Workplace growth expert Cheryl Cran’s newsletter for leaders and business owners

Use outcome based communication when interacting. Outcome based communication is when we 'anchor' what we want in our message while including what would benefit the other person as well. For example if I have a deadline and I need you to do something for me right away outcome based communication would say it like this:

"Hi Susan, I know you are swamped, we have so many projects on the go. I am relying on your flexibility here, I need you to focus on this particular project with our deadline end of today. Let's review it together now to ensure you have everything you need."

Outcome based communication is direct, inclusive and leaves little or no room for arguing back or questionnig the request. Learn more about outcome based communication in "Say What You Mean- Mean What You Say"

Great companies consist of great people. Companies that consistently outperform their competition have learned the great mystery of business. That great mystery is this: people are the differentiating factor in overall success.

Companies who recognize the value of investment into their people reap the rewards of higher profitability and progress. They have dispelled the myths or limiting ideas that prevailed in the post-industrial work environment. Progressive thinking at the executive level along with full management participation in the area of people management is the differentiating factor of great company success.
Companies that are accelerating progress at this time do the following:

Plan, Execute and Measure

Progressive companies have recognized a trap called complacency. The most dangerous trap of all because it is an attitude of 'everything is okay as it is' versus an attitude of 'what can we consistently improve in order to remain competitive?"
Change is an integrated part of company operations- it is no longer talked about as much as it is a reality in the work environment. The changes can consist of organizational reviews or restructures, raqpid market shifts, technological advances and people changes such as resignations or retirements.

Top performing companies have put plans into place for each possible change based on experience from the past and in addition plan for contingencies or things that could possibly happen that could alter business results. For example a client of mine (a top Fortune 500 company) experienced a major setback when they had an exodus of top performers in their sales division a few years ago. It took them two years to recover from the loss of talent, expertise and lost client relationships. They did recover due to their willingness to completely shift their paradigm. They did not want the same thing happening to them again and they wanted to be better positioned to prevent the exodus in the first place.

They created a plan for retaining their top tier performers that consisted of a step by step process for ensuring employee satisfaction. They didn't just perform an employee survey and then keep doing what they were doing before. They took the feedback, analyzed it, discussed it and fed it back to directly to the employees with a detailed action plan. Once the plan was ciruclated they needed to demonstrate commitment to the plan so each management leader took part in the execution of the plan which is a fancy way of saying they followed through on what they said they were going to do. Finally they created a system to measure success so that they could report that back to the employees as well. They used the employee survey after the exodus as the start point, conducted anonymous surverys during the communication of the plan and when the plan and execution was complete asked for a complete evaluation of the entire process including asking the ever important question: "Does this employee retention plan appeal to you and will the plan keep you wanting to work here?"

What Great Leaders are Reading

The CEO's and leaders I am currently working with are reading a number of excellent books out in the marketplace. A new book by Malcolm Gladwell titled "Blink" is a top read of many executives right now as it talks about the power of quick decision making and using internal judgement to make decisions accurately. The Harvard Business Review consistently lists Jim Collin's book "Good to Great" as a leaders must read.

Programs Great Companies Are Exploring

Organizations like systems that save them time and that address issues relevant to their people. One major organization I recently worked with is an advocate for the Six Sigma approach which is a program/tool for disseminating information, analyzing it and testing it to see if it will work company wide in regards to specific challenges within the company.

Ongoing Education Company Wide

Top performing companies tend to set aside substantial budget for education for their employees. The format of the education varies from formal degree programs to shorter courses specific to a skill. Notably one company I work with has a minimum of four sales meetings per year for their entire sales team. They work with a professional event planning company and do it up right with preferred venues, music, networking opportunities and high content expert speakers. Guess what the sales results are for this particular company? Training and education used to be viewed as a nice to have for a many organizations. Great companies know that in order to remain on top of industry events and to prepare their people for handling change they need to invest top dollar in providing the necessary tools to their people. Not surprisingly education is a factor in employee satisfaction. Employees who have educational opportunities through their employer tend to remain more loyal and committed to the company.

Organizational Communication

Imagine an organization that shared information as the executive received it. Imagine the sales group always knowing exactly what was happening in the operations department and vice versa. How much more efficient would a company be if each and every department knew the initiatives of each department? Take that thought one step further: What would be the implications of each employee knowing the direct impact of their job on each of their co-workers job? Here's an idea:

Communication is the foundation of organizational success. Having a visual flow chart for each employee allows the overall company and its direction to come into clearer focus for each person. This is also a great tool to see where information jams are happening or where specific customer issues are happening.
If this seems like way too much work, consider working with a consultant to help build and begin the process. Check out my coaching page for more info (link to coaching page)

Customer Profile- A Success Story

A client I am currently working with is a fast growing company known in its industry as being THE premium supplier of natural fibers carpet. With divisions world wide this company is positioned for greater growth as the marketplace continues to recognize the value of environmentally friendly options for carpet and flooring.
The CEO hired me to conduct a management retreat last October and from there to work with each of his sales professionals.

This client is an example of a company who was ready to grow to the next level and a leader who recognized hiring an outside expert could speed up the process.
Their sales overall are up 27% and the sales team works as a congruent unit rather than against each other. Up next? Working with the operations team to increase sharing of information between departments and to enhance team work between departments. I will report increased overall results accomplished with this group at the end of next quarter. Stay tuned……