oth lists could have been much longer, but I just wanted you to start your thinking process regarding the "state" of your business.

I urge you to carefully observe your organization for the next week as an impartial outsider. What do you see? Any of the above listed items present in a destructive way?

If you have never done an employee attitude and performance audit by an impartial outside organization, I highly recommend it. It is far better to be in touch with reality than to rely only on the feedb

Are you going out of business in slow motion and you don't even know it?

There are forces at work both inside and outside every organization that, if not dealt with in a positive and pro-active way, can contribute to a lack of customer retention, poor productivity, shrinking profits and a loss of competitive position in the marketplace.

The outside forces are:

Keep in mind that there is little you can do about any of the following. What you can do is prepare your organization for them and respond accordingly.

- the rapid pace of change.
- the constant introduction of new technology.
- the meddling of the federal or state government.
- the apparent lack of trained manpower.
- increased global competition.
- changing consumer attitudes.
- higher consumer expectations.
- new marketing opportunities.
- the impact of the internet.
- an aging population.
- a more culturally diverse employee pool.

The inside forces are:

Please keep in mind that every organization has all of the following as a part of their organizational behavior, structure or philosophy. You will never eliminate all of them no matter how hard you try. The critical issue to keep in mind is - are you suffering any of them to the degree that they are starting to erode your organization slowly from the inside out.

- unclear or shifting corporate mission, vision or core beliefs.
- unclear corporate direction or goals.
- redundancy.
- al lack of accountability.
- employee, management or department hidden agendas.
- a negative corporate culture.
- arrogant or ego driven management.
- poorly motivated employees or departments.
- unclear or changing overall business strategy.
- poor communication both top-down and bottom-up.
- fluctuating morale.
- poor, inconsistent or non-existent employee development and training.
- a lack of trust and/or respect between individuals and/or departments.
- heavy top-down management style.

Both lists could have been much longer, but I just wanted you to start your thinking process regarding the "state" of your business.

I urge you to carefully observe your organization for the next week as an impartial outsider. What do you see? Any of the above listed items present in a destructive way?

If you have never done an employee attitude and performance audit by an impartial outside organization, I highly recommend it. It is far better to be in touch with reality than to rely only on the feedb

d accordingly.

- the rapid pace of change.
- the constant introduction of new technology.
- the meddling of the federal or state government.
- the apparent lack of trained manpower.
- increased global competition.
- changing consumer attitudes.
- higher consumer expectations.
- new marketing opportunities.
- the impact of the internet.
- an aging population.
- a more culturally diverse employee pool.

The inside forces are:

Please keep in mind that every organization has all of the following as a part of their organizational behavior, structure or philosophy. You will never eliminate all of them no matter how hard you try. The critical issue to keep in mind is - are you suffering any of them to the degree that they are starting to erode your organization slowly from the inside out.

- unclear or shifting corporate mission, vision or core beliefs.
- unclear corporate direction or goals.
- redundancy.
- al lack of accountability.
- employee, management or department hidden agendas.
- a negative corporate culture.
- arrogant or ego driven management.
- poorly motivated employees or departments.
- unclear or changing overall business strategy.
- poor communication both top-down and bottom-up.
- fluctuating morale.
- poor, inconsistent or non-existent employee development and training.
- a lack of trust and/or respect between individuals and/or departments.
- heavy top-down management style.

Both lists could have been much longer, but I just wanted you to start your thinking process regarding the "state" of your business.

I urge you to carefully observe your organization for the next week as an impartial outsider. What do you see? Any of the above listed items present in a destructive way?

If you have never done an employee attitude and performance audit by an impartial outside organization, I highly recommend it. It is far better to be in touch with reality than to rely only on the feedb

every organization has all of the following as a part of their organizational behavior, structure or philosophy. You will never eliminate all of them no matter how hard you try. The critical issue to keep in mind is - are you suffering any of them to the degree that they are starting to erode your organization slowly from the inside out.

- unclear or shifting corporate mission, vision or core beliefs.
- unclear corporate direction or goals.
- redundancy.
- al lack of accountability.
- employee, management or department hidden agendas.
- a negative corporate culture.
- arrogant or ego driven management.
- poorly motivated employees or departments.
- unclear or changing overall business strategy.
- poor communication both top-down and bottom-up.
- fluctuating morale.
- poor, inconsistent or non-existent employee development and training.
- a lack of trust and/or respect between individuals and/or departments.
- heavy top-down management style.

Both lists could have been much longer, but I just wanted you to start your thinking process regarding the "state" of your business.

I urge you to carefully observe your organization for the next week as an impartial outsider. What do you see? Any of the above listed items present in a destructive way?

If you have never done an employee attitude and performance audit by an impartial outside organization, I highly recommend it. It is far better to be in touch with reality than to rely only on the feedb

employee, management or department hidden agendas.
- a negative corporate culture.
- arrogant or ego driven management.
- poorly motivated employees or departments.
- unclear or changing overall business strategy.
- poor communication both top-down and bottom-up.
- fluctuating morale.
- poor, inconsistent or non-existent employee development and training.
- a lack of trust and/or respect between individuals and/or departments.
- heavy top-down management style.

Both lists could have been much longer, but I just wanted you to start your thinking process regarding the "state" of your business.

I urge you to carefully observe your organization for the next week as an impartial outsider. What do you see? Any of the above listed items present in a destructive way?

If you have never done an employee attitude and performance audit by an impartial outside organization, I highly recommend it. It is far better to be in touch with reality than to rely only on the feedb

oth lists could have been much longer, but I just wanted you to start your thinking process regarding the "state" of your business.

I urge you to carefully observe your organization for the next week as an impartial outsider. What do you see? Any of the above listed items present in a destructive way?

If you have never done an employee attitude and performance audit by an impartial outside organization, I highly recommend it. It is far better to be in touch with reality than to rely only on the feedback from your direct reports, management team or your customers about the prevailing or dominant attitudes of your employees, departments or management team. I conduct several of these each year for clients and I can tell you that it is far better to spend a little money on this process than it is to lose a major customer or a number of your best employees and to never really know why.