As a people company, our core values matter. They are guiding lights for how we show up for each other. They are the pillars we measure ourselves, and our clients, against to see if we’re a good culture fit. And they are what we always go back to before making a major business decision.
Recently, our journey through EOS has shined a light on the true significance of our core values as a foundational part of our business. As a result, we’ve made some changes to bake them into the day-to-day of how we operate, from celebrating our wins to owning where we fall short.
Now, before I get ahead of myself, here’s a recap of our core values (in case you don’t have them plastered on your walls like we do here)…
TKG's Core Values
Excellence
Our commitment to excellence means we hold our work to a high standard, striving for real results to help our partners achieve their goals.
Integrity
We are always honest and put in our best effort. That includes owning our mistakes both internally and transparently with our clients.
Partnership
We treat each other and our partners like family, giving each other grace and respect. We understand that each other’s success is dependent on truly working for each other.
Family
We mean it when we say family comes first. We are committed to doing our jobs right to take care of each other, but our business needs always come behind the needs of our families.
Community
We believe in supporting our communities and giving back to make them stronger through our work, service and financial resources.
Fun
We love what we do, so we have fun while working hard. We also believe true partnerships are built on good times, so we invest in opportunities to have fun with our families and partners.
Core purpose
When we grow alongside our clients, we bring prosperity to the communities we serve and provide access to better lifestyles for their teams and ours.
What Those Mean to Us in Practice
Everyone at TKG feels strongly about those core values, and we’re all committed to living them out, but in formalizing those values, we also recognized a need to find ways to keep them top-of-mind as we do our work.
Here’s a rundown of how we’re weaving them in:
Pulling values into the hiring, review and firing process
It might sound harsh, but now our core values guide how we hire and fire. In every interview, we compare candidates against those core values, and in our quarterly and yearly check-ins, we do the same. If someone is below the bar in the People Analyzer (the handy EOS tool we use for the comparison), they’re simply not a fit for our culture.
Revamping our employee of the month award
For the longest time, we called our employee of the month “The Great Brain” and honored someone who had generally gone above and beyond. With a recommitment to elevating our core values, we saw that award as an opportunity. Now, our monthly employee recognition is called the “MVP Award,” shining a light on the most “VALUE-able” player who exemplifies the selected value of the month (they still get the prime parking spot, though).
Instituting annual employee recognition
Every year, we all gather for a company-wide camping trip where we spend a few days out of the office connecting with each other and our families. This year, we will honor an employee who has shown our “values in practice” throughout the year with the “VIP Award.” We want our employee recognition to represent the values we measure ourselves against all year long.
Emphasizing our values at all-company meetings
Now, we’re not just thinking about our core values when it’s time to give out an award. We’re also pulling our values into all-company meetings and quarterly/annual updates. It’s easy to get caught in the shuffle of daily tasks and projects, so every time we take a moment to pause and reconvene, we use it as a time to reflect on our values and what they mean to us.
Vetting our potential partners
Undeniably, our best clients also share our core values. When we enter initial sales conversations, we like to have Sync Up meetings where we learn about the people we might be working with to make sure we align on personalities and values. That’s our best chance at kicking off partnerships that stand the test of time.
Want to learn more about our core values? Need help crafting your own? Contact the TKG team to chat. We’d be happy to help.
