When I work with clients, I always encourage them to make sure they have some experts in their network, especially when it comes to talent and human resources. Amy Kraal is one of those experts. A couple of my clients work with her, and I came away from one of our EOS sessions with ‘contact Amy’ as an action item.
I noticed over time how well any issues brought to her were handled. Amy and her team at HR Solutions Group are good at what they do. When I thought about an appropriate way to wrap up this series on culture, getting Amy to share her wisdom seemed the right way to equip leaders for a productive 2019. 
Thank you, Amy, for tips on what leaders can do to move forward in their journey toward being an employer of choice.
What does it take to become an employer of choice?
Traditionally, human-resource departments work with company leadership to establish company values, scalable processes and systems, and organizational charts of accountability; and to provide competitive pay and benefits to attract and retain talented team members. Typical HR metrics include retention, turnover, cost of labor and employee-satisfaction levels. Jim Collin’s book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t, was pivotal in helping the business community understand that employee satisfaction and level of engagement are the two most influential pieces of bottom-line results.
Organizational Culture Surveys are the most prevalent tools to measure employee engagement. Culture surveys typically ask questions focused on understanding levels of trust, fair treatment, values, communication, teamwork, accountability, problem solving, professional development, compensation and benefits. Culture-survey results provide a snapshot in time to measure and monitor employee satisfaction and the degree to which employees connect to the organization, and feel supported and enabled to be successful. Focusing on understanding and improving in these areas can help organizations accomplish the goal of being a great place to work and will make a positive impact on your financial bottom line.
Jeff Disher, Mandi Brower, Matt Jung, and Rich Sheridan were all invited to share their insights as guest bloggers in this series. They all demonstrate the natural leadership traits required to build a great company. From my perspective, a natural leader is one who has the ability to share a vision and build a work community that is fiercely passionate and enabled to achieve the company mission. For each of these leaders, it’s not lip service; it’s a foundational part of their business strategy. In each case, this strategy has resulted in highly profitable organizations that are recognized as “best-in-class” in their industries and provided a unique and remarkable employment experience that others want to emulate.
Each of these leaders has been intentional in building a sustainable framework to recognize, reward, and reinforce a high-performing workplace culture. They have shared unique and different ways in which they have found success engaging their employees toward a common goal and establishing collective sets of behavioral expectations. While each leader may have different reinforcement methods, each followed a similar process to get there.
Here are five steps to define, build, and sustain a unique workplace culture:
- Know who you are or want to become. Be clear on why you exist.
- Set simple and authentic values. Values must be easy to understand at all levels within your organization.
- Share the vision and live out the values! It defines how you operate and interact with customers, employees, and the community.
- Build and grow your work community with good hiring practices. You don’t want everyone to work for you, just those individuals with shared values and mission.
- Equip, measure, monitor, and reinforce. Be intentional and systematic, and stay close to it. Your success depends on it.
If you want to be a great employer, tap into the strategies of successful, natural leaders. Get focused and invest the time and resources to make it happen. Be patient and intentional; it will not happen overnight. It’s a continuous journey, but with diligence and intentional focus, it will produce positive and lasting results.
Greatness exists in all of us; surround yourself with those who can help you achieve it.
Thank you, Amy, for sharing your insights around the path to being a great employer.
If you want to know more about Amy and her team at HR Solutions Group, here are some links to:
- Visit the HR Solutions Group website
- Learn more about the services they offer
- Send a note to ask Amy some additional questions