Leadership

I was preparing an organization to submit their application for their state’s quality award when the lead writer said. “our organization has no values!” What she meant to say is that her organization had no formal statement of values. This company is like many contractors who have never created a formal statement of the core values they live.

Core values are guiding principles to how the company acts. Different than a vision statement, the values statement is not what we want to become, but are what we are today. These values are not dreamed of, but discovered. Every company, like every individual, has values it live by. Some may be bad, others good, but all have ways that they act or behave towards others within and outside the company. Most contractors reflect the values of the founding owners. However, as the company gets larger and expands beyond the original founding workers, new employees may not share the same values. This creates a mixed message. Customers are told the company lives a certain way but see employees not acting that way. A formal statement of company values is the first step to obtaining consistency in how customers are treated.

**************** Leadership – 15 Ways to Lead Your Company - Down the Tubes.

These are proven techniques for successfully sinking your company. Are you using them?
1. Keep everyone in an adversarial position.
2. Rank each person, job and department against each other.
3. Treat all suppliers as enemies.
4. Have project managers pitted against each other for resources and funding.

**************** Leadership
A recent survey of US workers found that only 49% trust their senior managers. The trust level has dropped annually since 2004.

Only 53% of the employees surveyed feel that senior management makes the changes necessary for the company to stay competitive. In 2004, this was 57% for the same survey.

"This dip in ratings is concerning because employees' attitudes about their senior leaders are a key factor in building engagement," said Ilene Gochman, national practice director for organization effectiveness at Watson Wyatt (the company that did the survey). "People want to work for companies where they have confidence in the organization and trust what senior management is doing. Fostering that trust is especially important in today's global market as it creates an environment in which employees understand that changes to the workplace may be necessary to remain competitive."

High-Performing Contractor - NEWSLETTER

April 2007

This e-newsletter is dedicated to supporting High-Performing Contractors and all contractors working to become one. Written by Dennis Sowards

**************** Customer Focused How to create Great Service
Brad Sugars, a world-renowned entrepreneur, author, and business coach, suggests these three steps to great service:

“#1. Deliver with consistency. Every time I call your company, the phone should be answered the same way, the orders processed systematically, the services delivered with regularity so I can trust that you know what you are doing and I can feel good about coming back and referring my friends. Remember, you can't WOW a customer until you have at least satisfied them.

#2. Make it easy for me to buy. Consistency is a start, but if you make it hard to do business with you, I can never be WOW'ed. Everything from ability to contact people, websites, emails, payment methods, delivery choices, and so on. All of these things you need to make sure are easier or at least as simple and easy as any of your competitors. Ring them, go to their websites, do as much 'market research' as you need to make sure buying from you is both simple and easy.

#3. WOW me. Satisfaction is boring; do something I don't expect. I remember when only a year or so back, having WiFi in your room was a bonus. Now I expect it and am greatly disappointed when a hotel doesn't have it. Check your industry and then check three or four others to find out what is now expected as standard so you can dream up a strategy to WOW me.”

**************** Leadership
A wise consultant, with many years of experience coaching executives in leadership, shared these two themes for leaders to use as they drive their vision:
· Stay the course
· Be a broken record

Leaders need to keep with their vision and not change it by the flavor of the month new idea. Leaders must have faith in their vision and what it will do for their organization.

High-Performing Contractor - NEWSLETTER

February 2007

This e-newsletter is dedicated to supporting SMACNA High-Performing Contractors and all contractors working to become one. Written by Dennis Sowards

**************** Leadership
Carlos Cardoso, president and CEO of Kennametal Inc., a manufacturer of metal cutting tools. He believes that every successful company shares the same three traits:

1. A clear vision and strategy that everyone in the company understands
   
2. The right processes in place to drive that vision to results
   
3. The right people to implement those processes

In short, while your customers are demanding that you build your products better, faster and cheaper, the key to doing that profitably -- which is the main point of being in business -- is to remain as competitive and productive as possible. In that spirit, then, hiring the best people, not just the most people, has become the new standard operating procedure for many U.S. companies.”

He also stresses that throwing money at technology is no panacea, especially if you don't recognize exactly what the problem is. "Whenever you're in doubt about what to do, just ask your customers. Whatever they tell you, that's the right answer,"

High-Performing Contractor - NEWSLETTER - January 2007

This e-newsletter is dedicated to supporting the SMACNA High-Performing Contractors and all contractors working to become one. Written by Dennis Sowards

**************** Leadership *** CFOs Having Trouble Managing Time
Research by Robert Half Management Resources found that almost half (46%) of CFOs surveyed said that time management is their "greatest challenge. This number has increased from 36% reported five years ago. Other challenges for CFOs identified by the research include:

Leadership
Jim Womack writes about key performance measures but is really talking about the role of leadership in establishing the purpose for the organization.

“Recently I have heard from several members of the Lean Community wanting to know how to evaluate the lean efforts of their company. “How do we know how lean we are?” “What metrics should we use to measure our progress?” “Are we ‘world-class’ in terms of lean?”…Because I’ve been getting calls of this type for years and they seem to keep coming, let me share my answer.

**************** Leadership
When I visit contracting companies, I try to engage the employees in conversation about their commitment to the company. Very few seem to really know why the company exists and how his/her work contributes to the company’s vision. Joanne G. Sujansky, President, KeyGroup, talks about creating a goal-oriented culture.

A question for CEOs: Are your employees working toward clearly defined goals that advance your corporate vision? You may assume the answer is yes. But if you gather your top managers together to develop key initiatives and goals -- then expect that goals are set down through the organization and that people are clear about the direction of your company -- you're likely fooling yourself.

High-Performing Contractor - NEWSLETTER

June 2006

This e-newsletter is dedicated to supporting the SMACNA High-Performing Contractor Assessment Model and all contractors working to become High-Performing Contractors. Written by Dennis Sowards

**************** Leadership
Here’s SmartAdvice’s Ten Tips For Becoming A Successful Manager

While these ideas were offered for IT managers, I feel they apply to all construction managers and owners. The emphasis has to be on leadership and interpersonal skills