Q: Dear Tristan, I’m CEO of a fast growing business and I’ve heard that you work from home, is that true? If so, why do you do it? How do you do it? And what impact do you think it has on your team? I’d love to work from home but I’ve no idea how to do it. Please fill me in - EK
A: Dear EK,
Yep, I sure do work from home 3-4 days every week and have been for the past 18 months. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Here’s how I’ve made it happen..
Core values, the 3-5 behaviours that define a company culture, are a critical part of any long term vision.
At The Physio Co our four core values are described in detail on page three of our Painted Picture of 2012. One entire page of this six page vision is dedicated to our core values. Why? Because our Painted Picture is designed to share the future of The Physio Co and attract people that are aligned to where we are headed.
Strong workplace cultures are built upon living a set of core values and sharing stories of those values being lived. Every day new stories are created and it’s critical that those stories are shared. However, it’s often the stories from the very early days of a business that last the longest.
Recording, immortalising and retelling the stories from the startup days of your business could be the most powerful way to build a strong culture (and it’s never too late to start).
At The Physio Co, each room in our South Melbourne Support Office tells a story from the early days. For example, ‘The George Garraway Room’ immortalises the memory of an elderly resident from the very first aged care home we ever visited (read the full story here). The John D Rockefeller Room tells the story of our commitment to simplifying our business and Mastering the Rockefeller Habits (full story here). Naming rooms is just one way to tell stories and bring the past to life.
This year, I’ve started writing a regular letter to each member of The Physio Co family that’s posted in the mail and sent to each of their homes. This letter is another great opportunity to tell stories from the early days. For example, in my letter that went out last week I included this blast from the past:
From the TPC vault!
The line ‘We take the time to celebrate milestones & successes’ is part of The Physio Co’s core value of Be Memorable for lots of reasons. One of those reasons is that I love birthdays. Even more than birthdays, I love birthday cake! In the early days of The Physio Co, when I worked full time as a hands-on physio in a heap of facilities, I’d find a way to sing happy birthday and eat cake as often as possible. There are so many milestone birthdays happening in aged care facilities and I tried hard to never miss an 80th, 85th, 90th, 95th or my favourite, the 100th birthday! So today, we all make sure we celebrate milestones and successes as often as possible. I sure hope you make time to sing your little heart out and share a special birthday moment with your residents whenever you can!
The Physio Co Museum is yet to be opened, however, every year we are collecting as much history as we can including photos, old posters, logos, business cards, awards, t shirts, name badges and anything else we can remember. One day we will immortalise it all in our very own museum. In the mean time, telling stories is one of the most powerful ways to remember the past and we do that as often as possible.
Strong cultures have legendary stories that are told over and over. What are you doing to capture your history?
Businesses based upon living a set of core values often have the very best workplace cultures. The way those values are lived everyday is what builds the strong culture. Importantly, the very smallest gesture that lives a core value can make the biggest impact.
At The Physio Co, one of our core values is Be Memorable. This value guides us to be ‘friendly and make positive first impressions.’ One small way that our team lives this value is in our emails. Since 2009, The Physio Co support team have all had “Have a great day” as the way we sign off from every email.
This very small change has had a huge impact on many. People continue to notice it, mention it and associate it with The Physio Co. Three years on, these four words continue to live our Be Memorable value and reinforce to everyone that we are a positive and welcoming family.
What small change could you make today that will live your values and build a stronger team?
This is part of the weekly ‘Ask Tristan’ series. If you have a question, please email me: asktristan@thephysioco.com.au
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Q: Dear Tristan, help! I’m having big problems retaining staff. I honestly think that I am providing the training and support that they need. But, a majority of new staff are leaving within 3-12 months. What can I do? – CT.
A: Dear CT,
Great question and whatever you do please don’t accept what’s happening as the norm. You can get this right!
Now, perhaps the reason that some people are leaving is that you’re not selecting the right ones in the first place? It’s unlikely that you will be able to retain staff if they’re not the right culture-fit for your team.
At The Physio Co, our approach to assessing whether someone is the next TPCer is mainly about culture-fit. We are laser-focussed on whether every applicant can not only live our core values everyday, but, whether they can do it effortlessly. In effect, we’re looking for people who have very similar personal values to our core values.
To assess culture fit, it takes time and I don’t think it’s possible to get it right in just one interview. In fact, The Physio Co uses a rigorous 6-step selection process that includes at least 2 face-to-face interviews. Selection is much like a courting process and committing to marriage after just one date is crazy! If the first interview goes well, ask them on another one. If the second interview goes well and they fit all the criteria your looking for in a long term partner, only then would I consider a relationship.
In my experience, selection is the place to start reviewing if you’re having retention problems.
Good luck,
Tristan
Why you need to praise your staff every day
Culture is Everything TV – Episode 4
Click here for this 2-minute episode that explains how praise creates a positive work environment where great things happen. Culture is Everything TV: stories, tools & ideas to help grow your team.
Sharing stories of team members living core values and then celebrating their successes is one of the best ways to build a strong family culture.
At The Physio Co we tell a short, 30-second story of a team member living one of our four core values everyday at our daily huddle. To The Point, our 12-minute huddle has a set agenda and one day per week each member of our support team shares a story of another TPCer living a core value.
Similar to how we use core values for recognition, the stories are told like this:
Value - Find a better way: we inspire others by continually finding a better way
Who lived it - MT
How - MT (TPC physio) went shopping in her own time and with her own money to buy some new shoes for an elderly resident who had no family or friends to do it for her. The brand new shoes made the resi feel very special and of course she’s now much safer on her feet. Thanks MT, you’ve inspired us all to continue finding a better way!
Positive stories of team mates getting great results and being recognised by their peers is fun, feels great and helps to focus everyone on what works.
Storytelling is without doubt THE best way to build and strengthen a strong family culture. No matter how many stories you’re already telling, I reckon you can always tell more!
How to discover your core values (in 15 minutes)
Culture is Everything TV – Episode 3
Click here for a short video that shows how to discover your core values in less than 15 minutes.
New Culture is Everything TV episodes appear every Tuesday. Subscribe here.
A strong family culture is essentially a group of people that live and believe in a small set of shared values. Therefore, growing a values-based organisation is about attracting more and more people that share those values.
At The Physio Co we use our four core values to attract new team members by sharing and referring to them at every possible opportunity. Potential new TPC team members already understand how important our values are before they even apply. In most cases, one of the reasons why they apply is BECAUSE of our values.
The Physio Co core values are in many spots on our website, in our painted picture of 2012, used in recruitment and stories are told of TPCers living our values at To The Point every single day. Our core values are even No.2 on the list of the Top 57 reasons to work at The Physio Co!
Like attracts like. Are you using core values to attract more culture-fits for your team?
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