interview

Initial publishing on HR Boost.

I am interviewing Garrett Mintz, the founder of Ambition In Motion, to discuss mentor programs for small and medium-sized businesses. Garrett and his team have done extensive research into mentorship and what works and doesn’t work for implementing mentor programs. Garrett’s big focus is on leveraging the research of Work Orientation and its impact on successful mentor relationships which he shares about in this interview.

That everybody already knows everybody or that they don’t have time for mentorship.

So often, I will hear from small to medium sized business owners that they don’t see a need for an employee mentor program because everybody has already worked at the company for 5+ years and that everyone knows everyone pretty well. Or that the issues between employees can’t be resolved so they are fine with leaving them unresolved and continuing on with business as normal. Or that they don’t have time for mentorship.

What most business owners are blind to is the fact that most conversations at work are superficial: “How are your kids?” “What did you do over the weekend?” “Did you complete that project?”

You have enough of these conversations over and over and over and you feel like you “know” somebody…but you really don’t.

Of course!

One of our clients does tax accounting in Indianapolis. They are a 14 person firm and we started the mentor program in January.

It would be an understatement to say that the participants in our mentor program were busy and skeptical about this program. We are entering the heat of tax season and they are embarking on a mentor program…in a 14 person company where everyone knows everyone.

Needless to say, they were skeptical.

Brad and John are employees of this firm and they were matched together. Brad is a manager at the company and has been there for over 15 years. John started within the past year but has been friends with Brad for the past 3 years. In fact, Brad helped him land this job. Since they both had been friends for the past 3 years, they thought they already knew everything about each other.

They scheduled a 60 minute meeting for their first mentor meeting but were concerned that they wouldn’t have enough to talk about because they already knew each other so well.

The result…the meeting lasted for 90 minutes…they only got through 1 question on the meeting agenda we provided them…they had to schedule a second meeting in the same month complete the meeting agenda.

They learned so much about each other that they didn’t already know. They opened up about their background, their work history, their work goals, and how their personalities meshed well with each other. 

Brad and John have never had conversations like this at work before. They are now getting their work done more efficiently because they have a better understanding of what each person does and what they need as opposed to working in their own silos. Because of this increased efficiency, they are now starting on projects that were pushed out way down the line in the company’s strategic road map.

This was all accomplished within the first month of implementing the mentor program!

These types of stories happen all of the time.

The key thing that we are doing that is different from most mentor programs is we are using the research behind Work Orientation to facilitate our mentor program.

My team and I have learned that when you match based on status within the company, years of experience, or learning a specific skill, that the mentor relationship becomes a transaction where the mentor gets nothing and only the mentee has something to gain. The issue with matching people together based on transactional metrics is that it lacks staying power and depth. Once a mentee achieves what he/she is after – or loses patience with achieving the goal, the relationship ends because the mentee has no need for the mentor anymore (e.g. after a promotion or learning a certain skill). 

This is a problem because the staying power of mentorship is what increases its impact to a business’s bottom line significantly over time.

If you can create webs of mentor relationships across your company, significantly more collaboration can occur, your team can innovate more easily, and your culture can thrive. People will show up more engaged for work every day and the ability to attract new talent to the company will happen more naturally because your employees will become ambassadors for your company, encouraging their friends and strangers to take advantage of joining the team if they get the opportunity.

My team and I have tested multiple personality tests and areas of research. We have garnered varying degrees of success with different personality assessments, but by far the most effective research area is Work Orientation. Work Orientation is how you view your work. Some people view their work as a career, while others view their work as a calling, while others view their work as a job. Work Orientation is fluid and there isn’t a right or wrong Work Orientation. When Work Orientation is aligned for a mentoring relationship, the likelihood that relationship lasts for 6 months and is considered both productive and quality is 400% greater than traditional mentor matching methods. Regardless of the department a person is in, years of experience, or status in the company, if Work Orientation is aligned for a mentor relationship, they are 400% more likely to last for 6 months and be considered productive and quality than matching on transactional metrics like the ones previously stated.

The time investment from employees in our mentor program is between 1 and 4 hours per month. If we are assuming 166 hours worked per month that is less than 2.4% of their time.

There has been extensive research on the correlation between mentorship and work engagement and between work engagement and productivity. Essentially, if you can measure engagement changes in employee mentor program participants over time, you can measure how much more productive they are at work. This manifests itself in more sales, better customer service, greater collaboration between teams, and overall happier employees. If you can increase the likelihood of successful mentorship by 400% and continue implementing successful mentorship over time (e.g. building webs of connection), you can create a significantly positive impact on the bottom line.

A couple of years ago when I was interviewing companies, I would ask a similar question in all of my interviews.

Me (in an interview): “So tell me a little about your company’s culture?”

Recruiter: “Great question. We have a very youthful and innovative culture here at                company. We have casual Fridays and an annual philanthropic event that many of our employees participate in called                        .”

Me: (not trying to pry or insult) “ahh, thanks for letting me know.”

What I really wanted to ask was ‘what the heck does that even mean?’ In defense of the recruiter, that is a very difficult question to answer.

To understand why that is a difficult question to answer, let’s dive into what organizational culture is. According to study.com:

“Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations. These shared values have a strong influence on the people in the organization and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs.”

So, according to the recruiter that I interviewed, she kind of answered the question. Although, it didn’t really help me as a college student who at the time had no preconceived notion of what organizational culture was. The recruiter telling me about her youthful and innovative culture tells me that the company is trying to adapt to the changing future. Her telling me about casual Fridays tells me how the employees dress on Fridays and the philanthropic event tells me how some of the employees act during that once a year period when the event is going on.

But what about the shared values, beliefs and assumptions? How am I supposed to create a picture of what a company’s culture is like without this information?

To play devil’s advocate, if people know about casual Fridays, but think that it is a joke or would rather not change their dress routine for one day of the week, how pertinent to the culture of the company are casual Fridays? If there seems to be a trend that the people who participate in this annual philanthropic event get higher bonuses (maybe because the owner, president, or board started this organization or is heavily invested in this organization), is it really optional and (if it is perceived as not optional because those who don’t participate in the philanthropic event tend to not get bonuses) does it really contribute to the culture of the company? If the only reason the recruiter described her company’s culture as youthful and innovative because she recently hired a bunch of recent college graduates and the term “innovative” tends to attract young people, is the culture really energetic and willing to try new things that shape how business is done in the future? These are hypothetical questions, but questions nonetheless that I am still left wondering as a student interviewing a company (that I don’t feel comfortable asking for fear of insulting).

The reason why asking the recruiter what her company’s culture is like is a difficult question is because it is her opinion.

Organizational cultures are not universally good or universally bad for every person. Just because two organizations have the exact same activities (i.e. casual Fridays and philanthropic events) doesn’t mean that those activities are received the same way at each company by the employees. Some employees may hate those types of activities while other employees may love them and an employee’s love or hatred for doing an activity may depend on who they are doing that activity with (i.e. their colleagues).

Just because a company writes on its website their values and beliefs, doesn’t necessarily mean that the employees share them.

When hired, every person enters the hiring company with a set of values and beliefs. That individual has an influence on the overall culture, but will ultimately have to adapt their values and beliefs to that of what already exists at the company. The individual can either fight those values and beliefs by not seeing how their values and beliefs can be fulfilled through the company or they can buy into the culture of the company.

Many employees for a company fall in between these two choices because they have not taken the time to think about their own values and beliefs and how they pertain to the company in which they are working. Many employees accept their job for what it is without acknowledging or appreciating the little things their company may be trying to do to make their work more enjoyable.

Ultimately, it is up to the individual applying for the job or as an employee within the company to decide what the company’s culture is like. It is up to this individual to understand their own values and beliefs and see how those values and beliefs are being fulfilled by the company. If this understanding can be developed by all or at least a majority of the employees within a company, organizational culture can thrive.

In the United States, 45% of businesses don’t make it past five years. 65% don’t make it past ten years. Yet everyone who ever starts a business backs themselves to beat the odds. Is it possible to predict if a business will be a success or a failure in its future? 

Recently, there have been many layoffs in the US, specifically within technology companies. There are 159 million people currently employed in the US, and in the past month there were 1.3 million layoffs.

“There have been several thousand high-profile layoffs in the tech sector in the past couple of weeks. While this is unfortunate, it is useful to keep in mind that the labor market is significantly larger and has been overall healthy,” Bledi Taska, chief economist at labor market consulting and research firm Lightcast, said.

Today’s economic uncertainties have fueled an unstable job market and created an unsettling environment in the workplace – where the lack of transparency, internal politics, the growing number of siloed departments and hidden agendas have made it more difficult to trust yourself, let alone others. What appears to be an endless path of disorganized chaos is now “the new normal.” As such, we must become mentally tough and learn to anticipate the unexpected. 

Employees must approach the workplace through a lens that can detect potholes of distrust while staying focused on seeing and seizing the next opportunity.

 

There is no one formula that companies use when they need to let go of staff to cut costs. Some organizations may subscribe to the “last one in, first one out” model. Management prefers to keep the long-time staff and pink slip the new employees who just started at the company.

Leadership wants to field the best team. They’ll protect the “A-players” and let go of those who are not top performers. People with highly specialized skills that are hard to replace may be overlooked for dismissal, whereas workers that possess talents that are easily replaced are not safe.

 

            If you are in a revenue-generating division, the odds are high that you’ll be safer than the people working in a cost center. It’s a cold reality that employees and groups that bring in the money generally have more leverage than others who can’t point to adding dollars to the bottom line. In tough times, businesses need people who can ring the register. Those who may be terrific workers, but are not revenue-centric, may have a more challenging time holding onto their job.

            Human resources may weigh in on decisions of who stays and who will be shown the door. They’ll search through personnel records to review performance reviews, look for any recommendations and see if a person committed infractions, violated rules or has a history of causing problems.

            The chief financial officer and accounting team may crunch the numbers and determine that senior employees will be culled. Older workers, on average, tend to earn more than younger staff members because of years of experience. It's not fair, but their higher compensation places a target on their backs. 

It's convenient for the company to say they are just dissolving a unit that has many senior people with sizable pay packages. The business can downsize to fewer highly compensated professionals instead of many mid to junior staff members.

There needs to be a better way for employees to make more strategic evaluations of their employers. From an operational and business perspective, you should be able to predict that your employer will be able to pay your salary, commit to the number of hours per week that you sign on for, and be able to maintain your employment given the success of the company. 

 

 

Even though initiating conversations with current employees might feel a bit awkward at first, the payoff is well worth it. Talking with them is the absolute best way to discover if a company’s branding/messages are accurate and trustworthy. Plus, you’ll get a chance to learn if their interview promises align with their everyday actions.

For example, you might expect your potential employer to provide updated training to any employees affected by automation or innovation.

Don’t just network with your soon-to-be boss or hiring manager. Reach out to potential co-workers. Those who are in the trenches will be able to share if leaders follow through with employee feedback, honor their mission, fulfill promises, etc.

 

Every prospective employer is vying for top talent, which means they’ll try to make the business look as appealing as possible. Many are doing this by expanding their employer brand and focusing on something all candidates agree on, making the world a better place. 

If you browse the company’s social feed or website, you might see stories sharing how they’ve served the local community, or posts featuring employees’ opportunities for volunteering. But it’s important to understand that they’re creating the narrative they want you to see. What’s their true societal impact?

Social media is good at distorting reality. So, turn to Google and do your own digging: Research the company’s title, leaders’ names, etc. to learn if your prospective employer presents accomplishments in an honest, trustworthy manner.

 

3. Compare reviews to the career site 

Piggybacking off the idea that businesses want to appear as appealing as possible, be wary of company career sites. Each one is designed to draw you in and make you feel connected. A prospective employer will share its best features, such as:

 

●       Competitive pay

●       Amazing benefits

●       Flexibility

●       Work-life balance

●       Paid time off

 

But before you get too excited at the thought of having found your dream job, check out a few review sites. Glassdoor, for example, is a great place to find company reviews from current and former employees. Compare those reviews to the career site promises to measure the truth behind employers’ claims.

 

The interview isn’t just about proving how well you fit with the company, they also need to prove that they’re a good fit for you. Use the time you have together to let them know that employee-employer trust is a critical factor in your decision-making process.

Be direct in your questions and focus on what’s most important to you. For example, if you want to know you can trust the employer’s promise to deliver career development and opportunities to advance, ask for specific examples of how they’ve done this in the past. Then, take things one step further and ask how they plan to provide the same to you (should you receive an offer).

Trust is a two-way street; be transparent in what you have to offer, and your prospective employer will likely do the same.

It is challenging to demonstrate your company's culture in an interview yet, the hiring process is fundamental to organizational success, growth and innovation. The makeup of your team determines productivity, efficiency and the culture practiced in the workplace. 

In interviews, candidates are considering if this is the company for them, if their values align with your firm, and if they will be able to thrive on your team. As the interviewer, you should evaluate the same things. Recruiting “matches” for your company is a crucial part of the sculpting of your company culture. 

You may also struggle with how to be genuine and inclusive of all different backgrounds and experiences. Working towards embracing differences allows companies to enhance problem solving and creativity, encouraging employees to work together in growing through different sets of strengths and weaknesses. In addition to bettering the current workforce, practicing inclusivity will help attract candidates to strengthen the team. 

Using the hiring process as a mutually beneficial proceeding allows both you, as the recruiter, and the candidate to have insight on the potential and future possible. This allows both parties to better understand how aligned their future paths and values are. Being analytical and intentful throughout the process can help you better identify strong candidates who will fit in as a teammate and colleague, both professionally and socially.  

Here are 4 steps on being able to demonstrate your company culture throughout the recruiting process:

 To best demonstrate your company's culture throughout the recruiting process, start by focusing on getting employees on board with your decided culture and values. If every employee is able to effectively demonstrate your cultures, it will be reflective in recruiting. If employees fail to follow set culture practices and examples, it will be challenging to express the culture your firm either has or is working towards. 

To help find employees that will hop on board with your company culture, carefully select behavioral interview questions that will reveal if this person's ideal workplace culture and values are aligned with your companies. To best get employees to follow new goals, select values that a lot of employees already believe in or prioritize at work. 

In exhibiting company culture, many recruits will find honesty, transparency and authenticity in the recruiter to be important. In hiring, you should be open and willing to talk about future opportunities, learning and development that may be available to participate in. Take this as an opportunity to demonstrate the firm's dedication to its employees and that they are valued members of the team. 

This also brings the counter, being honest about your challenges. Whether it be within culture, technology or any other aspect of your operation, share what you see needing work to help pinpoint your strengths while acknowledging you may still have some weaknesses and opportunities for growth. To help clarify this step, consider using cultural terms and values in the job description. This will help filter to those who are aligned with your values. 

Consider bringing candidates to lunch or to a more casual event other than an interview. This will help you showcase the authentic culture of your company. Instead of explaining your culture and values, show it. Allowing you to get a better look at some of your recruiting candidates, see how they act and if they will fit in socially and professionally with your current workforce. Teamwork is key in all offices and having a difficult team member can heavily detriment projects or discourage teammates.  

For improvement in recruiting, seek feedback from all parties involved. Just as your firm may provide potential hires with feedback, you should ask the same. Ask what could have run smoother or been done differently and if they have enjoyed their interactions with all of the firm's personnel. Internally, seek feedback from interviewers, new-hires and executives that are involved in the process. Find new ways to improve and exhibit the culture you have cultivated. Additionally, requesting feedback builds a culture of transparency and openness from an executive level. Being available to hear new ideas or revisions to the process can sincerely aid you in further growth.

Moving forward in the hiring process, be intentional and cognizant of your actions. It is crucial to consider your potential recruits’ perspective and outlook on the process and how an executive outlook may differ in intentions and perspective. 

Consider references and establish a pipeline of candidates, whether that be at the university level or on hiring from within. Being able to have a reliable network of potential candidates will allow you to be more selective with their hiring and lead to better fits. 

Another aspect that executives can sometimes struggle with is finding a genuine way to approach diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring. Be conscious of diversity in all aspects, diversity of thought, background in addition to physical forms of diversity. Focus on genuine hiring practices, and prioritize finding value in diverse experiences that allow your company to grow and for new backgrounds to influence for a better future with your team. Be authentic and genuine, be inclusive and be considerate of others' experiences. 

The key to having a strong recruiting process and good experience is investing in your people, creating an authentic culture and being transparent in your conversations. Be intentional with the impact you leave with each candidate and focus on your company brand to produce an appealing and accurate image to those in the job market.