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Core Values Alive & Well: Family is a Blessing

By Jessica Wishart

dateWed, Dec 23, 2015 @ 09:00 AM

As we were preparing to release the new Rhythm High Performance Teams features to our clients, Iimage1.jpg have been doing a lot of thinking about Core Values. These foundational beliefs that describe a company’s culture and drive employee behavior feature prominently in any discussion around hiring and developing people. They are a big part of the Job Scorecard (which we now have a screen for in Rhythm), and maybe an even bigger aspect of the performance conversation with your leader. Now we have a report to help you rate yourself in how well you think you’re living your company's Core Values.

Core Values are about how you do what you do in your role. As I was testing the new features prior to the release and pulling together training materials for our clients, I couldn’t help but think about our own Core Values here at Rhythm Systems, especially “Family is a blessing.” Thankfully, this is not just something we say here at Rhythm Systems, but it’s something we mean. I always knew that our leadership intended for us to ensure we don’t miss the important moments with our families because of work, and I also knew that the team is always generous and willing to pitch in to cover for each other so that we can make this happen. But, I never felt the impact of this Core Value more than I have in the last few months. I just returned from twelve weeks of maternity leave - which is far more time than our small company was required to give me. During that time, our team pulled off an amazing event (our first ever Breakthrough Execution Conference). Despite all the extra work to pull the event together (not to mention getting the new software features ready that I mentioned above), my teammates across the different departments were all so willing to pitch in and cover for me. I never worried that something was going to fall through the cracks or that I’d come back to find a pile of unfinished work waiting for me. I knew that my team had my back, that they really wanted me to enjoy every minute at home with my baby and not worry about work. 


So, if I were having a performance conversation with one of my teammates and I were asked to rate them on how well they lived the Core Value, “Family is a blessing,” I would give each of them a SuperGreen! They have all consistently demonstrated commitment to helping me be there for the important moments (and to cover for me when I have to leave early to feed a fussy baby or when I need some extra time to get something done because I haven’t had enough sleep the night before). I wanted to take this opportunity to call on another of our Core Values - "Be Appreciative" - and say thank you to my amazing team, especially those of you who took something off my plate while I was on maternity leave: Nicole, Tiffany, Jenn, Chris, Melissa, Ally - I appreciate each of you more than you know! And of course, Patrick and Cindy, I appreciate the gift of time with my family!


Every year around the holidays, our team compiles our Core Values stories into a Culture Book that we typically share during the week of Thanksgiving. Not only do we enjoy reading each others’ stories and reflecting on a great year together, we also share the Culture Book with all new hires so that they can get a feel for how our Core Values come alive and are much more than just words on a poster in our break room.


How is your team doing in bringing your Core Values to life? Can you point out specific stories like this one when you or your team members demonstrated the behaviors that your Core Values inspire? How can you share those stories with everyone in your company and pass them along to new hires as well?

Happy Holidays from our Rhythm Systems family!

Executive Summary from Patrick Thean's book Rhythm

Jessica Wishart

 

Photo Credit: iStock by Getty Images