The Conference Coach™

Carolyn Bradfield

One of my favorite business books is “Managing by Influence” by Kenneth and Linda Schatz.  Unfortunately, it’s long out of print and you have to find a used copy on Amazon to read it. If you can get it, it’s worth the trouble.   The book discusses concepts that I think are important for all managers to address….how to lead people to change……how to use your influence vs. authority.

One of the best concepts in the book is surrounding the idea of “climate.”  The book asserts 3 following principles:
o    Every company has a climate
o    The climate affects everyone
o    You always affect the climate

What does it really mean to have a “climate” within an organization?  Everyone has worked in a job or a company that just wasn’t fun to be at.  Management was negative; people complained about their job, and everyone felt that they were at risk.  People felt they weren’t valued or cared for or had opportunities.  And then we’ve all worked at companies where the climate was great.  We looked forward to coming to work and felt motivated while we were there.  We didn’t focus on justifying our existence, but more on getting our jobs done.

I just realized that I’ve been Copper Conferencing’s CEO for exactly a year and when I took on that challenge, I realized the climate at the company was all wrong.  We were confused and tried to be all things to all companies vs. focus on what we do best – serve small to medium sized businesses with day-to-day phone conferencing.  Since then, we’ve become clear in our mission, who our customer is and how we can best serve them.

We didn’t have an identified and published value system, central to creating a good corporate climate.  We published one and began talking about whether our decisions support those values.  They’re very simple:  customer needs are urgent, the task is the boss, communicate honestly and specifically…….you get the idea.

One of the most difficult decisions we made was to eliminate those in our organization that didn’t understand the concept that a positive climate was very important for the success of the company.  If someone comes to work 8 hours or more today, they shouldn’t have to put up with those that don’t value their job, articulate what is wrong vs. have a plan to fix things, or who spend time talking about others behind their backs.

As I look back over the year, I’m very proud of our company, its climate and the home we have provided for our people.  We focus on development and have monthly strategy sessions, not annual reviews. We hold people accountable so they can hold a mirror up and let employees see the impact of their performance. We now pay for people to return to college or take courses that help them do their job better.  We’ve helped our employees buy their first homes.  We help people resolve their challenges in a positive way.

It’s a great climate and we monitor it constantly.  We’re not just the thermometer that takes the temperature, but the thermostat that sets it.  I think that companies should pay more attention to this simple concept by asking, “What is the climate?”  AND “How can I improve it?”.  We owe it to the people that have invested in us.

For more information about Copper Conferencing, contact a Conference Coach today.