Winning Workplaces' Webinar Series
"Excellent presentations, refreshingly honest speakers, and well facilitated." – Christina Warden, |
Hear insights from great bosses of small organizations, including Best Boss and Top Small Workplace award winners, at a discounted price.
RECORDING: Developing a Fantastic Customer Service Culture Live Session Date: April 23, 2008 Post-Session Recording: $35.00 ORDER THIS RECORDING |
Savvy business leaders know they must have a motivated and engaged workforce in order to retain a loyal customer base. In this one-hour session, hear from two leaders who will share their experience and practical advice on facilitating this connection in your business.
Presenters:
Mike Faith, Founder and CEO, Headsets.com
Headsets.com, an Internet and catalog specialist retailer of telephone headsets, has been led by Mike Faith since he founded the company in 1997. With more and more call centers moving offshore, companies like Headsets.com have risen to dominate distribution of telephone headsets to small and midsize offices.
While maintaining a successful enterprise is what drives Faith daily, he knows in order to be a success you have to treat both employees and customers with respect and understanding. The culture of Headsets.com can be summed up as 50 people working towards a common goal – delivering world-class customer service. Faith's philosophy for ensuring camaraderie is to constantly show his employees how crucial their role is within the organization.
Mark Wilson, CEO, Ryla, Inc.
Based north of Atlanta, Ryla, Inc. provides customer contact solutions for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and non-profits nationwide. It's tough work, and the company's 377 employees are often on call at all hours, able to provide assistance in a variety of languages.
With benefits far above the industry standard and professional and personal development seminars enriching even entry-level positions, Ryla is making sure its team sticks around, resulting in a turnover rate around one-third the industry average. A high level of caring and diversity saturates this organization, and their uniquely positive attitude is perhaps no more apparent than in the employee-crafted cheers presented at monthly "Ryla Huddles," highlighting the accomplishments of the team and talents of each individual.
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RECORDING: Growing Leaders from Within Live Session Date: March 19, 2008 Post-Session Recording: $35.00 ORDER THIS RECORDING |
With 80 percent of all business coming from repeat clients, Gentle Giant Moving Company Founder Larry O'Toole reasons the core of such success rests with the emphasis upon developing leaders and nourishing respect and compassion in the culture.
At Healthwise, management intentionally reinforces the company's motto, "Lead from any position," rewarding individuals for taking initiative in solving problems, thinking strategically, and accepting personal ownership.
These leaders share their successes, challenges and lessons learned as they work to develop leaders.
Presenters:
Larry O'Toole, Founder and President, Gentle Giant Moving Co.
It began in 1980 with an ad in the Boston Phoenix, a borrowed truck and healthy dose of gusto. With much dust and sweat, a lot of laughs and more than a few precarious stairwells to follow, Gentle Giant Moving is now one of the premier moving and storage companies on the East Coast, conducting over 12,000 moves each year with 250 employees.
With 25 percent in new revenues between 2004 and 2007, one can indeed infer that Gentle Giant's formula works. Staff are expected to make billing decisions even at the lower levels, all with the end goal of minimalizing the trauma of moving. Employees enjoy a solid benefits package, including a formal mentoring program and a generous 401K plan, and most participate in events organized through the company's own community development foundation.
Don Kemper, Chairman and CEO, Healthwise
Conceived in 1975, Healthwise was one of the first companies to lead the consumer health movement. With its mission to "help people make better health decisions," this nonprofit has grown to 215 employees, all of the top three disease management companies, hundreds of hospitals, and most of the large web portals.
A shift from paper to Net-based documents and phenomenal growth in both revenue and staff numbers have resulted in rethinking work processes to create cross-functional teams, thus avoiding a siloed dynamic. The organization has institutionalized its culture "The Healthwise Way" around the pillars of respect, teamwork and "do the right thing." The company consistently attracts top talent and transplants to its Boise office.
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RECORDING: Family-Friendly Workplace Practices Live Session Date: February 20, 2008 Post-Session Recording: $35.00 ORDER THIS RECORDING |
According to Take Back Your Time (timeday.org), we work 9 weeks longer each year than our European peers, while we average about 2 weeks per year for vacations compared to Europeans' 5-6 weeks. Is it any wonder, then, that a recent Hudson Index found that nearly a third of U.S. workers now consider work-life balance and flexibility to be the most important factor in considering job offers?
In this session, learn how two exceptional leaders help employees balance the demands of work and family, and the big payoff it has had on their businesses. Includes:
Presenters:
Frank Guerra, CEO and Partner, Guerra DeBerry Coody
Frank Guerra is founder and CEO of Guerra DeBerry Coody, a full-service advertising, marketing and public relations firm based in San Antonio, Texas. Now in its twelfth year, GDC offers general market as well as Hispanic capabilities for regional and national clients.
Most recently Frank served on the national Bush/Cheney re-election team, working on general market as well as Hispanic advertising. In the 2002 election cycle, GDC served as the Hispanic agency of record for the Jeb Bush for Governor Campaign in Florida and the Rick Perry for Governor Campaign in Texas, garnering record-setting votes for both candidates.
GDC now applies these methodologies and tactics honed in the political arena to the corporate sector, helping clients win business, achieve sales goals, and build successful corporate community initiatives at regional and national levels.
Family culture is at the very core here, and its 61 employees consider their on-site, parent-driven and partner-supported childcare program fundamental to the nature of the organization as a whole. With 100 percent paid maternity and paternity leave, transportation reimbursement and emergency employee loans, team members "go home happy and come in to work happy."
James Tippmann, CEO, FRCH Design Worldwide
As Chief Executive Officer at FRCH Design Worldwide, Jim Tippmann is responsible for setting the company's strategic direction, guiding the business and directing its planned global expansion and diversification. He leads both the firm's Executive and Management Committees. Prior to assuming the position of CEO in 2002, Jim had been Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President at FRCH. He served on the firm's Executive Committee and helped plan and implement firm initiatives nationally and internationally. Under his leadership as CEO the firm has doubled in size over the past 4 years.
Jim started with FRCH in 1988 in business operations after having begun his career in the Entrepreneurial Practices Division of Arthur Andersen. During that period he gained experience as a business consultant to a variety of small businesses. Immediately prior to joining FRCH, Jim worked in an executive position with several commercial and residential real estate developers structuring acquisition transactions and financing arrangements.
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RECORDING: Making the Flexible Workplace Work Live Session Date: October 30, 2007 Post-Session Recording: $35.00 ORDER THIS RECORDING |
Over 50% of the Top Small Workplaces finalists offer some type of flexible work arrangement for their employees. Studies have shown that small employers are significantly more likely to offer flexibility to their employees. More leaders are recognizing that providing flexible options for their employees is a smart, strategic decision as it allows them to effectively recruit and retain top talent. Evidence shows that employees that are allowed greater flexibility are more engaged in their jobs, have higher job satisfaction rates and are more productive.
Presenters
Diane Hessan, President & CEO, Communispace Corp, Watertown, MA
Communispace is one of the fastest growing social networking companies in the country. Diane leads over 175 employees in managing the more than 275 private online customer communities the company has created to help Fortune 500 companies deeply engage with, and listen to, customers – organizations such as Kraft, Unilever, Hewlett-Packard, Charles Schwab, Meredith, and GlaxoSmithKline.
The company has been honored with numerous awards for innovation and workplace best practices including being named a Winning Workplaces/Fortune Small Business' Best Boss. Hear how this leader has implemented innovative flex arrangements for employees, how these arrangements have set the tone for the company culture, changed internal management practices, and have had a direct impact on her business.
Karen Oman, Founder, Certes Financial Pros, St. Louis Park, MN
Karen Oman founded Certes Financial Pros in 1994, a firm specializing in placing high level financial professionals in contract, temp to perm, and permanent placement positions. The company was honored as one of Minnesota's Best Places to Work.
As a work/life balance leader, Certes gives their financial contractors input into the kind of work they do, location preferences, and how much they want to be paid for that work. In an industry where 60+ hour work weeks are the norm, Certes offers overtime pay for every hour worked over 40, plus provides such unique benefits as summers off, sabbaticals without losing benefits, and free access to five vacation homes around the country.
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RECORDING: Open Book Management: 10 Ways Business Succeeds When Employees Have Skin in the Game Live Session Date: September 25, 2007 Post-Session Recording: $35.00 ORDER THIS RECORDING |
Nearly 80% of the 2007 Top Small Workplaces finalists practice open book management. These are the same firms that average a 20% annual growth rate. Opening up the company books, teaching employees how the business makes money and instituting profit sharing plans can ignite greater commitment from the workforce. Increasingly, business leaders are implementing open book management to motivate their employees to act more like owners in order to grow their business.
Hear what two successful small business owners have learned from opening up their financial books and the impact it has had on their business.
You will learn about:
Presenters
Jeff Jeffery, President and CEO, IRMCO, Evanston, IL
IRMCO is an 89 year-old manufacturer of water-based lubricants for the metal-stamping industry. Jeff was instrumental in developing the first deep-drawing synthetic lubricants more than 20 years ago and is still very much involved with driving environmental responsibility and improvement in the same market. IRMCO has been recognized by Loyola University as one of Illinois' top family businesses on three separate occasions and is the current sponsor of the metal stamping industry's only environmental award. At IRMCO, with a staff of 25 employees, Jeff implemented open book management nine years ago when he noticed that the old profit sharing plan was too arbitrary and gain sharing bonuses too hard to quantify. When employees are treated like owners, Jeff has found that they act more like owners helping to control costs, staff appropriately and improve efficiencies.
Chris Turley, President/CEO of Turley Architects, Evanston, IL
Chris Turley is the President, Founder, and Lead Designer of Turley Architects, a firm that believes passionate clients are the best clients. Chris has worked on projects ranging from single-family homes, high-rises and historic structures, to hospitals, railway stations, theaters, offices, and commercial spaces. In addition to being a licensed architect in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, Mr. Turley holds licenses as a residential builder, energy professional, and kitchen and bath designer. He has taught Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology and gives seminars for groups including the American Institute of Architects, the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association, and the Chicago Center for Green Technology. Chris was inspired to start implementing open book management at Turley Architects as a result of his own past experiences as a frustrated employee at previous firms. The open book management system was implemented at Turley Architects in 2003 as an important way to give employees ownership of their work, thereby encouraging their full commitment to the long-term wellbeing of the firm.
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