Pete: [00:00:00] Good morning, Matt. Good morning, Pete. Woo! I'm pumped up today. What do we got going for today? Ah, you know what? I am super excited. I it is football season, college football season to be specific, right? And you know, my I've got a kid that goes to Ohio State, the Ohio State, excuse me, and, and I love their football.
So I've been kind of following the football. So I'm excited about this. And the other day I was watching one of their first games. And I thought to myself, you know, they, they just, it doesn't look like they got the chemistry yet. Right. You know, you got to have that chemistry, that connection between the players, the connection between the players and the coach.
And so I was thinking about this is my family and I did a little a experiential thing. So you were so kind to share with me the cultural index. Right. And the cultural index is a way in which you can look [00:01:00] at key traits and how you interact. Right. And, and so I had my whole family do this. They all take the cultural index and, and we get our results and we have a family meeting.
And we're going through our reports. And I realized going through this that I am the exact opposite of my wife. Imagine that, opposite the tracks. Absolutely, well this would clearly be, I go, I didn't ever realize we were that different but, but clearly we are. And so, the cultural index is, it sounds like it's a really cool tool for people that are hiring and really trying to build a good team.
So I thought maybe, because you know a lot more about the cultural index, we talk a little bit about The cultural index. And maybe why don't we come up with like 10 things? Why not 10? 10? Lucky 10? I like that. 10 things. Why, why the [00:02:00] cultural indexes is something that as you look at it is, is pretty cool.
And maybe you should consider using. Alright, so what would be the first reason why somebody or a business should use the cultural index?
Nat: Enhanced cultural fit is pretty important. So you're trying to, you know, it's like the concept of human capital, right? So you're trying to identify candidates who align with your company's values and beliefs and work styles, and then that will help reduce risk of conflicts or misalignment.
Pete: And do you find that true, that you can really with a cultural index, find people or have, be narrow in closer to people that fit the culture of your organization?
Nat: Oh, yeah. 100%. We've been using it pretty successfully and now it starts to feel like everybody's kind of pulling in the same direction instead of going in five different directions.
Pete: Okay. Got it. Good. Okay. What would be a second benefit to the cultural index?
Nat: One big thing is to reduce [00:03:00] turnover. So, you know, if you, if people are a better fit for the culture, then there's higher likelihood of retention. And also they will be more satisfied with their work.
Pete: And I think from the standpoint is that it's expensive to hire people, right?
And it's even more expensive to lose somebody, right? So if you're, if you're using the index that allows you to get a closer fit. Like we talked about earlier with the culture, and so that can reduce the turnover, which obviously is is a good thing in today's world. All right, what would be a reason? Just
Nat: increasing the team environment.
So if they share common values and work styles, they'll be able to collaborate more and work more together, which, you know, selfishly from business owners perspective. Improves productivity and innovation.
Pete: Right? Yeah. And it's from your standpoint, when you look at the traits in the cultural index, you're looking for in a position, you're trying to basically put together a puzzle.
Right? So I need [00:04:00] these, I need these behaviors, this type of personality for this kind
Nat: of like that. Remember 11. Yeah. And I can't remember the exactly the names, but like Brad Pitt would be like, we need a this guy and a this guy and, you know, he had like the kind of a catchphrase for the different, you know, this is like the safe cracker and this is the guy that does this and
Pete: right.
And then they form a team because it's a bunch of pieces. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. All right. What would be the fourth one?
Nat: Quicker on boarding. So when new hires are in sync with everything, they can get on boarded a lot faster and understand what what their expectations are. So that's very beneficial.
Pete: Have you seen that? Is that? Yeah. Yeah.
Nat: That's a big bet. I had 1 person. We started recently. I think I spent 3 hours with that. Okay, I'm embarrassed to say, but they're 100 percent on boarded.
Pete: Yeah, right. And before that might have taken you a couple of months. I'd say that's a benefit that yes. Okay. Very good.[00:05:00]
All right. What would be a 5th 1?
Nat: Oh, well, in addition, you know, if somebody is like a fish in water, then their performance is going to be, you know, better too. So they're going to onboard faster. They're going to more naturally have better performance because it's just going to make sense to them.
It's literally the fish in water concept.
Pete: Yeah. Yeah. So they're, they're more aligned with the, with what needs to be done. Okay, good. What would be the
Nat: sixth one? Well you know, I, I think this day and age, like, job satisfaction is right up there. So I think if people can have jobs, that's a good fit for them, then it's going to improve their job satisfaction and that will help, you know, with retention and engagement and all
Pete: that.
Yeah, and I think that's so important today to find that that right match and if you can be a little bit more sophisticated using the cultural index to help them find a position that matches exactly what they're looking for, to your point, they're going to be, they're going to be happier. [00:06:00] What would be the seventh benefit of using the cultural index?
Makes for more
Nat: effective communication in the company because people understand, you know, each other's communication styles, actually. So some people you have to kind of. Make like the Denny's menu. So, you know, it's like a page by page and and some people just need to have like the high level idea and they can be off and running so it's pretty, it's pretty insightful to people's different communication styles too.
Pete: Yeah, like when we took it as a family, we, you could see we each had a little different communication style. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mine is a little bit more direct and to the point, right? And now that they know that's just kind of part of my, my I guess my my personality, they, they can, it's a little bit easier for them to understand and for us to communicate as a family for sure.
[00:07:00] Okay, what would be the eighth?
Nat: Better decision making when you have a team that's working together, then it makes it much easier to, you know, collaborate and make better decisions.
Pete: And have you seen that? Is that, is that
Nat: true? Yeah, definitely. Because like you're in alignment with the mission and the values versus everybody wanting to just do their own thing.
So, yeah, it helps a lot.
Pete: Yeah, absolutely. What would be the ninth one?
Nat: I think... Enhance innovation. So, you know, when you're working together as a team, you can actually innovate more because you everybody understands like what their role is and also what we're trying to accomplish as a company.
Pete: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And you have to innovate. And if you've got a bunch of people rolling in the same direction, you get there faster, right? So yeah, for sure. What would be the 10th reason?
Nat: It has a pretty big impact just on company branding to a certain extent because. People like the fact that we're taking the time to make sure that, you know, their [00:08:00] position is going to be a good fit for them.
Ironically, it's kind of like using AI to hire and recruit because, you know, we're using essentially AI to basically understand how people are hardwired. And how they're going to perform in the future. So I think that really is impactful and makes people appreciate, you know, the company more.
Pete: Yeah.
Right. It's a, it's a place where people want to work. So, you know, the cultural index is a tool that you can use and it's a tool you pay for, right. And from, from your standpoint, as you invest in it, as an entrepreneur, do you believe that it's worth. the investment to leverage the technology the intelligence, you'd say, with the model of the cultural
Nat: index.
It's kind of going back to what you said about that, the cost of hiring a bad employee. So not only is there a hard cost of their salary, but there's [00:09:00] also opportunity costs. They might actually be slowing down the organization, right? So I, I feel like at this point can't for, you know, my company or really any company I'm part of in the future.
I don't think you could afford not to do
Pete: it. Yeah, it seems like it's a very sophisticated way to find the right people for your organization. And and there's certainly 10 benefits that we just covered using the cultural index. So awesome. All right. Well, I got to go.
Nat: Yeah. Did you get any complimentary football tickets with that tuition payment?
Pete: I did not. And by the way, Ohio State, I was reading has the highest. Highest ticket prices for college
Nat: football. What? So I haven't been at college game in a while. What, what did those run these days?
Pete: Oh, well, if you buy my ticket master, it could be, well, it depends on where you want to sit. So but you know, it could be a couple of hundred bucks for you know, it, if you want a really good ticket, it can be a lot more than that.
So
Nat: yeah, you get [00:10:00] into the tailgating at all, like going a little bit.
Pete: Yeah. Block parties and, you know, and things like that. Yeah, it's, it's fun. You know, I grew up tailgating being a living in Minnesota and the Vikings, we used to tailgate outside, which could be very cold, but, you know, you could bring the grill out and all that kind of stuff.
So it's fun to be around a lot of young people. And I love going to college football games. All right.
Nat: Well, good luck. Go. Go. The Ohio State.
Pete: Yes. Yes. Big game. Big game coming up here. So, all right. Thanks so much.