culture trumps strategy: how to inspire hospitality in your business

Culture Trumps Strategy

Dan BergerFounder and CEO

Social TablesApril 2016

How to inspire hospitality in your business

@danberger | @socialtables | 2016

Audience-Presenter Agreement

● Leave at any time. ⏳

● I’m @danberger.

● Steal everything.

● Participation encouraged. �

I am a participant.

I am a planner.

I am a vendor.

4,000 customers

100 countries

3 languages

Over 1.5 billion sq. ft. of event space

Over 1 million events created

Over 100 million attendees impacted

127 employees

Raised $10 million

Founded in 2011

I am a participant.

I am a planner.

I am a believer.

I am a vendor.

I am a participant.

I am a planner.

I am a believer.

I am a vendor.

I am an HR Lady.

Helped Write a Book on Onboarding

Worked as an HR Consultant

Certified Human Capital Strategist

#3 Best Place to Work (WaPo)

Hottest Culture Award (NVTC)

Best Company Culture (SmartCEO)


Learning Objectives

● Learn how to deliberately develop your company’s culture.

● Learn how to make hiring a competitive advantage.

● Learn a new set of tools for today’s executive.


92% millennial (born 1981 or later)


Learning Objectives

● Learn how to deliberately develop your company’s culture.

● Learn how to make hiring a competitive advantage.

● Learn a new set of tools for today’s executive.


Turn to a neighbor and describe your culture.


As soon as the a team has more than one person, it has a culture.


The Shared Values

also known as Core Values


If you don’t address cultural issues, you will start accruing cultural debt.

Shared Values

• Customer First. We are a customer service company that happens to do much more.

• Teams are Families. We care for one another, trust each other, and empower each other.

• Decidedly Determined. We pursue our goals with passion and purpose.

• High Quality. Done is better than perfect but we don’t stop until we over-deliver.

• Every Day is a School Day. We never stop growing through feedback and learning.

• Constant Innovation. We build the best to be the best.

• Stay Lean. We snack small but dream in 10 courses.

• Always Honest. We are transparent, ethical and open in our communication.

• Be Outrageous. A little weird and always fun.


Shared values are not something you settle on.


The Mission and Vision

the mission statement explains what an organization does, who it does it for, and how it does it.

It is measureable.

a vision statement describes an optimal future state of what an organization wants the world to look like.

It is your North Star.


As a team grows, subcultures develop.

# GTC

Title

● Text


Company culture is iterative because it’s constantly evolving.


It All Starts with Hiring


Person-Task Fit Person-Job Fit Person-Supervisor Fit

Person-Team Fit Person-Vocation Fit Person-Organization Fit

The Person-Environment (P-E) Fit Construct

2x

Recommended Reading: Who


Hiring Best Practices

● Create a Scorecard for each position.

○ Mission | Outcomes | Competencies

● Open every position to internal candidates.

● Use interviewing as a reward for top performers.

● Interview for culture fit, not just job fit. Weigh them equally.

● Don’t override interviewers.


Why I Interview Every Employee

● Shows that we care.

● Get to know them.

● Set performance expectations.

● Collect feedback on interview process.

● Insight into our employer brand.


Make hiring a competitive advantage.


First and Foremost: Know Thyself


● Operating Principles are meant to help you make decisions.

● They are your guideposts when you have choices.

● They are the things you drive toward and don’t settle on.

● Share them with anyone that will listen.

Operating Principles


What are your operating principles?


● Be an Employer of Choice for the right people.

● Build a product people love, backed by unparalleled customer service.

● Maximize shareholder value for all.

My Operating Principles


Visioning

● You can’t make decisions for your business if you don’t

know what you want first.

● Activities to help you figure this out:

○ Write your eulogy or obituary

○ Interview a future version of yourself

○ Create a Vivid Vision


Dan was known for inspiring his employees

and customers to be better and push

themselves--both personally and

professionally. Dan inspired employers to be

better by urging them to focus on reinventing

the meaning of the workplace.

“


The Vivid Vision

● A memo written in the present form 3 years from today

○ Far enough to dream... close enough to think about.

● Answer the following questions:

○ When you peer into the future, what do you see?

○ What do you want to be there?

○ What materializes in front of you as the epitome of success?


The company’s focus on innovation hasn’t seized.

Earlier in the month during the 3rd Annual Social

Tables Conference, where 3,000 Tablers,

customers, partners, and industry leaders gathered

at DC’s Convention Center, we unveiled a prototype

of Banqueto, the world’s first Banquet Setup Robot.

“


The Manager’s Modern Toolkit


The DDO


● A social contract with employees.

● An opportunity to be yourself.

● The idea that work shouldn’t only make you a better

professional but also a better person.

The Deliberately Developmental Organization


Social Tables


Connecting | Q&A

email: [email protected]

twitter: @danberger

snapchat: danjberger

culture trumps strategy: how to inspire hospitality in your business

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