Become a Culture Hacker with SGEi

** Values—Not Some Philosophical BS
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Welcome to the 2nd blog in our Culture Hacker series for 2016. In this blog, I will discuss the importance of values and the fact that they are not some philosophical BS (which are the exact words I have heard used on more than one occasion). While they are dismissed by many managers, I am here to tell you that values might be the single most important cultural mechanism and tool that managers need to be using today if they want to get more out of their associates.

Values are like the ground zero of a culture. They describe how things should be done while showing staff how they can be successful within your company. They define how your staff should interact with the organization, your customers, and their peers. In the previous blog, we defined culture as a mindset or attitude that manifests itself internally. Values – and more importantly the behaviors associated with them – are how you demonstrate that mindset.

They are important, because they help in hiring, driving performance, recognizing your best people, getting rid of those who can’t contribute, making decisions, and driving success. It also energizes and engages your people. Energy is one of the most important things you and your people need in business today. According to SendGrid Co-Founder Isaac Saldana, “With our core values, it’s easy to love coming to work everyday.”

Think of values as the rules of how to play successfully with others in your company. It is not unlike establishing the rules of the sandbox for young children. If the rules aren’t laid out, some new child will cause chaos unintentionally. This is not unlike what is happening in many workplaces with our Millennial workforce. If you don’t define the rule of the sandbox for them when they begin working, then they quickly develop their own rules, upsetting the status quo and more tenured staff members. Does that sound familiar? Having clearly defined values is important for new workers coming into your organization for this reason. Otherwise, they’re just a sign on the wall that doesn’t relate to your team. Continued on SGEinternational.com (https://sgeint.wpengine.com/values-not-some-philosophical-bs/) .

– Shane Green, President & Founder, SGEi

SGEi President & Founder Shane Green delivers memorable, motivating, and effective content. Check out this video from ILHA, and then contact SGEi about Shane hosting or keynoting for one of your conferences.

** How to Determine Learning & Development Needs
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Last month I hoped to convince any skeptics on the importance and value of training, particularly when looking to motivate and retain Millennials. As we look closer at how to inspire your overall workforce, organizations often use the terms “training” and “coaching” interchangeably, which can lead to confusion for managers and employees. Both are necessary to create a healthy work environment. Understanding the principal differences between training and coaching can help managers make sure they are using the right tools for the right tasks. If that is possible, then everyone wins.

When Is It Coaching?

Coaching often gets a bad rap, especially when it is used to deliver critical or constructive feedback. Rather, it should be used as an on-going communication tool with each of your employees, designed to keep them at peek performance.

Key Characteristics:
* Encourages ownership and decision-making
* Typically conducted one-on-one
* Tends to be informal or unstructured
* Goal is to improve individual behavior and overall performance

When Is It Training?

Customarily, training is utilized for such things as onboarding new employees and changes in a process and/or procedure in support of your culture and overall brand strategy. It can also support updates in technology and introduce new regulations and compliance. Overall, employees are learning something specific and it is often a one-time event.

Key Characteristics:
* Provides new or updated knowledge and skills
* Often takes place in a collaborative, group setting
* Designed to have structure in how it’s delivered
* Goal is to take employees to a new higher level of performance

“Know the difference between ‘training’ and ‘coaching’ employees,” Laurie Glover wrote in The Business Journals. So, now we know how training and coaching are related, yet different, with communication tools being applied for specific reasons. Continued on SGEinternational.com (https://sgeint.wpengine.com/training-or-coaching/) .

– Thomas Martin, VP of Learning & Development, SGEi

“If people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand.”

– Howard Schultz, Chairman & CEO of Starbucks

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