Culture is Everything

Why you MUST have core values in your vision

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.  

A commitment to live The Physio Co’s four core values every day is the common link that every member of The Physio Co family shares.  Therefore, the core values are the thread that aligns our team to our vision.

Core values are the building blocks or the foundation of any great company.  Include them in your vision and make your dreams come to life.

Original Article

Help! Someone is polluting my team culture

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, I’m a new manager & I’ve been working hard for the past 6 months to build a strong culture in our growing team. It’s going really well, except for one thing: I have a long-term team member who’s not participating.  This person turns up late to our huddles, is never prepared for meetings and nearly always finds a reason to complain. I’ve tried coaching and providing honest feedback, but nothing seems to work.  What should I do?   - TJ

A: Dear TJ,

Awesome work on committing to build a strong culture.  That’s one of the smartest decisions you’ll ever make :)

Now, building a strong family culture starts with selection.  Jim Collins taught us about getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off and everyone in the right seats in Good to Great.  It seems that this troublesome person you speak of is in one of two categories:

1. Is on the wrong bus; or
2. Is in the wrong seat.

Either way, something needs to change.  (And I’d bet that this person knows something needs to happen and is waiting for you to bring it up).

As a leader, it takes courage to commit to building a strong culture.  It takes even more courage to remove people that don’t fit.  However, it is one of your most important jobs.

You need to make an honest assessment of this person and decide where is the best place for them.  And the best place could well be in another seat or on someone else’s team.

Whatever you decide, be focussed on the future of your team, be honest with your communication and be respectful of that persons feelings.  In my experience, changes like these nearly always result in more energy for your team and an even stronger culture once the change is made.

Trust your intuition and treat people as you’d like to be treated.

Good luck,

Tristan

A week in the life of a CEO.. Culture book edition

In short, here’s what’s on for this week March 6-12. I’m..

Excited - by sharing The Physio Co Culture Book with the world.  Grab your free ebook copy here.

Asking - you to please help me share The Physio Co Culture Book. Please send or give it to at least one person you think might like it.  Print it, email it, share it on facebook, tweet it, blog about it but please share it just once.  Thanks for your help :)

Recovering - from the tough 2km event at the Phillip Island Swim Classic yesterday.  (I swallowed far too much water in the choppy conditions!)

Writing - TPC Talk, my fortnightly newsletter to The Physio Co team. 

Attending - my last session on becoming a better presenter with Communicators Melbourne (it’s been awesome!)

Heading - to a full day Jack Daly ‘Growing Sales by Design & Culture’ learning event on Thursday.

Excited - by the wedding of good friends Sheena & Mike this Sunday.

Training -  3 hours in the pool, 9.5 on the bike & 6.5 hours on foot this week.  Only 9 weeks until Ironman Australia!

Hoping - our little Alex will remember how to get herself to sleep again soon :)

What are you up to this week?

FREE BOOK - A look inside one of Australia’s Best Companies

Very rarely do you get a chance to see inside a fast growing business. Here’s your chance! To celebrate our 8th birthday we have opened the door to let everyone check out our award winning culture at The Physio Co! 

Since 2009, The Physio Co has been listed as one of Australia’s Best Places to Work and Fastest Growing SME’s. Inspired by Tony Hsieh & Zappos, The Physio Co have created the first edition of our very own culture book.

The short ebook details the thoughts of more than 30 TPCers (members of The Physio Co team) on what is The Physio Co Culture.  It has pictures, quotes and thoughts on why The Physio Co family is such a great place to work.  Take 3-minutes to read, explore and share.

A copy is waiting for you right here: ’The Physio Co 2012 Culture Book: a sneaky peek inside our award winning culture’.   

If you like it, please do me a favour and share it with at least one other person.  You can email it, print it, share it on facebook or tweet it! It doesn’t matter how you do it, but please send it to at least one other person.  This book was made to be shared!

Have an awesome day,

Tristan White, CEO

PS - If you’d like to receive these Culture is Everything posts in your email, subscribe here.

Why you should avoid being the smartest in any room

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, I’ve been following the Culture is Everything blog for a few months and I’d really love to know what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? - SC

A: Dear SC,

Thanks for following and thanks for asking!

If you’d asked me this question last week I would’ve answered with a response that has stuck with me for the past five or six years. It’s a very simple piece of asvice that I heard soon after I launched The Physio Co.  Quite simply, the advice was “Don’t dabble.” I continue to make sure that if I do something, I’m all in and give everything 100%.  I love the simplicity of the message.

A couple of days ago however, I heard something that is my new best piece of advice.  Again, it’s simple: “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”

I love this concept and it fits perfectly with one of my personal values to always ‘find a better way’.  For years I have been working hard to continually surround myself with smarter, brighter, more capable and more energetic people than myself.  This simple statement says it beautifully.

I hope this helps and I’d love to know what’s the best advice everyone else has received. If you’d like to share, please let me know over here on my FB wall.

Good luck,
Tristan

How more parties will grow your culture

Building a strong workplace culture should result in more fun & more engagement from everyone.  If you’ve got the right people on your team, throwing meaningful parties is one way to grow a strong culture.

At The Physio Co, our core values guide us to “take the time to celebrate milestones and successes”.  So we celebrate!  As long as it means something to someone, we will have a party.  Every year we celebrate our own birthday, Christmas, our MVP award winners, people getting married, people achieving personal goals, when we win awards and plenty of other occasions. 

Last Saturday The Physio Co had a party to celebrate it’s 8th birthday.  We decided on a magic theme (why not?!), invited everyone, hired a magician, blew up some balloons, sang happy birthday, ate some cake and had some fun to celebrate a milestone. It was short and sharp (from 1.30-4.30pm on Saturday afternoon) but well worth it.

Parties and celebrations don’t have to be expensive, but they do need to mean something.  For example, The Physio Co’s very first Christmas Party was just four people going out for a meal at a local pub.  It wasn’t fancy, but it was very important to acknowledge, thank and celebrate with our early team members (the four people at that first party are all still full time members of The Physio Co family today).

If you want a stronger culture, start finding things to celebrate.  Then throw some regular parties!

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A simple way to energise your staff

Businesses, teams and workplaces that have a strong culture are the most sustainable and the most productive.  They have an ‘energy’ about them that you can almost feel.  These type of environments don’t just happen, it takes discipline and constant action to continually raise the energy levels.  Here’s a quick story of how we added just a little bit of energy at The Physio Co this week.

At lunch time on Tuesday a couple of our support office team were having their lunch at about 1pm.  I noticed that 3 more of us were planning to have some lunch in the next half hour. Instead of just letting a typical situation occur where people separately have their lunch somewhere between 12 & 2pm, I saw an opportunity to create an unplanned team lunch.  By quickly grabbing some sandwiches from our local cafe and convincing the guys to leave their work for half an hour we all sat together and broke bread.  It was fun, we caught up on what’s been happening outside of work, did some last minute planning of The Physio Co’s 8th birthday party and then went back to work with a spring in our step.  It was the best thing that could have happened.

Spotting this opportunity and moving quickly to create a small amount of buzz in our office, added just a little bit more energy to everyone’s day.  It can be the smallest things that multiply to create the most energetic team and strongest culture.  The discipline to create these opportunities and turn them into memorable moments throughout the week is everyone’s responsibility.  But, for it to last, it has to start from the top.

How can you add just a little bit of energy to your team tomorrow?

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**This post is from the 2012 series ‘What I’ve learnt this week’. If you’d like to receive these and other Culture is Everything posts in your email, subscribe here.

The 2 things all new managers should do

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, I’ve just been promoted to my very first management job.  I’m excited by the opportunity but also really worried that I won’t be inspiring enough to the guys in my team.  Where do I start? - MP

A: Dear MP,

Congrats on the promotion.  Awesome work!

Where to start as a manager?  I could spend weeks on this very topic!  But, I think the two most important things you can do are:

1. Read The One Minute Manager
2. Find a mentor 

The One Minute Manager is possibly the best management book ever written.  It’s short, easy to read and has some great lessons.  The most important lesson being to focus on catching people doing things RIGHT.  (No matter what you’ve seen from other managers, your new job is not just to correct people when they get something wrong). 

Secondly, find an experienced manager that you admire and ask them to be your mentor.  Explain your new role, your concerns and ask if they could meet with you once a week, fortnight or month to support your transition.  (Perhaps read The One Minute Manager before choosing a mentor, this will help you identify the best type of managers).

Lastly, relax!  You’ve got the job for a reason and now it’s time to show them what you can do.

Good luck,

Tristan 

How to build a strong culture - start a museum!

Strong workplace cultures are built upon living a set of core values and sharing stories of the values being lived.  Everyday new stories are created, however, often it is the stories from the very early days of a business that last the longest.

Recording, immortalising and retelling the early stories from the startup days of your team could be the most powerful way to build a strong culture (but it’s never too late!).

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 story 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).

The Physio Co Museum is yet to be opened, however, every year we are collecting as much history as we can and one day we will immortalise it in our very own museum.  

Strong cultures have legendary stories that are told over and over.  What are you doing to capture your history?

Time to dump your mentor?

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, I am the owner of a small business that has grown considerably in the last 18 months.  Since starting the business 5 years ago I’ve had a mentor who has been with me every step of the way. But, I think she might now be holding me back.  When I’ve got great new ideas, she always asks questions that stop me in my tracks.  I’m not sure we are aligned to the same future any more.  What should I do? - WK

A: Dear WK,

Firstly, congrats on starting a business and growing it over 5 years, that’s a fantastic achievement!

Now, regarding this mentor, they’re supposed to ask the hard questions!  Some of the best mentors I’ve had have both supported and challenged me.  As entrepreneurs, we think of ideas that could create huge value everyday.  However, only a few of these ideas are any good!  It’s the less entrepreneurial people that we need to stress-test these ideas, ask questions and potentially poke holes in them.  The best ideas survive this testing and are the ones we should pursue (most of the time, sometimes it’s worth some risk on a crazy idea!).

By the same token, I’ve found that most mentor-mentee relationships often have a use-by date.  You’ve been with your mentor for 5 years, in that time you and your business will have both grown and changed a lot.  Has your mentor grown too?  If not, perhaps you need to consider someone new that has been where you are going?

My advice: have an honest conversation with your mentor about how she sees the future of your business.  If you are not on the same page anymore, it’s best you both realise this and respectfully part company.  Perhaps she actually wants to leave and will be relieved when you suggest different directions?

Whatever the outcome, make sure your mentor knows how grateful you are for all of their help and support.  If you couldn’t have done it without her help, make sure she knows it!

Good luck,

TW

Living your core values - it’s the small things..

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?

Why you always need two interviews for recruitment

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

How being a CEO helped me lose 10kg

In the last 143 days, I’ve lost just over 10kg’s. The skills I use everyday as a CEO helped me get there.  Here’s how…

• Create a vision - On my bucket list (you do have one, don’t you?) is a dream to finish an Ironman Triathlon, so I’ve entered! I’ll be competing in Ironman Australia at Port Macquarie in May 2012.  For the past 8 years I’ve pushed myself hard in my professional career at the expense of my health and fitness. It was time to change. Putting a deadline on my dream made it real. 

• Learn from the experts - Over the last few months, I have read a LOT about triathlon! Two things that helped me lose the excess 10.5kg’s is the knowledge that 1) cycling is often the most important leg in triathlon 2) power-to-weight is critical to being a good cyclist. Therefore, get lean! (Lance Armstrong explains it right here - jump to 2:15 if you’re in a hurry). 

• Set mini-goals - After learning how important it is to get lean, in September 2011 I set a goal to get from 82.5kg to 72.0kg by January 31.  I then broke this goal down into monthly, weekly, and daily(!) goals (remember Reverse Engineering?).  I no longer had to lose 10.5kg’s, I just had to lose 74 grams per day. Easy!

• Measure what you manage - I measured and recorded my weight every morning.  As I got closer to my goal, sometimes I weighed myself a few times a day (crazy, I know, but it worked).  By knowing my progress, it helped me make decisions about what I could and should eat.  When I was ahead, I could have a treat. When I was behind, I ate a bit less.

• Don’t let failure stop you - Some days I put on weight. It was frustrating.  In the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I gained almost 1kg.  But, by measuring what I managed, I knew what I had to do and I re-focussed on making it happen

• Make it fun - Weighing myself every morning and sometimes during the day became a game in our house.  KW got involved in the last month and we both had some fun entering our weight into the True Weight iPhone app every day.

• Celebrate successes - I made my 72.0kg target on Jan 30 (one day early).  This week, we’re celebrating! (I’ll still measure what I manage, but, I’ll take it a bit easier and enjoy what I’ve achieved for a moment).

Being 10.5kg’s lighter not only helps me on my bike, I feel much better and have heaps more energy (despite training 14-16 hours per week!).  For me, measuring what I managed was the most important approach to hit my goal.

*NB - I visited a medical doctor before and during these 143 days.  The measure what you manage approach worked for me, if you want to lose weight, get the right advice.

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**This post is from the 2012 series ‘What I’ve learnt this week’. If you’d like to receive these and other Culture is Everything posts in your email, subscribe here.