“In order to grow your business, you are going to need to know your business.” Walt paused to make sure his words were sinking in. “If you don’t know where you are going, then all roads will get you there.”
I hoped that he would soon stop with the one-liners and get to something that we as a company could actually use.
He picked up a marker and wrote on the flip chart. “Can everybody read that?” Looking around the room, slow nods made him smile. “Good.” He continued. “Now, what do you think this company should be doing?”
Most people looked around and wondered why he was asking us that question.
“Well, should we just close the doors and all go home?”
“No,” Alison answered.
Everyone looked at her, and I could tell she loved the attention.
“Fine,” Walt said. “Then what should we be doing all day?”
“Association management,” someone chimed in, raising his hand.
“That’s what the business card would say, right?” Walt pointed the marker at the speaker. “To what groups of people and to what types of associations? Are there any that you should avoid?”
“Those that aren’t profitable,” someone from the Accounting Department said. “No sense doing all the work and have nothing to show for it.”
“You are right. Does everyone see where I am going?”
A few more people were energetically agreeing with him.
“If you do not identify who you are and what you stand for”—he paused and scanned the room—“then let’s just close the doors.” He wrote on the flip chart again. “What is stopping you from becoming what you want to be?”
Either no one understood the question, or they did not want to be the first to say something that might be considered negative.
“Pace,” Ms. Cedar finally said.
“Can you elaborate on that?” Walt asked.
“There are times when you want to better serve the client, but you can’t do it quick enough. There are times when you have too many clients that need something at the same time,” she clarified.
“What would fix that? Less clients?” Walt smiled to the group. “More hands at the right time and right level, better managing the client’s expectations, fees for doing something quicker than usual.” He put his hands on his hips. “Telling your client no when they are trying to tell you how best to do your job.”
“That will never happen,” someone murmured.
Walt turned to his flip chart again. “Why do your clients come to you in the first place?”
“We can manage them better or cheaper,” came a response from the group.
“Cheaper?” Walt pushed his glasses up and wiped his forehead. “If they come to you because you charge less, do you think they will ever really listen to you?”
Many shook their heads aggressively.
“If you are taking clients because you uncut their previous management firm, then they will never listen to your expertise, and they will be gone as soon as they can save a buck somewhere else.”
Walt put the marker down and leaned on the counter behind him. “It all gets back to who you are and what you offer. We need to identify that, determine what needs to be added, changed, or removed from this company to achieve your goal of growing this business. Now’s the time where your voice can be heard.” He took out index cards and held them up.
“On these cards are the names in each group and where you are to go to work on a small project.” Walt looked at his watch. “Get into your groups, and take about half an hour to finish up. When you are done, come on back, and we’ll continue.”
People stood up and left the lunchroom as team leaders called out the group members. Someone called Alison, and she left while I was still waiting. I had hoped that she was in my group so she could do all the work, and I could simply watch.
“Derrick, you’re in my group,” Ms. Cedar said as she walked out of the lunchroom. I gathered up my paper and pen and hurried after her with the others.
“We are going to the conference room,” she said, going up the front steps.
Opening the door, she motioned for the rest of us to enter, and then she closed the door and sat down. On the big conference table there were flip-chart pages, sticky notes, and plenty of markers. “We need to use the sticky notes to write down things that are stopping you from getting your job done.”
I reached out and grabbed a stack, as did the others. “I’m not really sure I have much to add,” I admitted.
“Have you noticed anything at all that could be improved?” Ms. Cedar was being patient with me, hoping to draw out something.
“I guess when people don’t fill out the work order correctly, or at all, that makes my job more difficult.” I shrugged, but I could tell she was very pleased. “I’m not sure how to boil all of that down to fit,” I said, holding up the sticky note and marker.
“Well, we can brainstorm for a while and see how many things we can come up with as a group and then write the notes,” she said while writing down what I said.
I was happy to be in her group because I could tell she was serious about it and was willing to do most of the work.
“Anyone else?”
The rest of the group consisted of an exec, an administrative assistant, an administrative director, a meeting planner, and someone from the Accounting Department. To be honest, it seemed like the most balanced group that left the lunchroom. Some of the other groups seemed too full of one type of worker to give a well-rounded view of the issues. I am pretty sure Ms. Cedar and Mr. Manor did their best to balance them.
One by one, the rest of the group each gave something that could be improved to better the company. It was interesting to see that we all get on each other’s nerves at different points in our interactions. The stories that went along with the suggestions seemed to be more important than the items needing improvement. When you actually talk to the people you work with, you get a better perspective of what you can do to not annoy them when you interact.
Most of the time when you are working, you only care about your part of the job. I truly never gave much thought to the amount of work someone had to do before it was handed over to me. Now when I handed it back, it was my responsibility to make sure I did my best work at all times. Being just one link in a chain doesn’t always give you the appreciation of what comes before and after you’ve touched it.
After everyone had a chance to speak, Ms. Cedar read a summarized version, and it was apparent that she not only listened but also understood what we each meant. We worked together to come up with one-word descriptions that nicely fit on the sticky notes even when written with markers. I was very impressed at what was done by the group.
Technology seemed to be a big buzzword being thrown around. Ms. Cedar had a big part of the purchase of the current system, so she wanted us to expand on exactly what was needed to improve the company.
“I think we can all agree that there have been so many advances since we bought what we are using now. What do you all see as the first step we should take?”
Some suggested voice mail, but the majority wanted an actual computer on their desk instead of a dumb terminal connected to antiquated software. Having the ability to use a mouse and have more than a one-color monitor was the clear winner. I sat back and listened, not wanting to say much about what everyone else desired. My machine, while far superior compared to what they used, was barely enough for what I did.
“You’ve been quiet, Derrick,” Ms. Cedar noticed. “Anything to add?”
“I have a lot to add, but I’m not sure if it’ll burst everyone’s bubble.” I wanted to let them all know that once they switched over to another alternate, they would never stop throwing money at the issue. One thing that I was knowledgeable at was what it took to do what they wanted.
“Feel free to say what you’re thinking,” she added to encourage me.
“Unless the company is willing to budget and actually spend a significant amount of money each year, you’ll only make technology a bigger problem in the long run.” My eyes locked with hers, and I could tell she agreed but knew those dollars were not currently available. “We would have to grow the company just to keep up.”
“What’s the alternative?” someone asked. “Do nothing?”
“I’m not suggesting that we do nothing. I am suggesting that we will constantly need to do something to avoid having technology as our number one roadblock to improving the company.” I sighed. “Does that make sense?”
Most people seemed to get the concept but could not appreciate the price tag associated with the request. Ms. Cedar was the only one in a position to do something.
“Could you do it?” she asked.
“Do what, exactly?” I asked, hoping to be a part of moving the company forward like the others wanted.
“Help us pick what’s next,” she smiled, and I nearly cried.
“Help, sure. If that’s what’s best for the company.” I’m not sure if this whole small group thing was a setup to get me to do more work, but I was willing to give everything I had, everything I am, to please Ms. Cedar.
There were a few more things we had to do for Walt, so we all got down to drawing some pictures on the flip-chart pages with the markers. I am no artist, but mine did turn out pretty nicely and adequately portrayed a solution for some of the issues we uncovered. The whole exercise was much more invigorating than I imagined possible, and I found myself actually caring about what the others in the group felt.
A knock preceded the door opening slowly. Walt entered and encouraged us to finish up the project so we could all get back to the lunchroom to review the findings. He smiled at my picture and had me explain it. His relaxed manner really did help us open up and rise to the challenge he presented. This whole exercise was helping me as a person just as much as it was helping the company get a deeper-devoted worker.
We gathered all our notes and pages and headed back to the lunchroom. It looked like we were one of the first groups that finished, so I had a chance to reclaim my seat. Ms. Cedar gave Walt our work, and he hung it on the wall high enough so everyone could see.
“Did you pick a spokesperson for your group?” he asked, looking at Ms. Cedar.
“Derrick, would you like to do that?” Ms. Cedar looked like it would mean a great deal to her if I would represent the group.
I nodded.
“Thank you.”
Alison’s group returned, and she sat down next to me again.
“How was your group?” she whispered, leaning closer.
“It was actually a great group of people. Ms. Cedar helped pull us all together.” I nudged her. “I think I actually like small groups,” I said, smiling.
Alison rolled her eyes and sat back. “Complete waste of time.” She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes.
“What went wrong?”
“It turned into half an hour of listening to people complain about how much they hate this place.” She moved forward in her seat and composed herself. “There are some really negative people that for some reason keep working here even though they’ve been miserable for years.” She punched my arm. “Why would anyone do that to themselves?”
“What, stay somewhere that makes them miserable?”
She sighed and nodded.
“Maybe they’re too lazy to move on.”
“Maybe they’re hoping to get fired so they can collect unemployment and take it easy for a few months. Honestly, I’m glad you had a positive experience.” She leaned her head on my arm. “Promise you’ll tell me if I ever get that bad.”
“You can count on it.” I noticed a few people were wondering why Alison had her head on me, so I moved slightly, and she looked up at me. “I think we have an audience.” I frowned.
She sat up, fixed her hair, and put her glasses on again. “Wouldn’t want to start any rumors, right?” she said with a wink.
The rest of the groups came in, and the lunchroom was crammed again. Walt took the rest of the papers, hung them, and returned to his flip chart.
“So, I hope that was time well spent,” he said sincerely. “You’ve all identified some issues and presented some solutions. That’s good. That’s the easy part. The hard part is to implement what is best to help grow this business.”
Moving over to the pages, he scanned them all and chuckled at a few. “I’ve noticed that there is an awful lot of overlap between the groups on some of the issues. I’ve also noticed, by looking at these pages, that the solutions vary greatly. Same problem, different solution. Isn’t that another problem?” He smiled at the group. “What you need to do is look for those things you can solve quickly and simply.”
Ms. Cedar asked, “From looking at all the groups, what would you say is the most common problem?”
Walt scanned them again. “I think it would be best if each group presented their findings, and then we can decide together if you want. Is there a group that wants to go first?”
I looked down, hoping to do my group later.
“Derrick, since you’re near the front, how about you go first?” Ms. Cedar encouraged.
I nodded and stood up in place. “That’s fine with me,” I said, trying to project my voice and sound more confident.
While the pages were across the room, I was still able to read the sticky notes. After I reviewed our issues, I began to explain the solutions people drew on their pages. A couple of them, I asked the artist to elaborate so I didn’t botch their point, but overall, the presentation went smoothly. I sat down again and could see that both Alison and Ms. Cedar had the same expression—pride in me.
Alison passed me a note that read, “I can’t wait to go out to dinner with you tonight.”