In brief
- When someone says an employee is great, they’re describing a behavior. Ask what it is.
- Ask often enough and the answers form a pattern: the standard your culture actually runs on.
- Once that pattern has a name, you can hire for it and teach it.
You hear it all the time, even if you’ve stopped noticing. “She’s great.” “He’s so easy to work with.” “Ask for Renee, she’ll take care of you.” A customer leaves a review that mentions one employee by name. A department head stops you in the hallway to tell you how much she enjoys working with someone on your team.
Most leaders take the compliment, say “That’s good to hear,” and move on.
That’s understandable. It’s a nice moment, and there’s no problem to solve. But every one of those comments is pointing at something specific, and when you let it go by, you lose the most useful part.
A compliment is a clue
When someone says an employee is great, they’re handing you a conclusion. They noticed something, liked it, and summed it up in two words. What they noticed is the part you need.
Almost always, it’s a behavior. People rarely praise each other for finishing tasks on time. They praise the way someone works: how she explains things, how he handles a mistake, how she makes a frustrated customer feel heard. Those behaviors are what your customers and coworkers value, whether or not anyone at your company has ever put them in writing.
It’s the same job requirement nobody wrote down. Compliments are where it shows itself. Every “she’s great” is a small piece of the culture your best people are already living.
Step 1: Ask the follow-up question
The next time you hear it, ask one more question:
What is it about her that makes her great to work with?
Then, if you can, ask for an example. “Tell me about a time she did that.”
The answers are more specific than you’d expect:
- “She never makes me feel stupid for asking a question.”
- “When something goes wrong, she tells you right away, and she usually has a fix ready.”
- “He remembers people. Customers come back and he knows their names.”
- “She’ll tell you the truth even when it’s not what you want to hear.”
Each of those is a behavior. You can see it, you can describe it, and you can look for it in someone else. That makes it something you can hire for and something you can teach.
Step 2: Listen for the pattern
One answer is a nice story. Ten answers start to tell you something about your company.
Ask the question often, and ask it of different people: customers, coworkers, managers, people in other departments. Write the answers down. Over a few months, the same words will start to repeat, about different employees, from people who have never compared notes. When three people describe three different employees with the same behavior, you’re no longer looking at personality. You’re looking at a standard your culture runs on.
Pay attention to the other side, too. When people quietly avoid working with someone, ask the same question in reverse: what gets in the way? The answers are often the same behaviors, missing.
Step 3: Compare the clues to what you say
Sometimes what people praise lines up with the values on your website. Sometimes it doesn’t.
A company might say it values innovation, while every compliment it hears is about dependability: she always follows through, he never drops the ball. That gap is worth knowing about. It tells you the culture people actually experience is different from the one you describe, and it shows you which one your customers keep coming back for.
Step 4: Turn the clues into a definition
Clues aren’t a definition yet. A list of compliments tells you what people value. To use it, the pattern needs a name, a clear picture of what it looks like when it’s done well, and a place in how you hire, bring people on, and develop them.
That’s the work of defining your culture: turning what people already feel into something you can write down, look for, and teach.
The next time someone tells you an employee is great, ask why.
Start here
Name what those answers point to
The Culture Quiz gives you a first read on your culture’s personality in a few minutes.
Take the Culture Quiz
Frequently asked questions
How do you define your company culture?
Start with what people already notice. Ask customers, coworkers and managers what makes your best employees great to work with, and write the answers down. The behaviors that repeat across different people and different employees are the standard your culture actually runs on. Then give that pattern a name and describe what it looks like done well.
What’s the difference between company values and company culture?
Values are what a company says it believes. Culture is how the company actually behaves. They can match, and they often don’t. If everything people praise is about dependability while your values talk about innovation, your culture is telling you something your values aren’t.
Why is a compliment about an employee useful to a leader?
Because it almost always points to a behavior. “She’s great” is a conclusion. Ask what she does that makes her great, and you get something specific you can hire for, teach and measure.
How do you turn culture into something you can hire and train for?
Describe it as behaviors, not adjectives. “Collaborative” is too vague to interview for. “Tells you right away when something goes wrong, and usually has a fix ready” is something you can ask about, look for and coach.
