Culture | Creating Measurable Results

Part One: The Power and Importance of Culture

What if the secret to extraordinary success—and catastrophic failure—wasn’t a revolutionary product, a brilliant strategy, or even exceptional leadership? What if the answer was something less tangible, yet more powerful?

Hi, I’m Andy Andrews. Welcome to ‘Culture: Is It The Answer?’ In this first part, I’ll show you how culture can transform an organization or bring it to its knees. Let’s start with a quick example of both…

Fairway Independent Mortgage surged from $5.4 to $72.5 billion in seven years of organic growth–all without acquiring any other company. Employee numbers during that time grew from 700 to more than 11,000. Ask founder and CEO Steve Jacobson how it happened and he will talk to you about Creating Measurable Results and “culture.”

Recently, the Boeing Company reported a massive loss of $2 billion a month for the past quarter. Speaking about striking workers, general employee unrest, and the possibility of returning to the iconic brand Boeing was for decades, president and CEO, Kelly Ortberg, stated: “First, we need a fundamental culture change in the company.”

So, while one CEO credits culture for a financial incline, another CEO blames culture for a financial decline? Yes. And they’re both right.

Culture is the most valuable/least understood weapon in an organization’s arsenal. Because culture is not often completely understood by people with the power to change it, companies and teams are subject to navigating “business tides” that are sometimes incoming, sometimes outgoing, but are seemingly always uncontrollable.

In dissecting the very concept of culture, it is interesting to note that everyone is already a part of one. Every corporation and small business has a specific culture. Every neighborhood, every state, every team, church, and family already has a culture. Good ones, great ones, and horrible ones.

Most miss the simple fact that a person will either be a part of intentionally creating a culture…or they will acquiesce to the culture someone else has chosen for them. Great cultures are a conscious choice. Bad cultures often happen by default.

Culture is like canoeing a river. One can paddle upstream to a specific location…or they can let the river decide their destination. But know this: the river always chooses downstream. And downstream is where the garbage piles up.

Is there evidence that corporate leaders don’t understand how to harness the power of culture?

Yes…the first proof being the “Corporate Culture” or “Values Statement” page on most company websites. Read a few. For the most part, these declarations proclaim a culture they would like to have…or one they believe consumers expect them to have…but what is written there is rarely based on reality.

In fact, many corporate pronouncements about culture are written by marketing teams who never interviewed anyone or even observed the employees at work. In essence, their description of that particular corporation’s culture IS marketing, but it doesn’t give anyone an accurate representation of a company’s actual culture.

Remember Enron? The Core Values posted on Enron’s website listed integrity, communication, respect, and excellence. Yet 22,000 jobs went up in smoke because of a cancerous culture that reached to the very top of the organization.

A great corporate culture is evidenced by rocketing revenues, increased hiring, and fiercely loyal employees. The best examples of culture show up in recruiting new talent, retaining the best talent, and peace between management and the workforce. It is confirmed by strong team relationships and solid individual relationships between employees, customers, and potential customers.

A bad culture–or at least one that is adrift–produces almost exactly the opposite.

In meetings, a corporation can determine the culture they pursue, but know this: they are never the final arbiter of what their culture actually is. THAT is for the outside world to decide.

We–the outside world–look at a company’s actual culture to determine if we want to do business with them again…or at all. We discern a family’s culture to know whether or not our children will play with their children. We examine the culture of a city or neighborhood to decide if it is a place we want to live.

Culture is ultimately a manifestation of behavior. Our behavior is a product of our values. Our values are formed by what we truly believe–about ourselves, about teammates, about employers, about our profession, about…well, about everything.

So, what nudges us one way or another about what we believe? The answer? HOW WE THINK.

At its foundational level, our culture is determined by how we think. Because how we think shapes our work ethic, our relationships, and our trustworthiness. How we think forms our ability to lead, our ability to follow, and our ability to navigate tough situations with grace.

How we think is on display for all to see when we are quick to respond, when we help without being asked, or quietly solve someone else’s problem.

Of course, in the same way, how we think is on display for all to see when we are habitually late, when we are sullen, or when we are ungrateful.

Every culture–whether family, corporate, team, or community–is determined by how its members think. Every organization rises or falls according to the thinking of the most ordinary members of its team.

Have you ever wondered how many independent decisions are made hourly by individuals operating in the corporate trenches? Is it possible for a company’s leadership to even be aware of a fraction of all the decisions being made?

And these decisions–some professional, some personal–determine sales, production, teamwork and relationships with co-workers, interactions with customers or clients, and the overall corporate reputation lodged in the heads of potential clients and customers?

Those everyday decisions create situations and produce results that are either perfect, acceptable, unacceptable, or disastrous. Those results, of course, are based upon the quality of thinking demonstrated by the individuals operating as the structure of an organization.

Remember, the thinking of a team’s individuals determines the team’s culture.

So why don’t more CEOs pay proper attention to culture?

We’ll answer this question in Part 2 and take it a step further. How can leaders and organizations create a thriving, intentional culture that stands apart? Stay tuned.

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Part Two: Intentionally Creating a World-Class Culture

In the second part of this series, we return to the critical question: Why don’t more CEOs pay proper attention to culture? The truth might surprise you. Most leaders acknowledge culture’s importance but fail to understand how to build or transform it. In this part, we’ll move from recognition to action, exploring what it takes to intentionally create a culture that elevates every member of your organization.

So, other than acknowledging culture as “a thing,” most corporate leaders do not understand how to create or change their culture because most have never had to do either. Usually, they have simply joined an existing culture or lived with the one that developed under their watch.

Therefore, these CEOs seem only to know whether the culture they have is good or not-so-good. Many accept what the marketing department wrote about their culture as reality. Almost none have a specific program in place.

In America today, LEADERSHIP has become its own industry. There are books about leadership, speakers who specialize in leadership, courses, seminars, and workshops. The mantra has become “everything rises and falls on leadership.”

Really? Everything?

Everything rises and falls on the behavior of 12 to 15% of a company’s workforce?

Do you suppose the executives at Boeing have heard that? If they can afford to lose $6 billion in three months and stay in business, wouldn’t you think Boeing management has gone through the most intensive (and expensive) leadership courses available? How’s that working out?

While it is certainly true that some things rise and fall on leadership, the term EVERYTHING is reserved for culture. Because everything rises and falls on culture.

Why everything? For the simple reason that everything includes everybody. If you are the CEO, would you have 15% of your team knowing what to tell the 85% to do…while the 85% makes independent decisions hourly over which the 15% has no knowledge or control? Or would you rather have 100% of your team making quality decisions and moving in a specific direction together?

At present, the new CEO of Boeing might be the single voice in a wilderness of Boeing’s own creation, but his assertion that, “First, we need a fundamental culture change in the company,” informs us that “he gets it.” Kelly Ortberg knows he doesn’t want to work in a situation where management and team members are at odds. That never works. And sometimes it doesn’t work spectacularly. Like now…at Boeing.

Similarly, a company’s sales staff averages between 15 and 20% of its employees. Rare is the corporation that does not require extensive and specific sales training, a common practice that necessitates a hefty financial investment.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not against leadership training or sales training–both are necessary–but an organization will experience greater and more dramatic results by coaching every team member to achieve their part in a culture you choose. This is why CreatingMeasurableResults.com is a coaching company.

Most people apply the words "training" and “coaching” interchangeably. There is, however, a major difference in the meaning of the two.

“Training” has to do with hard skills and repetition. Sales training includes how to approach, what to say and when to say it. Sales personnel are trained in cold calling and closing techniques. Sales training is usually taught with a script.

“Leadership Training” is often delivered as if by a flow chart. “If you do A, they will do B. If they do C, your response is D.”

So, while “training” is usually limited to specific skills, “coaching” has to do with raising the level–the quality–of an entire organization’s thinking.

Through the years, I have worked with many CEOs. Curiously, for the sake of my own company, I have learned to politely turn down opportunities to align Creating Measurable Results with those who do not understand the powerful advantage an increase in thinking provides.

Helping a CEO comprehend the corporate advantage of raising all employee’s personal and professional thinking at an ever increasing level is CMR’s first step in helping a corporation compete at a level their competition doesn’t even know a game is being played.

Even the CEOs of companies who are the industry leaders seem to understand that their team members are still not performing to their potential. Many come to us after struggling for years to find training that can create a dramatic increase in results.

I often ask these two questions:

According to your industry’s standards, do your employees know what to do?
Do they know how to do it?

After the CEO answers “yes” and “yes,” I wonder aloud about why they aren’t reaching their potential.

Then, this question: Knowing that you have only your own industry standards as a basis for comparison…and being aware that your employees know what to do and how to do it…what are the chances that training created specifically by and for your industry will yield results beyond a high average for your industry?

What will they be trained to do…how to know more of what to do?

Whether you lead a corporation of thousands or a much smaller team, know this: your organization is perfectly designed–RIGHT NOW–to produce exactly what it is producing. If you want to dramatically produce more…if you want to actually grow while your industry is navigating a downturn in the economy…if you want to compete in a way your competition doesn’t know a game is being played…you’ll have to do something differently.

The fortunes of a specific corporation do not have to mirror the ups and downs of an industry, but if a team has players that are trained and nurtured with the same thought process that has become the industry standard, that is exactly what will happen.

Creating an incredible culture–one that pays financial dividends–is a process. It cannot be accomplished in a single week or month. It will not be done with two retreats in a year.

Creating a culture that produces the very best from your team will require a consistently increasing greater level of thinking. It will require you to imagine a destination most in your industry consider unimaginable. Just remember that “the unimaginable” can become a certainty when you know how it’s done…and do it.

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Part One: Competing with Culture

In July of 2004, when Walmart first opened its doors in Gulf Shores, Alabama, several small businesses had already closed theirs.

With a population just north of 5,000, Gulf Shores had become the poster child of a small town whose economic life was changed in one fell swoop. Many small business owners were on the verge of panic, declaring they couldn’t compete with Walmart. Even before the giant opened, several had already decided to bow out entirely.

On the other hand, there was Paris Hardware, a family owned business that had been in the same location for years…a little more than a couple hundred yards from the Walmart construction site.

Today…Walmart has been up and running for a long time, and the Paris family’s hardware store is still there.

Yes, they knew that Walmart would carry the same items they offered in their store and yes, they knew Walmart could and would beat their prices on every product. But the Paris family had decided to “compete with culture.”

Now, twenty years later, Paris Hardware hasn’t merely survived, they’ve thrived. In fact, they have surrounded that Walmart with several of their own. Five more to be exact, and three of those stores are less than ten miles to the east, west, and north of the Walmart.

Culture is a smaller business David’s advantage against a corporate Goliath.

While Walmart might have satisfied customers, Paris Hardware develops raving fans. And how much does a company need to advertise in order to develop an incredible culture? Last year, Walmart’s advertising budget was $4.4 billion. Paris Hardware occasionally advertised in the local weekly paper.

That brings up an interesting topic…on a dollar versus dollar basis, which produces better results…advertising…or culture? Before deciding, let’s examine some actual advertising dollars and how they affect consumer choices in reality.

First, here’s an overview on some random corporations and what they spend yearly on advertising.

Home Depot: $1.1 billion a year
Panera Bread: Just under $100 million
The State of New York: $905 million
The City of Nashville: $85 million
Ford Motor Company: $2.5 billion
CVS Pharmacy: $1.5 billion

Now that you know some of the dollar amounts corporations spend on advertising, do you know where the money goes? Geico Insurance, for example—$1.5 billion in advertising last year…they’ve spent more than a billion a year each of the last ten years…do you KNOW what they spent it on?

Well, sure you do. You’ve seen the Geico Gekko—cute little green guy with the British accent… How many Geico Caveman commercials have you seen in the last month? And that’s just television. There’s print media, digital, radio, billboards, online…$1.5 billion last year.

But the question to ask yourself is how many people actually bought Geico insurance because they just couldn’t stop thinking about the caveman?

Is there a husband and wife in America who actually decided which insurance to buy after arguing the merits of Geico’s lizard versus Aflac’s duck?

Does your soft drink preference swing back and forth according to whose commercials you like the most?

Are you drinking Dr. Pepper because of the Fanville commercials? And if you DO drink Dr. Pepper, would you forget you liked it if you didn’t see the same commercial five times during a single football game?

Another popular way of spending ad money is naming rights. For instance, Levi Strauss just agreed to pay $170 million to name the San Francisco 49ers stadium Levi’s Stadium. What do they get for that money? Their name on the stadium. That’s it.

And how does that $170 million pay off? Does it create consumer loyalty? “You know, I love this stadium. A $250 game ticket and only 70 bucks to park… Dangit. I’m only wearing Levi’s from now on!”

American Airlines just announced it will pay $90 million to sponsor a plaza in front of a new NFL stadium near Los Angeles. To be clear, they aren’t sponsoring the stadium…the $90 million is to put their name on a plaza BESIDE the stadium.

Quick question: How did you decide which airline’s tickets you’d purchase for your last flight? Did advertising have anything to do with your decision?

And while we’re at it: How much more does American Airlines have to CHARGE us for a ticket…just to cover the cost of their 90 million dollar name on a plaza in California that 99% of their customers are not ever even likely to see?

Now granted, we are just using common sense. But what are the results, using hard data?

As an advertising strategy, are naming rights worth the dollars being spent?

Michael Leeds, a sports economist at Temple University, led statistical researchers in a study published as “The Value of Naming Rights.” In this extensive investigation, they examined 25 years of data from 53 different deals involving naming rights of stadiums and arenas.

Evidence showed that companies buying naming rights during the last 25 years have seen their stock values decline more than twice that of the DOW Jones Industrial Average. And 12 of the 53 corporations that paid to put their names on stadiums have declared bankruptcy.

In conclusion, the researchers stated, “We find little evidence that the purchase of naming rights had a statistically significant impact on the value of the companies that bought them…even less evidence that the impact was positive…and no evidence at all that there was a permanent, positive impact.”

You might think this seems like a lot of wasted money. Of course, that’s only because it IS a lot of wasted money. So why do they do it? Is it because they don’t know of a better use for their money?

Here’s where it gets really interesting…

Crunching the numbers, we see that companies who focus on and invest in their culture don’t spend nearly the money on the traditional advertising their competitors do.

Think about why that might be: given a choice, will you buy insurance from Aflac because Nick Saban and Dion Sanders do commercials with a duck? Or are you more likely to go with the State Farm representative you see at Rotary Club—you know, the one who buys Girl Scout Cookies from your daughter…?

So, why does culture defeat advertising? Because an incredible culture turns every employee into a highly enthusiastic vocal advocate for their company. And on an individual basis, word of mouth defeats traditional advertising every single time.

Now, I know you might be saying, “Well sure…word of mouth probably works for smaller, local businesses…”

And it does, but what I’m telling you is, big companies who make their culture a priority, and know how to build it, benefit from word of mouth even more than small businesses.

In Part Two, we will examine creating incredible culture and how powerful that might be versus advertising. We will crunch actual numbers to reveal how much certain companies pay for their advertising per employee—which will blow your mind… AND I’ll tell you a couple of stories about actual corporations that—right now—are producing billions of dollars in revenue with advertising budgets of ZERO. Really. Don’t miss Part Two. It’s available now. And I think you will laugh out loud!

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Part Two: The Numbers Don't Lie

In Part One, we discussed the annual advertising budgets of some well-known companies. We asked the question: Do those huge amounts of money greatly affect our decisions about where and how we spend our money? And if that answer is no, why do they seem to advertise as much as they can afford? Is it because they don’t know what else to do?

Is there any company anywhere that has figured out what else to do? Actually, yes. But they’re doing it quietly. Because the benefits of competing in a way the competition doesn’t know a game is being played are just too great.

Check this out:

CNBC recently ranked the top ten mortgage originators by volume in the United States. By searching each company online, adding their ad budgets together and dividing by ten, we see that the average annual advertising budget for the top ten last year was more than $500 million each.

Now, obviously, the ten advertise at different levels. The $500 million average includes Rocket Mortgage’s annual advertising budget of $945 million and Bank of America at $1.93 billion. The average also includes Navy Federal Credit Union at $196 million and US Bank at $100 million.

But there is a massive anomaly on that list. Fairway Independent Mortgage is ranked the 4th largest mortgage originator by volume in America. How this corporation has quietly reached this position is a feat the mortgage industry still does not understand.

Back when Fairway finished their 19th year in business at $5.4 billion, they did it with 700 employees. In January the following year, Fairway entered into a three year curriculum with Creating Measurable Results to coach every employee toward a specific culture. In a single year, the company doubled that $5.4 billion mark to $11.2 billion. The following year, they reached $17 billion and the year after that, $22 billion.

After seven years of diligently prioritizing culture, Fairway hit $72.5 billion dollars and employed more than 11,000 people.

But here’s the part that will blow your mind: Operating from 700 branch offices in all 50 states, do you know how much money Fairway spends each year in national advertising?

ZERO.

That’s right. Zero. Nada. Nothing.

With a Better Business Bureau rating of A+, last year, Fairway was also ranked by J.D. Power & Associates as the top mortgage originator for customer satisfaction in the world. And for the last three years, Fairway has been named in USA TODAY as the Top Place to Work In America for companies with 2,500 employees or more.

According to Steve Jacobson, Fairway’s founder and CEO, “We don’t have to do national advertising. Our culture takes the place of that by allowing our folks to go deep into their communities and form relationships that produce unstoppable word of mouth.”

Here’s another company with a long history of doing things right…by operating in a way that is not on the competition’s radar.

Beck’s Hybrids is a family owned seed company founded 87 years ago by the current President’s great grandfather. Beck’s–like Fairway–does not advertise nationally. Yet, due to its culture, its fiercely loyal customer base has made Beck’s the third-largest supplier of corn seed and the fourth largest supplier of soybean seed in the United States.

Culture is so important to the Becks family that the company created an executive position to build and monitor it. Bethany Gremel is the company’s Director of Culture. Beck’s is also a client of Creating Measurable Results, the company that coaches all employees with an “every-other-week” curriculum. Beck’s even makes the coaching available for farmers—who are their “word of mouth” dealers.

Culture is a priority at Beck’s Hybrids. And culture is how you sell two million 50-pound bags of seed corn in a year—without a single television commercial.

Coaching enables people to push past the boundaries they’ve lived with for years. Coaching culture is how people become remarkable. When everyone in the company is remarkable, the company operates at a level the competition never comprehends.

Therefore, as it turns out, much of traditional advertising is simply a tax companies pay…for not being remarkable.

Before we close, let's return for a moment to the big advertising budgets and look at an unusual statistic. Obviously, there are companies that invest in their people by building culture. How much? Most clients of Creating Measurable Results are having their employees coached for less than $300 each…per year.

Then, of course, there are companies that put their money into advertising. If some companies are investing in their people to the tune of $300 per year, has anyone ever explored how much other companies are spending on advertising averaged by the number of a company’s employees?

We can use any company’s publicly available numbers, but let’s start with Capitol One—the “What’s in your wallet?” people. The banking giant has 51,987 employees operating out of 750 branch locations. Capitol One has an annual advertising budget of $4.1 billion.

By dividing $4.1 billion by 51,987, we see that for every person they employ, Capitol One spends $78,865 in advertising. Interestingly, this means that for many of its employees, Capitol One spends more money on advertising than on an individual’s salary.

How about Comcast? In various publications and services—to include J.D. Power, 24/7 Wall Street, and The Consumerist—Comcast has been repeatedly labelled “the worst” or “the most hated” company in America. In two separate years, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey found that Comcast had the worst customer satisfaction rating of any company or government agency in the country, including the Internal Revenue Service.

Comcast employs 186,000 people and last year alone spent $7.971 billion advertising their product and services. That’s $42,854 in advertising for every single employee. With the “worst customer satisfaction rating” of any company or governmental agency in America…how much do you think Comcast cares about the culture of its employees?

General Motors employs 92,000 people in the United States. Their ad budget last year was $3.24 billion. That works out to $35,217 in advertising for every single person employed.

Nike, with 83,700 employees, spent an ad budget of $4.29 billion last year. That’s $51,254 in advertising for every person who works there.

Obviously, we could discuss these kinds of statistics for hours, but we’ll stop here.

Whether big or small businesses, I think you and I have answered the original question: Which Yields More Profit—Culture or Advertising?

Remember…a focus on your organization’s culture allows you to attract, retain, and grow higher quality employees. An incredible culture—and the raving fan-like word of mouth it generates—will reduce your advertising expenses and increase your profit margin. All this by having your team coached past “good to great”...all the way to BEST.

Prioritizing culture will create remarkable people. And remember: traditional advertising is just a penalty a company pays…for not developing remarkable people.

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Part One: Understanding the 128-Hour Impact

While it is true that CMR’s proprietary curriculum has recorded results bordering on the unbelievable now for more than a decade, to deem those results “miraculous” might imply that they were somehow gained by fortunate accident.

To the contrary, these client results were all predicted beforehand. One might ask, “Taking into account America’s wide range of industries, how is it possible to predict similar outcomes across the board?”

Curiously, the answer to that question is the same answer to the question about how CMR is able to produce consistently staggering results in the first place…

During the course of the past 25 years, Founder and CEO Andy Andrews has been actively engaged in groundbreaking research studying human nature regarding performance by large groups of people.

Because of this research, CMR has literally been able to crack the code on creating predictable behavior by assembled individuals who have been hired to work as a team toward a specific corporate goal. CMR is currently the only company in the world offering a comprehensive coaching program for entire organizations.

To be clear, this is not “training.”

There are no sales scripts to memorize or Leadership Retreats to attend. This is systematic coaching of every individual a corporation employs.

Otherwise known as assembled individuals who have been hired to work as a team toward a specific corporate goal–every single employee in each individual position––is critical to the overall outcome of the whole. This is true whether or not separate groups or teams interact or ever even see each other.

Consider, for example, a hospital… What level of surgical outcomes might be expected from brilliant surgeons if the team cleaning the operating rooms are doing a less than brilliant job? And what is the difference between cleaning adequately and cleaning brilliantly?

In most industries, corporate leaders have convinced themselves that they are able to regulate employee performance to a standard. And that is true. Or somewhat true…

The truth, however, is quite different. Is the “standard” of every employee–every hour of every day–to do the very best that can be done? Does their standard include performing to the very limit of their potential? Is each individual determined and committed to consistently raising the bar on their potential in order that they might perform at an increasingly higher level?

No.

Further, can a standard like that even be imposed by leadership? Or must that standard be an individual’s personal decision? For a fact, the employee would be the only person to really know the difference in their own performance.

Unfortunately, the standard of performance imposed by most leadership usually translates for employees as “what I have to do to keep my job.”

If we are honest–at least a little bit–doesn’t this “secret standard” also apply to leadership and management positions?

To keep my job:

How many sales do I have to make?

How many meetings do I have to attend?

How well do I need to do this?

How often do I need to do this?

How “on time” do I have to be?

How many calls are enough?

How comfortably can I dress?

What kind of attitude do I HAVE to display?

The answers to these questions (and about a hundred more that are similar) all hit a mark well below “the best I can possibly do.” So, because all people generally perform below their potential, is the organization of which they are a part also destined to perform far below its actual potential?

Yes. Usually…

So, how does it work?

How does CMR’s curriculum actually build and retain great people, attract the best from competing organizations, and in turn, increase revenue?

What follows is the key to understanding how and why CMR is able to consistently rocket organizations beyond any point most leadership imagines to be possible.

Consider what we’ve learned so far: Even the most successful companies employ individuals who meet expectations and perform to a standard required. That standard, however, does not nearly represent “the best that can be done.”

In fact, the average standard for employees in almost every industry or sport might be underscored by a “yes” answer to these two questions: Do they know what to do? Do they know how to do it?

Corporate leaders in America have not figured out how to create teams of individuals that willingly sail well beyond that average mark of standards and expectations. They have been unable to pay for it, punish for it, regulate for it, or incentivise it.

The reason for this failure is simple. Management can dictate a certain level of performance for only 40 hours every week. Unfortunately for them, that leaves 128 hours for employees to be on their own.

Which means that whatever culture a company may try to impose while at work, the REAL culture an individual is marching to is determined during the 128 hours of private life; not the 40 they are behaving in such a way that allows them to keep their jobs.

Culture is a catch-all term describing consistent results produced by behavior. Behavior is an outward manifestation of one’s thinking. Great thinking yields wise choices in all areas of life. Wise choices are a direct link to behavior.

Behavior describes how one chooses to respond — physically and verbally — during every waking moment. At peace and under stress. At work and away from work. While with family, with co-workers, or out in public.

Behavior determines the tone of one’s voice, the expression on a person’s face, and whether they are seen as an asset or a detriment to the employer they represent.

Know too, that we do not simply represent our employers for the 40 hours we are on site. No, each individual is a corporate representative 168 hours a week–every minute of every day. Consider the news you’ve seen or read about someone in trouble. ALWAYS included in the story…is where they work.

The catch, of course, is the point about the 128 hours of off time being more influential than the 40 hours at work.

Why would that time be more influential? Because it includes the things that are more important to people than their jobs.

Marriages, children, and faith are easy examples of those “more important things.” At best, our careers are at least second or third down the list. Why is this a critical fact for leadership to understand as they strive to increase levels of performance in current employees?

Well…? How would we expect someone to pay the highest level of respect and attention to the third most important thing in their life if the first or second most important thing is in turmoil? The answer is: We can’t.

It has always been true that if one’s personal life is in disarray, their professional life suffers as a consequence. If our children are at risk, can we keep our minds on work issues? After all, one can only be as happy as our unhappiest child.

In Part 2 of CMR’s Miraculous Results, we will reveal an unspoken secret that is common to most American employees. And we will discover why most employers remain unaware this secret exists.

You’ll also uncover the proof about how Creating Measurable Results has been able to consistently guide organizations to actually Creating those Measurable Results that often double growth and revenue within a year of implementation. All that…in Part Two…available now.

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Part Two: Creating Unshakable Loyalty

There is also an unspoken secret among employees about their employers that goes like this:

“They expect my loyalty. If you ask them why I should be loyal, their answer is, ‘Because we provide your paycheck.’ And they are right, but between you and me, that’s the only reason I’m loyal. They pay me.”

Why would this be the case? Because other than a paycheck and the benefits that most corporations provide as part of the compensation package, that’s the only connection the company has to the employee.

American employees overwhelmingly feel like replaceable cogs in a corporate machine.

How can one be loyal to a machine? Or a building? Or a brand or logo? The truth is they can’t. One can only be loyal to a person or an ideal. That means a specific leader, their leadership as a whole, or the corporation’s purpose–the difference it makes to people.

When a company commits to provide CMR’s coaching curriculum to all its employees, it is usually the first personal investment employees have ever seen leadership make in them–and they notice the difference immediately. In the past, all investments in employees had an obvious connection to “a benefit for the company.” Employees come to view the investment in personal coaching for each of them with stunned appreciation.

As the curriculum unfolds, it becomes apparent to the entire workforce that the messages are not designed to merely motivate them or to train them to work harder or at a higher level. Instead, each lesson is designed to explain “thinking” at a different level in a way that benefits them and their families personally.

As their own thinking shifts and evolves, their personal lives improve, which affects their work in positive ways. They communicate to co-workers with increased skill and communicate with clients and customers in a much more satisfying way.

Perhaps just as important, the employees become ambassadors for the corporation outside of work. This, in effect creates a powerful, word-of-mouth, display of loyalty that cannot be purchased or demanded.

When people become better husbands and wives, better mothers and fathers, better friends and neighbors, they become more influential and more respected everywhere they go.

When their employer is seen as the architect of their increased life, they are extremely grateful.

They see the investment in them as “one the company did not HAVE to make” and become organically and fiercely loyal to the company’s leaders and the company itself.

These employees will not work anywhere else…even for more money. The CMR curriculum, applied to every employee, has not only made their life better, it has made all their co-worker’s lives better, which has made an employee’s life at work more joy than job; more an outlet for their passions than the place they get a paycheck.

These obvious results–and the constant word of mouth from employees–make this place of business number one on the wish list of the most talented performers currently drudging away for other companies. Recruiting becomes a matter of choosing the best from the industry.

And finally, the increased level of “thinking” along with their new found peace in life, passion for the work, and gratefulness to the corporate leadership creates a playing field producing an ever increasing level of more and better. Revenues, as one might expect, skyrocket.

While it took more than fifteen years to produce and refine the curriculum, in reality, the concept–and the reason it applies across the board–is a simple one. How we are treated and how we come to understand the degrees of how we can treat other people, makes a massive difference in the growth of any team, organization, or corporation.

A college football team might call the concept “showing class” while a hotel would call it “hospitality.” A home goods store or an online shopping portal would probably deem what they hope for is “great customer service” while the health care industry refers to “quality of care.”

In truth, it’s all the same.

Better people treat people better.

Happy, contented, people who are finding answers to life’s questions and have become genuinely excited about the work they do and the team they serve…are better people.

Creating Measurable Results joins your team and together, we create better people.

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Culture: Is It the Answer?

Part One: The Power and Importance of Culture

Part Two: Intentionally Creating a World-Class Culture

Don’t let your team settle for average. Elevate your organization today.

Building Culture…or Advertising: Which Is Most Effective?

Part One: Competing with Culture

Part Two: The Numbers Don't Lie

Stop paying the penalty for average. Build a culture that transforms your team—and your results.

How Does CMR Seemingly Produce Miraculous Results?

Part One: Understanding the 128-Hour Impact

Part Two: Creating Unshakable Loyalty

Transforming culture, one life at a time—because better people build better organizations.