This 1 Meeting Will Change Your Company Culture. 

This 1 Meeting Will Change Your Company Culture - FULL CONVERSATION

The number 1 thing that makes or breaks your company is the people you bring onto your team.  You know this- your team is everything.

But as you grow, keeping the team bought into the mission, understanding how they fit, and being accountable to results gets more and more difficult.  

That's why when I saw a team of 78 people, managing 2,500 doors, all rowing in one direction, I immediately became fascinated by what was happening.

‍I'm talking about the first time I walked into JWB Real Estate Capital's Tuesday Morning Meeting (TMM) in January 2020- an all hands meeting so effective, that I have told every company I've ever worked with about it, and implemented it into the small company I was running at the time.

Well, almost 5 years later, JWB is at 6,000 doors, 125 employees, developing 20 city blocks of downtown Jacksonville, and they're all still rowing in the same direction.  

So I took an opportunity to interview their Director of Property Management, Melissa Gillespie, at NARPM Nationals and share the magic formula of this meeting with you.

The meeting has 3 parts:

1. Culture
2. Visibility
3. Accountability

Building Culture: Core Values Callouts

Many companies have core values, but few actually ingrain them into their operations & processes.  Those that do, tend to create high performing teams.

JWB keeps their core values present every day, by starting their all hands meetings with core value callouts.  The formula is simple-

1. Teammates keep an eye out throughout the week for someone living up to a core value.
2. At the all hands meeting, anyone on the team can ask someone else to stand, then the person doing the asking, tells the rest of the team what they saw their teammate do that exemplified a core value.
3. Both nominator and nominee sit back down after a round of applause.

Everyone on the team knows that if they think and act on core values daily, there is a chance to be recognized in front of all their peers by either being called out, or doing the call out.  

Think about what that positive feedback loop does for culture.  Do you think the right type of people get incentivized to lead by example?  Think the right type of people compete to be seen as an ideal teammate?

You bet they do. 

Heck, I even find myself wanting to jump into the love fest as a service provider when I’m attending a meeting.

VIDEO OF MELISSA AND I TALKING ABOUT CORE VALUES CALLOUTS AND ME SAYING I LIKE TO GET INVOLVED

But… there’s more.

 Core value callouts are  just one part of the TMM flywheel. 

A Culture Of Owners: Visibility and Accountability

Culture is crucial, but high morale doesn’t necessarily pay the bills.

High performing team members, knowing exactly what their role is, how it fits into the performance of the overall team, and how to measure their success, are the building blocks of overperforming teams.

This is why visibility and accountability are the other two sections of the JWB TMM.   This is what they look like:

• During the visibility section, one of the departments within JWB will get 15 minutes to report on what they have been working on, how it affects other departments, and what anyone in the company can do to contribute to their efforts.  Each week, different departments take this slot.  This is how everyone sees where their role (and their peers’ roles) affect the organization as a whole.
• During the accountability section a representative from each department will line up in front of the room and they’ll go down the line saying what their goal was for last week, what their results were, and what next week’s goals look like.  This is how each teammate knows if they are winning or losing.

In my opinion, these two pieces of the meeting (after the culture section) work in concert to drive the right mix of competition with teamwork.  The visibility section allows for each department (are thereby teammates within it) to be valued, while the accountability section is a forcing function to keep that status.

Watch Melissa talk about visibility plus accountability.

And, here’s the even better part: when you put great people on a pedestal, great people will follow .

The Strongest Work Incentive

Let’s face it, you probably didn’t grow up wanting to be a property manager, and your team didn’t either, but that doesn’t diminish your need to attract the best and brightest to your team.

While you hear about fancy tech companies trying to attract talent this with ping pong tables and sleep pods, JWB has done it by recognizing 1 undeniable truth-

The greatest work perk you can offer someone is surrounding them with world class talent.

That’s why JWB has had great success using their TMM as a recruiting tool.

New recruits go through two rounds of interviews before they reach a “shadow” day (where they come in and try their prospective role on for size.)  Except shadow days always happen to be on Tuesdays so that the recruit attends TMM's.

Combining a shadow day with a TMM allows the recruit a peek into company culture, a preview of who you work with, and a taste of what you’re signing up for if you are a JWB recruit.

Everyone loves a sample, and the TMM is a perfect sample for recruits.

What Does This Have To Do With The AI Future?

At Vendoroo, we may be leading the charge on AI, but we understand that property management will ALWAYS be a people business.  Technology will absolutely redefine the maximum doors per employee, the level of expertise per employee, and how easy it will be to run the business, but having a strong foundation of clarity of purpose, well defined roles, and world class talent will always be the ultimate advantage in business.

At Vendoroo we may be an AI-driven company. But we also understand that property management’s staple will always be people. 

We might redefine employee efficiency.

We might make your teammates smarter.

We might give you more time to rest, as running your business will just be easier with us.

But…

• We can’t steer your company in the right direction. 
• We can’t recruit world-class talent. 
•  We sure as hell can’t build your culture.

Here’s our ask: Let us help you handle what you can handle (but really shouldn’t, because you have better things to do) so you can focus on what you must work on (which will inevitably grow your business & lead to a more fulfilling life)

👉 You can book a demo with us here.