Earnest Consulting Group

Managing a Work from Home Team

July 22, 2015 | Communication, Leadership, Teamwork

Photo by brendangates on Flickr More companies are now promoting the use of an "agile workforce". My previous employer reconfigured all of their offices to an open concept where there were many small workstations, tables for collaboration, and conference rooms for meetings. However, except for directors, there was no assigned seating, and there were not enough seats to accommodate every single employee if they came to work. This change in strategy was due to the fact that after studying the matter for many years, employers found that on any given day, 25% of their workforce was absent due to work travel, vacation,…

Business Communication Balance Requires Disciplined Email Use

July 2, 2015 | Communication, Leadership

Photo by wvs on Flickr The advent of email has unquestionably made our lives more productive. The days of putting inner-office memos in everyone's company mailbox with a new process or announcement are long gone. With this advancement, we can better communicate with teams and departments. Email has broken down barriers of when and where we can work and in some cases allowing us to achieve a better work-life balance. If our job requires travel, we can have access to and are able to dispense information in a much quicker manner. Now, trip reports, expense reports, quick correspondence between co-workers, and…

At What Point is the “Human Element” Needed? (Part 2) – Explosive Growth

June 10, 2015 | Communication, Leadership, Trust

Photo by LHG Creative Photography on Flickr This the second post in a 3 part series regarding establishing a point where the human element in a business or organization. If you have not read the first post, it can be found here. If a company has not established its "human element" at its inception, a key time to examine establishing it would be in the midst of explosive growth. This situation/opportunity is a critical crossroads where we should address these soft initiatives that can make a good company great. In late 2009 Ambulatory Care Solutions (ACS), a company that I helped found, doubled in…

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.…

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…

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