True North Consulting

The Hard Reality of the Soft Side of Business

The hard reality of the soft side of business is that there is no soft side of business.

All organizations get things done through people interacting with one another. The quality of these interactions is either intentionally designed and managed to align with organizational goals, values and objectives or is driven by individual manager personality or mood creating the possibility for pockets of excellence but not cultures of excellence.

Organizations have a choice – pretend human nature doesn’t exist or that it is a mystery that can’t be figured out, or learn the principles of applied emotional intelligence, train their leaders in these principles and skills and then define them as part of their leadership job description. Rick calls this creating Cultures of Excellence.

Now ask yourself: 

• Why do internal problems occur more than once in my organization?
• Once we know why, why do they still occur?
• Are expectations clearly communicated and managed through to their successful conclusion?
• Are departments communicating with and serving each other well?
• Does my organization have systems in place to train people managers and articulate the expectations around their people-management activities to which they will be accountable?

Your answers are important!

• By 2012 we will be short 10 million skilled workers.
• Gen Y employees will average over 17 different positions during the course of their careers.
• A UW-Whitewater study concluded that it costs between 25% and 300% of the workers annual salary to establish a competent replacement.

If you aren’t building cultures of excellence – high quality interactions that ensure a set up for success while maintaining/building strong positive relationships, your young workforce will go find someone else who will.

About Rick Piraino

 Principal, True North Consulting.

For thirty years Rick has served as an educator, psychotherapist, and organizational consultant.

• As an entrepreneur, Rick has built three successful businesses since 1985 including one of Wisconsin's largest complimentary medicine clinics in the '90s.
• Rick holds both a Bachelors and a Masters Degree in Education and is a certified Covey trainer. 
• Since 1996 he has been working with organizations from coast to coast to support them in building cultures of excellence through leadership development, supervisor, manager training, work climate assessment, internal customer/supplier cultures, and team building. 
• His leadership articles have been published nationally and he is the author of Responsibility-based Performance Management (RPM), a performance management training and organizational system.
• Over the last seven years, RPM has been implemented in education, sales, manufacturing, printing, publishing, financial, and various other service industries.

In all his work, Rick integrates immediately practical skills with the opportunity for leaders to grow as people. He creates those pivotal opportunities where leaders integrate skills with self-awareness and integrity.

He brings this principle to all his work:

Who we are is how we lead.

Contact Us

Read more about programs and services provided by RPM, or contact Rick by phone at 414-839-9300 or email at rick@culturesofexcellence.com.

You can also use the "Contact Us" form on this web site.