Values and Performance Can’t Be Divided

When it comes to performance among team members, what would you say are the most important factors to measure?

You hold folks accountable. One, values, integrity, focus, outcomes. And the other one that's important is are they doing it within the team concept? Are they using resources within the organization, they're using the team to be able to do this? Because one of the things that there may be some great performers, but they perform outside of what I would call the team atmosphere, and they're those solo folks. And to me, that's not how you create the kind of organization, everybody work collaboratively. They like each other, they love each other, but you work collaboratively and collectively to achieve goals. One of the things that we do, and I'm sure you might have seen that, we look at performance and values on a scale. Great folks on that regard, because you may be a high performer, but if you don't represent the values that we think are important, then you don't belong in our organization, because I believe that is an important aspect of the organization. What we strive to do, and everybody wants is, you want a high performer, you represent high values. That's what we try to do. So I think the values and performance are hand-in-hand into achieving the kind of organization, it's going to be sustainable, and reach some of those BHAGs that I talked about earlier.

Big hairy audacious goals, can't get there if you've got a bunch of lone wolves running around and not working together as a team.

Can't do that. And they may be successful in their own right, but it doesn't make the team successful.

It doesn't make the organization successful.

Absolutely not. I'm a former athlete. And I say former meaning former.

You played basketball in college.

A long time ago. But one of the things you know is that in order for the team to be successful, everybody has to do they get collectively, it's not an individual deal, this is collective. And I approach that same way with my teams in the YMCA, we got to work collaboratively and collectively to achieve the maximization of the goals that we want to do.