CultusFor an employer, there is always some amount of risk when hiring new employees. You want to find people who are qualified, available, and responsible. You want to find people who are personable and who can work well with others. The application, interview, and hiring process is designed by each company to ensure that, to the best of the company’s knowledge, each new hire has the necessary qualities and traits that will allow them to succeed and to be valuable to the company.
So what is the risk? The risk lies in the simple fact that no application process or interviewer can truly predict the effectiveness a new hire will offer once they begin working. Training them for the task assigned is an obvious way to set them up for success, but everyone knows that the ability to get the job done is not the only quality a company needs from an employee. An employee needs to understand the values that drive the company’s success, or the mindset that makes the company what it is today.
It helps to organize this mindset into a method that can easily be communicated to those who are being trained. Companies like Xylem Design and Pedestal Source have compiled lists of values that they strive to achieve each and every day. Here are some ideas from these companies:
- Checking the ego at the door
Many jobs require working with and/or in close vicinity of others. In order to be successful in this aspect, individuals must realize that a basic Kindergarten rule is still in force: they must be able to “get along with the other kids.” No one person needs to put him/herself on a pedestal, whether they are the manager or the managed. Each employee has his/her own mind, and when employees use their minds to work together, great things can happen. If they want to use their own minds to serve themselves at the expense of others, then the company has a problem.
- Accountability / Taking ownership
This principle builds off of the previous one. An employee must realize that he/she is responsible for his/her own actions. Playing the blame game only wastes time and creates rifts. The next value on this list is closely related to this.
- Not being afraid to make mistakes
An employer must realize that his/her employees are human and therefore are guaranteed to make mistakes now and again. Of course, frequent mistakes and carelessness can be detrimental to the company. However, a good method to decrease many mistakes is to give employees the mindset that mistakes happen, and the best way to fix the situation is to own up to one’s own mistakes (thus avoiding the above-mentioned blame game). Too many mistakes are the result of a tense mind that is worried about making those very mistakes in the first place.
- Actively driving progress
This principle is obviously important to the success of a company. The opposite would be passively letting things happen. Employees must understand that actively driving progress, or doing their job the best they can with the intent of guiding the company to success, is key.
These are just some examples of values that constitute the growth mindsets of successful companies. Using lists like this one in training from the start will help your new employees develop the mindset of your own company. The result is an effective, efficient working environment, and therefore a successful company.
About the Author:
Helen Ontiveros and Madison Resare enjoy writing about business, company values, and pedestals.