Want to sample some buffet options from the menu of options in Front Line Heroes?

Plate #1: It’s All About the Middle

This is the dieting portion of the book. Not. It is actually about how critical middle management is in growing a company. The lack of a dynamic middle management group can bring growth to a screeching halt; I have seen it with my baby brown eyes (one of my cutest features). If you are going to avoid this common pitfall, make sure you read this piece.

MMM... Let's go back for seconds!

Plate #2: Why Hold Annual Kickoff Meetings?

Kickoff meetings allow the leadership team and employees to focus and set priorities—and they are underutilized in companies. Shocking. Included here are ways you can design these meetings to be valuable, worthwhile, and—yes—even enjoyable.

Delicious! Why not indulge in thirds?

Plate #3: Go Live With the Whales

Come to Patagonia with me and meet the penguins. Recognize that you are your own most valuable resource. Explore how to get the most of that resource. Also look at what you can actually learn and apply from truly getting away. It is a whale of an adventure tale that you will enjoy.

Scrumptious! But don't get too full! View more options on the Front Line website.

From Good to Great

Want to know how companies go from Good to Great?!

It isn't the health care, the 401Ks, or the child care...but it may be the brand that the company creates!

Read an article by Deborah Campbell: What Great Companies Know About Culture

In Bruce Hodes' new book Front Line Heroes: Battling the Business Tsunami with Performance Oriented Culture, he discusses the importance of a kick-off meeting to get everyone on the same page about values, boost morale, and more!

Get a signed copy of Front Line Heroes at CMI's Website.

Visit the website or email us for more information!

Front Line Heroes

Front Line Heroes: How to Battle the Business Tsunami by Developing Performance Oriented Cultures by Bruce Hodes is going to be available so soon! Read the back cover below.

It is possible to develop and grow powerful organizations in challenging times—it just takes courage, determination, and actionable techniques that work. In Front Line Heroes, Bruce Hodes offers executives and business leaders advice culled from 30 years of coaching privately held companies ranging from $5 million to $100 million in size. With humor, real-world examples, and step-by-step guides, the book explains:

• How to make mission, values, and BHAGS relevant to daily organizational life

• 7 essential rules for effective strategic planning

• How to transform groups into high-performance teams

• 4 organizational enigmas and the missing link that solves them

• How to eliminate mediocrity from employee performance—for good



If you are ready to stop playing victim to the times, Front Line Heroes will arm you with the tools you need to achieve sustainable business growth.


For more information visit our website here.
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Enigma #4

How do you make the core values of the organization relevant to day-to-day employee behavior? The core values often sound great. They are lofty and inspirational. The leadership team typically feels exhilarated at their creation. However, then comes a failure of performance. The values somehow do not make the difference they were designed to make.

As improbable as this sound for most employees within organizations, core values are seldom relevant. They are not accessible or usable. (Read more about this phenomenon in “Posters, Plaques, Horse Manure, and Resignation.”) Regarding coaching for useful behavior, there is no real solid footing except the manager’s point of view, and this can be a problem. Managers and employees need a place they can stand that will guide their behavior and attitude in working with others. Managers and team leaders need a view and convictions from which they can coach attitude and behaviors. When properly positioned, the organizational core values can do this. They can provide a template from which employee behavior can be measured and viewed. But, alas the issue is how do we get to that point? Therein lays Enigma #4.

To learn more about aligning core values, click here.

Enigma #3

Everyone hates the annual review process (except you, Mr. or Mrs. Perfect Executive). No one likes feeling judged, to start. Employees find the whole thing meaningless. Managers, at best, find it flawed and, most often, not well executed. So the third enigma is this: how do you make the annual performance appraisal more than something that is disliked and disrespected?

One organization I know of did not set its yearly goals until more than halfway through the year. (I’m sure this is shocking behavior to you.) Then the leadership team started the appraisal process based on the goals they’d just created—after which, they argued about goal consistency (or lack thereof) between departments. Talk about a process that was UN–motivating. It was the perfect storm for organizational resignation.

This appraisal morass is a big deal. I have listened to lots of whining and complaining about how appraisals are done and how they are utilized. The biggest issue I see is with the appraisal review system is that it takes place after the fact, the appraisal occurs after the work season ends and the year is over. It is not a coaching and development system that can allow for improvement and performance enhancement. It is all about rating past performance and, as such, is missing the point.
As for the answer to how to make the process understood and valued, read on—but first, Aare you ready for the fourth enigma? This one has especially plagued and vexed me throughout my long bloodsucking consulting years.

For an alternative to the appraisal review system, click here.

Holiday Team Building Party

The holidays are generally a time filled with festivities, good cheer and even better food. Unfortunately today’s rough economic climate brings more and more cutbacks in the workplace. Don’t let your end of year celebrations and holiday parties “make the cut.” Instead, save money with CMI’s Holiday Team Building Party. This is the perfect time to let your guards down, bond with your co-workers, celebrate 2011 accomplishments and toast to 2012.

Overview
CMI’s customized team building party will boost your employees’ morale and spur their motivation for the upcoming year. CMI’s Holiday Team Building Party includes business simulations, built around team games, which use the participating group as a model. With the help of a facilitator the group explores ways they could better work together by viewing, discussing and assessing their own behavior regarding teams and teamwork. CMI will also incorporate aspects of your traditional holiday party into your Holiday Team Building Party. CMI’s Holiday Team Building Party will help you build productive teams, which in turn, brings about success for your company.

Outcomes

• Learn about stages of team development and the leadership style needed in each stage 
• Tools and techniques to measure teams for high performance 
• Build productive work teams 
• Spur employee motivation 
• Boost employee morale 
• Have fun!

For more information about CMI's Holiday Team Building Party, click here.