4 ways to activate core values and competencies for front-line workers

We love learning from employee experience experts including HR leaders who prioritize the health of their team members, culture and organization. CAVA's Chief People Officer Kelly Costanza joined the ITA Group “Love Your People podcast” to share how her team integrated their employee communication campaign to great success and the overall impact that effort had on their organization. This article details our learnings from Kelly that are relevant across any industry.

Building core competencies that resonate

"CAVA’s mission is to bring heart, health and humanity to food," Kelly said. "But as a business, the only way we can do that is if we bring heart, health and humanity to our team members."

CAVA's HR team kicked things off by refreshing their organizational values. They developed seven competencies focused on the key behaviors they wanted each member of the organization to live by.

"In some way or another every team member at CAVA serves our guest," Kelly said. "That includes our CAVA foods team members who are producing our delicious dips and spreads. It includes team members who work in supply chain and [the] support center and are communicating with our vendors. It includes our team members who are working the line and serving a delicious bowl or delicious pita every single day."

Her team made each core competency relatable to each role, no matter the department or level. That consistency supported their employees' growth, and created a connected culture from the executives to the front-line staff.

This approach is a best practice. It ties an organization's desired behaviors, like CAVA's "competencies" in this instance, to their values. When employees consistently see how these values feed into practice with their daily work or overarching team goals, the organization reinforces their beliefs. Connecting those competencies to everyone's roles means team members can see how their responsibilities feed into their organization's success.

1. Peer recognition inspires coworkers

One of the most impactful ways CAVA operationalized their mission, values and competencies (MVC) is through employee recognition.

CAVA hands out physical recognition cards for each core competency. On the back of each card, team members can write a message to celebrate a peer for demonstrating that competency.

CAVA locations each have a communication board where team members can post these cards to spotlight a coworker. This communication board serves as a physical reminder of the importance of CAVA’s MVC and gives real-world examples of how team members embody the MVC during daily challenges in their roles.

The organization also hosts a quarterly MVC program where team members are nominated for being the “MVC.” A fun take on “MVP.” Winners are announced at the CAVA Connect conference. And Kelly's team reads every single nomination aloud, before presenting the winner with a giant-sized values card.

2. Daily huddles prompt deeper discussion on values

CAVA provides tools like the competency cards and communication boards to keep MVC top of mind at all locations. They also send out a competency of the month communication to prompt conversation within teams.

Managers use these monthly prompts in their daily huddles to help employees think more critically. With one competency to focus on at a time, employees understand that specific competency and how they'd bring it to a challenge specific to their role.

This keeps these core competencies top-of-mind for front-line workers every day.

3. Competency training empowers employees

The organization hosts “Competency Champion Training” for employees. They certify individual team members to become training experts in these competencies.

These team members are then enabled to help find ways to bring those competencies to the forefront.

"It's amazing when you see how excited team members get when they announce they're a Competency Champion," Kelly added. "And it's another acknowledgment they can have for themselves in terms of recognition."

Related: Create a connected culture to empower your people

4. Recruitment and career development focus on values and growth

CAVA connects its MVC to all aspects of employee experience, including hiring and career development.

"We always say ‘connect all the things.’ Every facet of our people systems, we’ve incorporated the competencies," Kelly shared.

Instead of performance reviews, CAVA calls each employee's evaluations an impact plan. It's based on quantitative goals, developmental goals and competency goals.

For recruitment, CAVA created behavioral interview guides to teach interviewers how to ask questions based on the MVC. They also created personality assessments that are all focused on the core competencies.

"When you think about identifying the right hires and the right roles for the organization, setting goals for people, or the succession planning and career paths, it's all centered around that MVC."

Touchpoints help employees embody company values

This marketing approach to its core competencies enabled employees to interact with their values at several touchpoints.

Through recognition, employees identify competencies in action. Huddles give employees opportunities to critically discuss these values in everyday tasks. Training empowers employees to teach one another in different locations.

With all things tying back to MVC, CAVA sees employee growth and recruitment through a consistent lens.

Listening to Kelly and the CAVA story was very exciting because it reinforces how powerful a connected culture environment can be. The growth and impact on their team members’ lives validate that developing a more connected culture is going to pay big dividends in the end through increased engagement, improved retention and higher productivity and performance.

By centering their employee experience around the MVC, CAVA engages front-line workers in a way that highlights their business’s mission and values. Their message of heart, health and humanity is front and center for their customers, their people and their delicious food!

Kelly and the CAVA story were incredibly inspiring! It demonstrates how a strong connected culture can drive significant positive outcomes. The growth and positive impact on their team members' lives serve as a reminder that investing in a more connected culture will generate the desired returns. Companies with a connected culture also see increased employee engagement, improved retention rates, and ultimately, higher levels of productivity and performance.

Watch the full podcast episode to learn how CAVA brought their core competencies to life.