The other month I was interviewing a potential GM for our consulting business (Chalfont) and she asked me among other things (and I paraphrase) “What is it about Aurec that keeps you there?”
The immediate thing that came to mind and that resonates with me (and I believe resonated with her) is that Aurec is ‘The Team I Want To Win With!’
Let me talk about this a bit further. Why is this so?
It all comes down to the DNA/Core of our business. The people!
This is where it really does start. At the core of our business, in our hiring principles are that we look for Good Humans.
Just Good Humans
Our team is filled with quality human beings. People who genuinely love/care about what they do, how they do it, the impact they have on others (internally and externally) and want to make a difference. I believe we have managed to bring together a group of ‘good humans’ who are on a shared journey together.
But good humans alone is not enough. We also have diversity in our group and the space for people to be themselves.
Be Yourself
What do we mean by “Be Yourself”? It’s really about authenticity and being able to bring your whole self to work. It’s about being you. I believe we give our team the tools, processes, mindset and meaningful work but celebrate their individuality. Each person has their own story and their own spin on how the work is done. That doesn’t mean we don’t challenge the process, psychology or approach but we know that when our people can just “be themselves” they will attract the right customers and ultimately be more fulfilled.
This also feeds into our thoughts around having the right people, in the right roles, where they are the most engaged. I will talk about this further in a future blog post.
Shared History / Journey
We are lucky enough to have a team filled with tenure (in each of our states) and this has created a shared history together. Our history has been filled with amazing growth over the last 10 years and this has brought us all together. From serviced offices to where we are now in each state, each person (past and present) has had an impact into the business we have become. We have learnt from our mistakes, laughed, had fun, driven success and changed lives.
This is complimented by our shared journey ahead so that everyone in our business can align towards where we are chasing. This is far from perfect yet, but with greater communication, onboarding, great leaders, quality humans and a big vision it improves every month.
In addition to this we are all working towards our mantras of:
1. Relentless Pursuit of Personal Growth
2. One Team
3. People First
As our world begins to open up more I think we will begin to see more of the outworkings of this across our group.
Relentless Pursuit Of Personal Growth
Teams that grow together, (and win together) stay together! I have a huge passion as a leader to see people consistently grow. The more people grow holistically, the better they are as humans, the better they become at their craft, the better results they achieve and ultimately the bigger impact they have on the people they serve.
This pursuit should also be backed by science with a focus on strengths. We have used Gallup Strengths to identify advantages across the individuals in our team, an inventory as a group and how we can use that to continue to grow.
We have a team full of people who want to win and leaders who are passionate about everyone becoming the best version of themselves. This has created a culture where we believe everyone can win (it’s not mutually exclusive) and we all raise each other up to another level.
Candour & Care
A huge part of our DNA at Aurec is Candour & Care.
This is very evident in our Executive Team and flows done to all levels of our organisation. We can have direct conversations as we have built relationships where each member knows that we care for them personally. This doesn’t happen overnight but with repeated actions that show you care for that person. With a high level of care comes the space for candour. It’s all about balance. I love the illustration of this below as I think it captures this concept well. It’s from Kim Scott’s book – Radical Candour.
Candour and care aren’t a concept you can win but it one that you need to be constantly reflecting on and improving.
I love these thoughts from John Maxwell on Candour & Care. “Strike a balance between care and candour. Care without candour creates dysfunctional relationships. Candour without care creates distant relationships. Care with candour creates developing relationships.”
In addition he shares:
Caring values the person while candour values the persons potential!
Caring establishes the relationship while candour expands it.
Caring defines the relationship but candour directs it. (keep a results focus)
Caring should never supress candour. While candour should never displace caring.
From my experience you also need to ensure that you are capable with seeing your team with fresh eyes everyday. People evolve, relationships evolve and you need to challenge your own perceptions, blindspots and the lens you see people through.
All of the above sounds positive and almost too good to be true. The above doesn’t mean we don’t have conflict. Our team feels like a family……but even families want to kill each other from time to time 😊
There will always be challenges within a high performance culture, there will be conflict, but I believe that at the end of the day if you can align to solid foundations (relentless pursuit of personal growth, one team, people first) and have a culture of high care and candour then there is more grace to work through issues as they arise.
Conflict is inevitable. We are all humans at the end of the day. I am far from perfect, as are those across our team, however conflict handled well builds trust and further levels us up collectively.
I could write further about all the other attributes that make the Aurec/Chalfont team the team that I want to win with (ie fun, empowerment, accountability, passion, results, celebrating success etc etc) but I don’t want to share all our secret sauce or write a book……yet.😊
But at the end of the day I have a simple test; When I walk into each of our offices and look at our people what is the phrase/triggers that come in my mind? For me that is “This Is The Team That I Want to Win With” and “These Are The People’s Lives I Want To Change”.
These might sound cliché but I hope that for each one of our Aurec/Chalfont team, from the newest starters to our longest tenured in the team, that in all that I do they know this to be true.
Let’s keep chasing that next level together!
#highperformance #performance #growth #culture #leadership #win #winning #theteamiwanttowinwith #morningswithMC
Comments