AICC Boxscore 2013

Building a Culture of Cooperation and Shared Trust Together continued from page 15 Ways for an owner to self-monitor:

good decisions. If they believe that you are making decisions that benefit you at the expense of the welfare of the company, they may see this as a model to be followed and you will most likely find that your company is rooted in a culture based more on competing self- interests than on a cooperative pursuit of company goals. If you believe you are, in fact, working in an environment that is rooted in competing self-interests, look first at yourself to find where you might be acting in a biased way that favors your self-interest at the expense of company interest before identifying the conflict in others. It is my fervent belief that we are in an age in which the organizations that figure out how to work openly and cooperatively with their own employees are the ones who will win. Some of the net results for such companies will be greater speed of response, fewer mistakes, more opportunities pursued and an effectively higher level of motivation all around. Working together towards a deeper understanding of what it really takes to move a company culture away from competing

interests to a culture based on cooperation and shared trust is not easy but if you are willing to look at yourself and address the issue with confidence and competence, others will follow, it will be achieved and your company will be one of the winners. This article will be the first in an ongoing page for BoxScore . I would like to continue to address the issue of Building a Company Culture Based on Cooperation and Shared Trust with the help of others. I will conduct interviews and welcome contributions from members and associate members that can then be posted on this page. I will reach out to those I know who I believe have great insight and leadership qualities and I also hope that those of you who I don’t know, who wish to share your thoughts on this subject, will do so as well.  Mark Neely has been a Management, Sales and Negotiations Trainer and Consultant for over 20 years. Currently, while continuing his independent work in these areas, he is also Sales, Customer Service and Design Manager at Leaman Container in Fort Worth, Texas.

When making a decision relating to your company, ask yourself, “If I were sitting with my business partners or the Production Manager, CFO and Sales Manager what would they say about my decision?” and/or, “If I were a world-class consultant, hired to help us with strategy, what would I recommend?” This approach will help you to find greater objectivity and to avoid looking for what you want to see rather than what is really there. How to gain even greater clarity: Actually ask your business partner and the Sales Manager, Production Manager and CFO to tell you what they think. Stay connected to your employees. Always test the assumption that you understand what they see, mean and believe. Letting someone get away with flattering you or going along with your views to gain political favor instead of giving you contradictory, unattractive information when that is what they really believe is another example of conflict between self-interest and company interest – on both sides of the interaction! As a leader in your company, it is crucial for you to value your employees’ true sense of how well you understand them. Just because you think you understand them does not mean that they believe you understand them. If they don’t believe you understand them, their motivation to perform at the highest level will not come through. Furthermore, they will not be completely upfront. When you need them to tell you about problems, they may be reluctant to share their views because they will suspect that it will come back unfairly on them or on someone else. Most importantly, the people you manage depend on you to make

AICC 2013 Spring Meeting & Sales Leaders’ Conference

April 24–26, 2013

Hilton Bonnet Creek Resort Orlando, Florida “Dynamic Leadership: Cultivate and Develop Leaders in Your Company” To register, visit aiccbox.org and click on the ‘orange’

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BOX SCORE