Author Archives: johndehart

How to Put A Little Fun Into Your Culture

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At Nurse Next Door,we have a culture committee that is in charge of ensuring that  we are always having fun. Their job: run our
monthly Heart Star parties, our quarterly core value auctions, and add in some fun and games along the way.

When we first started to play games, I thought it was a bit hokey. Honestly, in the middle of the day, I just want to work.  I don’t really want to take 30 minutes off to play a game. Plus, I’m not that much of a game guy, except when it comes to my daughters. So let’s just say that these ideas did not come from me!

But I have to admit: I have come to really enjoy our game time. What probably seems really hokey from an outsiders perspective, we have a ton of fun when we do it. One of my favorites was the “Ferris Buellers Day Off ” game, where all of our employees had to submit what a dream day off would look like to them. The winner (selected by our culture committee), would then be given a paid day off to go and actually do their dream day off. (which meant that it had to be something they could actually do).

Submissions included:

Funniest – Ken – Sit on a patio with Steven Hawking and Paris Hilton debating the merits of sun tanning beds

Giving back – Cassandra – Build day with habitat for humanity or mentor young women or hike 4 Huntington’s or food kitchen garden projects or travel far away to volunteer or bike for cancer.

Most unbelievable – Jean – volunteer at covenant house.

Creative – Mikie – 9am Louie, an unemployed friend and myself venture off on a journey by road. Accompanied by sandwiches and beer, the three travelers make a new friend in a distant place far from home. It is a true coming of age story of self discover. Who is this new friend? Can the group really trust her?

Most adventurous – Emily – Skydiving or bungee jumping or learn how to ride a bike.

Biggest brown nose – I would organize an outside picnic and sports day for all of the staff at HeartQuarters.

The winner was Marie, a team lead in our Care Services Centre. Her dream day off was this:

My ideal day off would be to give back to everyone that has helped me and my family.

My mom has endured breast cancer, diabetes, heart problems, osteo arthritis, double knee surgery and as of recent, she can barely walk now because of sciatic pain. She is currently attending the Mary Pack Arthritis Institute and she is taking classes to learn more about her condition and how she can help herself.

My father is not only an amazing dad, he’s the most wonderful husband. He treats my mom lik gold, because she is his queen. He does absolutely everything for her. I would love for him to have a “day off” to be able to play a round of golf.

Lastly, I’ve lost 7 very close family members in the past 12 months mainly due to cancer. Because of this, I’d love to bring some happiness to the cancer clinic by dropping off some baked goodies, flowers and lots of smiles!

My ideal day would look something like this…

MORNING

- take my parents to breakfast

- bring my mom to her P/T appointment while my dad gets his “day off”

AFTERNOON

- pick up some freshly baked goodies and drop them off at the radiation clinic and Mary Pack Arthritis Institute

EVENING

- have a nice gathering with Nurse Next Door employees that have lost someone to cancer recently or knows someone that is battling it.

 

And so Marie took her day off, and I made sure that I picked up the tab, personally (the game wasn’t to pay for them to do their activity, so I just paid personally)

When I followed up with Marie to ask her about her day, she simply replied: What a wonderful opportunity to give back to the people that have given their time to my Mom. Thank you!

(Gives you a pretty good idea of the type of caring culture we have, doesn’t it?)

Building a Purpose Inspired Brand

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At Nurse Next Door, we are building  a purpose inspired
brand. What is a purpose inspired brand? It is a brand that truly understands their “why”; that communicates their “why” in everything
they do: every touch point, every conversation, every interaction that  with a client or an employee. When a company understands it’s “why” to its true core, and learns to live it daily, a powerful brand can be created.

Of course, this is an incredibly hard feat to accomplish. There are very few purpose driven brands out there (of course the ones who do get it are the best and most enduring brands on the planet. Think Southwest Airlines, Wal Mart, Johnson & Johnson, Apple, Starbucks and new up and comers
Zappos and Lululemon)

Why is this? Well, first, most companies never truly understand what their real purpose is. They think they exist to “make money” or have the “best” (fill in category here) product or service. They market their features, because that is who they are. But as the best companies know, it is incredibly difficult to differentiate  based on your product and service alone, particularly over the long haul.

And then even for the few companies who are smart enough to know that purpose is much bigger then the features of their product, purpose usually becomes one of those intangible ideas that is too difficult to bring alive. And so their purpose becomes a phrase on their website, or a group of jumbled up phrases in a “mission statement” on page one of their employee manual. And that is it.  It isn’t  felt in the interactions with the brand; or with the people (if you read my posts, you ill know that I say the same thing about core values.)

Building a purpose driven company and a purpose driven brand is a constantly evolving mission. It takes time. A lot of time. And you need to get at least 3 things right.

1) You need to get your culture right.  Achieving a purpose inspired brand takes an inspired culture that is passionate about your purpose and is guided by your core values. As I like to say “culture eats process for breakfast.” it is amazing what you can do in your business when you have an inspired and engaged culture; it is almost magical. Everything becomes easier. Everything happens faster. And when your customers interact with your company, and your “why” transcends through your people, your customers  can feel the difference. Guaranteed. So it goes, it would be next to impossible to build a purpose driven brand without building a raving fan culture first.

2) Your outward facing brand must communicate your why (and mirror your culture.) The best branding is always the simplest branding. However, it turns out, it is really hard to simplify what we do.  That is where
purpose comes in. Purpose allows us to communicate precisely why we do what we do, and when we learn to brand through this filter, everything becomes clearer and simpler. We live in a complicated world, and the consumer we are marketing to isn’t going to remember much about us. But if we are crystal clear on what it is we want them to remember us by, and we make it memorable and meaningful in their lives, well, that works. And that is what purpose does to your marketing.

When someone looks at your website, see’s your commercial or picks up your brochure, they should automatically get your “why”.  Like Apple, it shouldn’t reflect the features of your product (speed or mega bytes) or comparing themselves to anyone else, it is about who they are
and what they stand for.

3) Bridging your culture with your outward facing brand by your operational systems. Now, as if building a raving fan culture or simplifying your brand down to it’s “why” isn’t hard enough, you cant stop here. Where the rubber hits the road is in the daily execution of your purpose. Your operational systems must be “purpose-fied.” If you don’t learn to operationalize your purpose in your systems, there is no way that you can scale up as you grow and maintain the integrity of your purpose.

One of the classic examples is Starbucks. When Howard Schultz handed over the reigns to a new CEO in 2001, we saw the gradual demise of the great Starbucks brand. The new CEO just didn’t get “purpose” and started to erode the systems that enforced it. (See “Making Tough Decisions to Preserve Your Core: Learning From Starbucks’) for more on this.) Of course, the great Howard came back to the rescue and the brand is
once again, surging.

Here are Nurse Next Door, we have a great culture. We have really started to “get” why we do what we do and clearly articulate it in our brand. (just look at our marketing compared to all of our cluttered competitors). And we are now just starting to truly operationlize our purpose throughout our internal operating  systems.  Similar to how we brought our core values
alive in our company over the years, we are now starting to do the same with our core purpose, Making Lives Better.

It is exciting. It is bold. But I can’t tell you how excited I am. The stuff we are working on is ground breaking; it will change the industry, and it will change how seniors age over time. If we can get this right, we will have a carved out a solid differentiated position in our market place that ill be difficult to replicate.

Is It Really All About The People?

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I often hear the phrase “it’s all about the people”. No it isn’t. It’s all about the right people.

You have to get the right people on the bus. And if you can’t get this right, then nothing else matters. You just simply won’t be successful in building a great culture. And you won’t be successful in building a successful company. Continue reading →

The Outcome of a Great Culture? Fun.

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We just hosted our “millionaire club members” for two days in Las Vegas. Our millionaires club are those Nurse Next Door franchise partners who have hit at least one million dollars in sales over the past year.

On my way to the airport, early Monday morning, I was dreading this trip. I had just arrived back from holiday, I had a million things to catch up on at the office, and I don’t like Las Vegas. On top of it all, I off on another trip after Las Vegas, which meant more days away from my kids.

As I shuffled into the airport lounge, I saw a group of our home care franchise partners, who had all just arrived from other cities across the country. You could tell who they were; they were the energetic, boisterous group of people who were laughing. The large group who obviously enjoyed each others company. Continue reading →

Organizations Don’t Make Choices, Leaders Do.

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Organizations don’t make choices…leaders do.

This is a scary thought. But reading Jim Collins new book “Great By Choice,” this is what he says. And he is right. Here is a snapshot of what he says:

“Organizations do not make choices, their leaders do, and the fate of each of those organizations depends on the quality of the choices its leaders make, especially amidst uncertainty, chaos, and luck…three realities that even the best leaders can only manage rather than control.” Continue reading →

Southwest Airlines Rule # 27: See Your Business As a Cause

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In Southwest Airlines Rule # 16:  A Culture Has its Own Language, we looked at how great cultures  brand their own language to help bring out their uniqueness.  In Southwest Airlines Rule #15: Invent Your Own Culture and Put a Top Person in Charge of It, we looked at how great companies design their own cultures from the ground up so they become unique. So today we visit Southwest Airlines Rule # 27: See Your Business As a Cause. Continue reading →

What Do Core Values Do? Why Do I Need Them? (Well, At least the Top 11 Reasons Why)

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I was asked a truly great question the other day. What do core values really do? Why do I need them? Now, my usual reaction to a question like this is to spit out the answer. I mean, I talk about this stuff all  of the time, and I can give a pretty good answer.  But I stopped myself. And I thought about the question. And I replied “let me think about it and get back to you.” So I thought about it. And then I went back to the person. Here is what I said. Continue reading →

The Core Value Machete

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I just did a speech for another Health Authority’s leadership team.  50+ leaders supporting 6000+ employees, so a fairly large organization.

They started the day with 8 core values. You know, the usual suspects like “integrity”, “respect” “compassion” and so on.  ( See my post “6 Tips on How To Design Your Core Values“) Continue reading →

Lesson #15: Invent Your Own Culture and Put a Top Person in Charge of It..

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Earlier this year, Southwest Airlines came out with their “40 Lessons To Learn” on their 40th anniversary.  Southwest is famous for their culture, and their leaders attribute their unmatched success in the airline industry to this. As you can guess, there were a number of lessons on the importance of culture. Continue reading →

An Easy and Practical Way to Bring Your Core Values Alive

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In my quest to take core values from the imaginary to the reality, I want to give an easy, practical way to bring your core values alive inside of your organization.

All too often, we focus our performance reviews on things to improve on and performance against set targets. But what about culture fit? What about core values? If your core values are truly important in your company, then you better start helping your people understand how they are doing in terms of living your core values. Continue reading →

Do You Know What You Want Your Culture to Look Like?

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Do you know what you want your culture to look like?

I think one of the more important starting points for a company who wants to build a great culture is to understand what you actually want it to look like. It is kind of like painting the picture of your company – if you truly want to achieve what you want, you need to know exactly where you are going and what you will look like before you start to build it. Continue reading →

Bringing Your Company’s Painted Picture “Alive”

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Creating your values, vision and purpose is only a small part of starting to create a great culture. In fact, that is the easy part. The hard part is bringing them alive inside of your company. Jim Collins (through Built to Last and Good to Great) told us that we needed to have these fundamental building blocks in our companies. But he didn’t tell us how to do it!  Continue reading →

Can You Show Proof that Having A Strong Culture Equates to Having a High Performance Business?

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People often ask me the question “what are the statistics to show that having a strong culture works?” Aside from Jim Collin’s research proving that the habit of all great, visionary companies is to have a culture based on values, vision and purpose, I haven’t found anything really interesting in this area. Continue reading →

How to Turn Your Employees Into Raving Fans

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I often get asked “how do you have so many employees who act as ambassadors of your company?” So I will start with the basics. If you want to have employees who act as ambassadors, or as I like to say, raving fans for your company, start with these steps:

 1) Have a compelling core purpose. It’s hard to get employees excited about representing your company if they aren’t excited about what your company does to begin with. And it doesn’t matter what you do – its WHY you do it that makes it exciting.

 How did Southwest Airlines become such a unique airline? Their employees cared about why they existed. It is much easier to become passionate about “Giving People the Freedom to Fly” (they started out by competing with bus lines at a time when it was too expensive for bus commuters to fly) then working for the big airlines who existed just to get people form one place to the next.

2) Have a vivid description of the future. Otherwise known as the “envisioned future” or the “painted picture”, it is the vivid description of WHERE you are going and what you look like in the future. And the more vivid and detailed it is, the easier it becomes to galvanize people around your vision.

I just met with an employee of a company whose founders just split – and the founder who remained didn’t believe in the company’s painted picture. Guess what? A lot of their employees are leaving. Why? They were all rallied around the same, vivid, vision and when that changed, they started to leave in droves because that is why they were there.

3) Have strong, well defined and clear core values that truly reflect who you are; and make sure they are “alive” in your company. Your core values are your actions that define who you are as a company. Having a strong set of core values that are “alive” causes a “bee’s to honey” phenomenon where you are attracting the right people who want to do the right thing for the company. And if your company is hard wired to live these values, day in day out, it creates an undeniable sense of pride within the organization. Get this part right and you will have employees who will always stand up for your company.

At Nurse Next Door, we get hundreds of applications for every position we hire for. Why? Because there are a lot people out there that resonate and connect with who we are, and they want to work at a company that aligns with what they stand for.

4) Hire employees who get it. Have a great core purpose but that new employee doesn’t really care about it? Have a crystal clear vision that gets you jazzed but your new employee only cares about their own job? Have core values hard wired into your company’s DNA but the new employee doesn’t live them? Then all of the above is useless. It will never work. Give up, pack it in, you ain’t getting anywhere.

And for those current employees who don’t get it? Get them off the bus….fast!

5) Build your brand around your core purpose and core values. Make it easy for your employees to “get it.” By building your brand around your purpose and your values, it re – enforces why you do what you do and how you do things on a minute by minute basis with your employees. Get this part right and your employees will never forget it. Get it right and your customers will know what you stand for.

Zappos is a company who has done this the right way. Sure, they are an Internet company who re-sells shoes (who cares, right?). But through their core values, they have built an incredible culture that delivers superb customer service (a big differentiator for them). And through their purpose, they “deliver happiness” with every box of shoes that comes to your door. Acting like this causes them to go from just being a re seller of shoes on the Internet to a brand that people flock to because of what they stand for and how they do things.

At Nurse Next Door, we are in the process of looking at every single customer touch point and asking ourselves “how do we really “Make Lives Better” with this experience? It is a great way to start ensuring that your employees connect your purpose with what they do.

When your employees act as ambassadors for your company, things get easier. Start from these five rules and you will start to see your employees go from being just mere “employees” to becoming raving fans of your brand.

Making Tough Decisions To Preserve Your Core: Learning from Starbucks

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In The post “What is Your Core Business”,  I spoke about how confusing it can be to define your core business. Since then, it has become pretty clear to me on how to do it.  And it all comes down to your core purpose.  Your core business should never stray from your purpose.  It is the lens through which you know if the new service or business or division that you are adding is part of your core business.  Continue reading →

A system for Crazy

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In my last post “Going to the Lunatic Fringe” I spoke about an easy way to get your core values alive within your culture – get crazy about them. Getting crazy about your core values works….for a while.  Getting crazy about your core values is easy….for a while. And then time catches up. And you focus on the “new” thing. Or you go on vacation. Or you have some turnover. And all of a sudden you arent “crazy” about your core values any longer. Continue reading →

Do Your People Experience Your Purpose When They Work?

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The other day I received a letter from one of our Nurse Next Door team members that reminded me of how powerful of  an impact that we have on peoples lives when our purpose is aligned with what someone does.

It prompted me to ask the question: what are we doing on a regular basis to ensure that our company’s core purpose is tied into what our employee’s are doing on a daily basis?  How do we keep our purpose at the forefront of what we do? How do we do this when we encounter the day to day grind of our jobs?  Continue reading →

Taking on the United States

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We are expanding our home care franchise system to the United States. In doing so, Ken and I met with a lot of very successful entrepreneurs to have them share their learning lessons and tips in doing so. For some reason, in Canada, our culture is one of fear of doing business in the USA. Its like the Americans are more aggressive then us when it comes to business, and it scares many Canadian companies from expanding. Continue reading →

Now That I Know My Core Values, What’s Next?

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I feel that there is a culture and core value revolution going on. I hear from entrepreneurs around the world who are discovering, or “re discovering” their company’s core values, and who are starting to place a greater emphasis on creating their corporate culture. It’s great; perhaps a lashing out at what has happened the past few years on Wall Street? Continue reading →

6 Tips on How To Design Your Core Values.

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    Far too often I see boring, nondescript core values.  They usually consist of one word, usually a noun, that says nothing unique about the company and in fact, looks like almost every other company’s corer values on the planet. They usually consist of words like: integrity, honesty, respect, passion, teamwork…….  Sound like where you work? 

Continue reading →

A Social Media “Win”

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Well, I am happy to say that we had a social media “win” this week. If you read my past blog post ” 3 reasons Why a Franchise Model Helps Deliver Consistent Customer Service”, you would know that last week, we encountered a home care competitor who defamed our brand (online) and questioned our “trust” because we were a franchise brand in the home care industry.  Continue reading →

3 Reasons Why a Franchise Model Helps Deliver Consistent Customer Service.

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Recently one of our home care  franchise partners brought to our attention a competitor that was defaming our brand online and questioning whether our franchise model really helps deliver consistent customer service. Here is the link: http://www.eldercarehomehealth.com/Choosing_an_elder_care_provider.html. Continue reading →

What Does Culture Mean?

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I did a speech last week in Buffalo to EO members from Western New York and a few surrounding states. I spoke about the importance of culture; and how your core values, your purpose and your envisioned future can create a powerful foundation for your culture  if you can learn how to operationalize them inside of your company. Afterwards, one gentleman approached me. Continue reading →

How Many Business Books Should You Read?

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I just read a good blog post by my friend and mentor Cameron Herold, “Is 6 Enough????.”  It is about reading business books. So often I hear a person boast that they  ”read one business book per week.”  In fact, I used to be this person. Probably until Cameron pointed it out to me years ago. And he was right. The truth?  Unless you have a photographic memory, you are wasting your time. Continue reading →

I Need a New Name for Human RESOURCES

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I am the anti HR guy. I know, it is hard to believe because I talk about culture all the time. There are two reasons for this.

First, the name. Why do we call it “human resources?”  People aren’t resources!  They are human beings!  Calling people resources is just plain dumb. We should make fun of companies that do. (I mean, really, come  on!)  Continue reading →

Culture is Built in ONLY One of Two Ways

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Culture is Built in ONLY One of Two Ways.

My Partner Ken and I started Nurse Next Door out of a Starbucks coffee shop in 2001 with 2 cell phones and a couple of caregivers. Within 4 years we had a company with a 1000 strong workforce and were one of the fastest growing (if not fastest) companies in the country. Continue reading →

Purpose Makes You Fight for What Truly is Important.

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Whenever I give a speech, I will get as many people emailing me about how it impacted their personal life as it does their business. Sometimes I even get more. And this doesn’t surprise me – whether building an impassioned culture or an impassioned life really comes down to being able to bring your Core Values, your Core Purpose and your Envisioned Future alive within your company; or within your own personal life. Continue reading →

Business Success = Culture x Strategy x Execution

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I talk about culture and its importance in building a business and franchise system a lot. In fact, like Herb Keller, founder of Southwest Airlines, I often believe it is the most important part of your business to focus on (I say often because there are times when I do think other things are more important, especially in trying times!  Continue reading →

Customer Service Policy Gone Wrong

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  I’m writing about customer service again. Why? Well, for one, I am fanatical about awesome customer service. And two, I think it is one of the best outcomes of having a great culture.

While I was ordering lunch the other day from a usual lunch place near the Nurse Next Door Heart Quarters, I noticed a sign that was posted beside the cash register. It stated: Continue reading →

Never Mind Your Company’s Core Values, Do You Even Know Your Own?

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I talk a lot about core values and why they are so important in building culture inside of your business.  But do you even know your own personal core values?

In my past posts, I talk about how important it is to discover your true,  CORE values, (see Too Many Core Values, and how important it is to bring them alive)  and mention the power of core values throughout my blog.  Continue reading →

Can I Get My Employees To “Buy In” To My Core Values?

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I am often asked the question: “How do we align the company values with the employee’s personal values?”

Most managers and entrepreneurs try to make their employees believe in all the companies values. But can you do this?

No. Absolutely not. People don’t buy into core values. They either get them or they don’t. Simple.  The more time that you spend trying to get people to buy in, the less time you are spending on actually living them. So many managers and entrepreneurs fail miserably at this one. Continue reading →

The # 1 Trait of an Entrepreneur (and Successful Franchise Owner)

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One day, I walked into my company….and I didn’t like it.  In fact, wanted to quit my own company.

Sure we were doing well.  Actually really  well. Nurse Next Door had grown from just my Ken and I, to 1000 employees in just over 4 years.  Explosive growth. And it put us in the league of being one of the fastest growing companies in North America at the time. Jim Collins, Author of Good to Great and Built to Last,  said “if you are growing over 20% per year, be very scared.”  Continue reading →

Do You Put Your Dreams Into Pictures?

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I have always set goals.  When I was 12, I knew I wanted to play hockey at an Ivy League school. Either Cornell or Harvard. So I posted a picture of a Cornell hockey player (Joe Nieuwendyk) and a Harvard hockey player on my bathroom mirror.  Along the way, I had a lot of offers, some quite lucrative (of course when you are 16, any kind of money is lucrative!) to play elsewhere, but I had a vision and nothing was getting in my way of it. Continue reading →

Do You Help Your Employees Set Personal Goals?

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There is a cool company in Vancouver called Lululemon. They create yoga wear, and have now expanded North American wide. They also have a cool culture, one built upon values, goals, a great manifesto, and I would add, inspiration. I have always admired how Chip Wilson, their founder (a good friend of  Nurse Next Door and our  key n0te speaker at last years annual Franchise Partner conference)  has instilled in his company the principal that all employees must learn how to set personal goals, and then actually set them. Four times per year.  Continue reading →

Core Values Mean Nothing If You Don’t Work To Bring Them Alive

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I used to think Core values were a bunch of airy fairy la la land words that Dilbert made fun of. And there were a few reasons for this:

  1. There are far too many bland, empty, toothless core value statements that adorn the walls of companies across North America
  2. There are far too few companies who actually do anything with their core values. That is, they don’t live them.

    3. Continue reading →

Can You Measure Your Core Values?

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I am a big believer in the concept of “what gets measured gets managed.” So when I talk about measuring our core values, I am surprised at how often I am met with a blank stare. By figuring out how to measure them, you start to take your core values from being “airy fairy” concepts that you just talk about to making them actions that you are held accountable too. And they become real. Continue reading →

Do You Interview for Culture Fit?

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At Nurse Next Door, we have added a second component in our hiring process to ensure culture fit. As both franchise and non-franchise businesses grow quickly, most don’t do accurate planning or bench building (the process where you are constantly look for people who could at some point, join your team), and hence fall behind in their hiring. Continue reading →

Chip Conley: Why Your Investors Need to Align With Your Purpose

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I just read a post by a great entrepreneur, Chip Conley, who recently sold a majority stake in his boutique hotel chain, Joie de Vivre. Chip is known for building a company based on the premise of: “cultivating happy employees and engaging loyal and satisfied customers who refuse to stay anywhere else.”  Their purpose?  Creating opportunities to celebrate the joy of life. Hence their name. (“Joy of life” for those who don’t know any French) Continue reading →

You Are Going To Do What? Fire Your Biggest Client? Are You Kidding?

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If you have seen my speech about culture, you probably remember the part where I talk about how to operationalize your core values, and one of my examples is “you have to be willing to make the hard decisions.” In this example, I talk about how we fired a very large client of ours. It was incredibly hard and gut wrenching to do, but it changed our company forever for the better. Continue reading →

Hiring and Firing

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Funny. I am by no means a hiring expert. In fact, it pains me to sit through interviews. I hate it. But it is SO crucial to the success of an entrepreneur (one of my mentors has said – to be awesome entrepreneur , get awesome at hiring and awesome at rain making). So when I was asked to speak to the Forum For Women Entrepreurs on hiring and firing, I questioned whether I was the right person. Continue reading →

Why We Pay New Employees to Leave Our Business

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We recently implemented a new “policy” – you know how I love that word! (See “Do You Have A Policy About Working Naked?” ) For all new employees, at the end of your first month, we are going to give you an option. Instead of returning on the Monday morning, you can call and say “I don’t want to come back” and we will pay you $1,000. Yup. We will pay you to leave. Continue reading →

“But I Don’t Have A Senior Care Business, So How Can I Have A Purpose As Powerful As Yours?”

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Being a senior home care franchise, we have one distinct advantage over many other systems when it comes to building culture. We generally attract a fairly purpose driven franchise candidate. Or at least we attract someone who is passionate about helping others. Of course, this isn’t always the case, we also attract those how want to “ride the greying tsunami and make lots of money” (BTW: demographics move at the rate of a glacier moving and I always make sure this is the first thing I tell those people and that they are going to have to wait for another 6 or 7 years before we start to really see any impact. I also tell those same people how hard this business is, and that you really need to LOVE helping people. It generally works. Most of them go away!) Continue reading →

How Group Interviews Build Culture

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Dear John

I would also like to give you some feedback from many years of business experience regarding your approach to filling this position, starting with, a group interview? I have to say, are you kidding?? This is a position for a person whom you are presumably looking at grooming for a senior management position and you are not even prepared to grant individual time to these potential individuals? Continue reading →

Three Tips to Help You Build a Great Culture in a Franchise Business

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It's all about getting the right franchise partners on the bus

Here at Nurse Next Door, we are building a senior care franchise business. We are now up to 40 franchise partners, spread across Canada, and now launching our USA strategy. It has been a fascinating journey since we launched our franchise business just over 3 years ago. Lot’s of ups, lot’s of downs. In the progress of my learning, we have won a number of cool awards – including being rated as the #6 best franchise system in North America, and most recently, were ranked as one of the Top Companies in Canada to work for by the Globe and Mail.

Continue reading →

Three Things I Loved About Nurse Next Door’s Tour of Zappos

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The culture at Zappos is unique. Here is the CEO's desk.

I finally got to see Zappos. I have heard all about them for a long time. Core Values, culture, customer service, passion, purpose, a big call centre (called the Client Loyalty Centre) used strategically for awesome service…sounds just like Nurse Next Door! With one exception – they are a $1billion company! So I was pretty excited to see it, meet Tony Hsieh and hear him give a keynote speech at a recent Verne Harnish event.

Here are three things that I loved about Zappos. Continue reading →

Why We Let Our Competition See What We Are Doing

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Yesterday our # 1 competitor toured our operations. At Nurse Next Door, we do a lot of tours. So many people want to see what we are doing, that they ask to come visit. And we show them. We have learned and continue to learn so much from others that at a very minimum, we owe it to give back. Due to the sheer number of tour requests, we started to give hosted tours every 2 weeks, open to anyone who wanted to come.  Continue reading →

My Lunch With Jim Collins

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A few months ago I attended a Verne Harnish learning event, and Jim Collins performd a 4 hour keynote on his new book “How the Mighty Fall”.  Afterwards, I was invited to a private lunch with him (Nurse Next Door and 21 other entrepreneurial companies are part of his “Gazelles 22″ or founding club members). At that lunch I asked him to speak to us of the elusive core uprose. What does it really mean for a company?  Why can there possibly be something more important for making money? (that one was aimed at you hard nosed financial types!). His response was fascinating.  Continue reading →

Culture Eats Process for Breakfast

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I love building a brand. Most people think a brand is a bunch of colors and logos. I actually hate that stuff. I am not detailed enough to get passionate about it. I mean I love our logo at Nurse Next Door (designed after my daughter Daisy DeHart) and I love our name (because it is unforgettable) and our colors suit our culture (everyone, including and especially our Franchise Partners at Nurse Next Door really do bleed pink). Continue reading →

Why is “Vision” So Misunderstood?

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Vision is one of the most misunderstood words in business. It means different things to do different people, and usually includes some hazy wording about the future. Why is something, that we all “think’ or ‘know” to be so important, so fuzzy? What if it wasn’t fuzzy? What if we could put meaning to it? And not only meaning, but substance – what if we could measure it, what if we could systematize it, what if we could make it the core of what we do? Continue reading →