Episode 161 | Why Core Values Decide Who Stays, Who Goes, and How You Grow

[00:18] Scott:

Welcome, everybody, to the next episode of the Mobilization Mindset. My name is Scott Peeper, CEO and founder of Mobilization Funding, and today we’re gonna be talking about core values. Why? ‘Cause we get questions about them all the time. People are always asking, “How do I incorporate ’em? What is it about? What are they? What does it look like when they’re good? What does it look like when they’re bad? How do you know if someone has ’em?” We get all kinds of questions. And since we’ve made every mistake under the sun along the way to having great core values ingrained into our business, I thought today Drew and I could talk exactly about that.

[00:52] Drew:

Yeah.

[00:53] Scott:

All right.

[00:53] Drew:

Most important part of the business at the end of the day.

[00:55] Scott:

It is. So let me ask you the first question. Do core values matter, or is this just all corporate fluff?

[01:05] Drew:

Speaking of core values, my f- I think every organization, every effective organization, family, uh, a- any organized group of people should have some set of core values. My family growing up, one of the core values that my parents, uh, gave to us was deeds, not words. So how does that relate to the question you just asked me? And that’s the… It depends.

[01:30] Scott:

Mm.

[01:30] Drew:

Is it corporate fluff, or do they actually matter? And the differentiator is this. If you have core values and it is not embodied at the start from the leadership team-

[01:45] Scott:

Mm-hmm

[01:45] Drew:

… then it’s corporate fluff.

[01:47] Scott:

Right.

[01:48] Drew:

If it is empowered and it is created, and it does precipitate from the leadership team to the rest of the team, then absolutely it matters. I mean, it, I, I’ve seen a lot of companies, been a part of companies that have core values that are on a wall-

[02:04] Scott:

Yeah

[02:04] Drew:

… or are in a little, little booklet, you know? And nobody could even n- name the core values of their company. And there’s a consistent complaint among the rank and file people in the company, me being one of them at some point in my career, I’m sure, where it’s like, “What? What are the, what’s the point in core values?”

[02:21] Scott:

Mm-hmm.

[02:21] Drew:

“I don’t even see it in the leadership team.”

[02:22] Scott:

It’s true. You know, one of the things that helped me the most understanding core values, ’cause all, everything you said I was part of in different organizations too.

[02:29] Drew:

Yeah, all of us have, right?

[02:30] Scott:

Yeah. And, and that’s no different for, for anyone. But being that we are here at Mobilization Funding and can guide what the values are, the thing that I, like, struggled the most is we didn’t have core values when we first started. We just, we were just doing, doing things, you know? [laughs]

[02:46] Drew:

Yeah.

[02:46] Scott:

You just got out. That wasn’t part of the understanding of what’s going on. But one of the things that resonated with me a lot, and I remember asking the same question, “Hey, what, what is core values?” I asked, I asked a mentor one time, “What are, what are they? What does that even mean? Like, what does it look like? I’ve only been a part of places on the wall, and I don’t really know what that entails.”

[03:03] Drew:

Mm-hmm.

[03:04] Scott:

He said, “Well, the first thing that you need to understand, Scott, is every organization has core values, whether they’re stated or not.”

[03:13] Drew:

Mm-hmm.

[03:14] Scott:

“And they are how the organization operates, communicates, speaks to one another. If you don’t have a set core values written on your wall, or you don’t have a set standard that’s communicated-

[03:25] Drew:

Mm-hmm

[03:25] Scott:

… do, would you agree that there is a standard amongst people?”

[03:31] Drew:

Yeah.

[03:31] Scott:

Yeah.

[03:31] Drew:

The standard’s set, it’s just not put in words.

[03:34] Scott:

Would you agree that somebody might have one standard, another might have another, and there might just be chaos?

[03:39] Drew:

Yeah.

[03:39] Scott:

That might be your values.

[03:40] Drew:

Which is not optimal for an organization.

[03:42] Scott:

Yeah. And he said, “So that’s what you, once you understand that there are values that everyone’s operating under or multiple sets of values, then you can realize that you either are influencing the values of the organization by setting a standard and leading it and guiding to it and hiring to it and training to it and teaching to it, or y- it just is taking its own path.”

[04:03] Drew:

Well, let me ask you this. Is it better to just not have stated core values and everybody kind of operate at the beat of their own drum, or to have core values in a booklet or a wall, but everybody thinks they’re bullshit?

[04:16] Scott:

That’s a good question. I would say, um, one thing I know for sure is to have sta- core values on a wall that are false or in a booklet that no one’s living by-

[04:26] Drew:

Mm-hmm

[04:27] Scott:

… is definitely not good.

[04:28] Drew:

No.

[04:29] Scott:

I would say if you have no core values, but you have a group of people that care and love about, love each other and are working towards one common goal, but there’s no value stated, you probably have a better chance than the other. I think both are bad, but you probably have at least a shot.

[04:44] Drew:

Mm-hmm.

[04:45] Scott:

The problem with not having core values or a set of standards is your organization and your business can only grow to the capacity of which your people are who they are-

[04:58] Drew:

Mm-hmm

[04:58] Scott:

… and, and their ability to grow within themselves, and then the cohesiveness of that. Your also business can never grow without systems and processes in place-

[05:07] Drew:

Mm-hmm

[05:08] Scott:

… and your organization can’t grow without people managing those systems and processes and having to effectively make decisions. And so if you don’t have any core values, there’s no set standards-

[05:18] Drew:

Mm-hmm

[05:19] Scott:

… that everybody can be, have the autonomy to know they can operate in-

[05:24] Drew:

Mm-hmm

[05:24] Scott:

… in a manner in which that they can be safe-

[05:26] Drew:

Yeah

[05:27] Scott:

… and healthy and, um, rewarded, recognized, guided by to decide on things. And therefore, if you don’t do that, there’ll be a bottleneck somewhere in the organization, probably to this one individual leader, and then nothing gets done, which then creates frustration and anxiety and that. So that’s one main reason to have core values from just a practical, tactical standpoint. The second reason is you gotta know who, what kind of organization and people you’re gonna have.

[05:57] Drew:

Mm-hmm.

[05:57] Scott:

Like, are we, what kind of core human is gonna thrive in this organization, and which kind of core human is not? And you have a duty when people come to work at your organization to let them know, like- … what kind of group of people there are.

[06:11] Drew:

Mm.

[06:11] Scott:

So they can decide, “Hey, um, those aren’t my people,” or, “These are.” If you show them all these people and try to pretend you’re everything to everyone, you’re gonna fail not only yourself, but you’re gonna fail those people that are trying to think about whether your organization’s the right fit for them.

[06:23] Drew:

Yeah. Without a set of core values, I mean, uh, h- here’s, here’s what another purpose of core values. It is a standard for you to hold yourself accountable to.

[06:35] Scott:

Mm-hmm.

[06:35] Drew:

And it’s a standard to hold the team accountable to. And then eventually, kind of to that as you grow organization type story that you told, as you grow and you’re intentional about the types of people you hire and bring on a team, right? Because you have core values. You’re evaluating through the lens of those core values.

[07:00] Scott:

That’s right.

[07:01] Drew:

And you grow, at some point, and you’re gonna see it, the team starts regulating and governing and holding people accountable to those core values.

[07:11] Scott:

That’s exactly right.

[07:12] Drew:

That’s when it, that’s when it, then that’s when it starts to make the impact, right? And in order to get to that point, and Scott, you’ve done such an incredible job, and I’ve learned, uh, an incredible amount from you on this. It takes consistency.

[07:27] Scott:

Mm-hmm.

[07:28] Drew:

It takes reiterating the core values, telling stories around the core values, getting the team to tell stories about what they have done to exemplify a core value, and it seems overbearing and repetitive, but in reality, 9 out of 10 people that work for you, 10, in our case, I think 10 out of 10 people, [laughs] right?

[07:50] Scott:

Mm-hmm.

[07:51] Drew:

Actually hold themself accountable to such a high standard that they enjoy sharing those stories.

[07:56] Scott:

That’s right.

[07:57] Drew:

You know?

[07:57] Scott:

‘Cause everybody wants to do the right thing. They want to feel good. They, and, and also, by the way, have you ever tried to make something brand new without instructions? Or put something together without, that you don’t know how to put together without instructions?

[08:10] Drew:

Um, well, not, not very, uh, effectively. [laughs]

[08:12] Scott:

Right. So like if you walk into an organization and you have no idea what the standards or rules are, it’s just like wing it. You sh- have to start observing somebody and someone, and what if everybody’s doing things differently?

[08:22] Drew:

How do you know what you-

[08:23] Scott:

How do you know what’s right, what’s wrong? It’s-

[08:24] Drew:

And, but it’s not just rules, though. I mean, think about-

[08:26] Scott:

No, but yeah

[08:26] Drew:

… like, think, think about-

[08:27] Scott:

That’s how you gotta carry it

[08:27] Drew:

… but think about, like one of our core values is be humble, right?

[08:31] Scott:

Mm-hmm.

[08:32] Drew:

How many times have we used the core value of be humble to make someone or ourselves better in this organization?

[08:40] Scott:

Yeah, oh, every day.

[08:41] Drew:

I mean, how many times, and I- I’m not gonna go through all of our core values, but another core value of ours is create the best customer experience, right? And we spend 60% of our day figuring out in some way, shape, or form how to create the best customer experience. In every, every business decision we make, one of the questions is, how does this affect the customer experience?

[09:07] Scott:

Correct.

[09:07] Drew:

Right?

[09:09] Scott:

And, and the c- the, what your core values end up doing is, is creating the standard at which everyone is gonna operate at.

[09:15] Drew:

Yeah.

[09:16] Scott:

And, and that provides certainty for your team. It provides a certainty for the customer. It provides certainty for your vendors and your lenders. Everybody knows how interacting with this organization, whether it’s you as an individual or another individual or the collective-

[09:34] Drew:

Mm-hmm

[09:35] Scott:

… is gonna be the same.

[09:36] Drew:

Mm-hmm.

[09:36] Scott:

It’s just like, you know, if you, if you walk into a McDonald’s in New York City or Arkansas or California, it’s pretty much the same experience.

[09:46] Drew:

Mm-hmm.

[09:46] Scott:

And that’s because they have the same set of standards-

[09:50] Drew:

Mm-hmm

[09:50] Scott:

… and values. Whether you agree with McDonald’s core values or not, th- that’s what, it, it, the same set of core values creates the standard that’s exists, and why you can have something uniform like that. And so it’s important for those reasons, and if you ever really want to have an organization of any scale, and you want to be successful, it, to me, it’s the mandatory requirement of the foundation or at some point as you grow or as the people come in and out, you’re gonna, it’s gonna break.

[10:16] Drew:

Yeah. The last thing I want to say about core values in, in, in practice, in, in, in, in, in implementation is, um, it wasn’t too long ago actually, uh, two, two of our teammates out there were saying, “You know, we’re working on this really complex deal,” right? Re- complex opportunity.

[10:36] Scott:

Yeah.

[10:36] Drew:

And the other day, you know, sales director wasn’t around. None of the other, other salespeople were around. Scott was around. Drew wasn’t around. You know, Rachel wasn’t around, and we didn’t know what to do. And I, I said to them, I said, “Indecision is a bad decision.”

[10:51] Scott:

Right.

[10:51] Drew:

They said, “Well, we don’t know what decision to make.” And I said, “Y- you’re uncomfortable. That’s the only way you feel. You, you know how to get to the answer.” And he said, “Well, we, how do we find the answer?” If you have nobody a- around you to help you, all you have to do is sit down, deeply think about our core values. The answer’s, the, the next step is somewhere in that thought process.

[11:10] Scott:

That’s right.

[11:11] Drew:

Yeah.

[11:12] Scott:

Yep, and that worked out, and that’s it too.

[11:14] Drew:

It, it worked out. Yeah, they, they, it’s great.

[11:16] Scott:

But that, giving people the comfort level of knowing, like if I’m operating within these core values, even if I make a mistake with the right intent, then okay, it’s part of the lessons learned. Like, but if, as long as your intent is pure and you’re on target with one of those values and you’re operating within the core values-

[11:33] Drew:

Mm

[11:33] Scott:

… you’re gonna be okay.

[11:35] Drew:

Yeah, yeah.

[11:36] Scott:

Yeah.

[11:36] Drew:

It’s good.

[11:38] Scott:

Well, I hope that helps. Most importantly, I’ll speak to you as leaders and, and founders of your companies. If you don’t know what your core values are, you don’t know what they should be, your core values should start with who you are, what you represent for yourself, and the standards you keep. If you just list out th- those things for you, who you are, the rest of the organization will fall in line with that, or they won’t, but at least you’ll know. But you as a leader or you as the founder or owner of your business, if it’s your business, you’re not going anywhere. So you might as well pick your core values and see who left on your team wants to live up to those ones, and if not, at least you now know who to go look for to replace the people that don’t want to be part of that. All right. Until next time, you guys have a great week. In the meantime, you can catch more of our episodes on our YouTube channel at mobilizationfunding.com.

[12:37] Scott:

You can check out our website at mobilizationfunding.com. You can find tools, tips, tricks, and lots of other videos and information on both places and platforms. Have a great week, and may God bless you.