John Corcoran 11:57
I mean, what comes to mind, for me is like, you know, Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, their purpose is to go to Mars, which seems crazy and achievable. We’ll see, you know, the history will tell if it if it if it’s achieved in, in the next 10, 20 years, but how do you know if it let’s say you have a boring b2b business sale? How do you determine what that is without it being something totally fluff?
Joe Quitoni 12:24
It’s funny, I was doing a presentation not too long ago, and I was talking about the the intent of a purpose and the power behind it. And there was an individual who worked in a manufacturing company, they made tires. And the gentleman mentioned to me, you know, well, we work in a tire industry, the purpose, I don’t know that I can connect to that, I don’t know that I can get my employees behind that we manufacture tires. So I did a little bit of a respectful, challenging and said, Well, why do you make those tires? To put them on cars? Why do cars need tires? To allow them to go from point A to point B? Why do cars need to go from point A to point B, to allow people to go on the journey of their life? There’s your purpose, right? So digging back and peeling back the layers, and it’s once you get there, it’s almost like the AHA. And that’s why we’re here. And that’s what we intend to do. And when you get into a team of employees behind that, that’s when that mindset shifts, I don’t just work in manufacturing, I make tires, and I make them for everyone. The right purpose.
John Corcoran 13:19
Yeah. And keep your family safe while you’re getting from, you know, getting on with your life. Yeah, for sure. I know, hiring and onboarding talent is an important piece of building a good culture. We could take those separately, if you like. Talk a little bit about that about some of the ways to build great culture when when they’re going through the hiring process.
Joe Quitoni 13:42
Yeah, I think identifying talent is probably one of the most critical people processes that an organization should have in place. I’m a fan of behavioral interviewing, you know, that allows for us to understand how one’s previous behavior will predict future success. And if it’s aligned with your culture. And a lot of times with behavioral interviewing, we’ll ask questions that will allow us to better understand what was the situation this applicant was facing? What did you do and then what happened as a result of it? The one thing I always encourage clients to do is to weave in the behaviors that are embedded into their culture into the questions that they’re asking of these applicants, so that you’ll be able to understand the way that this individual handled this, could this person be a culture contributor to our business, and that’s ultimately what we’re looking for. I don’t want a cultural fit. It’s a word that’s been out there. I’m not a fan of it. I like culture contributor, better diversity of thought provides innovation, it challenges the status quo. And that’s ultimately what moves the organization forward. So being able to understand who could contribute to culture by way of inserting the behaviors that you expect your employees to deliver on is a very powerful process.
John Corcoran 14:49
What about the onboarding process then?
Joe Quitoni 14:52
Yeah, I mean, also significant and emotional. You know, I recall my very first orientation, it was not a positive one I was put into a room. Great balls, no windows, they gave me an index card and told me to color my personality with marker. And that, you know, there was the introduction to my to this business, right. And then there was a stack of papers, and the HR representative came in and said, Here, I went ahead and highlighted where you need to sign. So you don’t need to go through the entire stack. So that is my expectation of this organization right now, yeah, periods. Whereas today, I’m a firm believer and encourage clients where, if you could do it on day one, there’s significant power behind that. And when you have the power to immerse new employees on the first day of their job, to the culture, and the behaviors and the expectations and what’s expected of them, you’re allowing these employees to walk away and say, I joined the right company, I understand their culture, and I understand the role that I have in bringing it to life. And you’re setting your business and that employee up for success.
John Corcoran 15:54
What came to mind there, as I started my career in government, I worked in the Clinton White House, and, you know, federal government, right, you know, big bureaucracy, and one of the early first days may not have been the first day was the FBI grilling me that goes with the territory, but it was not a really pleasant experience. But you know, you got it, you got to endure it. But I want to ask you about employees. You say that you should ask the employees what that they need in order to have a great culture like directly. So, you know, I, if I’m an employer, and I’m a hire, and you know, as an employer, I have my own company, some things that come to mind is, well, cheese, like, I don’t know that I want the answer that I’m gonna get back. There’s probably some fears around that. So unpack that a little bit for us.
Joe Quitoni 16:44
I’m sure there are some fears, but that’s part of the business. And I think being open to that vulnerability, letting your employees know that you are there, you want transparency, and you want to make this the best possible place for them. Right there, you’re demonstrating respect, and you’re gonna get that right back from the employees. So while it’s, I’ll say, you know, seven times out of 10, it’s likely going to be opportunity areas, as opposed to this is working really well, right. But when you uncover and you unpack what those opportunities are, you work with the employees and say, Okay, we’ve identified it as an opportunity, what would you like to be done about it, and then you work through them, you empower them in that process, and suddenly, they start to feel that they’re part of something. And that ultimately starts that level up this engagement that’s needed for them to do what we need them to do.
John Corcoran 16:45
Now, a couple of years ago, there was this little thing called COVID. I know, we’re all trying to forget that it ever happened. You know, that was kind of a major change. For as culture was concerned, a lot of companies hadn’t, hadn’t thought about their culture for a while. And he suddenly realized that they needed to do something about it, because it was everyone was working in a very different way, for a period of time. So what did you observe during that period of time, in terms of how culture expectations are changing how companies needed to think about their culture in a different way?
Joe Quitoni 18:07
Yeah, I mean, I think they were calling it the great resignation, right? Where everyone was leaving for new purpose driven work that was happening and surfacing throughout COVID. Whereas when people were thinking about the great resignation, I was thinking about the great retention. What are you doing to retain the top talent that you have? Asking them? What does work look like today? You know, I challenge clients and say, if you haven’t looked at your culture, since co COVID, you’re behind the ball. Because expectations have drastically changed, both internally and what customers are looking for. So you need to evolve your culture and your model to meet those new expectations, flexible work environments, they’re everywhere. And right now, this is how we’re communicating these days, many people aren’t seeing people on site and live anymore. So what does an engaging environment in a virtual world look like? And a lot of times, you know, I’m a firm believer, what is your communication guidelines? How do you prefer to communicate? Do you want to be on Zoom? How often and, and being able to meet people where they’re at, I think, allows for a higher level of productivity and engagement and ultimately, efficiency throughout the business.
John Corcoran 19:08
Yeah. Now, I know, one of the clients that you’ve worked with is a large IT services company. Interesting. It’s kind of an interesting case study, in a sense, because that was a company that had a call it been around for, I don’t know many years, and had been a startup but it’s since become a much larger IT services company hadn’t really thought about, you know, what their culture was since the early days. And and that’s obviously a situation where a company really does need to think that through because it’s a much different diversified company. So take us through those types of challenges that that type of company would experience.
Joe Quitoni 19:48
Yeah, I mean, they had they had a great, they have a great culture and really strong, creative and cool core values. But when we went in, they hadn’t been looked at since the company was started, which was well over about 20 years ago. And now like we just said, since the expectations have changed, the company has evolved drastically. I mentioned that, you know, don’t change the values, we don’t need to shake things up, let’s not reengineer anything here, let’s keep the core values that as as they are. But let’s work with your employees to say, for example, if one of your core values is integrity, what does integrity looked like? What are the behaviors? What are the characteristics that you need to emulate today, to bring integrity to life. So we went through a really cool working process where we pulled employees from different parts of the business, different locations, different levels, and we facilitated those conversations and ultimately created, what I like to call these behaviors, success behaviors that identify how to bring each of these core values to life in every interaction. And ultimately, it led to the success that they’re continuing to have today.
John Corcoran 20:46
Now, I remember where you talked about this during your presentation at the chapter? What is the frequency that you recommend that companies should be working on culture? Is it something that like it’s a quarterly meeting? Go over the bullet points? Hey, guys, here you go. Remember, these are our core values? Are there more creative ways to kind of integrate it into the day to day to day or week to week, just so that a company is actually living it?
Joe Quitoni 21:15
Yeah, you know, it’s a great question, John. And it’s one that when I’m speaking to clients sustainability, right, you know, to go through the culture work, it’s time it’s money, it’s an investment, it’s a lot of energy to put through. But then what happens once that’s all created is the big question, right? How do we sustain this, identifying the next selection, onboarding orientation, but then also, communication is one of the easiest ways of sustainability. And a lot of my clients don’t like to hear me say this. But I’m a firm believer that you should integrate this into your daily operation, you know, focus on maybe just one critical element of your culture and talk about it. What does it mean for you? How are you going to bring it to life today, this is our perspective of it. This is how we see it. And these meetings if you would become these really cool and creative conversations. And in theory, as a leader, I’m teaching and training my employees on what my expectation of them is to drive culture. And then the next day, you maybe go to another element, and they go to another element, and you go to another element. And once you get through your entire culture model, what do you do, you start again, and then you do it again, and you do it again, and you don’t stop doing it? And a lot of times people say, well, doesn’t that become repetitious? And my response is always the same, you know, yes, and that’s a good thing. Repetition equates to consistency. And when you talk about a message day in and day out, and you never deviate away from it, that’s when culture becomes so much more than, say, words on a screensaver or a mouse pad, it becomes the DNA and the fiber that keeps the company together.
John Corcoran 22:41
I want to ask about, when do you see culture breaking down a company that really struggles with getting it to work at all? Like, what are the ingredients that goes into that? Or another way of looking at it is what are the red flags that were you know that culture is going to be a struggle for this company, or it’s not going to they’re not going to achieve the culture that they want to achieve?
Joe Quitoni 23:05
Two red flags. The first is lack of commitment. So if you know we go in, and we hear a CEO, who says, All right team, go ahead and make this happen. Not gonna happen. This has to be top down, bottom up, and everybody needs to be bought in and commit to driving this change for the future. And the other one is a lack of accountability, if you don’t hold yourselves and others accountable for bringing these behaviors to life and reinforcing the behaviors, that eventually it’s just going to fall to the waistline. So I always like to say that the two red flags that I would say that that would allow for culture not to stick would be lack of accountability and lack of commitment.
John Corcoran 23:39
Hmm. All right. Final question I want to ask, which is kind of like a, how the sausage is made the question, because you started your company not that long ago, about a year ago, and the tail end of COVID. And you went from 20 years of systems, process, culture well defined, you still work on it, but it’s in place to starting a new company. Starting fresh. Yeah. And I know from building our company, that no matter how much you want things to be flawless, they rarely are, and you stumble and you’re challenged, and you know, and the experience isn’t as fluid as you want to be. And for you, knowing what the standard should be, that must be a challenge, right? You onboard a new consulting client, you wanted to have this, you know platinum experience, but like any startup, it’s, it’s it’s hard to deliver on that the first time, second time, even the 10th time. So how have you been able to manage that process? Or what have some of the struggles if you’re willing to share them struggles been along the way?
Joe Quitoni 24:46
You know, it is a constant struggle and and you’re right, I worked for an organization that was hyper focused on details. Everything mattered, right? Nothing could fall through the cracks. But one of the things that I did learn was, you know, transparency, that I’m looking at anything that comes my way that’s not going right as just an opportunity to strengthen the next time around. And just remaining hyper focused on why I did this in the first place. I knew there was going to be bumps, there’s going to be bumps today, and there’s going to be bumps five years from now. But using those as an opportunity to learn to strengthen to make them better in the future has definitely carried over the cookout carried me forward in my business
John Corcoran 25:22
I guess, just in the nature of the work that you do, you have to be a little bit okay with imperfection, because it’s gonna be there’s going to be some messiness.
Joe Quitoni 25:30
1000%. And that was very hard for me to grasp, believe it or not. But I learned very quickly that let the guard down. You’re doing good, and you’ll continue to get better as you go forward.
John Corcoran 25:40
Yeah, for sure. What just one step at a time. Well, Joe, this has been great. Where can people go to learn more about you and Unify|Align and the work that you do?
Joe Quitoni 25:48
LinkedIn Joe Quitoni, that’s Q U I T O N I or of course, my website is www.unifyalign.com.
John Corcoran 25:55
Excellent. All right, Joe. Thanks so much.
Joe Quitoni 25:57
Appreciate you, John.
Outro 25:58
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