"I believe a company's culture is rooted in its values"
Craig Goodliffe Tweet
Craig Goodliffe is a successful real estate executive who started Cyberbacker, an innovative and mission-driven company, to connect small to medium-sized businesses with the top-flight support staff that they need in order to grow. Cyberbacker is the leading provider of world-class administrative support and virtual assistant services from anywhere in the world to anyone in the world.
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We’re happy that you could join us today! Please introduce yourself to our readers. What’s your story?
Craig Goodliffe: Thanks so much for having me. I think I would simply introduce myself as someone on a mission to create balance in people’s prospects regardless of where they live. Highly intelligent people are born all over the world, but certain places offer more advantages.
I’ve dedicated my life to making sure that hard-working, intelligent people have the same access to opportunities as those born in more privileged areas. I would like to live in a world where everyone has the chance to use their talents and abilities to create better lives for their families.
CEOs and leaders usually have different motives and aspirations when getting started. Let’s go straight to the beginning. What was your primary goal for starting your business? Was it wealth, respect, or to offer a service that would help improve lives?
Craig Goodliffe: My motivation has always been to make life better for the people around me. The very first virtual assistant I hired was for myself. Even though my real-estate business was in Utah, I went out on a limb and hired an assistant from the Philippines. Daphne was a single mother with a strong will to survive; all she needed was an opportunity. With her new job, she provided a home for her baby and was even able to add on to her parents’ house.
Daphne was a life-saver! Before I hired her, I was trying to do everything myself. I was bogged down in an endless stream of distracting emails, voice messages, texts, and mundane tasks. After hiring an assistant, I discovered I could go entire days without touching a keyboard. She ran interference for all my distractions, and I did what I do best — communicating with clients and building relationships.
Soon after, my friends started noticing. My friends were running real-estate companies, coaching, and consulting with small business owners seven days a week from the moment they woke up to the moment they went to bed at night. I was doing the same job, but I took weekends off and left work in the office when I went home in the evenings. My friends began asking me how I was able to do it.
I told them that the secret was a great assistant. Eventually, I realized I was helping so many people find quality virtual assistants that I could turn the service into a company that helps people worldwide. The company exploded. Today, we’re helping thousands of employees and entrepreneurs achieve work/life balance and bringing opportunity to areas of the world that desperately need it. Even though we’re so much bigger today, I still see all our clients as friends. I’m just trying to help them in the same way that I helped my friends before I ever launched a company.
Tell us about 2 things that you like and two things that you dislike about your industry. Share what you’d like to see change and why.
Craig Goodliffe: What I really like about this space is the newness of the experience. The pandemic made work from home possible, and now it is incredibly popular. Covid-19 was the momentous event that created a world where a company like ours could thrive. I’m grateful for the opportunity, and I’m excited that it’s allowed us to partner with high-level entrepreneurs and serve their businesses in ways we could never have before. Their support, friendship, and feedback have meant everything to us. They give me new perspectives and shape my thinking.
On the other hand, there are things I don’t like about this industry. First, people are entering the global hiring space without taking time to do it the right way. They are connecting people who need virtual assistants with anyone who applies. The truth is, it takes time to find qualified assistants. I remember one week when we went through 22,000 applicants. Out of those, we interviewed over 4,500 but hired less than 200. If we didn’t have such a strong commitment to excellence, we would probably do what many of our competitors do and hire the first person to show up. So many people who use other companies report that they hired a virtual assistant from the Philippines, and it didn’t work. In reality, it does work extremely well when a company is diligent in seeking out the best candidates.
Another thing that bothers me is that so many of our competitors look only at the needs of their clients. They only care about helping the person who’s writing the check. They don’t take care of their people. For us, that mentality is unacceptable. We started profit sharing early on to ensure our people are set for life after leaving our company. While working for us, I ensure they can afford adequate housing, transportation, and healthcare. I know if we take care of our cyberbackers, they will take care of our clients. That’s the secret behind our successful Win-Win partnership.
Companies around the world are rapidly changing their work environment and organizational culture to facilitate diversity. How do you see your organizational culture changing in the next 3 years and how do you see yourself creating that change?
Craig Goodliffe: We embrace diversity. Our company looks at a person’s qualifications and nothing else. We work to give people a chance, and we don’t tolerate anyone who belittles someone because of their beliefs, ethnicity, or gender specification. We treat everyone equally.
I’m happy we have diversity in our company. We did not seek it out. We just looked at who can do the work, and the most qualified people happen to be diverse. We appreciate and honor that.
According to the Michigan State University “An organization’s culture is responsible for creating the kind of environment in which the business is managed, and has a major impact on its ultimate success or failure.” What kind of culture has your organization adopted and how has it impacted your business?
Craig Goodliffe: There are a couple of things we do that are a little unique. Every one of our cyberbackers has direct access to me. That makes my birthday and other major holidays a little busy as I respond to messages. I love that!
Also, we know people grow professionally as they grow personally, so we have meetings with our staff every week. We help them develop skills in everything from establishing a budget to maintaining physical health and setting professional goals. We’ve learned that our best people are the ones willing to take on new challenges. That’s why we’re committed to helping everyone in our company grow.
Richard Branson once famously stated “There’s no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff how you would like to be treated.” and Stephen R. Covey admonishes to “Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers. What’s your take on creating a great organizational culture?
Craig Goodliffe: In creating company culture, we focus on building something similar to a family. You always love your family, even though you may not always like them. It’s natural to be angry with someone in your family, but you still care about them deeply. In a large organization, you’re not going to like everyone all the time, but at the end of the day, you’re working towards a common goal. Because you’re working together, you have the same mindset a family has.
To get to that place, leaders need to be genuine and vulnerable with their people. When people see humility in their leadership, they are willing to serve coworkers and customers. Being a CEO is a lot like being a parent. Helping our people become their very best and do their best work sometimes requires a pat on the back and sometimes a swift kick in the behind. Enabling people to be their best creates a place where they show up happy. That’s what we want.
The overwhelming majority of more than 9,000 workers included in a recent Accenture survey on the future of work said they felt a hybrid work model would be optimal going forward, a major reason for that being the improved work-life balance that it offers. How do you promote work-life balance at your company?
Craig Goodliffe: We look at work/life balance from the perspective of a ballerina. When a ballerina is balancing on tiptoe, it’s all about counterbalance. We don’t focus on balance, but instead, we focus on rapid counterbalance. Sometimes deadlines force people to work long hours. Sometimes people are going to go on vacation and focus only on the moment. Counterbalance involves finding ways to balance after times like these. If you lean too far one way or the other, you will experience either burnout or failure.
How would you describe your company’s overall culture? Give us examples.
Craig Goodliffe: I believe a company’s culture is rooted in its values. That’s why we took a lot of time to think through our values and how they affect daily life in our workplace.
First and foremost, we value relationships. Our company is a giving company. When our workers said they wanted a way to retire, we built a profit share model to make that happen. When they wanted help buying homes and cars, we invented cyber capital to loan them money.
Our mission is to give people better lives. We knew that if we didn’t build our company around that goal, our success would be short-lived. We wanted a business that thrived long-term, so we went back to the good old days when companies offered pensions and took care of their employees. That’s one of the most significant foundations of our culture.
While building relationships, we attempt to foster a culture of growth. Healthy things grow. Our company challenges our people because there’s no growth in your comfort zone.
People need great relationships and opportunities to grow, but they also need fun. They need to love what they do. They should be laughing and enjoying their work during the day. If you’re in a job with great relationships and you’re growing, but you don’t enjoy it, you should look for other opportunities.
Our fourth value, abundance, is just as important. We’re not in this work to become rich, but we believe people who are growing are having fun. And when people are enjoying what they do, money just comes naturally.
We keep those four values in mind with every decision. Our values set the tone for our culture.
It is believed that a company’s culture is rooted in a company’s values. What are your values and how do they affect daily life at the workplace?
Craig Goodliffe: They are nearly the same as the company values because I had to create a company that I wanted to work for. I want to have great relationships with people in my life, and I’m constantly investing in my growth. I value learning, growth, and wealth, but we prioritize fun as well. Our life in the workplace is filled with fun activities like go-karts, limo parties, and other adventures because the happiness of my employees is important to me and our success as a company.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make, this past year 2021, for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Craig Goodliffe: There have been so many decisions we’ve thought long and hard over this year. I think the biggest one involved finding the best way to turn our business into a franchise. We wanted to be very specific in identifying who we were looking for in franchise owners. There are some people we chose not to be in business with because we knew that their values were not in line with ours. In the case of franchise owners, we wanted to see dedication. We need them to be as dedicated to us as we are to them. It’s a partnership.
We’ve also experienced a lot of leadership growth this year. Certain people in key roles had to move on. It was hard, but it was time. Sometimes leaders are incredible human beings, but they reach a point when they are incapable of taking their role to the next level. Finding a better role for them allows you to build a relationship with someone who can move the company forward. Filling those roles with new leaders who will take us into the next stage of growth was difficult but critical.
An organization’s management has a deep impact on its culture. What is your management style and how well has it worked so far?
Craig Goodliffe: Our company has several vice presidents. They’re responsible for building out their directors, initiatives, and key performance reports. We meet every week. Much of the time, I allow them to take the reins. They have opportunities to succeed and opportunities to fail. Sometimes the best outcomes come from the things we work hardest to achieve. I don’t want to micromanage the people who work for me and rob them of the chance to grow. I will meet with them and support them in any way I can, but I allow them to do their work and stay out of their way.
Every organization suffers from internal conflicts, whether functional or dysfunctional. Our readers would love to know, how do you solve an internal conflict?
Craig Goodliffe: Well, at the moment, we have the challenge of too many good ideas at once. Several people in different departments have implemented wonderful ideas without working with one another first. Typically, when issues like these arise, we call everyone together for a very transparent and authentic conversation.
According to Culture AMP, Only 40% of women feel satisfied with the decision-making process at their organization (versus 70% of men), which leads to job dissatisfaction and poor employee retention. What is your organization doing to facilitate an inclusive and supportive environment for women?
Craig Goodliffe: I think it’s important to mention the president of our company is a woman. Most of our vice presidents are also women or identify as women. The majority of the leaders in our company are female. We depend on women’s perspectives. That perspective is everywhere. It’s built into our culture.
The thing I value most about Sheila, our president, is the diversity between us. I have the perspective of a white male born in the United States, and she has the perspective of a Filipino woman living in the Philippines. We have very different perspectives. The best thing I can do is meet with her and listen to her. We meet at least every week. A lot of times, it seems to me that I bring the brain to the organization, and she brings the heart. The brain makes you think, but the emotion makes you act.
What role do your company’s culture and values play in the recruitment process and how do you ensure that it is free from bias?
Craig Goodliffe: Our recruitment process is massive. We use YouTube videos and social media to put our story out there. So many people respond that we have developed a recruiting strategy to eliminate bias. First, there is a series of assessments to vet the skills of each candidate. Next is an initial interview.
There is always someone checking this interview for quality assurance and making sure it is conducted correctly. For the candidates who move forward, there is a second interview where we go a little deeper. The final hiring decision is never left up to one person. With 22,000 applicants and over 4,500 interviews in a week, you’ve got to be sure you’re hiring the absolute best, and you’ve got to treat everyone fairly. The number of applications we get is a little overwhelming, and we’ve had to scale up our hiring division to accommodate that.
We’re grateful for all that you have shared so far! We would also love to know if there was one thing that you could improve about your company’s culture, what would it be?
Craig Goodliffe: I think we will always be trying to improve our communication. That is the most significant challenge for most companies, and I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon. You see overcommunication, one-way communication, and communication that’s misunderstood altogether. I keep hoping for a magic wand that will one day make all communication crystal clear. That day hasn’t come yet.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Craig Goodliffe: Client education is our biggest challenge right now. Even though the pandemic forced many businesses to work online, many have progressed back into their old ways. We know that more people would work with cyberbacker in hiring someone great if they only knew “HOW” the pieces fit together. It’s a long process sitting down and educating one client at a time.
We are willing to do that and yet it seems that it’s not the most efficient way to do things. So many business owners currently feel like they are held hostage to the labor shortage and yet after a conversation where they can see how hiring someone virtually can solve their hiring problem they are rapidly able to implement a better strategy. It’s a constant obstacle that we don’t see going away soon, however, we are making progress.
This has been truly insightful and we thank you for your time. Our final question, however, might be a bit of a curveball. If you had a choice to either fly or be invisible, which would you choose and why?
Craig Goodliffe: An option to have both would be really cool. But if I had to pick one, I would choose to fly. I would love to zip to and from the Philippines and visit our workers more often. The time I spend with people at our company is such an important investment. Despite how great video chats can be, there’s some stuff we just can’t replicate about a face-to-face meeting. So I would definitely choose to fly in order to spend more time with my people.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Craig Goodliffe for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Craig Goodliffe or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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