A few weeks ago Harvey MacKay wrote in his syndicated column about the idea that if you take care of the culture in your organization, everything else will follow.  I couldn’t agree more. Actually I believe this is true in a business organization, a family, or a country. 

Culture is similar to personality in that it is largely a subconscious collection of attitudes, beliefs and actions which influence individual behaviors and, therefore, results. So the culture of an organization becomes the collective beliefs, attitudes and actions of the employees.  Organizational performance, therefore, is a direct result of the culture within an organization.  Seems to me like creating a robust, healthy, empowering culture where employees feel valued and appreciated for their contribution is a pretty powerful leadership imperative.  Unfortunately, many people in leadership positions (I’m tempted to say most!) spend very little time thinking about or intentionally focusing on creating a culture that supports their intended goals.  

There are many, many reasons for this, but I suspect one of the key reasons for not doing so is the fact that most companies don’t tangibly measure and reward the ‘softer’ side of their business.  They are looking for a quick fix.  But just like the stock market, investments in people and organizational capability are long-term propositions yielding benefits over time, not over night.  The fact is most managers get rewarded for meeting financial goals not for building an organization capable of reaching financial goals.  But how are the employees supposed to be able to meet the financial goals if there is little overt attention paid to positively creating and supporting their skill and the overall organizational capability? 

Very frequently my clients can tell me what they wish for, what they think is wrong, what they are experiencing as undesirable results, but few take the time to determine the root cause. Here are a few examples of root causes which adversely impact both human and financial performance.

• High turnover costs are often rooted in poorly defined job expectations and weak hiring processes.
•  Employees feeling they aren’t listened to stems from weak management skills and few, if any, intentionally designed communication processes.
• Work force members not knowing where the company is going is due to leadership not specifically defining and sharing company goals and failing to highlight the key role employees play in making these goals a reality.
• Favoritism emerges in the absence of objective standards of performance as a basis for performance evaluations. 
• Questionable behaviors and ethical issues arise when companies don’t have well-articulated values or when the values they have are platitudes rather than benchmarks for how the company is run.
• Top performers become concerned when they can’t see a career path and little attention is paid to succession planning.

While these are just a few of the more common examples, you get the idea.  Almost any leadership issue that comes up is grounded in organizational culture.  It all comes down to the 5 P’s – People, Processes, Policies, Practice, and Procedures.  Examine these and you’ll find the root cause of performance issues.  

* * * * *

Deb Waitkus and I are co-facilitating three corporate-learning workshops used to anchor concepts – Birdies, Bogeys and Business: Success On and Off the Course, Mental Mulligan’s, and the Two-Day Golf School.  All are ways to build your team, increase your skills and add new tools to your bag.

It seems to me this is an apt metaphor for those times in our lives when we are caused to stop and reevaluate. Rather than focusing on the life that was there a second ago that just got erased, maybe we should focus on ensuring the white board always has written on it what is most enduring, most endearing and most valuable to us. 

As this gentleman went on to say, it wasn’t the ‘stuff’ he would miss, it was the memories.  His family was fine and he could rebuild, but he would always long for the ancient Mayan ruin items he found in South America and he would always long for treasures he brought back from Egypt.  Now he will concentrate on the treasures he has with him that are dear and enduring which are his family, his health and his life.

I’m wondering what is written on your White Board of Life.  Is it something worth preserving through your actions and deeds or is it something more fleeting and less substantial.  I know I sometime get caught up in the day-to-day scribbles on my own White Board and lose sight of the messages I most want my family, friends and colleagues to know and always remember about me. 

Now is a good time to assess as the clouds are moving in and we have a 30% chance of rain to help the fire fighters get the Four Mile Canyon fire under control.

* * * * *

• Fourth Annual Strategic Alumni workshop is November 5^th. Reserve your spot now.
• Birdies, Bogey’s and Business:  Success On and Off the Course   

      Next program is November 19^th at ASU Karsten Golf Course.  Come discover…

• The secrets even successful business owners and managers don’t know
• Create an even more rewarding business environment
• See how your business success and your golf game are a reflection of who you are
• How to improve both your business and your golf score

      Call Deb at 602-840-0607 or myself at 480-236-4266 to register.

Joyce Friel

Peak Performance Consulting, LLC 

11353 E. Raintree Drive

Scottsdale, AZ  85255

480 236 4266

www.peakperformancecorp.com

www.joycefriel.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com

This may require a paradigm shift so see my blog http://joycefriel.blogspot.com for comments on paradigm shift.  You have to see it to achieve it so what is that paradigm shift you need to accept in your mind?

1. Recognize specifically what you want to change 
2. Create a reasonable plan
3. Start making small changes
4. Monitor and track results
5. Celebrate success!

 So what is it that you specifically want to or need to change?  What have you known for a while that needs attention – you just haven’t or didn’t know how to get started?  What is a reasonable plan you could put in place? Make it attainable – don’t set yourself up for failure – take your time and make it successful. What small changes can you begin to make that will compound over time?   

There is no better time than the present to get started and I’ll bet if you really want to make this change happen, there is nothing standing in your way except yourself.  You can’t achieve your goal if you never start so take that first step – it makes the second one so much easier. 

I would tell you “good luck”, but it really isn’t about luck.  It is about awareness of the need to change, shifting your mind set or paradigm about your current condition, commitment, planning, tracking progress and celebrating success!  How will you celebrate your progress and your successful transformation?   

Follow me at http://joycefriel.blogspot.com and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/joycefriel

For info on new programs browse  http://www.peakperformancecorp.com or call me at 480-236-4266.

Joyce Friel

Peak Performance Consulting

11353 E. Raintree Drive

Scottsdale, AZ  85255

480 236 4266

www.peakperformancecorp.com

www.joycefriel.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com

When change occurs which we don’t choose it is more difficult to embrace the change with a positive outlook, but even then there is a choice. How we accept the change and move on is totally in our control. You lose your job…do you stay in your PJ’s until 10 or do you get up, dress ‘as if’ you were going to work and embrace the day? You have been out of the job market for quite a while…do you mope about or are you actively engaged in creating a network of business colleagues?
Your employer is closing a division and you have a choice – move or find other work…are you stuck in the time-warp of your home and friends where you are or are you embracing the possibilities of a new location and new friends along with the growth and development they offer.

As my friend Silver Rose reminds us, “change is inevitable,
suffering is optional’. (http://www.silverspeaks.com) , No matter the cause for the change, your reaction is totally up to you. Change is inevitable, sometimes welcomed and sometimes not, but in any case how we choose to respond is always our choice.

Joyce Friel
Peak Performance Consulting
11353 E. Raintree Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
480 236 4266
www.peakperformancecorp.com
www.joycefriel.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com

From Laid Off to Living™ Journey from fear and powerlessness into the future you desire… Use the Change Builders™ Guidebook to reach a new destination
 Navigate through three phases of change: Was, Is, Will Be
 Unlock the power of Chosen vs Not Chosen Change
 Deal effectively with your frustration and anger
 Learn from other’s with life stories like your own

Birdies, Bogeys and Business: Success On and Off the Course Come discover… The secrets even successful business owners and managers don’t know
 Create an even more rewarding business environment
 See how your business success and your golf game are a reflection of who you are
 How to improve both your business and your golf score

The Banking Academy
 Modularized, cost effective, targeted skills training for banking managers, supervisors and employees
 Linking learning to workplace applications
 Accelerating success in the customer-demanding banking industry

Joyce Friel
Peak Performance Consulting
11353 E. Raintree Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
480 236 4266
www.peakperformancecorp.com
www.joycefriel.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com

Of course, routines cannot be beaten when they help us accomplish recurring tasks, but if we want to construct wonderful memories, then we may need to halt what is ordinary and orderly in order to do what is   extraordinary and new.

For many of us, our professional lives do us a favor.  They provide variety and challenge.  Even so, there is routine. We leave for work at about the same time each day, we travel the same route, we do similar tasks each day, we go home by the same route at about the same time, we eat, watch TV, check e-mail and voice mail, go to bed at the same general time, etc. And wake up tomorrow in order to leave for work at the same time and do it all over again.

How about it?  Will you remember today, tomorrow or the next day one year from now?  If not, then maybe it’s time to give yourself a break from your routine.   Have an adventure. Make that call.  Arrange that trip. Visit that place. Introduce yourself. Make a beginning.  Make an ending.  Write it.  Buy it. Say it.  

You gave many other people gifts. It’s time to give yourself the gift of possibilities and make your days and your life memorable. 

http://www.peakperformancecorp.com

http://joycefriel.blogspot.com

I’ve often wished I were more intuitive and creative.  I admire people who have intuition and creative ability. I marvel at their sense of originality.    My sister is a very talented fine artist and compared to her I have always felt I had very little creativity.     Oddly enough, she thinks I am very creative, but in a totally different sense.  She in fine arts, I in finding solutions to business problems.

I don’t have any empirical research to back up my hunch, but I’d bet that one of the reasons we often have difficulty getting ‘out of our box’ is that we simply don’t slow down long enough to listen to the intuition we do possess.  I know it is very easy for me to get caught up in the activity trap and not spend enough time in simple reflection. 

Look what happens when we take the time to intentionally ‘get out of our box’. Here are three examples of how I’ve been able to tap into my creative side and take a non-traditional approach to an age-old dilemma. The age-old dilemma is how to get the business of a potential client or even get in the door.  My ‘out of the box’ approach follows….and by the way, I got the business.

* I wanted to meet an influential person who was on a Board of Directors so I offered to design and facilitate the Board of Directors retreat on a pro bono basis. 

Out of the Box Thinking – Find a creative way to meet those who make the decisions!

* I wanted to be the provider of choice for selected topics for programs offered through a community college so I made it a point to meet each of the members of the College Board of Directors. 

Out of the Box Thinking – Figure out who has the power to influence the decisions!

* By inquiring about the typical work pattern at a potential client site, I figured out when the key Director I wanted to meet would most likely to be in the office.  By dropping in at this opportune time, I was able to get an impromptu meeting with the Director I needed to see. 

Out of the Box Thinking – Find out when the person you need to meet is most probably available. 

I know if I stop and listen to my intuition, if I intentionally get out of my ‘activity-trap box’, I am just as creative as my fine-arts sister, but in a very different way.  While she can take ordinary things and make them beautiful, I can take ordinary situations and turn them into business solutions.  Try it, I’ll bet you can too! Let me know if these TIPS help you get out of your box.

 http://www.peakperformancecorp.com

http://joycefriel.blogspot.com

How can you create lasting change and prevent a change from becoming a fad or “flavor of the day”?  Change is a process and like all processes contains several phases.  To create successful and lasting change, managers and leaders must do the following:

• Create a sense of urgency
• Recruit senior level support
• Develop a clear and practical vision
• Maintain frequent and consistent communication of the vision
• Eliminate obstacles that block the vision
• Celebrate short term wins
• Do not declare victory too early
• Change the corporate culture