How Building “Community” in Your Organization Will Inspire Your Employees, Wow Your Customers, and Make You BIG Profits!

by Howard Partridge.

Last year I began working on a book that I feel is the missing link to small business and really the world in general. This is just the first part - The Introduction you might say. I hope you like it…

Across America small businesses and large corporations alike struggle with the same issues. Cut throat competition that is selling “below invoice”, customers that don’t want to pay the advertised price, employees that don’t want to do what management wants them to do, customer service is non-existent and management is frustrated because it doesn’t have the resources needed due to a tight budget. Employees don’t care about the company and they don’t care about the customer because they don’t feel anyone cares about them. Companies don’t feel they can afford the “luxury” of recruiting and training the right people, so mediocrity reigns. Many companies that fit this profile struggle to make a profit. The result is a frustrated management team, resentful workers, and disappointed customers.

The vicious cycle continues.

While the typical business is warring over price, cutting budgets, and desperately trying to find “good” people, Starbucks has loyal customers standing in line happily paying $4.00 for a cup of coffee – a commodity that has been around for thousands of years. Employees over at Southwest airlines are on a fervent mission to make sure the company achieves it’s vision. They love the company so much they seem like multi-level evangelists. And Nordstrom continues to build upon their legendary customer service.

How have companies like this managed to rise above the mediocrity that rules in the typical company? Why is it that both their employees and their customers love the company? What do these companies have in common (other than being extremely profitable). Do they have something unique? Is it just great marketing? Is it just great management? Is there one simple concept that can bring all of the proven strategies of building a phenomenally successful business together?

The Answer is Found in a Word Called “Community”.

What truly sets these companies apart is they have created “community” in their businesses. Community is a word that has many meanings for many people. We often refer to community in the context of our neighborhoods or our local area. We sometimes refer to groups of people as community “The Hispanic Community”, for example. We talk about the “global community” and even a “virtual community” as it relates to the internet.

My definition of Community goes much deeper than just a group of people or a neighborhood. Community is the sense of belonging that all humans hunger for. Every human being has a “longing for belonging”. We are created that way. We have a need to be connected to other people. We have a deep desire to be a part of something meaningful – something that makes a difference. The longing for community is the reason people join clubs. It also happens to be the reason people join gangs. Humans have the need to identify with a group of people that have the same ideals. A group of people that belong to each other and walk through life with one another through victory and defeat.

The family is the first community that one belongs to, but community as it once existed in America has all but vanished. The idea of having dinner as a family and being deeply involved in one another’s lives. Truly enjoying one another’s successes and enduring one another’s failures is a challenge. The idea of giving up our own rights to serve others. We have lost this essence of community in family and therefore it does not exist in our businesses, churches, and institutions for the most part. Our organizations today mirror the way we live our independent lives.

Yet as we pursue our rugged independence and our individual rights, deep down we all long to experience community as we once did. The scarier part is that many of our younger people today (your new workforce), doesn’t even know what community feels like! Single parent, latch key kids who are now adults. They have not felt true community. They have not felt the love and encouragement that true community can bring. But they long for it. They may not even know what to call it or even how to explain it, but the feeling is definitely there. They need to be loved. They need to be accepted. They need to be recognized. They need to be a part of something that means something. They have a longing for belonging.

How Building Community in Your Business will Wow Your Customers, Inspire Your Workforce and Make You Big Profits

If you understand and implement the principles of building community in your business, you will be able to do something for others that you may have never done before… help them experience the very thing they long for. The very thing every one of your employees desperately want and need – and will do almost anything to get. Your business can be the first place they ever truly feel connected and needed. You have the unique opportunity to give them the feeling of being part of something bigger than themselves. Your reward for that is your employees will begin to love your company for it. They will become your biggest evangelists which in turn creates loyal, high paying clients which makes you bigger profits.

Keep in mind that your employees may not even know what they are looking for, but be assured they will know it when they feel it. When they experience community that you foster in your company, they will respond. There will be a few that won’t, but if you do it right, it will be only a few, and that handful will quickly move on.

Finally, chances are you may not have experienced true community yourself. Chances are you are longing for true community and trying to fill that void with hobbies and business deals. If you do not understand and operate in community yourself, I can promise you that your people won’t either. If you are not open and honest, they won’t be either. If you are not committed to the vision and mission, they won’t be either. If you talk badly about customers, they will too. As the owner or manager, you will have to participate in community just as you expect your employees to.

Living in community and doing what is required won’t be easy. If it was easy everyone would do it. The very reason that most companies are ordinary – just mediocre – just getting by and complaining the whole way – is because they first don’t understand what community is and they won’t commit to community values even when they think they understand them. To hard. Too difficult. Too much work for an intangible result.

But you on the other hand, can rise above the mediocrity. You can experience the exhilarating feeling of not only belonging to an extraordinary movement, but you will be at the helm. You will be recognized as the one who led the charge. The one who changes your business and changes your industry and has a profound and positive impact on many, many lives.

Why People Need Community

As I have mentioned twice so far, every person on the planet has a “longing for belonging”. All people have a deep need to connect. They have a deep need to have significant relationships. They long to be loved and accepted. They long to be recognized. They hunger for relationships that are meaningful. Deep down they want to feel like they are contributing to a cause. They want to know that their life makes a difference. This is not immediately obvious when you observe today’s society. In fact, what you see is pure selfishness. People who only care about themselves. People who will lie, steal, and kill if necessary to get what they want. So, how can I say that type of person has a longing to belong? Can it be that the murderers of Columbine longed for community? Could it be true that even the worst of humankind want to contribute?

This longing for belonging that every person has, is a desperate need. It is a hungry monster that must be fed. Otherwise, it will destroy everything in it’s path to get what it needs. The longing for community is something that drives us all. The problem is that we don’t often find the love and acceptance that we were made to feel, so we create “pseudo” communities. We create fantasy communities. We create false communities. We set up “kingdoms” where we can feel significant. We learn ways to get attention and manipulate others from the time we are toddlers. Unfortunately, many people in our society continue to battle these strongholds for their entire lives.

We marvel at how the Amish live. How they nurture one another. How they are so committed to one another and their culture. We muse as animals care for their young. How they protect and nurture their babies. We are so impressed at the natives that teach their young “the ways of the village”, and celebrate milestones and maturity. Observing community in action warms our hearts. Yet, our television screen (possibly the biggest anti-community tool ever created) brings the story of a dead baby found in a garbage can. Thrown away by the mother.

What Happened to Community in America?

I recognize that murder and selfishness is not something new. I understand that selfishness was not invented by Western culture, and I can assure you that this message is not promoting communism, that’s for sure!!! But there has been a definite shift in America. Mostly over the past 100 years. Your child can no longer walk safely to the corner store. You can no longer rely on the “community” to care for you. In fact, we don’t even know our next door neighbor. What’s worse is we don’t want to know them in many cases.

I am going to suggest that the struggle began with the industrial revolution. With the dawn of the industrial age, instead of running a family business (or working for one) such as a local market, or a family farm, men went to work in the factory. Now, you have a large number of people from various backgrounds and cultures converging on one location. Spending 10 hours together (away from their families). Father is not around to mentor the children and to nurture his wife.

The industrial age brought faster transportation and therefore a faster pace.
Things got faster and faster. The Wright Brothers realize flight. Then comes air conditioning and the telephone. Today, 70 miles an hour is not fast enough, we tap our foot in front of a microwave, and a man proved that he could live on the internet without any human interaction for a whole year. The human interactions we have are not fulfilling. Instead they are draining, so we retreat to safety behind our voice mail and e-mail.

How People Are Made

Most people believe that a human has a spirit, soul, and body. The spirit is the intangible “heart” that cannot be fully understood. The soul is made up of the mind, will, and emotion. Obviously, the body is our physical being. Our flesh that has needs as well.

As we live each moment, we have thoughts and feelings that if dwelt on for a period of time, become actions. Many times our mind and emotion is in conflict. For example, at 10:30pm, my flesh may say “I want ice cream”. My emotions (that have taken a beating all day long) say “Yeah, we want ice cream!”. The mind says “No! Ice cream is not good for you. You are already overweight.” As this battle rages between Mind and Emotion, big Will is sitting back enjoying the entertainment. When a victor emerges, Will takes over.

Let’s look at another situation: Your employee knows they should do a certain thing at work. It won’t be immediately evident whether this task has been done or not. In fact, once it is discovered that the task has not been done, there will be ample room to blame someone or something else. Mind and Emotion are at it again…

Mind: “You know you should take care of that.”

Emotion: “I know, but I don’t feel like it.”

Mind: “You know, you could get in trouble for this.”

Emotion: “I know, but I’m tired. And maybe no one will notice anyway.”

Mind: You know, it’s the right thing to do for the company. The company will suffer if you don’t do it.”

Emotion: “I know, but I am really depressed right now. I don’t feel like doing it. And the company doesn’t care about me anyway.”

When the exchange is over with, Will acts on whoever wins. Will doesn’t think, he just acts.

Now imagine that your employee is absolutely sold out to you and your company…

Mind: “You know it’s time to do that task.”

Emotion: “That’s right. I almost forgot! Thanks for reminding me. I’m on it right now!”

Mind: “You know because of that, you just made a big difference in your company.”

Emotion: “I know. It feels good.”

What People Need

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is often presented in leadership courses, and I think for good reason. Maslow observed that humans first need to Survive. Food, water, clothing, shelter. Once those needs are met, they want Security. They need to feel that imminent threats can be overcome – that they will be able to maintain the lifestyle they currently have for some time to come, hopefully indefinitely.

The next phase is interesting. He says that the next “need” people have is Belonging. They want to belong to others. They want to belong to something that means something.

Maslow’s next to the highest level is Importance. Once they belong to a community, they want to be an important part of that community. They want to be recognized. They want to feel that their voice counts. They want to be able to make a difference in that organization. Most employees are not enthusiastic because they don’t feel that they have a voice. I am not saying that you should run your company by consensus, but realize that your employees can offer valuable information. The ideas they offer can be significantly more important if they spring from feelings of care and concern for the company. Those feelings of care come from creating the right environment in your company. A Community Environment.

Maslow’s final hierarchical step was called Self-Actualization. This is where someone feels they are doing their “life work”. They feel that their life has infinite meaning. That they are doing what they were born to do – and doing it is making a profound difference in the world. When people feel that they have reached this level, life is exhilarating. Every day, they wake up ready to act and do what they love to do. The reason that most people don’t live life like this is because they feel trapped. They feel that their life doesn’t make a difference. They don’t even feel secure. They feel that they are stuck in survival mode and they are just trying to continue to survive. They never get out of the first level!

What if your business could not offer the opportunity not only to be secure, but to be important. Not just important, but the opportunity to pursue life goals. How do you do that? You do it by creating community in your business. If you create community in your business, your employees get what they need: Belonging, Importance, and Self Actualization.

A great example of this is Ron Wilhite. Ron is the manager of a “Community Oriented Company”. A company that loves it’s employees and treats them with respect and dignity. One that helps them in any way it can and supports them in their personal interests. The owner of the company is me, who went on to pursue my own personal interests, leaving Ron to continue fostering community. He loves the company. He sacrifices for the company. The company has become so much a part of him, that it practically is his life. Not that it takes away from his family – much of his family works there from time to time! But it fulfills his life. The skills he wants to develop – the thrill of growing something. The thrill of victory. The company has become his.

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Welcome to My New Blog!

by Howard Partridge.

I often have things I want to share with you and I hate using Santiago’s valuable time to upload a “thought”, so I have finally taken the plunge. The blog plunge. Well, I might as well go ahead with a thought…

 

Most small businesses don’t grow. Even though they know what to do, and how to do it, they just don’t do it. Why don’t they implement? Because they aren’t INSPIRED. Have you ever noticed that those who are highly successful are inspired about something? They are going somewhere. They can’t wait to get started in the morning. Therefore the slogan of the Howard Partridge Inner Circle… Inspiration to Implementation.

 

Small business owners who are excited about the future will go to great legnths to accomplish their goals. But is it really the “goals” that drive them? 

 

I was having lunch with a friend the other day and he asked a question that stumped me. “What inspires you to do what you do Howard?” He asked. My first answer didn’t tell the whole story. It was true, just not complete.

 I thought about the question for a few days and it occurred to me that the reason that entreprenuers are inspired is because they have compelling dreams that drive them.

Even if they can’t communicate the dream. It’s there. Goals are the mere milestones on the Success Journey. The destination is living your dream. Do you have your dream clearly in mind?

 ”Without clearly defined goals (dreams - vision) you will be forced to focus on activity and ultimately become enslaved by it” - Chuck Coonradt

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