November 3, 2025 • 26 mins
We continue our seven-part mini-series on Creating Alignment with Your People by exploring the third element of culture — Traits Alignment.
In this episode I explain how identifying the inherent traits of people who will thrive in your business helps you build stronger teams and protect your culture. You’ll learn how to recognize the character and personality traits that align with your company’s values and work style—so you can hire, coach, and lead with clarity and consistency.
Because alignment isn’t just about skills or experience — it’s about who people are at their core.
Episode Highlights
- What traits alignment is and why it matters
- The difference between character traits and personality traits
- How to identify traits that thrive in your unique culture
- Why shared traits strengthen unity and trust
- How defining traits improves hiring, retention, and accountability
- How alignment in values, work style, and traits creates lasting momentum
Resources & Links
- Learn more at ClearAuthenticBrands.com
Related Episodes
- Episode 12: Creating Alignment With Your People
- Episode 13: Values Alignment- What You Believe Drives How You Lead
- Episode 14: Work Style Alignment- Understanding How You Work
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amy Dardis (00:13):
I'm your host, Amy Dardis.
And today we're continuing ourseven-part series on creating
alignment with your people.
In this series, we're exploringthe three dimensions of
alignment (00:24):
culture, capacity, and contribution.
And we're currently focusing onthe culture dimension.
And so far, we've covered thealignment overview, talking
about the three C's of culture,capacity, and contribution.
So you know what to expect.
We've talked about valuesalignment, defining what we
(00:47):
believe as an organization.
And we've talked about workstyle alignment, which is
defining how we work and thenfinding people who are naturally
hardwired to thrive in thatsame environment based on their
individual working style.
So if you've missed thoseepisodes, you can check out
episodes 12, 13, and 14respectively.
(01:07):
But today we're diving intotraits alignment, which is
identifying the inherent traitsof people who will thrive in
your business based on theseelements that we've already
talked about, based on values,based on work style.
And business is about people.
(01:28):
I've said it before, I will sayit again.
You will hear me say that overand over and over again.
And what we believe, how weoperate, our personalities, our
backgrounds, who we are asindividuals, it shapes how we
show up.
You cannot remove theindividual from the work.
(01:49):
You can't remove the individualfrom the role.
We are the business.
We are how things get done, howwe operate.
So when we're looking to createalignment with our people
within our business, we have tolook at who people are.
(02:13):
We are not just looking attheir work experience or their
skill sets or their capacity,which we are talking about in
the next episode, little previewthere.
And no amount of coaching ortraining or performance
(02:34):
improvement plans will everchange our innate character or
our innate personality.
And so those are the two lenseswe are looking at today is
looking at when we talk abouttraits and personality traits
and characteristic traits, weare really looking at the their
(02:57):
character and their personality.
So when we look at a person'scharacter, well, what is
character?
What are those charactertraits?
Well, character traits define aperson's moral and ethical
code.
This is their internal compassfor what they believe to be
(03:20):
right and important.
So to put simply, someone'scharacter, their character
traits are going to reflect whatthey value, what they believe
in action.
Their character traits are howtheir values show up in their
(03:40):
life.
And so character is a blend ofjust how we're born, how we're
hardwired, how God designed usand created us, and this moral
sensitivity that we're bornwith.
We have different types ofpeople, some who have strong
senses of a moral compass, andsome people who have less of a
(04:05):
moral compass when they're bornjust naturally.
But then that's just one partof it.
The other parts of it are whatwe believe, what we believe
about God, what we believe aboutourself, our faith, and and how
that shapes our understandingof right and wrong, and how that
shapes the world around us andhow we act based on what we
(04:30):
believe.
And then life experience.
What light has life has taughtus about perseverance and
humility and growth and reallywhat are the experiences that
have shaped us?
And the thing about characteris it grows and it develops over
(04:51):
time through choices, throughexperiences, through discipline,
through maturity.
I mean, just think about likewhen what you were like when you
were in a teenager or yourearly 20s or when you became a
parent.
Those experiences developedyour character.
You grew, you've matured overtime, and different paths have
(05:16):
shaped what that looks like ineach of us.
And so, character, I guess, inin a spiritual sense, really is
given to us.
We see this portrayed likethrough the fruits of the Holy
Spirit.
So Galatians 5, 22 says, Butthe fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, faithfulness,
(05:40):
gentleness, and self-control.
So this isn't these this fruitthat we get to bear in our life
based on what we believe, basedon how the Holy Spirit shapes
and guides us, whether we'reabiding in Christ or whether
we're trying to forge our ownpath.
This isn't about ourpersonality or natural
(06:02):
temperament.
It's about who we're becomingthrough the work of the Holy
Spirit, based on what webelieve.
And this character reflects ourmoral and spiritual maturity.
And we had go through someseasons where that is grown and
developed intensely andsignificantly in a short amount
(06:24):
of time.
And then we have other seasonswhere it takes a lot longer.
It just depends on what's goingon in our life at the time.
But the character traits of anindividual are going to reveal
whether that someone aligns withyour values as a company,
whether they believe what youbelieve and their actions in
(06:50):
their life will prove it.
They'll reflect that.
And so some examples ofcharacter traits could be their
humility, whether they are ahumble person, being respectful,
being courageous and bold,being generous and stewarding
(07:11):
well, being responsible anddependable, their self-control,
whether that's something that'sa strong thing in their life or
if it's something that theystruggle with, whether or not
they're kind and gentle, whetheror not they are teachable and
coachable.
These are all things that canbe developed.
(07:36):
But they are something that Ibelieve innately there has to be
a seed there already.
And what we're looking for inalignment is not a development
project.
I mean, I think we're all goingto grow and develop along the
way.
So in addition to that, we'relooking at their character.
(08:18):
And then we're also looking attheir personality.
So this is this describes how aperson is naturally wired to
think, to react, and to relateto the world.
This is something we're morefamiliar with, more common with.
This is what we're we canbetter understand through things
(08:40):
like personality tests.
They are consistent with thepatterns in how we process
information, how we makedecisions, how we interact with
others.
And each of us has our ownunique personality.
And yes, that is affected byour character.
Yes, that is affected by ourbackgrounds and experiences.
(09:01):
But our personality issomething that we are born with.
We see this come out as kids,and our personality doesn't
change much over the course ofour life.
Like if we are born and we are,you know, a toddler and and a
(09:24):
kindergartner and an elementaryschool kid, and we're
extroverted and we are supercurious and we love to learn and
we're very charismatic.
And I'm just describing my myson here that has been
consistent throughout his life.
Whereas his sister, she isintroverted, she is kind and
(09:52):
compassionate and creative andempathetic and very emotionally
intuitive and reflective andobservant.
And those are things that froma very young age she has that
have come been obvious, likebeing a two-year-old, being a
(10:17):
six-year-old, being aten-year-old.
These she hasn't changed muchlike in her personality.
Like it if it's growing andit's developing, but it's very
distinct and it is veryconsistent.
So that is kind of how weoperate as individuals, and
(10:41):
these personality traits that wehave are going to reveal
whether or not someone is goingto thrive within our work style,
if they're going to thrive inthe role and the seat that
they're in, whether like thepace and structure and rhythm of
(11:04):
how you operate as the businessis going to match and
complement how they operate asan individual.
So some personality traits wemight see are whether they're
introverted or extroverted,whether or not they're assertive
or more easygoing, someone whois analytical versus creative,
(11:28):
someone who might bedetail-oriented versus big
picture and strategic, someonewho is curious, someone who is
seeking experiences, wants to bevery expressive.
I mean, these are very commonthings that we would look at.
(11:49):
Someone like when we look at aMyers-Briggs personality test or
a disc personality test or evenan Enneagram, we are looking at
like what are the things aboutthis person that seem to be
consistent across thispersonality type.
And the reason we want tounderstand these characteristics
(12:16):
and uh personality traits isbecause when we are looking to
add people to our team.
So in this world of thisclarity, alignment
accountability framework, wefirst clarify what it is we're
who we are, what we stand for,what we believe, and who it is
(12:38):
that is going to align in ourbusiness.
So we're talking aboutalignment and this culture
alignment.
So we talked about our values,we talked about what we believe
as an organization.
We talked about our workingstyle and how we operate best.
So traits are going to be whatwe're looking for in individuals
(13:03):
that are going to reflectsuccess in those areas.
And so it's a very objectiveand tangible thing that we can
look for and hold on to.
Because when we're look in thishiring process, it's going to
change what you're looking for.
It's going to change thequestions you ask.
(13:25):
It's going to change how youevaluate a candidate.
So you will be able torecognize a fit much faster.
And you won't stop, you won'twaste time on a candidate who
seems nice, who has all thesegreat qualities, but doesn't
have the right qualities foryour specific business.
(13:49):
And that really is thedifference.
Because right now, when wedon't have these traits defined,
I mean we don't have any ofthis defined, we're going into
an interview process, we'regoing into a team building
process, and we don't know whatit is that we're looking for.
(14:11):
And so when someone isdependable, when someone's
detail-oriented, when someone'screative, when someone is
outgoing, when someone ishumble, like these are all
really good things.
And so we we're like, well,what's the problem with that?
Well, there isn't a problemwith that.
The issue is that it doescreate misalignment, and
(14:35):
misalignment creates frictionand tension.
But we're not going to know howto align unless we first
describe what it is that we'relooking for first.
So this is going to help usknow who we're looking for so we
can build alignment, so we canbuild the right team of people.
It's going to help uscommunicate our expectations
(14:56):
clearly so that our team knowsexactly what behaviors and
attitudes are expected.
And because of that, then wecan hold people accountable
fairly.
So instead of having subjectiveopinions, you have clear
behavioral standards to measureagainst.
(15:17):
And then your feedback and yourcoaching and your measuring and
your looking at performance andstuff, it becomes objective.
It's consistent.
And that makes all thedifference in the world.
That specificity is what iseliminating confusion.
It's eliminating doublestandards.
It's eliminating friction.
(15:39):
And it's giving you somethingto hold on to.
It is creating these guardrailsfor our business.
And all of these elementscreate guardrails.
And that's why we do it becauseit helps us to be consistent.
It helps us to be authentic.
And that's where we're reallyable to pick up momentum, build
(16:03):
trust and loyalty and grow theway that we want to.
So bringing it back to anexample, we've introduced our
tale of two brands, and we haveour two different home building
companies with contrastingcultures, both good in their own
(16:25):
way.
So we have company A, which isprecision builders, and they
value precision and integrityand safety.
We talked about their workingstyle, they operate in a very
structured, methodical, and buythe book type of way.
They are very big ondocumentation.
They love the process and theytrust the process because that's
(16:48):
what gives them consistentresults.
Now we have company B, visionbuilders.
They value innovation andflexibility and creativity.
They operate there in a veryfast-moving, collaborative and
idea-driven way because theirgoal and objective is to find
(17:10):
better, smarter ways to build.
So precision builders, theyhave values like we do it what's
right, safety first,unimpeachable character, and
their work style is structured,detail-driven, process-oriented,
risk-averse.
So traits in individuals thatthrive here would be being
(17:38):
dependable.
Someone who follows through ontheir commitments with no
surprises.
Someone who's conscientious,someone who pays attention to
the details and takes pride indoing things right the first
time.
Someone who is calm underpressure, someone who is going
to maintain composure in safetycritical situations, someone who
(18:01):
is disciplined, someone whostays consistent with routines,
checklists, and safetyprocedures, and someone who's
accountable, someone who ownstheir mistakes, corrects them,
and communicates clearly.
So these traits, and it youdon't have to list whether it's
a character trait or apersonality trait.
(18:22):
It's just important tounderstand that we're looking
for both because we need to findalignment with both our values
and our working style.
So we want to just be specificabout what it is that we're
looking for.
And during our interviewprocess or when we're assessing
the alignment of an existingemployee, we're actually looking
(18:47):
for specific examples where wesee these traits in this
individual.
And the beauty of this istraits are about the person, not
the role.
So these traits show up in allareas of their life, or they
should.
It should be how they parent,how they are at home.
(19:09):
It should be how they serve atchurch, it should be how they
are involved in the community,it should be how they act with
their friends.
Like these are traits that areinherent to who they are, who
God created them to be.
And we can't force them, wecan't make them up, we can't
(19:30):
coach, coach them up a littlebit.
Like they either have them orthey don't.
They are either prominentdriving characteristics in this
individual's life, or they'renot.
And the best thing you can dois just answer that question
clearly and make your decisionaccordingly.
(19:51):
Now, having these traits forthis precision builder company,
if you're interviewing acandidate and they're talking
about how they love spontaneityand they're all about the big
picture and they're they loveflexibility and they don't like
to feel restricted, though youcould actually be able to tell
(20:17):
very clearly, oh wow, like thisperson is great and they might
have really great experience andthey we might like them a lot.
But because they have thesedriving characteristics, we know
we're just gonna be puttingthem into a company where there
will always be friction, therewill always be tension, and
(20:40):
that's going to kill theirmomentum.
It it'll be okay for a littlebit.
I mean, you might get a year,two years out of them, but
eventually these frictionsbecome roadblocks.
They become something thatdetract from our contribution,
they detract from meaningfulwork, they detract from unity
(21:05):
and cohesiveness.
And that becomes a problem.
That hurts performance, thathurts retention, that hurts the
team's ability to trust eachother and collaborate well
together.
So then if you're company B, ifyou're the vision builder
company who has values likechallenge the ordinary, stay
(21:29):
curious, win as a team, andtheir work style is fast-paced,
it is collaborative, it'sadaptive, it has this like
entrepreneurial spirit about it,then the traits that are gonna
thrive there are someone who'sadaptable, who can pivot quickly
when plans change.
It's someone who is creative,who wants to bring fresh ideas
(21:50):
and problem solve.
They want to throw things up ona wall and see if it sticks.
They want to experiment andthey want that to be celebrated.
They want that to beencouraged.
They don't want that to belike, well, I don't know, this
is just the way we do it.
Like they don't want that to betampered or just downplayed.
(22:12):
They want that to be somethingthat really does drive
contribution.
Traits that would also thrivein this company would be someone
who is very self-motivated andthey don't need consistent
direction to make progress.
It's all about like, hey, tellme what the goal is, and I will
(22:33):
find the best way to get thereand I will enjoy it along the
way because part of meaningfulwork and part of fulfillment and
part of the challenge isrouting the path.
Someone who is verycollaborative and wants to work
well with others and wants toshare these ideas and hear their
(22:57):
perspective and come up with aplan that is better than anyone
could have come up with on theirown.
And it's someone who'sresilient, someone who's going
to like keep the momentum going,even when things are unsure,
even when there's roadblocks oroh, here's a problem, here's an
obstacle, this is in the way.
Okay, now what do we do aboutit?
(23:18):
Let's push through this problemto find a solution.
So these two companies are verydifferent companies, even
though they do the same thing.
And even though all of thesevalues are good and all of these
traits are good, but they eachhave their place where they were
(23:40):
going to thrive in oneenvironment far more than they
will in another.
And that's what we're doinghere is we're maximizing
contribution, we're maximizingimpact through alignment.
And it's looking at who thatindividual is on a at their base
(24:04):
level, like who they are withtheir character, who they are in
their personality.
So when you know your values,when you know what you believe,
and you understand your workstyle and how you operate, that
helps you define the traits thatare going to fit in your
culture and not just fit, butthrive, flourish, contribute in
(24:28):
a very meaningful way.
And when you know what thosetraits are, you know what you're
looking for and you can planaccordingly, you can attract
accordingly, you can messageaccordingly, you can interview
accordingly, you can hire andmake decisions accordingly, and
you can create this alignment.
And this alignment becomes thisplace where these people have
(24:52):
these shared values and theseshared traits and these shared
beliefs.
And you're building up unity,you're building up trust, you're
building up this team that issuper clear on their mission.
They know what they're goingafter, and they're enjoying the
process of doing it along theway.
And that is the most magicalthing that happens in business,
(25:16):
and which is why we're divinginto this and explaining how
this really works.
So that wraps, no, that doesnot wrap up.
So we have another component tothe culture part here.
So we have covered, sorry, sowe've covered values, we've
(25:42):
covered work style, we'vecovered traits, and there is one
more component that we will becovering, which is our
non-negotiables.
And those four components arewhat makes up whether someone
aligns with your culture.
So as always, you can learnmore at
(26:04):
ClearAuthenticBrands.com.
That's all for this episode.
I will see you in the next one.
I'm your host, Amy Dardis.
And today we're continuing ourseven-part series on creating
alignment with your people.
In this series, we're exploringthe three dimensions of
alignment (00:24):
culture, capacity, and contribution.
And we're currently focusing onthe culture dimension.
And so far, we've covered thealignment overview, talking
about the three C's of culture,capacity, and contribution.
So you know what to expect.
We've talked about valuesalignment, defining what we
(00:47):
believe as an organization.
And we've talked about workstyle alignment, which is
defining how we work and thenfinding people who are naturally
hardwired to thrive in thatsame environment based on their
individual working style.
So if you've missed thoseepisodes, you can check out
episodes 12, 13, and 14respectively.
(01:07):
But today we're diving intotraits alignment, which is
identifying the inherent traitsof people who will thrive in
your business based on theseelements that we've already
talked about, based on values,based on work style.
And business is about people.
(01:28):
I've said it before, I will sayit again.
You will hear me say that overand over and over again.
And what we believe, how weoperate, our personalities, our
backgrounds, who we are asindividuals, it shapes how we
show up.
You cannot remove theindividual from the work.
(01:49):
You can't remove the individualfrom the role.
We are the business.
We are how things get done, howwe operate.
So when we're looking to createalignment with our people
within our business, we have tolook at who people are.
(02:13):
We are not just looking attheir work experience or their
skill sets or their capacity,which we are talking about in
the next episode, little previewthere.
And no amount of coaching ortraining or performance
(02:34):
improvement plans will everchange our innate character or
our innate personality.
And so those are the two lenseswe are looking at today is
looking at when we talk abouttraits and personality traits
and characteristic traits, weare really looking at the their
(02:57):
character and their personality.
So when we look at a person'scharacter, well, what is
character?
What are those charactertraits?
Well, character traits define aperson's moral and ethical
code.
This is their internal compassfor what they believe to be
(03:20):
right and important.
So to put simply, someone'scharacter, their character
traits are going to reflect whatthey value, what they believe
in action.
Their character traits are howtheir values show up in their
(03:40):
life.
And so character is a blend ofjust how we're born, how we're
hardwired, how God designed usand created us, and this moral
sensitivity that we're bornwith.
We have different types ofpeople, some who have strong
senses of a moral compass, andsome people who have less of a
(04:05):
moral compass when they're bornjust naturally.
But then that's just one partof it.
The other parts of it are whatwe believe, what we believe
about God, what we believe aboutourself, our faith, and and how
that shapes our understandingof right and wrong, and how that
shapes the world around us andhow we act based on what we
(04:30):
believe.
And then life experience.
What light has life has taughtus about perseverance and
humility and growth and reallywhat are the experiences that
have shaped us?
And the thing about characteris it grows and it develops over
(04:51):
time through choices, throughexperiences, through discipline,
through maturity.
I mean, just think about likewhen what you were like when you
were in a teenager or yourearly 20s or when you became a
parent.
Those experiences developedyour character.
You grew, you've matured overtime, and different paths have
(05:16):
shaped what that looks like ineach of us.
And so, character, I guess, inin a spiritual sense, really is
given to us.
We see this portrayed likethrough the fruits of the Holy
Spirit.
So Galatians 5, 22 says, Butthe fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, faithfulness,
(05:40):
gentleness, and self-control.
So this isn't these this fruitthat we get to bear in our life
based on what we believe, basedon how the Holy Spirit shapes
and guides us, whether we'reabiding in Christ or whether
we're trying to forge our ownpath.
This isn't about ourpersonality or natural
(06:02):
temperament.
It's about who we're becomingthrough the work of the Holy
Spirit, based on what webelieve.
And this character reflects ourmoral and spiritual maturity.
And we had go through someseasons where that is grown and
developed intensely andsignificantly in a short amount
(06:24):
of time.
And then we have other seasonswhere it takes a lot longer.
It just depends on what's goingon in our life at the time.
But the character traits of anindividual are going to reveal
whether that someone aligns withyour values as a company,
whether they believe what youbelieve and their actions in
(06:50):
their life will prove it.
They'll reflect that.
And so some examples ofcharacter traits could be their
humility, whether they are ahumble person, being respectful,
being courageous and bold,being generous and stewarding
(07:11):
well, being responsible anddependable, their self-control,
whether that's something that'sa strong thing in their life or
if it's something that theystruggle with, whether or not
they're kind and gentle, whetheror not they are teachable and
coachable.
These are all things that canbe developed.
(07:36):
But they are something that Ibelieve innately there has to be
a seed there already.
And what we're looking for inalignment is not a development
project.
I mean, I think we're all goingto grow and develop along the
way.
So in addition to that, we'relooking at their character.
(08:18):
And then we're also looking attheir personality.
So this is this describes how aperson is naturally wired to
think, to react, and to relateto the world.
This is something we're morefamiliar with, more common with.
This is what we're we canbetter understand through things
(08:40):
like personality tests.
They are consistent with thepatterns in how we process
information, how we makedecisions, how we interact with
others.
And each of us has our ownunique personality.
And yes, that is affected byour character.
Yes, that is affected by ourbackgrounds and experiences.
(09:01):
But our personality issomething that we are born with.
We see this come out as kids,and our personality doesn't
change much over the course ofour life.
Like if we are born and we are,you know, a toddler and and a
(09:24):
kindergartner and an elementaryschool kid, and we're
extroverted and we are supercurious and we love to learn and
we're very charismatic.
And I'm just describing my myson here that has been
consistent throughout his life.
Whereas his sister, she isintroverted, she is kind and
(09:52):
compassionate and creative andempathetic and very emotionally
intuitive and reflective andobservant.
And those are things that froma very young age she has that
have come been obvious, likebeing a two-year-old, being a
(10:17):
six-year-old, being aten-year-old.
These she hasn't changed muchlike in her personality.
Like it if it's growing andit's developing, but it's very
distinct and it is veryconsistent.
So that is kind of how weoperate as individuals, and
(10:41):
these personality traits that wehave are going to reveal
whether or not someone is goingto thrive within our work style,
if they're going to thrive inthe role and the seat that
they're in, whether like thepace and structure and rhythm of
(11:04):
how you operate as the businessis going to match and
complement how they operate asan individual.
So some personality traits wemight see are whether they're
introverted or extroverted,whether or not they're assertive
or more easygoing, someone whois analytical versus creative,
(11:28):
someone who might bedetail-oriented versus big
picture and strategic, someonewho is curious, someone who is
seeking experiences, wants to bevery expressive.
I mean, these are very commonthings that we would look at.
(11:49):
Someone like when we look at aMyers-Briggs personality test or
a disc personality test or evenan Enneagram, we are looking at
like what are the things aboutthis person that seem to be
consistent across thispersonality type.
And the reason we want tounderstand these characteristics
(12:16):
and uh personality traits isbecause when we are looking to
add people to our team.
So in this world of thisclarity, alignment
accountability framework, wefirst clarify what it is we're
who we are, what we stand for,what we believe, and who it is
(12:38):
that is going to align in ourbusiness.
So we're talking aboutalignment and this culture
alignment.
So we talked about our values,we talked about what we believe
as an organization.
We talked about our workingstyle and how we operate best.
So traits are going to be whatwe're looking for in individuals
(13:03):
that are going to reflectsuccess in those areas.
And so it's a very objectiveand tangible thing that we can
look for and hold on to.
Because when we're look in thishiring process, it's going to
change what you're looking for.
It's going to change thequestions you ask.
(13:25):
It's going to change how youevaluate a candidate.
So you will be able torecognize a fit much faster.
And you won't stop, you won'twaste time on a candidate who
seems nice, who has all thesegreat qualities, but doesn't
have the right qualities foryour specific business.
(13:49):
And that really is thedifference.
Because right now, when wedon't have these traits defined,
I mean we don't have any ofthis defined, we're going into
an interview process, we'regoing into a team building
process, and we don't know whatit is that we're looking for.
(14:11):
And so when someone isdependable, when someone's
detail-oriented, when someone'screative, when someone is
outgoing, when someone ishumble, like these are all
really good things.
And so we we're like, well,what's the problem with that?
Well, there isn't a problemwith that.
The issue is that it doescreate misalignment, and
(14:35):
misalignment creates frictionand tension.
But we're not going to know howto align unless we first
describe what it is that we'relooking for first.
So this is going to help usknow who we're looking for so we
can build alignment, so we canbuild the right team of people.
It's going to help uscommunicate our expectations
(14:56):
clearly so that our team knowsexactly what behaviors and
attitudes are expected.
And because of that, then wecan hold people accountable
fairly.
So instead of having subjectiveopinions, you have clear
behavioral standards to measureagainst.
(15:17):
And then your feedback and yourcoaching and your measuring and
your looking at performance andstuff, it becomes objective.
It's consistent.
And that makes all thedifference in the world.
That specificity is what iseliminating confusion.
It's eliminating doublestandards.
It's eliminating friction.
(15:39):
And it's giving you somethingto hold on to.
It is creating these guardrailsfor our business.
And all of these elementscreate guardrails.
And that's why we do it becauseit helps us to be consistent.
It helps us to be authentic.
And that's where we're reallyable to pick up momentum, build
(16:03):
trust and loyalty and grow theway that we want to.
So bringing it back to anexample, we've introduced our
tale of two brands, and we haveour two different home building
companies with contrastingcultures, both good in their own
(16:25):
way.
So we have company A, which isprecision builders, and they
value precision and integrityand safety.
We talked about their workingstyle, they operate in a very
structured, methodical, and buythe book type of way.
They are very big ondocumentation.
They love the process and theytrust the process because that's
(16:48):
what gives them consistentresults.
Now we have company B, visionbuilders.
They value innovation andflexibility and creativity.
They operate there in a veryfast-moving, collaborative and
idea-driven way because theirgoal and objective is to find
(17:10):
better, smarter ways to build.
So precision builders, theyhave values like we do it what's
right, safety first,unimpeachable character, and
their work style is structured,detail-driven, process-oriented,
risk-averse.
So traits in individuals thatthrive here would be being
(17:38):
dependable.
Someone who follows through ontheir commitments with no
surprises.
Someone who's conscientious,someone who pays attention to
the details and takes pride indoing things right the first
time.
Someone who is calm underpressure, someone who is going
to maintain composure in safetycritical situations, someone who
(18:01):
is disciplined, someone whostays consistent with routines,
checklists, and safetyprocedures, and someone who's
accountable, someone who ownstheir mistakes, corrects them,
and communicates clearly.
So these traits, and it youdon't have to list whether it's
a character trait or apersonality trait.
(18:22):
It's just important tounderstand that we're looking
for both because we need to findalignment with both our values
and our working style.
So we want to just be specificabout what it is that we're
looking for.
And during our interviewprocess or when we're assessing
the alignment of an existingemployee, we're actually looking
(18:47):
for specific examples where wesee these traits in this
individual.
And the beauty of this istraits are about the person, not
the role.
So these traits show up in allareas of their life, or they
should.
It should be how they parent,how they are at home.
(19:09):
It should be how they serve atchurch, it should be how they
are involved in the community,it should be how they act with
their friends.
Like these are traits that areinherent to who they are, who
God created them to be.
And we can't force them, wecan't make them up, we can't
(19:30):
coach, coach them up a littlebit.
Like they either have them orthey don't.
They are either prominentdriving characteristics in this
individual's life, or they'renot.
And the best thing you can dois just answer that question
clearly and make your decisionaccordingly.
(19:51):
Now, having these traits forthis precision builder company,
if you're interviewing acandidate and they're talking
about how they love spontaneityand they're all about the big
picture and they're they loveflexibility and they don't like
to feel restricted, though youcould actually be able to tell
(20:17):
very clearly, oh wow, like thisperson is great and they might
have really great experience andthey we might like them a lot.
But because they have thesedriving characteristics, we know
we're just gonna be puttingthem into a company where there
will always be friction, therewill always be tension, and
(20:40):
that's going to kill theirmomentum.
It it'll be okay for a littlebit.
I mean, you might get a year,two years out of them, but
eventually these frictionsbecome roadblocks.
They become something thatdetract from our contribution,
they detract from meaningfulwork, they detract from unity
(21:05):
and cohesiveness.
And that becomes a problem.
That hurts performance, thathurts retention, that hurts the
team's ability to trust eachother and collaborate well
together.
So then if you're company B, ifyou're the vision builder
company who has values likechallenge the ordinary, stay
(21:29):
curious, win as a team, andtheir work style is fast-paced,
it is collaborative, it'sadaptive, it has this like
entrepreneurial spirit about it,then the traits that are gonna
thrive there are someone who'sadaptable, who can pivot quickly
when plans change.
It's someone who is creative,who wants to bring fresh ideas
(21:50):
and problem solve.
They want to throw things up ona wall and see if it sticks.
They want to experiment andthey want that to be celebrated.
They want that to beencouraged.
They don't want that to belike, well, I don't know, this
is just the way we do it.
Like they don't want that to betampered or just downplayed.
(22:12):
They want that to be somethingthat really does drive
contribution.
Traits that would also thrivein this company would be someone
who is very self-motivated andthey don't need consistent
direction to make progress.
It's all about like, hey, tellme what the goal is, and I will
(22:33):
find the best way to get thereand I will enjoy it along the
way because part of meaningfulwork and part of fulfillment and
part of the challenge isrouting the path.
Someone who is verycollaborative and wants to work
well with others and wants toshare these ideas and hear their
(22:57):
perspective and come up with aplan that is better than anyone
could have come up with on theirown.
And it's someone who'sresilient, someone who's going
to like keep the momentum going,even when things are unsure,
even when there's roadblocks oroh, here's a problem, here's an
obstacle, this is in the way.
Okay, now what do we do aboutit?
(23:18):
Let's push through this problemto find a solution.
So these two companies are verydifferent companies, even
though they do the same thing.
And even though all of thesevalues are good and all of these
traits are good, but they eachhave their place where they were
(23:40):
going to thrive in oneenvironment far more than they
will in another.
And that's what we're doinghere is we're maximizing
contribution, we're maximizingimpact through alignment.
And it's looking at who thatindividual is on a at their base
(24:04):
level, like who they are withtheir character, who they are in
their personality.
So when you know your values,when you know what you believe,
and you understand your workstyle and how you operate, that
helps you define the traits thatare going to fit in your
culture and not just fit, butthrive, flourish, contribute in
(24:28):
a very meaningful way.
And when you know what thosetraits are, you know what you're
looking for and you can planaccordingly, you can attract
accordingly, you can messageaccordingly, you can interview
accordingly, you can hire andmake decisions accordingly, and
you can create this alignment.
And this alignment becomes thisplace where these people have
(24:52):
these shared values and theseshared traits and these shared
beliefs.
And you're building up unity,you're building up trust, you're
building up this team that issuper clear on their mission.
They know what they're goingafter, and they're enjoying the
process of doing it along theway.
And that is the most magicalthing that happens in business,
(25:16):
and which is why we're divinginto this and explaining how
this really works.
So that wraps, no, that doesnot wrap up.
So we have another component tothe culture part here.
So we have covered, sorry, sowe've covered values, we've
(25:42):
covered work style, we'vecovered traits, and there is one
more component that we will becovering, which is our
non-negotiables.
And those four components arewhat makes up whether someone
aligns with your culture.
So as always, you can learnmore at
(26:04):
ClearAuthenticBrands.com.
That's all for this episode.
I will see you in the next one.
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