What are your No Matter What core values?

In the early years of my business life, I went about leading, hiring, developing, and overcoming challenges with my teams without great clarity regarding the essential values required to get the results. Understanding what values were essential and would lead to incredible results came through trial and error, struggles, and success in the trenches.

Now, you have the advantage of taking a step back, gaining clarity, and pursuing these values in the teams you build going forward. I invite you to first invest in the time to clearly establish your No Matter Whats. You do not have to be the manager or supervisor of a team to benefit from clarifying and committing to your No Matter Whats. On a personal level, they form the foundation of the microculture you create in your personal sphere of influence, ensuring that you are showing up, speaking up, and stepping up as an Incredible Partner every day. Next, repeat the process with your team and important people in your life.

Here is a step-by-step process to gain clarity on your No Matter Whats:

1. Brainstorm one- or two-word phrases that capture core values that are critically important to you.

Examples: Passion, integrity, hardworking, accountable, service-focused, resilient

You don’t need a long list for this to be effective. Less is more. Only keep words that you feel deeply committed to living up to with your actions, no matter what.

2. Group similar words, then pick the one that resonates most with you. The synonyms can be used in the next step when describing what the word means to you and how the word shows up in the behaviors you’ll strive to commit to every day.

3. Draft a few sentences about each word that capture:

• Why is the word is important to you?
• What does the word look like in action when demonstrated in your behaviors?
• Why is it worth it to pursue the value?

4. Review and refer to the document when making decisions and taking important actions, such as hiring, performance reviews, day-to-day meetings, prioritizing focus, resolving ethical dilemmas, etc.

5. Review and update your No Matter Whats at least once a year.

Never Compromise Your No Matter Whats

Are you honoring your No Matter Whats in your partner selection process?

We were getting desperate. Like many organizations, our Build-A-Bear IT team was struggling to fill an important technical position. Finally, we found a candidate. I’ll call him Big Jer. On the technical side, he was exceptionally competent and made it through all of our IT manager interviews despite his lack of people skills.

Then he sat down with our CFO, Mrs. Tina Klocke. Miss Tina, as I affectionately called her, had a favorite interview question. “What do you think of our stores?”

Big Jer’s response was, “I’ve never been to one of your stores.” More shocking was his response to her next question.

“Are you going to visit a store?” Tina responded.

“If you give me an offer, I’ll consider it.”

Wow!

Needless to say, Miss Tina refused to sign off on hiring Big Jer. We even pushed back, citing his intellectual brilliance, extensive technical skill set, and our urgent need to finally fill the position. We challenged her, saying, “he won’t be working with our customers, Tina; it’s ok that he’s not up to our people-servicefocused-value standard.” I’ll never forget her response.

“Do you want to work with him? I know I don’t.”

She was absolutely right, and saved us from compromising our No Matter Whats. Whether you are selecting a team member, a vendor, or a partner for The Vertical, having other people you trust and who understand your No Matter Whats evaluate the person you are considering can help ensure you select Incredible Partners Only. Be sure to review your No Matter Whats throughout the selection process, including having the potential partner review them.

Commit to Pursuing Your No Matter Whats Every Day

Are your No Matter Whats currently on fire in you and those surrounding you?

It just takes one Smokey to hold you, your entire team, if not your entire organization back. (You can read about Smokey in this post: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/finding-incredible-partners-manley-feinberg-ii) I encourage you to do two things. First, step back on a regular basis and honestly ask, “Who is my Smokey?” Typically, at any given time, there will be at least one team member, or person in your life who is not bringing his or her best. Am I saying you need to fire this person? Not necessarily. One thing is clear, ignoring the situation only makes matters worse. The second step is the hardest. Have the courage to call it out, and challenge the individual to step up or step out.

If you put off those critical conversations, as I have done, it never gets easier. It always drags your team down. Just one Smokey exponentially increases the drag of gravity on all your efforts.

I know when you are out there and looking for people, you’re probably saying, “Man, you don’t know what I have to choose from. You know what, Manley? If they are breathing and sober, we’re going to have to give them a shot.” I know some job markets are very challenging, but don’t give in. Resist the temptation to compromise your No Matter Whats. When you start with core values of passion, people and perseverance, and select team members with those three values strongly represented, you will build on a foundation than can support an exceptional high performance culture; a culture that will produce more engagement, more accountability, more collaboration, and more innovation. You will find yourself and your teams showing up, speaking up, and stepping up to realize more of what is possible.

To learn more about my 9 Vertical Lessons for Leading with Impact check out my new book Reaching Your Next Summit!

Your climb to excellence is never easy. The human drive within calls us to what is possible. The principles shared in this book will renew your commitment and inspire your quest for excellence. You will realize more of your potential as you sharpen your focus, act with courage, and generate momentum in reaching your next summit—and beyond.