Interview Transcript Extract – Transforming Your Company Values into a Powerful Motivating Force

• Educational Data Systems, Inc. (EDSI)
• Kevin Schnieders
• CEO
• https://www.edsisolutions.com/
• Founded: 1979
• Focus: Workforce Development, Talent Solutions & Consulting
• Company Based: Dearborn, MI
• Locations: Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania
• 45 offices, 700+ employees
• Interview Date: 4/17/19

EDSI’s three core values are: Show up, Smile, and Support.  Underneath those core values, they have “daily ways” that describe those values.

When recruiting, EDSI asks candidates to score their level of commitment to the daily ways, on a scale from zero to 10.  This starts an interesting conversation that helps EDSI learn about the candidates’ values.

Candidates do not automatically score themselves high universally.  Schnieders says they do give themselves a seven or eight under some values, and that leads them to start the conversation – “why is that a seven relative to a 10?”

It also sets a precedence of the importance of the values within the company.  “From the very first time people look at a posting, they’re seeing that this is what the company is about. This is who we are.”

“It’s just a great conversation that flows out from that. I’m not necessarily looking at it as an algorithm for low or high scores. It’s really meant to then create great conversation within the interview.”

An example of a daily way is “I wonder,” which is described as the sense of curiosity they bring with them to the work they do.

The three core values are simple, so employees don’t have a problem remembering them.  EDSI does not ask employees to learn all the daily ways that follow under those core values, but Schnieders says he goes over them in a two-minute video on Mondays.

“I’ll just have a different story and anecdote about the daily ways we’re concentrating on that week. And that gets flushed out to 700 people and in 45 offices. So, they’re dealing with them on a 12-week cycle, but they don’t necessarily remember them.”

Schnieders says he holds town halls where he talks about the important of the daily ways.  “I take the policy manual and throw it in the trash can, like our attorneys say that we had to have this, but what we’re really looking for you to do is live these daily ways.”

Schnieders says this also helps him check his own judgement on how people are doing.  When there is a problem with an employee, he scores them on the daily ways himself, highlighting the daily ways that he feels they violated.  Often, he finds that they’re doing a really doing a good job living the values and the problem they’re having is more about a one-off circumstance.

Another one of EDSI’s daily ways is “talk with people, not about them.”

“So if someone comes up to you and says, ‘Jim did this’, it’s like, ‘Why are you telling me? Did you talk with Jim about this?’ And you can hear that then circulate through other people’s behaviors. In 12 years as the CEO, certainly it’s the single best thing I could have done. It is crazy the impact Show up, Smile, and Support has had.  We have a culture that goes across 45 offices more consistently than just about any other company that I’ve seen. I feel really proud of that. And I think it’s because it is so simply stated, and it is a little bit different. And that’s what people have gravitated towards.”

Schnieders says that for the first year, he had the core values written without the daily ways.  It took one courageous manager to come to him to admit, “I don’t know what Smile means.”  After that, Schnieders started to define the words with the daily ways and then that became the behavior that people anchor on to.

Schnieders describes himself as a healthy leader, not a smart leader.  He puts his time and attention on the people side and the culture side. “I don’t have an MBA. I have a master’s degree in learning and people and change. You attract people who are like you, and if you talk about things consistently enough, people start doing them and they know you’re paying attention.”

Daily Ways are shown below.