Why having a great culture helps hire great employees

Jackie Zach
January 25, 2024

In this episode, Jackie Zach and Mike McKay delve into the critical role that vision, mission, and culture play in building a successful workplace. Mike highlights how these elements are not just abstract concepts but essential tools for attracting and retaining employees. He explains that vision defines a company’s long-term goals, mission outlines the steps to achieve them, and culture revolves around observable behaviors. By being intentional in defining and living by these elements, business owners can foster a positive culture that encourages employee loyalty and high performance.

The discussion also explores practical steps for creating a strong company culture, such as defining culture points—specific behaviors that align with the company’s values—and reinforcing them regularly. Jackie and Mike emphasize that culture can be a major factor in employee satisfaction, often outweighing salary once a certain pay level is met. They stress that by clearly defining and consistently applying culture, business owners can significantly reduce turnover and improve overall employee engagement. The episode concludes with a call to action for business owners to review or establish their own vision, mission, and culture to create a more effective and cohesive work environment.

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Podcast Transcript:

Jackie Zach: Welcome to Make More Work Less! I’m Jackie Zach, and with me today is Mike McKay. We’re continuing our discussion on creating a workplace that attracts and retains great employees. We’ve already covered vision—where you’re headed—and mission—how you’ll get there. Today, we’re diving into culture and its importance.

A lot of people think of vision, mission, and culture as touchy-feely, unnecessary concepts. What do you think of that explanation, Mike?

Mike McKay: I used to think the same thing.

Jackie: You did? So, what changed your mind?

Mike: Now, I believe the most valuable thing a business owner can do is manage vision, mission, and culture.

Jackie: Why is that?

Mike: Because the answer to “Why should I work for you and not someone else?” comes from those three things. Vision outlines the big picture—what your business is working toward over its lifetime. Mission explains how you’ll achieve it. And culture? That’s about visible behaviors.

In our business, we have 14 points of culture. Some businesses have just one or two, but every business has a culture. If you’re not intentional about creating and managing it, your employees will define it for you—and it may not align with what you want.

Jackie: Exactly. If you’ve ever experienced a bad culture, you know it right away—whether you’re part of a team or in a company. The great thing about being a business owner is that you get to create the culture and live by it.

Mike: Right, though that idea seems to terrify some people.

Jackie: Why do you think that is?

Mike: Partly because no one teaches business owners how to build a culture. There’s a myth that it’s complicated, and some parts of the HR industry want to keep it that way.

Jackie: But it doesn’t have to be hard. If you define your culture and live by it as a team—hiring and firing based on it—that’s what makes people want to stay with you. Can you share some of our culture points?

Mike: Sure—abundance.

Jackie: Abundance, yes! Fun is one of my favorites.

Mike: Commitment, ownership, integrity, excellence, communication, success, education, teamwork, balance, fun, systems, consistency, gratitude, and abundance. Each comes with a simple statement.

For example, abundance: “I’m an abundant person. I deserve my abundance, and I’m easily able to both give and receive it. I allow abundance in all areas of my life by respecting my own self-worth and that of others. I’m rewarded to the level that I create abundance for others, and I accept that abundance only shows up in my life to the level at which I show up.”

We read one of these points each week at our team meetings. Everyone shares what it means to them. In under 10 minutes, we reinforce our shared understanding. If behaviors align, great! If not, we address it.

Violating a culture point consistently can be grounds for dismissal. But you don’t need 14 points to succeed. We’ve turned businesses around with just four.

Culture is simply an observable set of behaviors. Don’t let people tell you it’s too hard—it’s about defining the behaviors you want to see, writing them down, and living by them. Keep talking about it, and you’ll create the culture you want.

Jackie: One great exercise is to create the culture with your team. What kind of culture do they want to be part of? What kind of culture would they like to experience every day? After all, we’re working together as a team every single day. But culture isn’t just about how we treat each other—it’s also about how we are in the community.

Mike: That’s right.

Jackie: It’s also about how we interact with the people who do business with us, whether they’re clients or vendors. It’s how we are as a group. Bad culture is easy to feel, see, and observe—and so is good culture.

Mike: Exactly.

Jackie: Once you reach a certain level of pay, things like culture become extremely important. Nobody wants to go to work every day in an environment that drags them down.

Mike: Pay is less important than most people think. Sure, it needs to be at a market level, but beyond that, it doesn’t matter much. The easiest way to come up with behaviors is to ask, “What do we want to say about each other?” For example, people often say, “I want others to think I’m technically skilled, committed to my job, and a fast learner.” That’s a generalized version, but we’ve done this exercise 51 times now—maybe more—and the responses are often a variation of that.

Culture statements then answer the question, “How do you need to behave for people to say those things about you?” That list of behaviors becomes your culture points.

Jackie: Right. It doesn’t have to be complicated or extensive. It could be four points, eight, or twelve.

Mike: Even one. I’ve seen it work with just one culture statement.

Jackie: And that single behavioral statement can turn an entire organization around—from a place where nobody wants to work to a place where people are lining up to join.

Mike: Exactly. In one case, a single culture statement virtually eliminated turnover within four weeks. This was at a company that previously had almost 100% annual turnover. Within a month, it dropped to one person leaving each quarter on a 25-person team.

Jackie: So if you think vision, mission, and culture aren’t important when it comes to hiring, think again—because they absolutely are.

Mike: If you’re having trouble hiring, that’s probably why.

Jackie: Exactly. That’s the reason you’re struggling to hire. My recommendation is to take a look at your vision, mission, and culture. If you haven’t reviewed them in a while, now’s the time to dust them off and start actively using them with your team. If you don’t have them, now’s the time to create them.

And if you need help, click the link above and let us know. We’d be happy to have a conversation.

The takeaway for today: Vision, mission, and culture are crucial. Until next time, go out there and kick some ass!