Ask the right questions
If establishing your ideal culture starts with hiring the best people, then hiring the best people starts with asking the best possible questions during the interview process.
Chang wanted to develop and nurture a culture that embraces high ethical and moral standards, but also promoted the idea that Yogurtland behaves something like a large extended family.
Though many company heads talk about the family atmosphere that exists in their companies, making the leap from professional colleague to something more familiar is difficult, and one that can’t happen without close involvement from upper management.
Chang wanted a constructive bond to develop among the people in Yogurtland’s Anaheim corporate office, so he started by developing bonds between himself and his team members. He developed relationships with his people in which he got to know the significant things happening in their personal lives.
If there was a way Chang could leverage Yogurtland’s resources to help an employee realize a significant life goal, he wanted to help.
“In our situation, I think it’s important to look at a company as family members,” Chang says. “When you have a parent, sister, brother, and you’re working together, you’re thinking about the ways you can help them and make their life better. You’re asking ‘How can I teach them to fish?’ That’s why, maybe you don’t want to just hand them a prize, but you want to figure out a way that you can help them realize the dreams they have for their own lives.”
One of the first questions Chang asks a job candidate has nothing to do with the lines on their resume. It has everything to do with trying to learn what really makes the candidate get out of bed each morning.
“For every single person I interview, I ask them what is their ultimate goal in life,” he says. “That gets them to think deeply and reveal some truths about who they really are. Their goal can be relevant or irrelevant to our company, but I want to know what their goal is. If we hire them, I want to customize a path for their dreams.
“Maybe someone wants to buy a house for their mom. It really has nothing to do with us, but we look at the numbers, we put together our collective wisdom and try to see a way this person can achieve their goal. If that person can finally buy a house for their mom after so many years, that is very motivating for them.
“We see it as something we’re not obligated to help with, but if you truly view your people as family members, as a brother or sister, that is my role. If they see me and those of us in the company going above and beyond to help them, they start to see and believe that we act as a family.”
Finding those life catalysts is a critical component of motivating employees at their jobs. Employees do come to work each day for a paycheck. Without income, they don’t pay their mortgages or utilities, don’t make car payments and don’t buy groceries. But the sum total of what constitutes gainful employment doesn’t begin and end solely with what ends up in each employee’s bank account every two weeks.
People want to work at an organization where they can make a lasting difference. What defines “lasting difference” changes from person to person, but the greater need is always there. As the leader, it’s up to you to ask the questions, both of your current and prospective future employees, and find out what truly motivates them.
“In a lot of cases, I don’t think financial compensation is the real motivation for people,” Chang says. “When they hear the company is trying to achieve something beyond just the numbers and financials, when they see that we come together as a company, we reach out and help each other achieve our goals so that we can achieve our overall company goals, that is a common motivation where people see we’re not just out to make a profit. We don’t come to the office each day just to make money. It’s more than that.”
