Earnest Consulting Group

At What Point is the “Human Element” Needed? (Part 1) – Start-Up Phase

June 2, 2015 | Communication, Leadership, Teamwork

Photo by Elvert Barnes on Flickr People have asked me more than once: What size of organization are you targeting in your marketing efforts? Our response is that any organization no matter the size can benefit from defining its "human element". I recently read The E-Myth Revisited and the author encouraged organizations to define organizational charts as well as policies and procedures at its inception. We believe the same goes for its "human element" and specifically leadership standardization. Most company founders envision growing their company. Some companies grow faster than the founders' expectations. It is best to be ready…

Changing The Culture: The Employee Opinion Survey

May 21, 2015 | Communication, Leadership, Trust, Uncategorized

Photo by David Bosshard on Flickr [embed]https://youtu.be/9uwZVyptIIE[/embed]

What You Permit, You Promote

May 15, 2015 | Communication, Leadership, Trust

"What you permit, you promote." This quote can be attributed to many different sources. However, the first time I heard it was at the "What's Right in Health Care" annual conference held by the Studer Group in 2009. Just from listening to the quote, we can infer what this means. Unwanted, but permitted attitudes/behaviors are promoted because they are not answered with negative consequence or action. Many leaders and organizations are guilty of this practice. One main reason is that the leader wants to avoid an "uncomfortable" conversation with their supervised employee but another reason may be that they don't realize that their actions promote…

A Week To Honor Teachers

May 6, 2015 | Communication, Employee Recognition, Leadership, Trust

Photo by Joanne Johnson on Flickr This week, we honor everyone that has accepted the profession/vocation/calling of being a teacher. We all probably had a teacher who made a profound effect on our lives....hopefully mostly positive effects. I was fortunate enough to have teachers such as Annette Freeman, Bill Munn, Sharon Bailey, Terry Lakes, Alan Erwin, Mike Buck, and David Tippey who not only held me accountable to the classroom work but also held me accountable to being a good citizen. This, I believe only spoke to the fact that they saw teaching as more than just a profession but also a higher calling.…

Long Lasting Culture Change Requires Narrow Focus

April 23, 2015 | Leadership, Teamwork, Time Management

Photo by Michael Dales on Flickr Some leaders get really excited about change. We see this new program that will help raise the morale of the company. We embrace initiatives and process changes that increase productivity and communication. We long for the day that we can see drastic, positive change in the way customers see our company. We look past the pain associated with change no matter how great and pine for the end result. Other leaders dread change. We see all the extra work associated with the new programs. We dread thinking about how much we will need to "pull teeth" to…

Administrative Professionals Often Reflect Their Leaders’ Values

April 21, 2015 | Communication, Leadership, Teamwork

Photo by Keith Bolland on Flickr Being Administrative Professionals Week, we felt that this topic is timely. Anyone that has ever had a top notch administrative professional provide them with support in their business activities knows their worth. One leader told me that his administrative professional spoke for him. To have someone of this caliber is key to running a great business. However, some leaders through their actions not necessarily words, are not convinced that a friendly, competent, and helpful administrative professional or team of administrative professionals is not important. Nevertheless, we believe that their contribution is invaluable. Administrative professionals must be friendly. In…

Owners versus Renters

April 10, 2015 | Communication, Leadership, Trust

Photo by Roey Ahram on Flickr Last week, I had the chance to catch up with an old friend from Purdue for the first time in 15 years. I think this is one of the greatest benefits from founding Earnest Consulting Group; reconnecting with old friends. He indicated that he looked at our web site and really liked the quote, "our goal as leaders is to create a culture that creates owners rather than renters." I first heard this quote in the book Hardwiring Excellence by Quint Studer. He indicated to me that as a leader he needed to help each worker "own" their…

Handwritten Thank You Notes Are #1

April 9, 2015 | Communication, Employee Recognition, Leadership

Photo by Rick Payette on Flickr Remember the days when we were excited to go to the mailbox with the prospect of receiving a letter, note, or card from someone? I have to admit that there are some people with whom I would have never stayed in touch if it hadn't been for e-mail and social networking. I have never been known for my written correspondence. Nonetheless, I believe it is still an important means of communication. In the year of 2015, I personally hope to increase the amount of written correspondence that leaves my desk. In my experience, people still…

Non-Profits also Need the “Human Element”

April 6, 2015 | Leadership

As previously stated, at the core of an organization's human element, we see the need to find passion and purpose in our work. If leaders are not able to help employees find this to some degree, it is difficult to implement other tools to build employee engagement and trust in an organization. By nature, non-profit organizations should have this human element by default as the mission of the organization is likely to help its community in some way. For example, the YMCA's mission on an national level is to make others more healthy in mind, body, and spirit. The mission of a non-profit on…

Addressing Turnover Also Means Addressing Surprise Departures

April 3, 2015 | Communication, Employee Recognition, Leadership, Trust

We've all known that turnover costs companies money, and high turnover costs companies lots of money. The costs depends on the industry and company's cost structure. We do know that turnover costs are derived from the cost of recruiting, training, and the cost of integrating employees into the organization. There are also soft costs that can be a little more tricky to quantify like the cost of grief of having a vacated position or the oppurtunity cost of losing out on other opportunities because of the lack of manpower. That is why it is so important to address turnover as it costs…

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