Our culture is upside down. We take a traditional organization and reverse the thinking. The folks on the top of the page? Customers. The employee.  Who is at the bottom? The leaders. Our culture is upside down because the old way does not work here any longer.  Its too slow. Leaders too far away from the action and ill-equipped to make all of the decisions.

So this is crazy talk right? Who makes the decisions? Who has the responsibility? Who is in charge? Who is the leader?  Well everyone is around here. We all have the best chance to blow away our customers if we are empowered and if we act like we own the place.

We feel like we own the place because of the trust, respect, and authority that is bestowed upon us. This is a sacred bond and trust. We are honored to take up the mantle, and we never want to let ourselves, our customers, our peers down. We do things because we want to; because we are allowed to think, not just do the task we are assigned! This is what being valued and living the culture of Everyone is a Leader is all about.

So here is the interesting part: We can all act like leaders, even if we don’t have the title.  But if you have the “title”, leaders are on the bottom because we serve the organizational needs.  Our role is to provide for the success of others.  Our job is to plan for, provide the tools, environment, training, and spiritual support so that folks can really let go and perform at a high level!

I think it starts with a simple premise. The phone is ringing, so I answer it.“Thank you for calling CBI Group, Chris Burkhard speaking, I can help you!” However, everyday someone – a vendor, an applicant, a customer – seems so surprised when I answer the phone. 

To be specific, this is when the phone rings into my company. We want to get the caller picked up in three, ideally two, or even one ring.  We get busy like any other company and this job is bigger than anyone person who is primarily picking up the phone. We always have someone who does this most of their day. So where does the leadership thing show up in all of this?  One of the hardest things for a leader to do is to show a balance of leading, directing, and doing.  Trust is built when leaders do as they preach. Even if your company (mine) would prefer I stayed off the phones because I am not quite as good at it as some…

I have chosen a leadership model and organizational culture that is one of servant leadership while the business is organized in a flat, matrixed fashion. My goal is to squeeze the middle, empower my customer-facing staff, and force my leaders to work for them. Let that soak in. Empower the front line staff. Leaders work for them. So why should it come as a surprise when everyone in the company answers the phone? Habits. Experiences. Other places we work. All of these gained insights make it so much harder to buy-in.

However, how can an environment of equality exist unless the leaders do their best to be equal? Yes, roles are designed differently. Yes, some roles are critical to business success and very important to the success of a business.  This does NOT mean that there is not a place for a team mentality.

Some environments are siloed – don’t dare talk to someone in another department without having department heads do the talking! Some environments promote hierarchy and fear. Leaders do this by being ominous and scary or by forcing conformity to a practiced culture that all dare not bend or break from tradition.

My tradition and hierarchy are such that people are people and they perform best when they feel valued and they can be themselves – and where teamwork is sacred.  Teamwork is not an “opt-in” or “when and if I want to” kind of behavior. You’re either committed to the team or your not.  NOT just on your favorite tasks or to help your office friend out. So leaders step in and out of what needs to be done for the team.

Stepping in and out can be hard. Do I roll up my sleeves everyday? When will I plan? When will I work on business problems and opportunities?  How do I give feedback and do my leadership job? The answer lies within. But I can assure you if you never step in and help. Or worse yet, if you always dive in and help, you have a real opportunity to improve your leadership persona and have more impact!

So as ridiculous it is for you to think of someone’s President answering the phone because of their corporate culture, as a leader in an Outside-In company, not answering the phone is even more absurd to me!

At our company we examine every customer interaction and decide how we could take that experience as far as we can. We call this our Service to the N^th degree value. Can we take every moment of interaction to an extreme? How could we make it better for that person? For example, how can we answer a phone call with N^th degree thinking? Try getting to the caller quickly and eliminating voice mail. Or perhaps, always answer in three rings – or better yet, two. (Maybe even one!) Why keep that customer waiting? Create the best Outside-In experience you can.

However, today’s blog is about extending that service impression to the process of sales. In fact to put a fine point to it, for those of us that have to introduce ourselves and our companies to prospects, this is about the first 30 seconds of an interaction! Sales people struggle with the first introduction. Most of us spend hours preparing and researching our target. We know about their last annual report, we have read the press releases, we know about our competitors. My guess is that you’re loaded up with marketing materials. You have brochures, white papers, and case studies coming out of your ears.

So what do you need to focus on during the first 30 seconds? First off, your words.

1.  Be crystal clear with your purpose.  Sales people of the world… face it – we’re not crystal clear with our purpose in the first 30 seconds! We wander in these early conversations. We try to connect and “build relationships”. We try to impress with our knowledge of our offerings. We ask for the “order” when our prospect barely knows us. Be direct without being pushy. Be authentic.

2.  Don’t ask for a relationship right out of the gate. It is weird to ask to build a relationship in the first call. It did not work in the hallways of high school, and it is just as well, creepy when selling. This is just too much of a leap of faith for an audience that really is still paying attention to their email or the project they were working on when you called them and interrupted them.

3.  Differentiate yourself. Oftentimes, we act like and conduct business like everyone else. You could insert any product into your introduction and you would sound like the other ten voice mail messages your prospect deleted this week. Make yourself stand out. Think about how your company differentiates itself and how you can communicate it. Don’t let your introduction be “one size fits all”.

4.  Make sure to speak in terms of customer benefit.  As sales people, if we’re not careful our opening conversation sounds something like this to our prospect, “I am Chris Burkhard, I work for my company, I am interested in getting to know you so I can sell you my product so that I can meet my monthly quota, because I am falling behind on my bills, and I really need this sale now, you see.  Truth is, I need a a quick hit to stay on track, and keep my sales manager off my back.” Does your introduction sound like me, me, me?  It is subtle but true.  Until we learn to speak in an Outside-In way and in terms of the customers benefit, we will always sound selfish. Who wants to build a relationship, ever, with someone that is all about themselves?

Sales people of the world, if you’re on plan then you can ignore me.  If you’re falling behind, I bet I know why, and I have the answer – it starts with your first 30 seconds.  How good are you and your company at first impressions?

We are Defined by 3 Customers. We consider everyone we work with a customer – whether you are a client, an employee, or a vendor. All 3 perspectives add value and are integral to the success of our business. -Outside-In® Pocket Guide

Sometimes a value is perfect because it causes such debate and controversy. Defined by 3 Customers seems to be that value for our companies. The origins come from the desire to change the way company leaders and employees have typically thought about making decisions. And to alter the perception on who is considered most important in the business. Is it the vendor? Is it the customer? How about employees? Just depends on your point of view I guess. For me it was simple to think differently. My desire was to create balance and equality. To value all the same. And to use this sameness to allow the business to have balanced thinking. What would the impact be for employee customers? For our vendors? For paying customers?

In the past, I have worked with customers that put their stock price and shareholders first, and it showed in how they treated employees in big and small ways. In big ways, employees were numbers and disposable. In small ways, their needs, wants, ideas, desires and passions if at important seemed to come second. This is frankly still the case for many companies today.

The other common point of view is that there is only one customer. So don’t cloud the issue on this. A customer is a customer. An employee is an employee. A vendor/ partner is just that a vendor/ partner. I see the logic to the argument. But our goal is not clarity in words. We aspire to show the world we have a goal to be different and to value that difference in how we run our company!

By the way, this goes on all day long. In every facet of our business, in fact. There is magic in this message. I am often told and challenged about the vendor/ partner part. Why do we need to treat them special or go out of our way to stand out? When it comes down to crunch time and when you really need them they remember it. You take care of vendors by paying them promptly. By communicating effectively. By building unique relationships. Our goal is to pay our vendors in 10 days whenever possible. Some goals take longer than others.  As we grow, build the business and cash, this will become a guarantee!

Everyone has a choice to work wherever they want and for their own unique reasons. I want a place to come everyday where I can brag about our ongoing commitment to run our business while taking into account our three customers:  paying customer, vendors, and employees. Sure, we can overcharge our customers. And get away with it for the short-term. We can stop communicating with employees and tell people what to do. For a brief period. We can screw vendors by asking them to discount severely on one deal.  But they wont come back the next time. We face this ethics challenge each and every day. We have to find the equilibrium.

When you work in a growing, changing, stretching entrepreneurial company it is impossible to apply ironclad rules of thought to everything. This value has been challenged, and I have dealt with our imperfections. Try telling employees that you are Defined by 3 Customers when you need to discuss reducing headcount due to a recession. On the vendor side I have taken the calls from our partners when they feel shunned or ignored when we were not direct enough with our feedback on their performance.

This is not about the pursuit of perfection. You will not always make the right decision. This is the nature of decision making. We should all move to Vegas if we could get it right each and every time and win big.  This is about is your mindset. About having a belief that when you’re in a spot to make decisions or work on a project that you will think with all 3 Customers in mind as you wrestle with finding compromises and plans that treat all customers as if they matter for the long term!

Today’s companies operate differently than a decade or two ago. Globalization, technology, cultural and social change, demographic trends and shifts have all impacted the way business is conducted. This structural shift has impacted the worker too. Today’s worker must be focused on knowledge building and embracing change skills to maximize themselves.

However, I think this structural shift has impacted the way leaders need to lead. One of my personal pet peeves is when leaders don’t take the time to admit fault. There is this funny thing called “leadership pride” that keeps our lips shut.  We may act like we did something wrong, we may make amends or attempt to fix a mistake, however, we don’t often vocally admit mistakes enough. When we don’t admit our mistakes, we damage trust on our teams and in our company. Trust is a funny thing. Easy to lose. Hard to get back.  Must be built through your actions and of course, your words.  They better be close to one and the same.

By not admitting mistakes we look fake and disingenuous. Today’s worker must do their job on the edge of their seat and take risks in their job to create some wow (or do something Nth degree in Outside-In® language). But the risk is the key.  If you won’t show vulnerability as a leader and expose yourself how do you expect others to do so?  And if you expect creativity or new thinking from your people, then celebrating mistakes is a requirement.

Making mistakes makes you real.  By making mistakes you are human. By admitting them, you allow others to admit them and creates an open channel for improved communication to blossom. A problem said out loud, is a problem half solved! Openly addressing mistakes you’ve made as a leader allows trust to grow and build between you and your employees. It’s about being Open Book — being honest, vulnerable, and transparent – and living Outside-In® leadership, where accessibility and trust are key components of a strong leader.

We all need a culture of admission, right?

Guest blog spot by Kelly Hocutt, Marketing Team Lead

Back in January we kicked off our company-wide annual theme, The Outside-In® Happiness Project, inspired by the best-selling book The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. As followers of the business practices outlined in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish, we choose to establish a theme to motivate our company to accomplish its quarterly and yearly goals. Our company’s goal this year? To promote internal happiness and in doing so, optimize our company culture, Outside-In®.

Another business practice outlined in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits is working in a rhythm. At CBI Group, we have built in some of those best practices into our team’s routine: Annual Theme, Quarterly Kick Offs, monthly leadership meetings, weekly team meetings, daily huddles and so on. All of these things are about communication and being a part of something. All of these things keep us as individuals aligned with our co-workers, leaders, teams, business lines and our company.

Today, I realized that all of these things, each of which may seem like just another meeting are much, much more than that. They make me feel a part of something. And that feeling contributes to my happiness. When I did my job search and found CBI Group, I was looking for that feeling. I wanted to wake up in the morning and be excited about the energy, atmosphere, vibe of what a company stood for. I can manage projects, be part of task forces and committees, design collateral and write at any company. But not every company offers that feeling that you are a part of something.

So today, I recognized one of my “commandments” or “secrets of adulthood”as Gretchen would call it: Be a part of something.

Being a part of something, in any aspect of my life makes me feel happier. I have a close family but sometimes I take them for granted. When I focus on daily texts, weekly dinners or outings and don’t let holidays come and go without focusing on traditions, I truly feel a part of my family – and that makes me happy. I’ve signed up for team sports, shown up for happy hours with friends and RSVP’d to party invites that come my way – but when I truly focus on the rhythm of my time with friends, I recognize the value of my friends and feel a part of something – and that makes me happy.

In the office, maintaining rhythm and recognizing its value makes a huge difference. It can transform a job from being “work” to being a part of something. And the cultural aspect? The culture reinforces that feeling of something greater. With The Outside-In® Happiness Project, we hope that our team’s personal happiness will reflect within our culture, and in doing so, improve our customer’s experience; and in being a customer-centric culture, that is what Outside-In® is all about.

What are you a part of? Does it make you happy?

We Are Customer Centric

Being Customer Centric is an attitude, a way of life, and our business philosophy. We are guided by our customers – thinking through the eyes of the customers at all times. For us, customers are at the center of it all, deciding what priorities we focus on and driving the change as we adapt and evolve.  -Outside-In® Pocket Guide

The original Placers did anything and everything it could to make service the #1 priority for customers. That has carried over to CBI Group today. The root of being Customer Centric is really about putting the customer at the forefront of your daily thoughts. We all have so much to do each day, but is it with intention towards the one who pays the bills – the customer?

I like the idea of being competitive around service. Imagine if we all try to “one up” each other in our efforts to blow a customers mind. That kind of service is contagious. When you see others smile and practice it, Customer Centric thinking just becomes second nature. Service becomes easier, not harder. Imagine a world where every day you can make your company better. Imagine right now that you are 100% empowered to fix things around you. And that we want to really hone in on the fixes and hassles that can make us more and more Customer Centric.

I am always asked about the big stories of Customer Centric thinking, and I have one in mind to share. Many years ago, I was attending a sporting event that ended very late into the evening. In fact, as I was making the ride home some time after midnight my phone rang. This was a new customer who admitted to me that they had chosen to go with a competitor of ours. That competitor had promised them a recruiter to start that day (since it was after midnight) and they had just received an email that the company was unable to fulfill their initial promise. (You might think that I was being Customer Centric to even pick up, but all I did was answer the phone. The Customer Centric stuff comes next.) I started calling all of my leaders to ask if they might be able to help me help our prospect. Then it happened, Jamie O’Neill offered to go in that day.  Now this was no small feat! She had a team, a business plan, a full day, week, month of stuff to do. But we knew this really mattered, and we did it.

My memories around being Customer Centric involve the really big things in CBI Group’s history. But the best examples are the day-to-day ones. Seeing staff pick up a piece of paper off the floor. Watching a team member grab a phone call when someone is not available.  Customer Centric is really about executing the little things well. Customer Centric is our recruiters driving candidates around the weekends to show them schools, and nice neighborhoods and where the shopping mall is located. Customer Centric is when folks step forward to do volunteer work (recruitment or not) on their own time because they know it is the right thing to do and full of good karma!

I sure would love to gather more and different Customer Centric stories all of the time.  Get some new ones, and commit to getting this sort of thing in orientation and training for others.  We all want to know how to fit in.

Imagine a world where all of us wakes up and plans to be Customer Centric? That is how we will get better all of the time!

I am a fourth generation entrepreneur.  My family has worked for themselves for so long that it is all I can even remember.  My father always taught that it is best to control ones own destiny, to have your problems and opportunities be your own.  It sure makes sense to me.  The last thing I want is to have someone else make decisions that determine my fate.  By “being my own boss” I at least get to determine my own path.

When I started my company over ten years ago, I wanted my employees to get a taste of being an entrepreneur and set out to make entrepreneurial traits and qualities a part of the culture. In fact, we set out to select our values by trying to figure out what our customers needed us to be in order to serve them best.  This is the very nature of what Outside-In® is all about.  Do what is best for the customer all of the time.  Even when choosing values.  After all, values are the true personality of the company.  And this represents what I hoped would be the ongoing actions and behaviors of my people!

One of our values became Intrapreneurship.  I certainly didn’t invent the term; however,  the word seems to represent what I wanted from employees.  Be an entrepreneur.  Act like an entrepreneur.  Experience what it is like to be one.  Sell, Lead, Serve. Exist as an entrepreneur.  I felt then (and still believe) that if all employees embrace this then they can have a better day-to-day job.

You see, being an intrapreneur is about working day-to-day like you own the place.  To care like your name is on the door, and to have the kind of work experience and day-to-day role where anything is possible.  If you see a problem, prioritize and fix it.  If you want to more responsibility, go get more knowledge.  Perhaps you want and need more financial reward, well, find away to create equal or greater value for the organization.  Intrapreneurs look to create value.  They look for new market opportunities.  They figure out how and when to innovate new products and services that make our customer’s world a better place.

Without intrapreneurs we would not be in the contingent staffing business, which represents so much of our growth in customers, revenues, and of course opportunities for future intrapreneurs. Without intrapreneurs we would not be in the search business.  We would still be politely saying no to prospect and customer alike. Without intrapreneurs we could not help our relationships with services that support their job search with resume work, career coaching, and outplacement.

All of these seem big to me.  And they are.  Intrapreneurs help us change and evolve during turbulent and changing times.  But I promise you that the best thing about being intrapreneur is the growth and learning that one receives in exchange for their ideas, innovation and hard work. At CBI Group, our real challenge is that we are a flat, matrixed organization.  We don’t think much about titles, unless they make it more clear for our customers to deal with us.  We will always be adding talent to the business.  Everyone here is equal; we just play different roles!

Where else can someone do so much without taking on the financial risk themselves?  Sure, some alumni have left to do their own thing.  But, if you ask me, there is no greater compliment!

How will you apply your own intrapreneurialism to your company?

Often times we address individual leadership traits or behavior. Today, I’m here to discuss the group dynamics of leadership in an Outside-In® company.  What factors are different compared to those of other organizations?  I thought it made sense to put together some different perspectives that are challenging and important for leaders who chose to lead in an environment where all are equal, and communication flows in all directions.

Seven Steps to Outside-In® Leadership

1. Leaders must always be accessible.  Our goal is to “Never have you see us sweat”. Not in a dishonest way, but instead, to show that we view our role as one of being available, calm and truly centered on the situation at hand. It’s important to be readily available for our team when they need us, whether its taking the time out to address their immediate need or acknowledging they need guidance and figuring out a time to work out a plan.

2. Leaders can never play the busy card. Bottom line, we are all busy. Your people will surely play the busy card for you. “I know you’re busy, but can you…?” Truth is no one cares that your busy.  Our job is to manage the business. It’s to work it to the point where, well, we have it all under control and are working on the right things in our role, making the place run better. On to my next point!

3. Plan your time as a leader in proactive ways. Leaders today do so much, and in today’s flat, matrix worlds this is somewhat necessary. Know that is not the goal of a leaders role in an Outside-In® company, your goal is to be proactive, to be available, to solve problems. Better yet, to go looking for areas of opportunity in the business. And by the way…

4. Leaders should delegate properly. You can’t get to Outside-In® leadership behavior, if you refuse or struggle with the basics of delegation.  Your staff is not your personal dumping grounds for menial tasks. That is not the point. But leaders seem to grasp the opportunities given them.  Staff are here to do big tasks, and to learn and develop their skills. They want and need that constant challenge. That can only happen if you plan accordingly and give them the work that fits!

5. Get out from behind your desk and teach smart employees every day. Outside-In® leadership has a job to do.  And that is to keep employees coming back with something new to learn. Sharing knowledge is a vital component of an Outside-In® company. It’s what supports the pillars of communication and flat management practices within the Outside-In® framework.

6. Accept that as leaders, we will never again have all of the information. Frankly we never had it. Today in the era of big data, we can have all of it and still not know what to do with it.  Making decisions is about experience and about the basics of doing it well. For me it is simple. SEE. THINK.  ACT. You will see things in your business, in your peer’s business, in other offices. You will be challenged to try and fix everything. You will have rumors, innuendos, half facts, stories, and in some cases, the real facts.

7. Trust that others are doing their job. It’s one of the hardest parts of leadership. Keep in mind, they may do it differently than you. Just like employees do a task differently than you, they still may want the same or better outcome! But trust we must. Yes, role clarity and organizational charts help.  Yes, it is important to get along with the people you work with. But in the end, do you help or hurt your teammates?  Do you really know how to team?

If you ask me, the hardest part of leadership is not knowing what to do. It is knowing what not to do! Use these steps as a guide towards developing your own Outside-In® Leadership. If your company is flat and knowledge-based (or you want to manage it that way), apply these practices and see how they work!

Outside-In® is our culture and our operating philosophy. Outside-In® is made up of our employees and a work environment that encourages individualism, innovation, and focus on creating a unique customer experience.  We want customers to be happy with great service.  We want employees to be happy with great culture.  And shareholders can be happy with the good profits that ultimately follow. These great employees are hired, recognized, and rewarded against our core values. Our core values guide us where others use policy manuals and mandates. The world is too complex and dynamic and the business world too fluid to not put the information, knowledge, authority and gumption in the hands of all employees equally.

With all this said, I’d like to take some credit for its creation, but I am not its “Founding Father”.  That credit goes to another Burkhard — Alan Burkhard. Over our lifetimes, we have worked together to refine the concept of Outside-In®. The focus of putting the customer first in business thinking. The notion of a culturally led business.  Alan did it first, and this Outside-In® brand, this Outside-In® philosophy can and is used in all kinds of businesses and industries.

Many years ago, I gave Alan the registered trademark as a gift that we share. We went first in using it in business, and the ™ symbol is our proof.  However, our goal was to encourage the world to use Outside-In® as a way of describing customer-oriented behavior and thinking.  This is my personal 10 year goal.  Make Outside-In® a household name.  Look it up.  It is more mainstream in business than you realize…

But this post is about how we think our Outside-In® philosophy gives us an edge in business. It helps us run better waste companies like Independent Disposal. We run better staffing, recruiting, and outplacement firms.  We run great restaurants.  And now we make Outside-In® movies.No one can say that we are not diverse right?  Find a market.  Look for a service gap.  Treat the customer better than they expected.  Create a customer-centered culture.  Focus on and make your company Outside-In®.

Do that enough, and opportunities present themselves.  Do that enough and you want to help people. Have enough success in life and there are opportunities to share what you know in new fields and you get quite a rush and ride along the way. That is where my Dad is in life.  He backed and helped make a independent movie, Yes, Your Tide Is Cold and Dark, Sir, written and directed by local filmmaker and friend, Chris Malinowski. My Dad makes a cameo as a bartender. He taught a group of talented actors, producers, directors, sound, key grips, and a whole lot more about Outside-In® and he got to help a friend fulfill a lifelong goal of getting a script to the big screen. When I spoke with Chris about his experience working with Alan on the project he said,

“Alan, empowered me to run the [film] company and believed in the exuberance of the project. He knew it was a challenging narrative. Producers tend to lean at times on the creative parties and stick their necks into the creative process. Alan didn’t do that. He empowered me completely.”

Empowerment and creative freedom on a movie set? That is the ultimate Outside-In® experience. I am proud.

Ultimately, what matters is that they took the risk. Through that risk, the Outside-In® brand and legend grows.  So, if you are in Delaware and are into independent films, watch the trailer, come to the premier, and most importantly help me celebrate the success of our Outside-In® brand and what can do for any business.  For Yes, Your Tide Is Cold and Dark, Sir trailer, click here. For showtimes and ticket information for this weekend’s premiere, you can visit the film’s Facebook page.