You Can't Coach Someone Who Doesn't Share Your Values

Jim Collins said it in "Good to Great": Get the right people in the right seats before you even set direction for your company.

But how do you actually know if someone is "the right person"?

Most founders use gut feelings. Vague impressions. Subjective opinions. One manager says someone's great. Another says they're toxic. Nobody has data.

So cultural misfits stay because nobody can prove they don't belong.

I use a simple tool from the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) called the People Analyzer. It's a spreadsheet that makes culture fit objective instead of emotional.

And it's saved me from keeping the wrong people far longer than I should have.

How the People Analyzer Works

It's dead simple. Four steps:

Step 1: Define Your 4-5 Core Values

These need to be specific, not generic corporate speak. For my companies:

• Extreme Ownership On Everything
• Radical Daily Accountability
• Bias for Direct Action
• Customer's Journey Obsession
• Explosive Growth Mindset

Step 2: Score Every Team Member 1-5 on Each Value

• 1 = Rarely demonstrates this value
• 2 = Occasionally demonstrates this value
• 3 = Meets expectations for this value
• 4 = Consistently exceeds expectations
• 5 = Fully embodies this value

Step 3: Calculate Average Scores

Add up their scores across all values and divide by the number of values.

Step 4: Make Decisions Based on Data

• 4.0+ (Strong Fit): These people are your culture carriers. Keep them.
• 3.0-3.9 (Moderate Fit): They need coaching and development on specific values.
• Below 3.0 (Misalignment): They're likely not the right fit for your company.

What "Wrong People" Actually Means

"Wrong people" doesn't mean bad people. It means not aligned to your core values.

You can move someone from the wrong seat to the right seat in your company - horizontally or vertically. That's just role adjustment.

But you can't coach someone who fundamentally doesn't share your values.

You might be able to coach someone from a 3 to a 4 or 5 in one specific value. That's development.

But you can't coach a whole person to be aligned if they're not. You're trying to change who they are, not develop what they have.

When I Had to Use This Under Pressure

When we downsized from 150 to 45 employees, the People Analyzer was one of three tools that guided our decisions.

We scored every single person. The results told me exactly who belonged.

Some high performers scored 2s and 3s on culture alignment. They were getting technical results but damaging the team.

Others with decent performance scored 4s and 5s across all values. They were the cultural backbone.

In a crisis, I kept the people who embodied our values. And they're the ones who helped us rebuild.

How to Actually Use This

For Current Team Members:

Run your entire team through the matrix. Be honest about the scores - use real examples of behavior, not how you feel about people.

Anyone below 3.0 needs a direct conversation about fit. Anyone 3.0-3.9 gets a coaching plan with specific improvements needed.

Use this tool regularly to audit your team and ensure you're scaling with the right people.

For Hiring:

This is where it gets powerful. I test for values during interviews, not after someone joins.

For each core value, I ask situational questions that reveal if someone actually operates that way:

Testing "Extreme Ownership": "Tell me about a project that failed. What was your role in that failure?"

Testing "Bias for Direct Action": "Describe a time when you saw a problem but didn't have permission to solve it. What did you do?"

I score their answers 1-5 in real-time. If they average below 3.0 during interviews, they don't move forward.

This prevents cultural misfits from ever joining your team.

The Hard Truth About Culture

Your business success depends on team alignment with your core values and culture.

Every person who doesn't embody your values lowers the bar for everyone else. Every person who does raises it.

The People Analyzer removes guesswork and forces objective decisions about who belongs.

Stop hoping people will adapt. Start measuring if they actually fit.

Ready to stop losing $20K+ on cultural misfits disguised as "hard workers"?

I've taken everything I learned from 700+ interviews and turned it into the system my private coaching clients pay $3K-$5K to learn.

The Mastering Recruiting & Hiring Course gives you the complete framework - from job postings to final decisions - that stops you from gambling and starts you hiring A-Players with confidence.

What you get:

• Complete hiring framework beyond CVs and interviews
• Real skills and culture testing (not HR theater)
• Founder's playbook from my experience scaling and exiting companies
• Step-by-step guide you can apply immediately
• Lifetime access to repeat and refine as you grow

Why this works: In 90 minutes, you'll learn a system that saves $20K-$50K on every bad hire you avoid. The ROI is immediate.

→ Start the Mastering Recruiting & Hiring Course

Build a team that embodies your values, not just fills seats.

- Ignacio

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