A Thriving Culture, Core Values fuel Michigan’s trip to the Final Four

Michigan’s 2013 trip to the final four began in 2010, just after Michigan completed a disappointing 15-17 season. John Beilein met with his new coaching staff and answered some fundamental questions that defined his leadership as Michigan’s head coach. Questions like: “Who are you? What do you stand for? How would you define it?” The questions were answered and written down. Ultimately the staff settled on five words that truly defined the leadership of Michigan’s basketball program: Unity. Passion. Appreciation. Integrity. Diligence. Since that time, Michigan has focused on recruiting players that embody these core values. Not every potential recruit embodies these core values. This reduced the number of prospective players that they could choose from, but Michigan was o.k. with that.

By consistently leading with these core values, Michigan’s basketball program is now having its best season in nearly two decades. It’s no coincidence, and it didn’t happen overnight. Repetition, leading by example, and consistency around these core values has helped build Michigan’s thriving team culture to where it is today.

The Michigan coaching staff was able to avoid several common pitfalls that I’ve seen leadership teams fall into all too often when defining their own core values. In the EOS Process, core values are the foundation for company culture. It’s important that they are written down, so that they can be used to ensure all of your current and future team members embody your core values. It takes time, but if you lead by example, consistently communicate your core values to your people, and only hire people that embody them, one day you will look around and be amazed by your thriving culture. If you aren’t amazed with your company culture today, then think about your core values when reading the following points of what core values ARE and what they are NOT:

• Core Values ARE:
  • The unique definition of your culture. They truly define what the leadership cares about and values most
  • The handful of rules that everyone within the company embodies
  • Timeless guiding principles. They should ring true even when your company is 10 times the size it is today.

• Core Values are NOT
  • Created to be an external marketing message for your website or brochures
  • Aspirational. They are not created to solve cultural problems like: accountability, profit-focused, hard working, respectful, or work life balance.
  • Copied from another company just because they “sound good”. No two companies have the same culture.

If your company culture is not where you would like it to be, and you want to hear more about how to make your core values work for you, then call me (586)703-8638 to schedule a complimentary 90 minute meeting.

Or you can register for one of my upcoming workshops:

• Wednesday, April 10^th 7:30-9:30am Bloomfield Birmingham Chamber: Register Here

• Wednesday, May 22^nd 12:00-1:30pm, Skyline Club: Register Here