Why Hiring for Values is Important to the EOS Process™

Hiring for values doesn’t happen in a vacuum. If you want to improve your outcomes and bottom line through hiring, your organization must be ready. VisionSpark focuses on identifying, articulating and hiring for corporate culture fit. How can your organization expand on that and take it even further? The EOS Process™ is a great place to start.

EOS Worldwide is a company started by Gino Wickman, author of the book Traction. EOS^® stands for Entrepreneurial Operating System^®, and it’s described as “a complete set of simple concepts and practical tools that has helped thousands of entrepreneurs get what they want from their business.”

Is hiring for values important to you? See where you can go with EOS.

The EOS Process™ is highly aligned with what we do at VisionSpark, which is hiring the right people based on values and fit. It’s shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that we believe in its tenets. Our blog is well-stocked with posts about the importance of identifying core values, goals and purpose before effective hiring can occur.

We often encounter potential clients who lack organizational alignment. For example, companies that have a leader who is driven by profitability but doesn’t care about the people. The leader makes hires based on resumes, and there is frequent turnover among senior management because they are not valued as people. How can you make long-term, successful hires for such a company? You can’t. Trying to hire strategically when the company itself is misaligned is like putting the ox before the cart. Successful hiring would require that the underlying issues (core values, purpose, and goals) be first identified and honored within the organization. Until they are ready to do that work, we have to decline their business, because we know we can’t be effective in those conditions.

This is where we find the EOS Model™  can be helpful for business leaders trying to take their companies to the next level. It identifies six key components that apply to any business. The first three are Vision, People and Data. At VisionSpark, our focus on core values and hiring aligns with the Vision and People components of the EOS Model™. One of the great things about the way EOS Worldwide has organized their model is that those first three components provide a foundation for the other three components. You get the first three components set up correctly, and only then can you proceed to tackle your Issues, Process, and gain Traction^®. You can read more about these components as EOS envisions them in their model here.

Corporate values (Vision) informs hiring (People) which precedes other steps to success.

Wickman and EOS Worldwide know what we know: that it’s critical to understand the proper order of these components as well as the powerful results that can be unlocked once you get the foundation laid correctly. As we have said before, to achieve sustained growth and success, an organization has to place a strong emphasis on its greatest resource — its people. 

In the book Traction, Wickman devotes Chapter Four to The People Component. To summarize broadly, finding the right people and putting them in the right seats is an equation that is dependent upon your company’s core values. So your core values must be articulated first and foremost, and you hire (and fire)  to match those values as well as to match abilities with roles and responsibilities. Once you have aligned your people with your company culture, you can start working towards goals, tackling problems, improving productivity, etc. You have a working machine.

How can you leverage company values at your company?

Start by asking these questions:

• What are your company values?
• Are these values articulated clearly?
• Does everyone at your company know them?
• Is your entire company invested in them?
• Are your corporate values used to inform strategic decisions, including hiring?
• Have you used company values to determine whether you have the right people in the right seats?
• Are company values incorporated into your interview process, as a basis for filtering candidates?

If you don’t integrate them into your processes, your corporate values will not take you far. Infuse them into everything you do, and cohesiveness of purpose and alignment of values will be the natural outcome.

Hiring for values is important to the EOS Process™. It is a great process because it isn’t overly complicated or difficult to implement, and if you do it correctly it will help you achieve your business goals and objectives. Everyone will be rowing in the same direction; there will be greater productivity, more innovation and you will be more profitable. Even though greater profitability is what many people aim for, a bonus consequence of aligning your hiring with your corporate values is that you gain a much more enjoyable, engaged, and energetic workforce. In many ways, the ability to look forward to working each day is priceless.

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