The 3 Easiest Places for Companies to Begin Setting Standards

If you're like most leaders or executives, they're right under your nose.

One of the most common questions I get from founders, executives, and People Ops leaders who want to set standards is, "Where do we start?"

Based on my experience, I've concluded that there are three places that are the easiest for most growth-stage companies to begin: core values, operational processes, and job descriptions. I believe these are the easiest because all three are likely documented in some form, are being followed to an extent by different employees, and present opportunities to set standards for desired performance, behavior, productivity, and more.

1. CORE VALUES

This is my favorite place to start because it solves a number of challenges companies face with core values: what to do with them once they've been set, how to bring them to life through employee behavior, and how to use them to build identity, affinity, and culture.

The first step in turning values into standards is to brainstorm concrete, objective, and observable behaviors that people can demonstrate.

As an example, I recently worked with a company that has the core value of "Be intentionally inclusive." After brainstorming a number of potential standards to reflect that value, the executives decided on the following statements (the specific standard is in bold):

1. We work with people, not companies or customers or titles or backgrounds.

2. None of us is smarter than all of us: we actively seek out the feedback and opinions of others.

3. We seek out and consider a diverse range of vendors, job candidates, and customers. This includes a variety of criteria such as race, gender, identity, socio-economic traits, geography, etc.

4. Every member of the team has influence in supporting the company’s philanthropic strategy and activities.

Let's go back to those three challenges I stated above for core values.

First, by setting these standards, this company has taken a next step with their core values. Second, the more they talk about these standards and start seeing their team follow them, the more that identity, affinity, and culture will be built. And third, perhaps most importantly, the standards bring the core value of "Be intentionally inclusive" to life through desired employee behaviors.

If I'm an employee at this company, I now have some direction of what to do to live out this core value. I know that, even if I'm an entry-level person, our CEO is a human being first and a leader second. I know I don't have to feel alone when making simple decisions and that I can ask people for their thoughts. I know that I can seek out and suggest people internally and externally who are different from the rest of us. And I know that I can advocate for my favorite charity when the company is considering where its dollars go.

In my opinion, each core value needs to have 3-10 standards so that people have clarity of how to live them out. They need to be specific enough to provide direction but not too specific to be controlling. A key point to remember with setting standards is that they're not instructions; by definition, a standard is simply a model or example for others, and a measure of quality or value.

Furthermore, I believe it's important that standards for core values meet three criteria:

1. they're specific, measurable, and concrete

2. they apply to everyone in the organization, including the executives

3. if they're not met, the discussion is about the standard not being met rather than the person not meeting the standard

2. OPERATIONAL PROCESSES

Ok, let's get this out of the way: operational processes might be the least sexy of the three sources for setting standards.

But as all leaders know, operational standards drive quality, delivery, efficiency, productivity, and profit. Furthermore, they are the secret to a consistent customer experience. If you don't believe me, think about any business to which you are loyal - a restaurant, auto repair shop, travel website, etc. It's likely because you know you'll get a consistent experience, and that's driven by operational standards.

They are the heartbeat of a company. They rarely get "seen" or are discussed yet drive the actual business being conducted. And, for most growth-stage companies, they are documented in various forms so there's plenty to work with. In fact, it's safe to say that most companies already have standards in their process documentation: deadlines, handoff steps, boilerplate language, etc.

In my experience, the absolutely best framework I've ever seen for setting process standards is from my friend, Nick Sarillo, founder of the Trust and Track Institute, and CEO of Nick's Pizza & Pub. The framework is known simply as "art and science."

The "science" includes all the non-negotiable steps that must be taken for any operational process. For example, when giving tours of his restaurant's operation, Nick often uses the host stand to bring this "science" to life:

• the host must make eye contact with every party that walks in the door, and give them a smile

• the host must verbally greet the party, welcome them to Nick's Pizza, and ask how they can be helped

• based on the response (dining in, carrying out, applying for a job, etc.), the host must take the next appropriate steps

Now comes the "art", which gives the employee freedom to bring their personal touch to the process in support of the science. Examples include:

• the verbal greeting can be "Welcome to Nick's Pizza & Pub" or "Good evening, thank you for coming into Nick's Pizza & Pub" or "Hi, how are you doing, a warm welcome to Nick's Pizza & Pub!"

• asking the party how they can be helped can be done with, "How may I help you?" or "Are you here to dine with us tonight?" or "What brings you to Nick's today?"

What's beautiful about "art and science" is that it recognizes team members as human beings and not robots. It tells them what is essential and important to the business while acknowledging their personal style, voice, preferences, and mannerisms.

I know first-hand that this model works because all of our operational processes at The Junto Institute have been built, and updated, based on Nick's "art and science" framework.

3. JOB DESCRIPTIONS

Similar to operational processes, most companies have well-documented job descriptions. However, based on my experience, many don't use job descriptions beyond recruiting and hiring. I believe this results in at least two missed opportunities.

First of all, as mentioned, there's a high likelihood that standards already exist within the job descriptions, in the "duties and responsibilities" section. Here are examples from actual job openings:

• "Make a minimum of 30 cold contacts each week, digitally or verbally." (Business Development Representative)

• "Provides weekly payroll audits for team members and management." (Operations Manager)

• "Ability to lift up to 50 lbs. without restriction." (Warehouse Associate)

• "Provide 360-degree support to the CEO." (Executive Assistant)

And even when the job description doesn't go into such detail, the list of duties and responsibilities can be turned into standards by using the simple question of "What is a measure of quality or performance for this responsibility?"

That's the second opportunity: job descriptions can help set standards for the role in the company's performance management system. This helps mitigate the all-too-often sentiment from employees that performance reviews and feedback are subjective and lack detail. When a job description is turned into standards that are then used in performance reviews/management, there is a seamless connection that, in all likelihood, can make life easier for employees, their managers, and the people ops/HR team.

THREE KEY QUESTIONS

I believe that these sources - core values, operational processes, and job descriptions - are the easiest places to start when it comes to setting standards. The main reason is that, for most companies, decisions have been made in those areas and they have been documented.

If you're still wondering how to turn those decisions and documentation into actual standards, here are three key questions that can help.

1. How can this core value or process step or job responsibility be measured?

2. What is a desirable level of quality for that value/step/responsibility?

3. How can we make the measurement and/or level of quality so concrete that it's binary, where we know if it was met or not?

THE PEOPLE MATTER

I have one last point: who is involved in setting standards matters greatly.

I believe that the people involved with setting standards for core values is largely influenced by the company's culture, the history of the core values, and who crafted them. At some companies, the standards will be set by executives and leaders, while at others it could be a task force of employees from different departments.

For operational processes, I believe it must be employees who actually perform those processes with input from their managers. And for job descriptions, I believe it must be the hiring managers with input from their team members.

In most growth-stage companies, this undertaking can't be done all at once and will obviously take time. But like all major initiatives, there must be an intention to do it with knowledge of where to start.

Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher, once said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Hopefully you have a clearer sense of what that step might be for your company.