“You must Consistently Communicate that you are Competent and you Care.”
That’s what leadership expert John Spence calls “The 4 C’s of Trust”. And that awesomely simple sentence was just one of the many remarkable takeaways from our company’s 2017 Leadership Forum.
Last week, leaders from across our Yellowstone Landscape branches came together for three days of focus, fellowship, and fun. There were open, honest discussions about what we did well in 2016 and where we will improve in 2017. There were important lessons shared among friends and colleagues over lunches and dinners. There were moments of congratulations as we recognized the special successes of our 3 award-winning branches.
Here are a few of the highlights and lessons our leaders are taking back to their teams this week:
The week began with a State of the Company keynote from our CEO, Tim Portland, where we heard that our strategy remains the same as it’s always been:
“Our goal is to be the best commercial landscaping company in the southern United States. And we define ‘best’ by measuring our performance in our five pillars of operational excellence: Safety, Customer Service Excellence, Financial Responsibility, Growth, and Team Building.”
We listened to the voice of our customers, as our EVP, Bill Dellecker, reviewed the results of our recently completed annual customer survey. While in many areas our customers told us we were doing a great job, when we analyze the results more deeply, we’ve found areas we can improve. Thank you to all of our customers who took the time to help us serve you better.
The highlight for most of our team was the workshop presented by international business leadership expert John Spence, where he shared his thoughts on the keys to excellence in customer service. His concept of “extreme client focus” has been a part of our company’s culture for a number of years, but through his workshop many of our branch leaders now have long lists of actionable items they will implement to make sure they’re serving our customers well.
Finally, there are three of our branches that are proudly displaying some new trophies in their offices this week.
Our first award given out was our Client Engagement Award, presented to the Charleston, SC Landscape Maintenance team. This award recognizes the branch location that had the highest scores on our annual client survey and has consistently served their clients well throughout the previous year.
The next award was presented to our North Houston Landscape Maintenance team; our Emerging Branch of the Year. The award recognizes their rapid year over year growth and the quality of service they are providing to all their clients.
Lastly, some special congratulations to our Branch of the Year for 2016, Houston Tree Care Services. Our Tree Care team in Houston had an amazing 2016, serving more than two thousand clients in the greater Houston area. Tree services are potentially a dangerous business, but our Houston Tree Care Team has proven that you can work safely and efficiently; in fact, those things go hand in hand.
After a special few days together, our branch leaders return home with a laser focus on providing customer service excellence in 2017 and with a clear definition of what Leadership means at Yellowstone Landscape:
“Leadership is driving ideas and changes to make improvements in important results.”