Increasing the Value of Assets NOT on Your Balance Sheet
One definition of an asset is that it provides future economic benefit. Last time I checked… the value of employees cannot be found on any balance sheet. The irony is… your company would likely not survive for long if all of your employees quit today. The reality is that employees do provide future economic benefit.…
A “Not So Brady” Approach to Business
Does your company have a problem keeping promises to clients and employees? Is the gap between brand promise and actual experience barely noticeable or something much larger that directly causes client attrition and employee turnover? Have you calculated this cost lately? A Not So Brady Approach… Before the Super Bowl, I was channel surfing and…
Lubricating the Wheels of Commerce
From the outside looking in, pinpointing what makes a particular company successful isn’t always easy, but figuring out the secrets is a lot easier if you take the time to ask… Last week, Carrie and I purchased a new gas stovetop and exhaust fan from Fredericks’s Appliance Center and had it installed by Charlie Rowan,…
Knowledge is NOT Power
Building a successful company requires effective SHARING of knowledge. If your company is currently being held hostage by an employee who keeps critical information to themselves, you have learned the hard way that knowledge is NOT power when only one person hold the key to certain information. It only takes ONE person to break the…
SWIM or DROWN is Not an Effective Business Strategy
Last week, a friend was succintly explaining his business strategy to me. In three words, it was “SWIM or DROWN.” Wow, that sounds stressful! Can you relate? Despite the thought of this strategy being utterly exhausting, SWIM or DROWN has sustained the company for over 7 years. You might say that this strategy works so…
Successful Teaching Requires Effective Communication
Successful teaching requires BOTH deliberate practice and effective two-way communication. This winter, I am serving as a volunteer ski instructor with Outdoors For All, an organization whose mission is to enrich the quality of life for children and adults with disabilities through outdoor recreation. The guiding principles are to keep learning safe and fun with…
Reduce Employee Turnover by Protecting the Team – Part II
Last week’s message had a theme drawing from Coach Pete Carroll’s #1 rule of Always Protecting the Team; and it provided a 30,000 foot overview for how companies can reduce employee turnover by developing a set of shared values and rewarding desired behaviors, while creating leaders at all levels of the organization. This week, I’ll…
Reducing Employee Turnover by Protecting the Team – Part I
Always protect the team is Coach Pete Carroll’s #1 rule and it can apply in your company too; that is if you have a team worth protecting. The reality is that sustaining a successful service business is impossible without developing an engaged and effective team of employees that live by a shared value system. What…
Refining the Strategic Planning Process
This is the time of year that companies go through their annual strategic planning and budgeting process. While effective at tracking revenue goals and managing operating expenses, most strategic plans and budgets are not engineered to produce organizational behavior changes that ultimately increase the value of your company. How does your company measure up? Opportunity…
How to Reduce Employee Turnover
What is your business strategy for reducing employee turnover? What investments are in the annual budget for improving hiring practices, strengthening team effectiveness/productivity and building a vibrant company culture? Depending on whose study you believe, the cost of employee turnover is anywhere between 40% and 400% of an employee’s annual compensation. By anyone’s calculation, that’s…