building a Winning Company Culture

So real quick, before we get down that rabbit trail a little bit too far, let's talk about the implementation of culture inside of your company. How do you make it a thing?

Like, because I feel like that's where.

We'Re going anyways, but I want to make sure that we get there right. So how do we do that? Like, give me, give me examples that you've seen either personally or with companies that we've coached or anything like that. Like, how are they making the culture a real thing?

Let's take one more step first before we get behavior. Yeah. How do. How do we behave?

Behavior? Behavior is going to be in my mind at least. And I know a lot of people talk about culture, so by no means are we the end all, be all when it comes to culture, but we have our own philosophies around it that resonate with some people and not with others because we have a culture. So behavior from kind of our. Our thought at least, is a result of your core values. What do you value? What are the characteristics that are most important to you?

That are non negotiable?

That are non negotiable is correct. Like, you don't get to just say yes to this and no to that. What are your core values? And then your behavior should be an exemplification or a striving toward that core value. Your core value could be perfection, professionalism. It could be generosity. It could be teamwork, it could be communication. It could be a number of different. And you can have more than one. Try not to have too many, because we want our people to be able to memorize and know these core values and have them in their mind. And if you've got 15 core values, that's core. Yeah, it's kind of hard to keep all that in your brain. So have your core values listed and communicated. Because if I say professionalism, that might mean one thing to one person and another thing to another. And they both think they're living out the core value, when in fact neither of them might be.

That's part of the implementation.

So the implementation part is the communication. Your core values are absolutely critical. Now, almost everybody that's hearing this and that's in this room has probably worked at a company that had core values and they put them up on a wall. And their core values for a lot of companies were the result of a marketing campaign. And it wasn't that they were core values. They were just some really nice words that they thought people would like to hear about you. And your.

It might be Able to get people to get hired.

It might get people hired. Quite frankly, though, if we're being honest, when was the last time you purchased a product because of the core value, because of the stated core values of the company who produced that product? I can't. I can't. Now, I may have purchased a product because of the way that that company is and because of the way that they are and the way that they act and what they do that is a result of their core values. But I've never looked at a company, looked up their core values and then said, I'm going to buy their thing because of these five words. Five. So you got to realize that your core values are not about putting words on a wall that will inspire a customer to buy from you because it doesn't work. Just pick your favorite company and see if you can name their core values.

Now, he's not saying not to put them on a wall. What he's saying is if you don't live them, you don't communicate them, you don't hold them as non negotiable, you.

Don'T hold your people accountable to those behaviors and those core values, they're not.

Worth the poster you put them on. So those core values, and this is like, if we don't cover what culture is, then it's hard to discuss the implementation of it. So these behaviors that are non negotiable, in other words, you live them, they are, they are pronounced in the way that you go about doing things when something combats one of those behaviors. Like, let's say, for example, honesty was one of your core values. That was one of ours. Whenever I owned a roofing business, we did restoration work. We had people that did supplementing. One day, one of our supplementers comes walking in and she is just pumped. She's excited. Hey, just want to let you know we're going to make a bunch of money on this job. I'm like, that's awesome. That's great. I love it. What's going on? She goes, well, we had two houses side by side. They're both with State Farm, both with the same adjuster. And what I think happened is, I think he used the measurements from one house for the other house because they look the same from the front. I went, well, what's different about it? Well, the one house has a whole extra piece on the back of it, and that's the one he used the measurements from. I said, so there was more squares on that one versus this one. How many more? She goes, 14. I said, so there's 14 squares on this home that don't exist.

Nobody knows what squares mean. So if you're not a roofer, what he's saying is one house was actually.

Bigger than 1,400 square feet more of roofing surface to be, which would mean more money without having to do the thing. Well, like I said, our core value was honesty. And I went, that's really cool, but follow me. We walked out of my office, walked across what we called the war room because we had a competitive culture and we're heading towards the wall. And I did have all of my core values on the wall. And as we start beelining and she sees where I'm headed, she's like, oh. Because on the wall it hung with honesty and it said honesty even when others aren't looking. And she goes, well, I'm like, this is my job. This is what I do. I cannot do that job that way. Let's go make the call together. So I called the insurance company called the adjuster. Mr. Adjuster, I think you've paid us too much money. I think that this house is this and this house is this. I know you were on both of them. I don't know if you just used the same one over, made a mistake, but we know for a fact that this one is 1400 square feet less than this one. So we would like you to correct it so you don't get in any trouble. There was complete silence on the other end of the line. I'm like, are you still there? He goes, yeah, I've never had anybody call me to tell me I paid too much. I went, hey, I like to be first. He goes, what's the name of your company? Told him the name. He said, hey, if I ever have a homeowner that needs a great contractor, can I send them your way? I said, I would love that. That would be wonderful. That guy proceeded to send us 81 jobs that year. So for 14 squares and living to my core values and being beholden to them, showing that I actually have them as a non negotiable, even though I could have made a little more money on that project, and I think most would have, she got to see that from me. She got to tell that story over and over again. And it became how the implementation looks. You actually live it. And we got 81 jobs out of it. That's wonderful. It actually helped our business by being non negotiable on the core value. So don't make a core value. You can't live to that you can't.

Hold others accountable or that isn't real.

Yeah, because it isn't real.

Everyone has to be held accountable to it. Because I can tell you right now, if you have a core value, that's teamwork, for example, and you got one of those sales guys that is just an absolute pain in everybody's ass, and nobody likes this guy, but he generates millions a year in sales, and you don't hold him accountable, then everybody knows that that core value, that there's another core value that is unspoken, that's actually being implemented rather than the teamwork, and that would be revenue. So we know revenue is a core value, and that one is superseding the teamwork core value. Because this person who is either toxic or doesn't live by this core value is allowed to continue. So it's got to be across the board, and it's got to apply to.

Everyone to the point that you let somebody go over it. If they cannot live to the core.

Values to the extent that you think it might hurt you, it's actually a.

Barrier to entry into the business. It's one of the first things we're talking. We're sharing our vision. We're sharing why we do what we do. We share what our behaviors and core values are, and that we expect everybody that works here to be those things that will repel some people, and that's okay. You don't want them on your team.

So quick question, because I've heard us say those things, and then they just heard us say, if you don't fit the culture, you got to let go. So I'm just trying to get an understanding of. Of where that kind of comes in and where. Where's that line kind of drawn between leaving them alone and do your thing and hey, man, you.

You gotta go. Is it a part of your culture that not everybody has to participate in it? Because that could certainly be a component. Because I know what you're talking about. You're talking about the isolation, the isolation structure. When you're dealing with a rep who just doesn't get along with everybody and you isolate them.

Okay.

Does that conflict with your core values? It may not, because it's possible that it doesn't. It's possible that maybe this guy just, for whatever reason, doesn't play well with others.

Maybe teamwork's not one of your core.

Values, and maybe teamwork isn't one of the core values.

I just wanted to. Just to make sure we were all on the same page here, because I didn't Want somebody to come back and say, well, you said this and now you're saying this. So where's the, where's the line drawn there?

Everybody's, everybody's culture is a little bit differently. Like there's things that Jim personally is willing to put up with or not put up with that I will or won't put up with myself. And so you just have to understand what those things are. And if isolating a rep for that purpose, if it violates your core values, then you're violating your own tenants. And you have to be aware of that. If you look at that possibility and you go, I don't think this actually violates anything, but you just have to be aware of yourself because you might be violating your own core values out of greed. And if you're doing that, that doesn't mean that you won't make any money. And quite frankly it doesn't mean that you won't do well. You might still do just fine.

But if one of your.

Don't fool yourself.

But if you're. One of your core values is a place to belong. You can't isolate so somebody. So you have to balance that. Like, are you one of those companies that allows that, well, okay, it can't be in your core values. If you are one of those companies that doesn't allow it, then they can't be there. Yep.

Now fair enough.

Like, I'm just trying to get some clarity on that. It's a great question because what happens when you have people that don't. Maybe don't. Don't fit exactly correctly? Well then the question is, well, what exactly are you after?

Yeah, me personally, that would not be a part of my company. I don't believe in isolating human beings. I just don't. First off, I think it's bad for them. I also think it's bad for the overall culture. But that's me. And revenue is not my bottom line driving factor of why I do what I do. Have you heard that there's a social network just for you? Well, if you haven't, you're going to. It's the contractor collective. It's a purpose driven social network that we built just for you. So you have a. That's just like you, sharing information to make us all better. No negativity, no distraction. If you're anything like me, you hate social media because of all the distraction and ads and all the other garbage algorithm telling you what you want. This allows you to create your own algorithm to follow the people you want to follow and get the feed that you want to have. There's also all kinds of other training content groups to join. Fun stuff to do as a community of contractors without the distraction of traditional social media. If that sounds like a good thing for you, go to the Play Store, go to the App Store, download the app and join today or join right below. In the description there's a link. Invite all your friends and we'll see you inside. Contractor Collective.