Business owners live and breathe their company missions. Often, their business identity plays a significant role in their personal identity. Naturally, they can effortlessly explain what their company does, why it exists, what it stands for, and where it is going.
This is not often the case with employees or customers.
Here are two sets of questions to help you determine if your two most important stakeholder groups – your employees and your customers – really understand your company.
Employee Questions
1: What is the mission or purpose of our company?
2: What do you think our company does best?
3: What doesn’t our company do well?
4: What does our company do differently than our competitors?
5: Why are our customers our customers?
Customer Questions
1: If you were to describe our company in one sentence or one word, what would it be or how would you describe us?
2: What are we doing that you like? How do we help meet your needs?
3: What are we doing that you don’t like? Or in what areas could we improve?
4: Is there anything that we are not currently providing that you need?
5: When your friends are looking for a product(s) that we sell, do you refer our company? Why or why not?
Are You In Touch, and Ready for 2015?
As you look ahead to 2015, the 4th quarter is a great time to survey your employees and customers to determine how aligned they are with your organizational vision. It’s not unusual for owners to be disconnected from their employee or customer perceptions.
However, engaging a third party to create the assessments that allow for anonymous participation is often essential for getting honest, uncensored feedback.
Currently I am leading strategic planning sessions and cultural assessments for about a dozen Successful Culture clients to:
- Assess, update, and communicate their missions, visions, & values
- Conduct updated SWOT analyses and formulate action plans around them
- Review the existing customer base to determine where they should focus their efforts
- Review their messaging to assess if it is specific and narrow enough to resonate with their optimal customer
- Review their existing marketing strategies to ensure they are targeting the right customers
- Conduct competitive analyses
- Lead all-hands and “town hall” meetings that incorporate feedback from employees on topics to cover
- Conduct additional cultural exercises to ensure they can attract and retain top talent
How prepared are you for 2015? I would LOVE to help you make 2015 your best year EVER.
Let me know how I can help. Email me at [email protected]
Keep growing!
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About Successful Culture
We work with business owners, CEOs, and leadership teams that want to achieve their greatest personal & organizational potential. Through coaching, strategic consulting, retreat facilitation, and workshops, we equip leaders & emerging leaders with the mindset, tools, strategies, and processes they need to excel.
Ready to move forward? Email us today at [email protected].
Connect with me on Instragram, Facebook, and Twitter. Engage with me during my morning Periscope sessions as well (@marissalevin).
Please check out my Inc. Magazine columns on my Author Page too.
– In my latest Inc, article, I share The Essential Guide to Avoiding Workplace Text, Email, & Social Media Disasters.
– Learn about the 9 Leadership Behaviors that Lose Employee Trust & Respect here.
~Marissa Levin
CEO, Successful Culture
“Taking Leaders from Triage to Transformation.”
photo credit Stuart Miles via FreeDigitalPhotos.net
photo credit zole4 via FreeDigitalPhotos.net
