Hey guys, so this is another bonus episode, but this time as a reflection on the interview with Matthew Davis.
Matthew obviously claims as everybody does, is like,
"I'm the lawyer that's different to everybody else" but I think Matthew proved that in terms of he's absolutely about the human touch.
Which, I think if you were honest and you highlighted your biggest frustration with lawyers is that they DEHUMANIZE everything in terms of what they do.
I think Matthew's highlighted that, and he's certainly coming into his industry and he's not making a lot of friends in terms of, he's rocking the boat there. But actually, in terms of him helping him be successful and move in the right direction that he wants to move in, is definitely helping.
What I thought was really good and clear and key though was for Matthew's really clear in terms of, CULTURE IS ALMOST THE NUMBER ONE THING and I think he went as far as saying that if he didn't have a culture within his his business, then it would be an absolute mess and it would be a DESTRUCTION and THERE PROBABLY WOULDN'T EVEN BE A BUSINESS.
HE PLUGGED TWO BOOK KEY PROCESSES.
One was the book WHO which has a great sort of recruitment process and everything within it and the other was HIRING FOR ATTITUDE, which is not one that I've read—a Mark Murphy book but certainly, one that I've actually already ordered from Amazon, so it's already on my way.
Obviously, I’m saying that hire people for how you get on with them and how well you think they can fit and deliver based on your values and your culture because you can teach them the skills.
Now, I'm not saying go and hire completely unqualified people and train them to do what you do that is not what I'm saying.
What I'm saying is when you've got it down to some people who have got the bare essentials of skills, don't get blinded by the one who has the extra skills if that person doesn't meet your culture.
IF YOU DON'T HAVE A CULTURE, THEN YOU NEED ONE.
That's my honest view and opinion. In all the years that I've been in business, there have been less years that we've had a defined culture, but the years where we've had a defined culture have been far more successful and productive than the years where we didn't. And for me, I think there's some clear aspects I think to that in terms of we've got 5 core values, and a couple of underlying beliefs.
So, nobody likes being let down, and we think it's absolutely key that you don't set unrealistic expectations that you seek to understand the importance of the task that you are about to do or are doing and any deadlines and you agree with the client or a colleague, realistic time scales.
You stick to them and you communicate early regarding any challenges that you may have that may cause it to go off track. And this just comes from the underlying principle: “People don't like being lied to”.
If I said to you, for example, "Can you make sure that you get me those numbers and those results back to me by Friday so that I can make some decisions on them?"
What you then do is you go, "Okay, great."
Do you promise to do that?
And then that person needs to say back to you, "Yes, I promise that I will deliver those numbers back to you by Friday so you can make the decisions."
Calling something and labeling it a promise-- It's just game changer. The very association of the word promise is one that we've already got underlying within us that YOU DON'T BREAK PROMISES.
So actually, I won't commit and say that if I don't think I can deliver.
Being a closed book just doesn't help anybody.
We don't believe that there is work life and home life. Just life it's just that. It's just life.
And being open and honest about your whole life, then we can be empathetic then to the circumstances that you've maybe got going on and together we can work towards growth and positivity. So, if there is some degree of challenge going on in your life, let's say maybe it is at home and we're not aware of it, it's going to come to work, but you're a human being and it's just normal.
So just we believe in being open and honest. Talk to us about it. We'll tell you about things that we've got going on.
So, if there is this sort of just one life, then the balance of life is key and it's fundamental that we believe in living a healthy life. So, we've got core hours for each role, but there's also outcomes and responsibilities, and there's going to be occasions where flexibility maybe need in order to achieve those outcomes and responsibilities.
And you have to take responsibility to act accordingly.
So, we want the right people who want to take responsibility for themselves and their role.
Because as a team we support and empower each other and there will be occasions where you need to go outside of the standard scope of your role to help out a colleague.
And yes, in some respects, we expect it, but it shouldn't be done because we expect it. It should be done because that person just thinks it's the right thing to do.
And so, from our opinion, Respect Is Absolutely Everything. It's just a given. It doesn't need to be earned.
It can be lost, but it doesn't need to be earned. And respect shouldn't come just because of somebody's position. It shouldn't bd because somebody's senior to you and you shouldn't expect it because you are senior to somebody else. It should be given and it should be received just because WE'RE HUMAN BEINGS.
And being able to be candid with someone about their weaknesses and mistakes, that can still be respect AS LONG AS YOU DELIVER IT WITH LOVE.
So, you've got these five values here. You do what you say, you be open and honest, take responsibility, be a team player and show respect. Then we have an underlying element:
They're not overly complex.
They're relatively straightforward human nature, but actually without it being defined, if I've just given you those five titles, they're open to interpretation. So, we define what each of them mean. THAT'S THE CULTURE.
Being a team player, for example, somebody who takes responsibility maybe as well, somebody who's able to do things with respect, doing what they say they're going to do, and being open and honest along the way for us is just huge.
And if somebody can't do that, it doesn't really matter how good they are in terms of their technical abilities.
THE CULTURE IS KEY.
