What is it about Disney World that captivates the world? Why do people continue to fly Southwest with no option of first-class seating?

There is an intangible asset of these organizations that is visible through their employees. These organizations have great stories to tell, and their customers share great stories about them.

Some organizations have great cultures that help their organizations thrive, while others are struggling to survive. Cultures are usually created unconsciously and are based on the values of top management and founders of the organization. Your company’s culture is determined by your entire team’s beliefs and behaviors as they pertain to each other, your customers and your mission.

With that in mind, is your culture how you want it? Do you have an effective team culture? High-performing organizations pull together the intangible leadership issues that define their unique character and rally people around a deeper sense of purpose.

Disney World provides quality entertainment. Southwest Airlines offers great, on-time flights with no baggage fees.

What sets your organization apart? What do you dream of people saying about your organization? It is one thing to dream about what your culture could be; it is another thing to take a step toward that dream. If you are interested in learning more about how to take the next step in creating an effective team culture, we invite you to the Consortium on February 14.

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Working in a team environment is often expected, but it is not always easy. An employee working on a team that does not function well often dreams of being moved to a different team because conflict is evident or they don’t believe they are empowered or valued. People want to work where they are valued and utilized.

Working on a team is difficult. Teams are groups of individuals with varying personalities, experiences, skill sets and roles. Teams are expected to make decisions, provide a high-quality product, and achieve excellence to impact the organization’s bottom line.

With that in mind, what is it that makes a team succeed? Is it the right vision statement, the most qualified team members, the expertise everyone offers? Or, is there something more to becoming a high-performing team? The tangible qualities are evident, but what about the intangible?

I had the privilege of talking to an executive director about how our trainings have impacted her organization. She shared that turnover is much lower and morale is much higher among her teams. Here is why: The teams feel valued, free to share ideas, and that they contribute to the goals of the team. What are the intangible qualities that impact a team to feel this way? Jim Collins in “Good to Great” shares that great leaders have humility. They listen, make their teams feel valued, and are open to challenge and innovation. This intangible quality of humility can be the differentiator between a team of individuals functioning as individuals or a team of individuals who become a high-performing team.

Imagine being excited about your next meeting. Imagine feeling like a key contributor to your team. Imagine loving where you work every day because of the people you work with. Imagine contributing to a high-performing team.

What if we did not just imagine? What if we began the shift to become a high performing team today? What would it take?

What expertise do you bring to your team that no one else does?

What are you most passionate about and how does your passion benefit your team?

What intangible quality do you find most important to high performing teams?

Tell us in the comment box below.

Michael Brown is a training manager for The Center for Training, Business and Leadership Excellence at Mitchell Communications Group. Learn more from Michael, here.

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Another huge honor has been bestowed upon our President and CEO, Elise Mitchell. She was among 11 women to receive a 2011 Women of Excellence Award from the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE). Mitchell was honored with the Entrepreneurship Award, for her leadership in building Mitchell Communications Group from a sole proprietorship to a national, award-winning, certified women-owned business. Our agency has grown more than 300 percent over the past three years.

NAFE is one the nation’s largest associations for female professionals and business owners. According to its mission statement, NAFE provides resources – through education, networking and public advocacy – to empower its members to achieve both career and personal success.

The full release on the award can be found on NAFE’s website.

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“Leadership is influence.”
-John C. Maxwell

The ability to be influential is not a skill that is accomplished quickly. Rather, we must develop our expertise and build our credibility with those we aim to influence through a process of relationship building, motivation and the use of genuine leadership skills. As Maxwell said, leadership is influence, and at any level we have the opportunity to be leaders. But how do we get there?

To gain tips and insights on developing these skills, check out our latest issue of the ProFound eNewsletter on Influence:

• Leadership and Influence
• “Triggering the ‘Yes’ Response”
• What is “On the Leader’s Bookshelf” this fall – a book review by Mike Malone, President and CEO Northwest Arkansas Council

Continue reading here.

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Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) is a national nonpartisan public policy organization representing more than 500,000 women in business and women business owners nationwide. WIPP advocates for and on behalf of women-owned businesses in the legislative processes of our nation, creating economic opportunities and building bridges and alliances to other business organizations.

Elise Mitchell, president and CEO of Mitchell Communications Group, is a member of WIPP’s executive advisory board and recently had the privilege of representing WIPP at Walmart’s milestone Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative announcement. Click here to read Elise’s blog post on the official WIPP website and find out why this remarkable initiative is so important to women-owned businesses everywhere.

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This was an interesting interview experience – our President and CEO, Elise Mitchell, attended the
Inc. 500/5000 Conference and, with a camera running, was asked to answer three simple but
powerful questions.

• What sets your business apart?
• What has been the biggest accomplishment for your business?
• What is the biggest challenge facing your business?

How would you answer these questions about your business or about yourself? Here’s our result…

Excellence Attracts Excellence from mitchcommgroup on Vimeo.

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Our agency was established as a sole proprietorship in 1995.  Today, we’ve been fortunate to build Mitchell Communications Group into a nationally renowned strategic communications agency.

Thanks to the confidence our clients have placed in us and the dedication of our 57 employees, we’ve enjoyed exponential growth over the past several years — this despite an uncertain economic environment.

Today we are honored to be recognized for that growth with a top 25% ranking in the 2011 Inc. 500/5000 List of America’s Fastest Growing Companies.  We’re #1229 overall and #120 on the advertising/marketing industry list — one of the highest-ranking public relations agencies nationally.

Inc. Magazine has championed private business for more than three decades.  This prestigious list salutes the entrepreneurial spirit, which runs deep at Mitchell Communications and has served us well as we have invested our time, talent and resources into creating a very special company that strives for excellence in all we do.

“We never set out to be the biggest,” said Elise Mitchell, agency president and CEO, “we just wanted to be the best we could be.  What we’ve learned along the way is that growth often follows success.”

This has been quite a year of recognition for us, and we are humbled by each honor we have received.  It is our hope that each of these awards reflects positively on our clients as well as our region and profession, and serves as a testament to the extraordinary accomplishments of our talented team.

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Organizations that embrace generational workplace diversity, not just manage it, will reap the rewards of attracting and keeping the best talent. Embracing diversity in the workplace and developing the next generation into your workforce is necessary, but not necessarily easy.

Barry Posner, Ph.D., and author of The Leadership Challenge, notes that the next generation:

• Have only known two presidents
• Have never used a bottle of whiteout
• Reality shows have always been on television
• “Google” has always been a verb
• Disposable contact lenses have always been available
• There has always been a MLK national holiday
• A “45” has never been a record

“Every Generation has wondered and worried about whether or not the next generation will be ready and able to handle the demands, challenges, and opportunities they will be leaving behind” (Barry Posner, Ph.D.), so the question still remains: Will they? But possibly a more important question to ask would be: “How can we help them?”

Rob Boaz, President and CEO of Carroll Electric, wrote in our ProFound newsletter,

“Regardless of generation, I have found people perform best when they feel secure and observe fairness and trust within the organization.” We stand to benefit from upcoming generations, but easing them in to our current workforce will take skill and know-how.

If you are interested in successfully leading and managing, or even simply functioning in, a generationally diverse workforce, check out our most recent newsletter: “Working with Multiple Generations.”

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Our team is always on the hunt for new tools to help us stay on the forefront of social media. From time to time, we come across resources that simply fascinate us, engaging our passion for the art of storytelling.

Instagram is one of those resources. It’s a new photo-sharing service available as a mobile application. It features a variety of filters and styles to choose from, which allow users to enhance their photos. It also allows for instant sharing through social media channels. In the spirit of Twitter and the micro-blog universe, Instagram combines photography and brevity to serve as a platform for social engagement. The service is rapidly growing with 5 million users in less than 9 months of existence – a growth rate championing Twitter itself. We believe the success of Instagram can be attributed to personal engagement combined with the power of visual communications.

Instagram photos from @mitchcommgroup team

Like Twitter, Instagram is playing a role in the rapid spread of news. Most recently, people used Instagram during Osama bin Laden’s death, the Royal Wedding, the aftermath of the tragic Joplin tornado, and the launch of the last NASA space shuttle. These have been noted as some of the most socialized events in our country’s history – and Instagram certainly played a role in this real-time social media coverage.

@s_pickle "#HeartBroken #JoplinTornado" | @wafflelad "History. #nasatweetup #sts135"

Instagram joins a powerful network of digital messaging tools readily available for use from anywhere at anytime. It’s certainly worth asking yourself how you can integrate resources like these into your company’s social media strategies. How would you use Instagram as a communication tool?

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We are excited to roll out the second series of the ProFound Consortium, a series of high quality, business-impacting trainings offered monthly either in person or via webinar. This series of classes will begin September 2011. The curriculum developed for the Consortium is designed specifically for new hires, rising stars and advancing leaders, and is a year-long series broken down into four themed tracks including communication, effective teams, leadership and management.

Our research on large and small companies revealed a need for fresh, practical and affordable training to help employees and organizations expand their professional capabilities. Based on these needs, we developed the concept for the Consortium to offer top-notch trainings in a group setting at a great price, $149 per session.

To learn more about how to join the Consortium in person or via webinar, check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @ProFoundTeam.

Special discounts being offered.

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