Creating organizational cultures based on values and performance | Ann Rhoades | TEDxABQ

Summary

The speaker emphasizes the significance of organizational values in driving performance and culture. They recount their early banking experience to illustrate the importance of hiring individuals who align with company values. The talk outlines five key traits of high-performing, values-based organizations: defining values, hiring for competencies and values, fostering accountability, understanding that employees embody the brand, and maintaining a continuous improvement model. Examples from JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines demonstrate how values translate into exceptional customer service and brand loyalty.

Takeaways

• 🏦 The importance of values, particularly organizational values, is emphasized as a driving force behind passion and performance.
• 💼 Early experiences, such as hiring a teller with both competence and values, shape one's understanding of the significance of aligning values with job roles.
• 🔍 High-performance, values-based organizations consistently exhibit five key traits: defining values, hiring for competencies and values, strong accountability models, understanding that employees are the brand, and continuous improvement.
• 🛫 JetBlue Airways serves as a case study where leaders established values and behaviors that became the company's DNA, illustrating the impact of leadership on organizational culture.
• 🔑 Leaders drive the values of an organization, which in turn influence behaviors and ultimately shape the company's culture.
• 👀 Culture is defined as what people do when no one is looking, highlighting the intrinsic nature of organizational values and behaviors.
• 🌟 Southwest Airlines is highlighted for its demonstration of the golden rule through an employee's actions, showcasing the practical application of values in customer service.
• 🎯 Behavioral hiring, a method developed during WWII, is used by high-performance organizations to predict future performance by assessing past behaviors.
• 🏥 Healthcare organizations use behavioral hiring to recruit nurses who demonstrate the values of caring, aligning with their organizational culture.
• 🏢 Google's 'Bring Your Parents to Work Day' is an example of rewarding employees in a way that is meaningful to them, reflecting the company's understanding of its workforce's values.
• 📈 Continuous improvement is crucial for organizations to maintain greatness, as demonstrated by Double Tree Hotel's initiative to reduce silverware costs through employee engagement.

Q & A

What is the speaker's first job and what lesson did they learn from it?

The speaker's first job was in banking, and they learned the importance of hiring based on values and not just experience, after hiring a teller who was also a great shoplifter, leading to missing money from the vaults.

What are the five traits of high-performance, values-based organizations according to the speaker?

The five traits are: 1) Defining who they want to be around based on a values model and reciprocal behaviors, 2) Hiring A-players with both competencies and values, 3) Having a strong model for accountability and rewarding good performance, 4) Understanding that people are the brand, and 5) Having a strong continuous improvement model.

How did the group of nine people who founded JetBlue Airways define the company's values and behaviors?

They sat in a room at Double Tree hotels in New York City and defined the values and behaviors that would be part of the company's DNA. They also wrote a paragraph about what they hoped would be written about them in years to come.

What is the relationship between leaders, values, behaviors, culture, and performance according to the speaker?

Leaders drive the values of an organization, those values drive behaviors, the collective behaviors become the culture, and culture drives performance.

What is the story of the individual from Phoenix, Arizona, and what values does it illustrate?

The individual from Phoenix had to rush to say goodbye to his grandson and was assisted by a Southwest Airlines customer service agent and the captain, illustrating the value of the golden rule and the importance of hiring people with the right values.

What is the significance of the behavioral hiring methodology and how did it originate?

Behavioral hiring is a method that originated during World War II to identify and hire people with behaviors that lead to consistent success. It is significant because past behavior is predictive of future behavior about 90% of the time.

How does the healthcare system in California use behavioral hiring to select new nurses?

They use behavioral hiring by asking questions that reveal the candidate's past behaviors, such as handling a difficult patient, to predict how they will perform in the future.

What is Google's unique approach to the 'bring your child to work day' and why did they implement it?

Google implemented 'bring your parents to work day' instead, recognizing that many of their young engineers had not yet started families. This approach was meaningful to their employees and attracted 4,900 parents from around the world.

What is the importance of understanding why customers are loyal to a brand, according to the speaker?

Understanding customer loyalty is important because it often comes down to the people who serve the customers within the brand, with 38% of loyal customers' decisions being influenced by the service personnel.

What did Double Tree Hotels do to address the issue of excessive spending on silverware?

Double Tree Hotels found out that silverware was being thrown away by mistake due to staff clearing tables too quickly. They implemented a system where staff went through the trash to retrieve silverware, saving the company $11,200 in one night.

What is Tony Hsieh's philosophy on values and culture in relation to success, and how does it apply to Zappos?

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, believes that if you get the values and culture right, success will follow. This philosophy is applied at Zappos, where they focus on creating a strong company culture based on their values.