Personally speaking, if you had six-pack abs, you would be in great shape! Since no one has a six-pack naturally, it follows that when you have worked out enough to have six-pack abs, you would be in peak shape—looking trim, fit and dare we say "hot." In order to keep that chiseled body look, it takes commitment, time, effort, desire, fortitude and determination. For your business to be in peak shape, it takes that—and more!

Of course, you might not be able to tell at a glance whether or not your business has subscribed to having "six-pack ABS," that is the six tools necessary for Alignment, Balance and Style, our beliefs in what it takes for real success to happen in any organization.

With a little bit of investigative work, you should be able to determine just how committed and energized your property really is to achieving fully developed ABS. Just like working out on fitness equipment, your business needs to get pumped up by its own "weight machine" using Peak Performance Mindset—Programs in Organizational Dynamics and Service Practices.

Let's begin working out…

Executive Coaching

In order for your company to reach full potential, executives need to be at the top of their game. They need not only be able to work well with peers, they need also work closely with those who report to them, be able to unite teams and departments and make knowledgeable decisions that benefit employees, customers and the company culture. Having over 30 years of executive coaching experience, Dr. Gene Ference conducts both group and individual sessions for Peak Performance Mindset that are specifically tailored to meeting the needs of your company executives. Keep pushing, 1-2-3, no pain—no gain!

Executives are not easily hired nor replaced. Getting "on board" takes time to integrate company thinking, culture, programs, systems and processes, but is less costly in all respects than finding replacements. Providing insights into the latest nuances of human resource needs, leadership style and operational management is a great way to start.

Throughout the coaching process, careful feedback of information is critical if success is to be realized. Honest and constructive analysis and criticism is a useful tool in building rapport between coach and executives, resulting in the gain of efficiencies and effectiveness to provide the leadership to enable company growth and stability in all aspects of management. Don't stop now, you've only just begun…2-3-4.

Staff Retention

Retaining top notch talent is something that should be practiced and perfected from the top down, throughout all levels of staffing. It includes programs, incentives and/or benefits that all add to the security and comfort employees feel in working for your company.

Your goal is to prevent your best employees from wanting to look elsewhere for employment and to ensure that when a competitor tries to "steal" a top producing employee by offering a great employment package, that he/she won't even think about departing, knowing full well that while you can easily leave a job, it's very difficult to leave "family." Now give me an extra five—make it burn.

Retaining staff is not based on sporadic instances of communication, but a continuous flow between management and personnel. On-going processes must be consistently reinforced in order for staff to feel grounded, appreciated and valued. It is something that can be learned and cultivated by Peak Performance Mindset. You're starting to feel it—your ABS, Alignment, Balance and Style. It's taking you to the results you need and want in order to survive and stay ahead of your competition. Keep it working…

Emotional Intelligence

Does emotion have any place in the corporate world? You bet it does! In fact, it is believed that Emotional Intelligence is one of the best indicators of success in the workplace. However, it needs to be nurtured and developed in order to reach optimum performance and usefulness. There's no steroids used here, only good hard work ethic!

Facts and figures aren't the only tools with which to manage personnel, there needs to be Emotional Intelligence to help drive managerial performance. Staff can read manuals and understand company rules and regulations, but when it comes to emotional events, whether they are conflicts or high-fives, managers need to use emotional competencies for everyone's benefit.

Whether one-on-one or in groups, an effective facilitator can include points on Emotional Intelligence that will prove invaluable to management. Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management are all aspects of EI that can help in overcoming challenges and aid in achieving peak performance in management and staff. Let's use your mind and your body to achieve your performance goals. Keep it up...2-3-4.

Service Engagement

For most companies, service is the most important item "for sale," no matter what the industry. Service can be the difference maker in garnering loyal customers, especially when the products being sold are very similar or virtually the same as other products. When customers have an in-the-moment need, service can make all the difference in encouraging patrons to return, rather than taking their business elsewhere.

When dining at your favorite restaurant, do you do so because of the food, the ambiance, the service, or all of the above? It used to be that product plus service equaled success. Chances are now you need all of the above, plus an added and specific focus on the entire experience! Keep working those ABS, 1-2-3-4, if you quit now, you're out the door!

How then do you encourage employees to buy into service engagement? Education and training. In order for staff to become the ultimate service providers, management needs to be able to convey thought processes and the mindset that allows employees to accept and nurture service engagement. In short, staff must be encouraged to offer service just as they would want service offered to them!

Through workshops and seminars focusing on developing the Peak Performance Mindset, service engagement can become an integral part of conducting business. There is a certain commitment to offering ultimate service, and it takes a special mindset to make sure it happens each and every time possible. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition...it has to become automatic—yet still be sincere!

Customer Loyalty

Customer Loyalty is earned when your staff treats your guests like Customer Royalty! All things being equal, if your product is the same as that of your competition, you must excel in service. If service is about the same as your competition's, you must have a superior product in order to compete—and then you need to improve your service to the point that it becomes a focus on "experience." Today, customers expect quality products, personal service and a unique experience! To improve your ABS, you can't afford to ABStain from creating Customer Loyalty through upscale training and conditioning of staff.

While it may not be quite so simple to alter your product, management can work on improving service to insure Customer Loyalty through training. Whether your business demands face-to-face customer communication, phone, email or similar contact, continued employee education is necessary to increase Customer Loyalty.

It's far less costly and time consuming to train current staff rather than going through the continuous process of finding new staff who already have the skills needed to garner Customer Loyalty. Not that you don't continually strive to gain new clientele, but when you please the ones you have, their loyalty will follow with personal recommendations that will in turn help to gain new customers. No, there is no workout video that will suffice for this. You'll just have to keep pumping, 2, pumping, 3-4!

Training and education of all staff to meet and exceed customer expectations through exceptional customer service is a direct path to Customer Loyalty! Take advantage of the experience of Peak Performance Mindset to achieve this level of excellence.

Team Building

Teams are put together in numerous ways. As in sports, some teams are built around a star player or two, others are built for speed, some for power, and some for…well, it seems like some are together merely because the owner has a great deal of money and just wants a team! In business, just wanting a team isn't enough. Rather, the best teams are those that have been chosen for specific attributes and who can work together towards common goals. Working with a partner to improve your ABS works well—pushing each other towards greater levels of success. Go one more! C'mon!

Our Peak Performance Mindset programs offer many customized avenues for teams to explore and from which to learn. Workshops offer a varied experience utilizing a wide array of classroom and field tested programs, many of which can be scored and analyzed in order to crown winning teams. Off-site retreats too can incorporate many aspects of workshop settings, but with interesting "twists" included:

Programs using wine tastings, team chess, bocce tournaments, and "culinary cook-ups," where teams work together to prepare their entire dinner for the evening, offer huge benefits for team unity and camaraderie. Communication, coordination and cooking while under time constraints put pressure on individuals to think on their feet and think as a team.

Behavioral style assessments provide insight into participant's preferred styles of working with people. Experiential learning through focused activities is another highly effective method to teaching leadership principles and practices. Structured exercises, games and simulations can be fun and at the same time illustrate team dynamics. When video-taped, debriefing sessions illustrate the parallels between the activity and day-to-day interactions in the work environment.

The programs, while fun and informative, integrate a serious learning curve for individuals to find that teamwork really works! No one can do everything, but any one team can do anything!

Now you have a synopsis of the course you should take to improve your Alignment, Balance and Style to reach Peak Performance Mindset. Step by step, you will improve every aspect of your business to where you too, we dare say, will be considered "HOT."

Gene Ference, Ph.D., President Ference Leadership and Strategy, Inc. Center For Survey Research Customized Metrics and Assessments Positioning the Business.

Gene is a service-industry insider. His degrees in management and organizational development from Cornell University are backed by over 30 years of industry experience. He is an accomplished speaker and group facilitator, conducting management workshops, leadership retreats and strategy meetings. He has developed and implemented research surveys internationally, worked with Fortune 100 companies, contributed to client national quality awards, and designed appropriate strategies for optimizing human capital and growing organizational profits.

Gene.Ference@FerenceInc.com