Episode 220: Which Core Values Help You Hire and Retain Top Talent?
As leaders we hear and think about core values more often than not, but do we actually know strategies to create the most aligned set of core values for ourselves and our teams?
In today’s episode, Erin walks you through two activities from her newest book I See You!—“Working on Your Core” and “Group Core Workout”—to create your own set of core values solo and create your team’s set of core values collaboratively. Sore abs not included, don’t worry.
If you're looking for a refresh on your core values at the start of a new year – this is the episode for you.
ICYMI – Your Post-Episode Homework: Share this episode with a friend and check out Episode 110 of the improve it! Podcast for continued learning. :)
Show Links:
Episode 110 of the improve it! Podcast: Are You Hiring? How a Clear Set of Core Values Can Help You Hire and Retain Top Talent with Special Guest Jenna McDonnell
Purchase the I See You Meditation Album
Pre-order Erin’s newest book, I See You! A Leader’s Guide to Energizing Your Team through Radical Empathy
Get our free 4-Step Consistency Planner here
Did today’s episode resonate with you? Please leave us a review for a chance to win a self-care package from us.
Send a question/voice message on SpeakPipe here.
Want to book Erin to speak at your organization or large-scale event: Learn more here.
Connect with Erin Diehl:
@itserindiehl on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter
Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
“I love this podcast and I love Erin!!”
If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing this podcast! This helps Erin support more people – just like you – move toward the leader you want to be. Click here, click listen on Apple Podcasts, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with 5 stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let Erin know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, subscribe to the podcast. That way you won’t miss any juicy episodes! Thanks in advance, improve it! Peeps :)
Episode 220 Transcription
Erin Diehl (00:00.646)
Improve it peeps. Welcome to the show today. I am so grateful you are here. Happy New Year. And welcome to today's show all about which core values help you hire and retain top talent. Now before we get into the show, just a quick housekeeping item for you. My new book, I See You, A Leader's Guide to Energizing Your Team Through Radical Empathy.
is available for pre-order and is going to be launched into the world, into the universe on February 20th. So here's what you can do. You can pre-order the book and when you pre-order the book you can get a free gift with your purchase through my website it's airanddeal.com. All you have to do is jot down your receipt number, copy paste it, put it in the little box inside it's
and I'm going to send you a free 30 minute radical empathy workshop just for you. This is free because I know you, you're my improvement peeps. I want you to get the inside goods. This will not be around post launch. So this is only available for pre-launch for free for you. So that housekeeping aside, welcome to a new month. Welcome to January where we are talking all about how to create magnetic
cultures, which is the entire part three of my book called Magnetic Culture. Maybe you're listening to this episode and this title and this subject matter and thinking to yourself, I love the culture and community I currently have. Nothing needs to change. That's awesome. But my friend, there's always room for improvement. Or perhaps...
You're seeking a connection back to yourself or a deeper, more authentic connection with others. I've got you. Or maybe you're overwhelmed and you need quick digestible tips on how to attract the things you want at work and in life. I am your gal. Or equally as important, maybe you're reentering the workforce and you're looking for new ways to show up more confidently. Friend, I'm gonna blow your mind.
Erin Diehl (02:17.142)
Get ready because in today's episode, I will shine light on you and your amazing capabilities and help you see the magnetic force within you so you can become the selfless leader that you were meant to be. So I wanna start off with a quick story, which is also in the book in part three. I want you to think to yourself about a magnetic person in your life. When you think of a magnetic person,
what adjectives come to mind. I want you to think of a person you deem attractive, okay? Do not Google them. I need you right here. Not going down the IMDb celebrity page rabbit hole. Now think of a magnetic person you know in real life. Somebody who is not necessarily famous, but someone who is well known and celebrated in their day-to-day life. What qualities do they possess? Chances are...
This person has a high sense of self-worth and sees themselves in a positive light. And by doing so, by seeing themselves, they can see the light in others and therefore are able to attract the types of people they want into their orbit. Now, we've talked at Nausium, at length, in previous months, all about self-love and self-worth, and now you know it's an inside job. And that inside job reflects outwardly.
What you give outwardly is what is going to attract and allow those magnets to stick together and create awesome cultures, organizations, and communities. So here, my friend, I want you to think about this. If you know or have small children, perhaps you've seen the famous toy magnetiles. My son loves these. He has so many of them. They are not cheap, by the way, but they are an amazing toy.
And these are tiles that come in different geometric shapes like squares and triangles with magnets at the edges of the shapes to connect the tiles together. And then kids then use the tiles to allow their creativity to flow. They can create buildings, cars, garages, whatever their little hearts desire. But the magnetic tiles attract each other to create beautiful sculptures. It's a collaborative effort on the magnetiles' part as each individual tile is different
Erin Diehl (04:40.21)
and holds a different weight and function in the final masterpiece. When children start building with magnet tiles, they lay one piece of foundation at a time. Each tile builds upon the next and the next and the next until the child finally finishes building their creation and stands back in awe at the beautiful sculpture that they've created. Organizations and teams are just like magnet tile creations.
Each person is unique, bringing their own shape and perspective to the collective. And just like magnetiles, you attract the type of people you want and need on your team by emitting the right energy. The current team member who is already part of the foundation must emit the right energy to the new team member to attract them and have them stick.
While team members are amending their own energy to attract this new magnetile, they are also making sure that the new tile coming into the creation is the right shape and that their magnetic poles are aligned correctly. The new addition to the collaboration should be different and add a unique perspective. However, to add to the overall sculpture, it must understand its function and have a strong belief in what the sculpture brings to the world.
It must bring its own set of values, but be in line with the core values that the sculpture embodies. That alignment with the vision of the creation is a value add. Core values are just what they sound like. The values that the sculpture, okay, let me get out of this metaphor now, that the organization believes in. They're what makes the organization function.
and they are the core of what the organization offers the world. Let's examine this concept a bit further with a look at improve it set of core values. So that entire thing that I just shared with you, that entire story is an excerpt from my book of part three. And part three is really all about establishing core values, using those core values to hire and retain and attract top talent. So I wanna start.
Erin Diehl (06:55.47)
just by sharing with you Improve It's core values because I think it's super important to this conversation. So our founding members of Improve It help create these core values that I'm gonna share with you how we did that in just a moment. We have a beautiful set of core values and I'm gonna list them off to you here. The first one is lead with yes and, which means we encourage and support others. We make space for new ideas and different voices.
The next core value is explore more. We treat every day as an opportunity to learn. The third core value is drive results. We create goals that are measured. We break down dreams into actions. We evaluate each step and adjust as needed. The fourth core value is play and have fun.
could not be a professional development company that uses Improv Comedy if we do not embrace this core value, which means we encourage embracing your inner child. And the last core value is everyday leadership. We are leaders because of our actions, not because of our titles. Be the leader you want to be led by.
Erin Diehl (08:08.89)
I still, I mean, I can literally like picture us in our small office in the lower level, not to be confused with basement confines of our coworking space, creating these core values on one of those white sticky boards. And honestly having the best time doing it. It was such a wonderful exercise. But before we had this set of core values, we were not specific.
as to what we were attracting from a talent and a client perspective. It was kind of just like whoever clings to us clings to us and we'll say thank you. We did not have a clear idea of what would make our magnetiles stick and who would be that value add. We knew the root of our company embodied the characteristics of a great improviser.
which also make up the characteristics of a great human, but we did not have a way to measure results or success. So we developed our core values individually and then collectively, and you heard me list those just now. And I am going to show you today how to do this yourself, create your own core values through a solo activity called Working On Your Core.
And I'm gonna help you do this collectively for your team, for your organization in a group activity called the Group Core Workout. These two activities are pulled directly from chapter 10 of my new book. And that chapter is called Attractive to Your Core. This is the sneakiest peek of the book. And because you are my improvement peeps, you are getting an exclusive glimpse. So let's start off.
with this first activity called, what is it called? Working on your core. Stumbled over my words, y'all, that happened. So, this is a solo activity. And just so you know, the back of every chapter, the end of every chapter in the book, has activities that you can do as a solo activity and as a group activity. This is meant for you, the leader, or you, the person who wants to lead your team.
Erin Diehl (10:26.09)
You can take this back to your organization. If you are not the person in charge, take this activity back to your team, please. So here is the solo activity working on your core. Step one, you've got to gather some materials for this. You'll need a timer, a sheet of paper, and a pen. Now you've got your materials. Let's head to step two, which is to set the timer for five minutes and without judgment, write down any word that comes to mind.
to describe your own personal core values. Write as many words as possible without judgment and don't stop until the timer goes off. So some examples of core values could be adventure, family, fun, mindfulness play. Now, step three, after five minutes, look at the list of core values you've created. Set your timer again for five minutes and without judgment,
five core values. Take the full five minutes to think these through and if you need more time, take more time. Now, step four, you're going to look at the top five core values that you circled and you're going to write down these top five core values at the top of your paper. Step five, you're going to choose three people in your life who you know extremely well.
and ask them to give you a list of five words to describe you. Now, an easy way to do this is to send a quick text that says, hi, Susan, I'm working on developing my core values for a project. I'm working on an energy U. Energy U is the curriculum that you will see in this book. Could you send me a text back with five words that you could use to describe me? I'll explain what energy U is later, and you can take or leave the energy U part, but you get the idea.
You wanna give these people a day or two to respond, but step six, once you get your list of five words that described your core values from three friends, compare their words with your list. Do any of the words have crossover or the same meaning? Using your list as well as comparing the lists from your closest peeps, compile your top five core values into one final list.
Erin Diehl (12:45.574)
Step seven, this is the final step. Here's where you can get those creative juices of flowin'. Create catchphrases for the five words to use as your list of core values. So for example, let's say one of your collective five words was fun. Your catchphrase could be, I see every day as an opportunity to have fun, or I measure my success by the amount of fun that I'm having.
The catchphrase uses the word to create a sentence, a tweetable, if you will. Keep your core values short, sweet, and under 280 characters. In other words, the shorter, the better. So that is your solo activity, working on your core. When you know your own core values, it's really easy to align yourself with others or unalign yourself with others.
It is so important to understand your core values first before heading into this group activity. So, you have done this activity working on your core alone. You can now do this group activity group core workout with your team. So step one in this is have everyone complete the solo activity before meeting collectively as a group. Step two.
conduct a group meeting and have everyone bring the results from their solo activity. I would highly suggest an hour and a half for this meeting. I don't like long meetings, but this is gonna be a big brainstorm, so allocate the right amount of time. Step three, using the core words instead of core phrases. So your answers from step six in the working on your core activity.
You're gonna appoint one team member as the scribe to take notes. You need either a shared screen or a large marker board for this next section. So if you're in person, a large marker board will do. If you're virtual, share your screen, pull up a Google Doc, okay? Step four, go around the group and one at a time, have each individual share a core value. The scribe writes down the core value only one word.
Erin Diehl (15:04.81)
on the shared screen or marker board. And as the group continues to share words, have the scribe start to compile the words into buckets. So for example, let's say that individuals in the group say words like fun, adventure, spontaneity, and play. These words are all grouped together in their own bucket because they are all synonyms. Another example would be words like professional, practical, and punctual. These words will be grouped together because they collectively mean the same thing.
And to clear my throat there, step five, keep this going until everyone has shared all five of their words and buckets of similar words have started to fill. As a group, look at the buckets. What is the theme of each one of them? Write that core word at the top. It is all right to use one of the words listed in the bucket. Now, note that the goal would be to have five or six buckets which are then distilled into five or six core words.
These words now become the starting place to brainstorm your collective catch phrases. Step six, starting with the first bucket. Have the group brainstorm catch phrases for each core word. So let's say the first bucket's core word was play. A catch phrase could be play, learn, and have fun, just like you see in the improvement core values. Do this for all your core words and make sure that everyone has a chance to share their ideas.
Step seven, now that you have your collective catchphrases, it's time to create taglines underneath. For the catchphrase of play, learn, and have fun, our tagline is, we encourage embracing your inner child. This is much less important than the catchphrase itself, but it is important in helping support the main idea. Keep the taglines short and sweet. Step eight.
Now that you have all the collective core values listed as catchphrases and taglines created under each one, create a document that lists the core values. A fun place to do this is on a software system like Canva where you can use visuals to get creative and showcase your collective brainstorm. Place them on your internal drives or in your physical office if you have one and be extremely proud of what you've created.
Erin Diehl (17:27.73)
So I realized this is a lot of steps. And again, this is pulled directly from chapter 10 of my book, Attractive to Your Core. It's the name of the chapter. The name of the book is I See You, A Leader's Guide to Energizing Your Team Through Radical Empathy. Once you understand these core values, you can use them to hire new team members, maintain.
and retain the amazing team members that you have and measure their performance. Now, we have an entire episode from The Vault on this. I had our client experience VP, Jenna MacDonald, come on in episode 110. That episode is called, Are You Hiring? How a clear set of core values can help you hire and retain top talent with special guest Jenna MacDonald. If you want to take this a step.
We use just on a high level of overview of that show, which is in the vault, but we're gonna link to that in the show notes, we use our core values, not only as interview questions for hiring facilitators, internal team members, but we use these core values to measure our performance. Are we living up to the core values is really how we measure success.
Obviously there's other metrics such as revenue and qualitative and quantitative metrics together combined, showcase the evaluation of the entire person and the entire company. But I don't know where or what we would be without having these in place.
It's really easy to see what is in alignment when your core values, when you have your core values in place. It's easy to measure against.
Erin Diehl (19:18.59)
And I know from experience, when you start to feel that misalignment with the core values, it's not great. You start to question yourself as a leader. You start to question the performance of the person who is in question with the core values, and it starts to toxify your culture.
This was one of the most pivotal things that we created at Improve It. It is one of the things that I am so proud of and I could not write a book and not teach you how to do it and how to apply it. And so my Improve It peeps, I'm giving you this information today. I hope you buy the book. If you can't buy the book, you have this episode, okay? The book is $23.95. If you can't get the book, take down notes from this episode and use it.
bring it back to your team and apply it. But also, let me just say this, the group core activity is just as important, if not even less important than the solo activity, knowing your own core.
you get to decide who in your life is in alignment with your core values, who is not. When you work in flow and in alignment with those core values, it's a much easier stream of wellbeing that can guide you to some of the greatest relationships and opportunities in your life.
I'm so proud of you for taking this time to invest in yourself today. You deserve it. Your team deserve it. It's your community, your organization deserves it, but most importantly, you deserve it. So I hope you're proud of yourself for what you've accomplished in these 20 minutes. This is a shorter episode for you today. But I wanted to give this to you because I felt strongly in my heart that as we start this new year,
Erin Diehl (21:16.726)
being in alignment with our core assignment is going to lead to such great fulfillment.
I see you. I'm so proud of you. I want you to keep failing, keep improving, because this world needs that very special it that only you can bring. I'll see you next time.