In this series of blogs about corporate culture, I ‘d like to take some of the core values that are part of The A Group and other business that I have led. As a matter of fact, this could apply to any organization including churches and non-profits. These core values are more than just posters on a wall or words on a website. These help form the DNA of our business and have everything to do with the environment we create. Interestingly this is not only for hiring employees, but also hiring your customers as clients as well. We take a long time to hire someone at The A Group so managing them is an easier process. So what’s the 3C’s of hiring?

C is for Character
Character is a foundation of any success enterprise. Therefore you cannot have an organization with high ethics if you’re employees or customers lack integrity. This should be an obvious one, but you’d be surprise how many people find “gray areas” where there shouldn’t be any.

C is for Competence
A successful enterprise is formed by competent people who know their job and do it well. As I heard Jim Wright, CEO of Tractor Supply Co say, “If you have a C player, help him to become a B player or set him free.” Without competence your character is only able to keep you in the game for a little while.

C is for Chemistry
The team must function as a team or the entire organization suffers. In the past, I made the mistake of not paying much attention to chemistry with disastrous results. I had competent people who couldn’t get along and the tension in meetings was terrible. I also had to fire a few clients along the way because we just didn’t get along. Every conversation was a push back and every project was a painful exercise in “not screwing up” instead of a partnership into creating something great while having latitude to fail along the way.

How are people hired where you work? What’s the culture of your business?