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You’re the Boss Blog: The Real Meaning of Corporate Culture

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The term is overused, but I believe corporate culture is important. In particular, understanding how your culture works can help you decide who is a good fit for your company.

When I coach people on hiring, I always start with culture, which I define as what you value, what is important for you and your company. Culture always starts with the owner. In companies where culture is well-defined, it is reflected in every hiring decision. But it can be complicated. I see problems when companies do not pay attention to the traits that make people successful in their companies. Do you want people to work independently, or do you think teamwork and collaboration are more important? Is working lots of hours essential? If you don’t know the answer to these questions, you may have problems.

I recently had a conversation on this topic with Tom Gimbel of the LaSalle Network, which is in the temporary staffing business. The company serves 2,500 companies in the Chicago area and produces more than $30 million in annual sales. Since 2008, LaSalle has been growing at about 20 percent per year. Mr. Gimbel credits much of this growth to a strong culture. When asked what that meant, he talked about creating a humane place to work that is attractive to people in their mid-20s. He told me that his belief system was what was important in the company, and he spent lots of time thinking about how to share that system with those who work with him.

At first, his focus on culture sounded a little loose to me. I asked him what his biggest problem was. He told me that his new employees would often mistake a humane culture for one where it’s all fun and games — as if hard work and results were not important. At a company with significant growth, hard work is always part of the deal. But Mr. Gimbel believes that high growth and being humane can be compatible. His challenge has been how to communicate those separate needs.

Mr. Gimbel’s goals are to reach $100 million in revenue and to go public. To accomplish this, he will have to reinvent his company several times. Running a $35 million private company is very different from running a $100 million public company. It will be easier to hit these targets if the company’s employees share the same basic beliefs about what is important — and that is the mission of his human resources department. Mr. Gimbel calls his H.R. department a human concierge department. Unlike most employers, he expects his H.R. people to help employees not just with the usual stuff but with life problems as well.

Doing this, he said, has earned his company committed employees. He believes that being a good place to work has a real business benefit. His recruitment costs are small, because he has little problem finding people who want to work at his company. Instead of recruiting, his H.R. people spend their time making sure that those who join the company are a good fit.

To attract people who share your belief system, it’s important to have a system. Learn to ask good questions. Learn to ask follow-up questions that allow potential employees to talk. I recommend that you make a list of traits that everyone in your company must possess. In Mr. Gimbel’s case, he might look for employees who are self-starters, who work in a collaborative manner, who have high people skills and are personally responsible.

There is an art in searching for fit. During the interview process, it’s important to give potential employees the opportunity to tell you how they live the traits you’re looking for. You don’t want to ask a direct question like, “Tell me how you’re personally responsible in your life.” Instead, you might ask candidates to talk about a problem they have solved. Precisely how they solved the problem isn’t as important as their attitude about the problem. As they talk, listen carefully. If you can’t figure out whether the person is responsible, ask what prevented the problem from being solved or what solved it. The answers should allow you to hear the candidate either taking responsibility or blaming others. Sometimes it’s subtle, but subtle differences can determine fit.

Potential candidates should have several interviews with different people at different levels in your company. To do this well, though, you have to train your current employees how to do an interview that focuses on listening.

And in the end, no matter what technical skills your candidates possess, you cannot let them join your company if they do not fit in. Technical skills can be taught. I don’t think belief systems can.

Josh Patrick is a founder and principal at Stage 2 Planning Partners, where he works with private business owners on creating personal and business value.

Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/the-real-meaning-of-corporate-culture/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Career Couch: The Groundwork for Good References

A. Ideally, you are continually cultivating references by doing good work, seeking out mentors and developing strong relationships with peers and supervisors. When you are ready to move on to a new job, ask those people if you can list them as references. “Job seekers should never list someone as a reference without having talked to that person about it first,” says Tom Gimbel, C.E.O. of the LaSalle Network, a staffing and recruitment firm in Chicago.

Let your references know about the positions for which you’re being considered and what they will most likely be asked, says Jennifer Takacs-O’Shea, president of Caterpillar Career Consultants in Calverton, N.Y.

And if you are leaving under less-than-desirable circumstances, be honest about that when you talk to your manager. “Have the humility to acknowledge you weren’t that good at the job,” Mr. Gimbel says. Commit to working on your weaknesses in the future. Then talk about strengths you had — like being a team player, having a good attitude, meeting deadlines — and ask if your manager could stress those characteristics in a reference check.

Q. What if you discover that a former employer is giving you an undeserved negative reference?

A. Although many companies have a policy of limiting reference information to confirming employment dates and job titles, to protect against possible litigation, some people still give negative feedback, says Jeff Shane, executive vice president at Allison Taylor, a firm in Rochester, Mich., that conducts reference checks for corporations and job seekers.

Employees who feel that their character is being defamed could sue the employer to stop it, says Susan K. Lessack, a partner in the labor and employment practice of the law firm Pepper Hamilton in Philadelphia. But that should be a last resort. Being known for suing a former employer isn’t likely to help your job search, and defamation is hard to prove, she says. “I don’t think there’s much upside,” she says.

One possible path is to contact the person you believe is giving the negative reference and discuss the situation, Mr. Shane says. Try to reach agreement about what the person will say in the future so it’s not perceived as negative.

You can also contact the human resources office, as it is usually more objective than a former supervisor, Ms. Lessack says. “Ask for some assistance or agree that the company will provide only neutral information,” she says. “You might try to get a written reference that mentions a few positive things and stays away from the negative.”

If you still can’t be sure if your reference will end up being mainly negative, address the possibility during your job interview. Mr. Gimbel says to provide the name of your supervisor, along with your view of the situation, noting the quality of your work wasn’t the issue.

Q. If you were a highly valued employee but your company will only confirm dates of employment and position, how can you get a good reference?

A. Companies may have a policy of giving out only neutral information because one manager may think an employee was great but another may not, Ms. Lessack says. “Companies want to speak with one voice and be consistent,” she says.

Ms. Takacs-O’Shea suggests checking with human resources to see whether your manager can speak personally — rather than professionally — on your behalf: “He can talk about things like your character, enthusiasm, willingness to contribute and that the projects you worked on had a high success rate.”

Ms. Lessack agrees. Depending on the company, she says, you may be able to work out something that allows your manager to speak about you in a way that doesn’t violate the company’s policy on professional references.

Q. Do recommendations on LinkedIn mean anything to employers?

A. It depends on the employer, but many look at them, even if they have less force than usual references, says Bill Peppler, managing partner of the staffing firm Kavaliro in Orlando, Fla. “One of the first things I do when I’m looking to hire for our corporate office is pull that person up on LinkedIn,” he says.

Although LinkedIn’s endorsements feature — a way to recommend those in a network for certain skills — is relatively new, Mr. Peppler has used it to find the most endorsed person with a specific background in a particular city. “It’s hard to know how meaningful that will be in the long run, but to me, it makes them one of the most influential people in that region for what they do,” he says.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/jobs/the-groundwork-for-good-references.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

You’re the Boss Blog: The Real Meaning of Corporate Culture

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Career Couch: The Groundwork for Good References

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