Here is another extract from our upcoming book, The Premier Way!…

One of our key principles at PGNZ is to never ever hire a leader from outside the business!

We must always hire and promote from within!

All of the leaders/ coordinators/ partners at PGNZ have started their Premier journey from the shop floor so to speak.

This is because in order to be a great leader at PGNZ, you need to have the Premier DNA locked and loaded. This can only be achieved by starting your career here at the entry level and then learning and earning your way to more responsibility and reward.

On your journey at PGNZ, you learn more everyday about our mission, vision, values and guiding principles. Everyday you get a deeper understanding of how important they all are and how they all fit together.

It is absolutely critical that any current or future leader at PGNZ has the Premier blood running through their veins and that they are culture advancers and CROs. (Chief reminding officers).

The generally accepted practice in the business world is to hire the management superstars from outside the business. To poach the legends. And this happens everyday out there. Top performers are poached and put straight into management roles eg sales manager, CEO, General Manager etc.

The problem with this approach is that in most cases it is culture and soul destroying for existing employees.

The new broom comes in and wanting to impress, he/she makes sweeping changes and can tear apart a culture that has taken many years to build.

Or in a lot of cases the company is on a constant culture roller coaster ride as new managers come and go in quick succession.

You can never build a great or stable culture with this approach. This approach is short term thinking. At PGNZ we are all lean thinkers. Lean thinkers are always thinking long term.

At best it may give you good short term results and at worst, completely undo any good work that has been achieved up to that point.

You also risk losing good loyal employees due to the constant management disruption and change.

This is a rule we will never ever break again. In the past, before we understood this important principle, we hired for management roles from outside the business and it always ended in big problems. But since 2015 when we re wrote our company mission, vision, values and guiding principles, we have stuck to our guns on this.

So if you are in your first year at PGNZ right now or if you are several years on the journey, it is on you to help reinforce this very important principle as we grow.

We have all worked so hard in the last few years to build an incredible happy and high performance culture and we would put it all at risk with just one wrong hire. And we would most certainly put it at a massive risk if we hire or poach someone for a leadership or management role.

Just like the one drop of milk clouding the entire clear, clean bucket of water, so too just one wrong hire at PGNZ!

As you grow and learn at PGNZ, you are responsible to train all new recruits in your team about why we believe so strongly in our guiding principles and why we would rather hold back the growth of the company than make the wrong hire.

The long term success and sustainability of the company is far more important than short term opportunities. And to ensure we are successful for the long term, we must GROW our leaders from within! This way we maintain a stable culture that is always improving incrementally. And the backbone of PGNZ is our culture.

We are not building an owner lead company. We are building a culture lead organisation. This is the real deal! This is the only way to build a truly great company together.

P.S. At Premier Business Academy we have tonnes of great resources to help you on this journey and support you along the way! Please feel free to email me back or go to: www.premierbusinessacademy.co.nz

Cheers to your success!

Bernard and the team at Premier Group NZ!