Making remote workers want to come to the office is all about altering their balance of consequences. If you do this by punishing them for not coming to the office, the best you’ll ever get is compliance. Instead, inspire, enable and empower them to co-create a culture and office experience they want to be part of.

Diego Cubas’ Cornerstone Peru used the Covid shutdown to remodel their Lima offices. He told me that the day the new offices opened after the shutdown “everyone showed up. They wanted to be there. They enjoy working with each other.”

Somewhat incredulous, I asked the obvious question, “How did you do that?”

His eyes lit up and he talked to me about his organization’s culture built on pillars of leadership, purpose and values.

Leadership

Cubas hires, develops and exits for leadership. He looks for leadership traits like passion, teamwork, drive, dreaming big and doing the right things in those he hires at any level in the organization. Everyone’s a leader.

He then invests to develop those traits in all his people. Our discussion took place at a Cornerstone International Group conference in Miami. Cornerstone is an alliance of independent firms engaged in the search, selection, evaluation and development of talent. They share information, leads and tools across their offices around the world. About fifty people attended the conference. Most firms had sent one or two people to the conference. Cubas brought ten of his people to take advantage of this development opportunity.

On the other hand, Cubas is not shy about saying goodbye to those that fail to live up to the organization’s leadership standards. While he wants to develop all he can, he won’t let anyone bring down the others in the organization.

Purpose

Cornerstone Peru’s stated purpose is to “positively impact people’s lives around the world to transcend.” The transcendence is both professional and personal. Cubas told me they work to “impact people, their organizations, and their families.”

They use a purpose instead of a mission because Cubas thinks missions are a little too confining while a purpose, and their purpose in particular, is more transcendent. It’s not worth digging into that argument here because if that’s what Cubas and his team think, it’s the right choice for Cubas and his team.

Values

Almost every organization leader says their people are their organization’s most important assets and says they care about their values. Few actually mean it, let alone behave that way.

Spending just a couple of days with the Cornerstone Peru leaders that came to the conference, listening to their presentations, watching them engage with each other and with others made it impossible not to be impressed and inspired. They say and really do define and live their values all the time to make their organization one in which they would like to work. They teach each other and others through their examples. They walk the talk. They openly celebrate their winning culture.

Not surprisingly, their values match the leadership traits for which they hire, develop and exit.

• Passion: For winning. For doing what makes us happy. Enjoy the role. Enjoy the organization.
• Teamwork: Interdependence among all of us. Always willing to help and support the other. Cordiality and empathy. Work in harmony.
• Drive: Always pushing. Taking learning as sources of energy. Perseverance. “Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” (per Calvin Coolidge)
• Dream big: Nothing is impossible. Set high goals. See opportunities where others see limitations.
• Do the right things: Ethical behavior. Transparency. Deliver what we promise. Take care of our people.

Cubas himself leads with his presence. He shows up, physically getting on planes to spend good time with his people in Peru, Mexico, Panama and Miami. He says “The only way to generate trust is through face-to-face meetings.” He meets with his people in the offices. He works with them and their clients in their clients’ offices. They spend time together over meals after work.

Implications for you

You can alter the balance of consequences by adjusting positive or negative consequences of desired or undesired behaviors. Cornerstone Peru is a shining model of how to do this well, building a self-reinforcing culture of people that want to be together live. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Take their approach to leadership, purpose and values and modify only what you must to make them work for you