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Why Communication Issues Always Seem to Cause Low Employee Morale

 I would be able to retire if I received a dime for every time one of my workshop participants told me one of the biggest challenges throughout their company culture was “communication.” Today, in a workshop, if I heard it once I heard it two dozen times within three hours.

What does that mean?

How do you fix a “communication problem?”

It’s actually relatively easy once the “communiation problem” is defined. A lack of specificity regarding the communication problems within a company culture is the primary issue causing low employee morale surrounding that particular issue.

Gaining clarity on fixing the problem requires the answering of two relatively simple questions:

1) If the communication problem were to be fixed how would you know it?

2) What would have to happen in order for the communication problem to go away?

One woman in my workshop today had a breakthrough after I continued to harp on this issue. She raised her hand and said, “I get it, I finally get it! How can I expect other people to do what I want them to do, if I can’t even define it so that I can specifically communicate what I want to them. No wonder I’m having such problems.”

I love seeing that light bulb go on in moments like that.

Get clear on what would be different and how people would communicate more effectively if they were communicating as you would like ‘em to be. Do that and you will be well on your way to fixing your communication problems in your company’s culture and the morale of your employees will gradually begin to improve in direct proportion to the level of specificity in communications throughout the organization.

NOTE:
Next blog post will be on “Why there is a lack of specificity in our communications and what to do about it.” Stay tuned. You are always welcome to subscribe to this blog so you can be updated on the most recent blog posts.

Let’s Model Companies With Outstanding Company Cultures

Moving forward, I am dedicating this blog to discussing the characteristics of Champion Organizations, thus the new official URL of the same title.

I am in search of anecdotal real life stories of outstanding company and organizational cultures so that subscribers of this blog can believe that enjoyable working environments do exist.

Each year Fortune Magazine identifies the best companies to work for. Much of the criteria for making the Fortune list is centered around employee satisfaction and employee engagement.

Check out the 2009 Top 100 List which comes out every January.

One company you won’t see on that list, as it is strictly for U.S. companies, is U.K. based restaurant chain Pret a Manger. Pret prides itself on offering its customers a unique dining experience serving only fresh food, with absolutely no preservatives. It is privately owned and has a conservative growth strategy.

I was recently exposed to Pret’s corporate philosophy by my former business coach who is based in the U.K., Chris Barrow.

After reviewing Pret’s website and reading their employee guide, I was impressed with the standard they set for their work culture.  I encourage all business leaders to take a look at what Pret expects from the people who create their employee and customer experience. It’s impressive and could be a model for other companies that want to improve their company culture.

You can read more at www.Pret.com/jobs .

The Values & Behaviors list outlined at the above link I have encouraged one of my clients to model in a present project. We’re unveiling the results of the work done by the entire 25 person workforce next week. Can’t wait!

If you know of a company with an outstanding work environment and commitment to providing a unique customer experience, please leave a comment or e-mail me at Info@SkipWeisman.com

50 Hours ‘Til New Site Launch

In just 50 hours my new website will be launched. Everyone who visits the website will have an opportunity to order a FREE CD “The 3 Strategies of Champion Organizations!”

This site is dedicated to business leaders and leaders on non-profits who want to create a motivated, engaged, and enthusiastic workforce. It’s been proven by research that companies with highly engaged employees outperform those with low morale staffs by at least 20%. You can learn more about that research and strategies to help businesses achieve that difference when you listen to the CD and read the accompanying White Paper on which the CD is based.

CD available when the new website launches Monday, April 20th!

A Time for Decision Making & Problem Solving - New Webcast Offers Model

As political leaders meet to discuss the world’s financial crisis there are two things they will be focusing on, problem-solving and decision-making. That’s what leaders do, they solve problems and make decisions.

Yet, many business leaders lack effective problem-solving and decision-making skills. Despite having a Masters’ Degree in Management I never learned these skills until I was placed in a leadership role and had to figure it out for myself.

Whether you are an experienced organizational leader or an emerging one, you will learn something during the upcoming webcast on Monday, November 17th at 2pm Eastern Time. To register click this link: www.WeismanSuccessResources.com/webcasts - if you can’t make it live it will be recorded but you must be registered in order to receive notification of the recording availability.
During this webcast we will explore how leaders often mistake a simple decision-making situation and label it a problem, which costs valuable time and money while creating undue stress in an organization. Additionally we will discuss how to transition from a problem-solving situation to one that becomes simple decision-making .

To register click this link: www.WeismanSuccessResources.com/webcasts

Local Men’s Store Saves Banana Republic

In the quaint Boston suburb of Andover, Massachusetts last weekend my sister-in-law was married. In preparation for the wedding I decided to buy a new suit and two weeks ago went shopping. My wife and I settled on a navy blue, pinned striped suit at Banana Republic (which had been developing into my favorite clothing store).

The suit, because it had a price tag of $500, came with a security tag on the outside of the right pant’s leg. As my wife and I left the store, the alarm went off. We quickly ran back into the store for fear of being accused of shoplifting.

The clerk at the counter did some machinations and handed the package back to us. As we walked out of the store the alarm went off, again.

We tested it a little by walking slowly away and when no one from the Banana Republic store seemed concerned we kept walking and went home.

In getting dressed exactly 90-minutes prior to the ceremony last weekend, I looked down and to my horror was the big, beige plastic contraption on my inner pants leg by my right ankle.

What was this thing? The security tag, of course. I ran frantically around the hotel looking for some one or something to help me.

The only answer was for the front desk clerk to call the local men’s store. They invited me down to see if they could use their security tool to remove the tag. I ran down to KAPS Menswear on Main St. in Andover, Mass. and Jim, the proprietor, started working with all his tools.

Nothing worked and I was getting nervous as I thought I’d be hobbling to this wedding dragging this security tag with me and looking like a complete dork (or as Kramer in the Seinfeld sitcom would say, “a hipster doofus!”).

Then, Jim happened to notice the tag was installed on the seam of the pants leg. He had the store’s tailor open the seam, slide the tag out and re-stitched the pants in a matter of five minutes and I was on my way.

So, needless to say I’m am forever grateful to Jim and the professional team at KAPS Menswear and will think twice about my shopping at Banana Republic next time.

That’s the difference between having full-time haberdashery professionals operating a store and part-time teen agers working a mall job for weekend party and movie money.

What service lessons can you learn from this for your company?

Obviously the team at Banana Republic in our local mall is less than Championship Caliber, wouldn’t you say? What about your team?

It’s The Marketing, Stupid!

In the 1992 Presidential campaign between Bill Clinton and the first George Bush the theme that reverberated across the electorate was, “it’s the economy, stupid!” That seems to be the theme again this time around as the democrats try to recapture the White House.

I mention this because in tough economic times, business owners must remember that “it’s the marketing, stupid.”

It’s easy in these times where fear can sometimes overtake our rational thought processes to forget that business success always comes down to marketing. In good times it seems like business comes easily or at least easier and our marketing efforts generate the business we need without really understanding what works best and why. We get lazy.

I was reminded of this this past weekend I was in the suburbs of Boston for my sister-in-law’s wedding. I patronized three local businesses of note.

I was in charge of making sure the wedding couple’s vehicle, our SUV, was squeaky clean, so I had to visit a car wash. I had an issue with the suit I bought for the event and had to stop by and get help from a local men’s clothing store, and the third business was a restaurant.

All three were doing something new and special in terms of marketing I hadn’t seen before in their genre. The car wash and the restaurant had created “preferred customer clubs” which gave members special perks for repeat business. The men’s store had recently added some related services such as a hair salon and in-house tailor services.

It is imperative that businesses today look for ways to maximize the customer relationship. It’s no longer just good enough to allow customers to buy our specialty and allow them to walk down the street to another business for a related service we can easily figure out a way to provide.

We don’t want to extend products and services beyond reasonable capabilities and relatedness, but if you can bring in products and services closely related to your primary business, why not add it.

The “no brainer” strategy, though, is the preferred customer program. Invite your customers to sign up for special offers the general public won’t and can’t get. Offer incentives for repeat purchases. Incent shopping on what normally may be slow days.
This restaurant worked out a points system and offered double points for dinners on Monday and Tuesday.

How can you apply these strategies? Think about it, then e-mail me or call me and let’s brainstorm!

Or, join me next Monday, October 20th at 2pm Eastern time for my next webcast where I’ll be sharing a number of business building strategies in the “C” part of the C.H.A.M.P. business model. To register for the webcast you can visit:
www.WeismanSuccessResources.com/webcasts

P.S. - one thing you can offer your preferred customers is Free Gas rebates or Free Grocery Rebates. e-mail me to learn how you can for just pennies on the dollar and reward your customers for being loyal to your business! To learn more about this program go to:

www.WeismanSuccessResources.com/freegasprogram

Learn to Strategically Build Your Business With…

 

It would be helpful if you came to the call with a general idea of the following:
1) number of qualified leads coming into your business each month
2) closing ratio
3) average value/price of each transaction
4) # of times a customer buys from you each year (on average)
5) Gross Margin Percentage (profit margin)

These are the things we wil be plugging in to the Business Growth Calculator.

The Quest for Target Marketing on the Web Inexact at Best

I read a great article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday about how one of the publication’s reporters researched firms that claim to be able to track our web browsing and use that information to sell it to marketing firms looking to target people with particular interests is falling short of being an exact science.

The reporter, Emily Steel wrote that one such firm had a file that identified her as a “hip homemaker, who probably trades stocks, buys expensive clothes and boats.” It couldn’t have been more inaccurate according to Steel as she goes on to explain the methodology and technical machinations internet marketing research firms use to compile data on web searchers tendencies.

For one, I’m glad that there are a lot of inaccuracies in tracing web searching as it pertains to actually identifying who we are and what we like. It is pretty invasive as far as privacy is concerned.

But, I think this reinforces the idea that the best way to invest marketing dollars is to do our own research. You can do that by spending marketing dollars to attract those interested in your products to your website and provide value up front in exchange for contact information so that we can build your own direct marketing database.

By doing so you have direct knowledge that these individuals have raised their hand proclaiming interest in your product and as such you know for sure you have something they may want to buy at some point in the future. It is then up to you to stay in contact with that person so that you are top of mind when they are ready to buy.

Here’s the link to the article in the WSJ, I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Learn the 4-Primary Ways to Build a Business in New Webcast…

This week on Monday afternoon during my bi-monthly webcast I’ll be offering solutions to the Business Myths and causes of Business Failure I shared in our first “How to Create a Champion Business” webcast two weeks ago.

I’ll be providing in-depth strategies from my 5-Step C.H.A.M.P. Business model as well as discussing the 4-primary ways to build a business.

To subscribe to this webcast please visit:
www.WeismanSuccessResources.com/webcasts

During this webcast you will be able to ask questions and answer surveys during the 60-minute interactive program.

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