The Studer Community Institute's 2017 training series began Jan. 10 at Pensacola Little Theater.

It’s the start of 2017, no better time for local business leaders to learn ways to capture the hearts and minds of their employees.

“If you don’t capture the hearts and minds of your workforce, you won’t capture the hearts and minds of your customers,” Studer said as he kicked off Studer Community Institute’s 2017 schedule of leadership workshops at the Pensacola Little Theatre on Jan. 10.

Studer discussed a variety of tools and tactics to help galvanize a company’s workforce and get it heading towards four key outcomes every business wants: Productivity, profit, retention and customer service.

There are some staggering numbers when it comes to the lack of employee engagement. Studer cited Gallup research that indicates 27 percent of employees quit their jobs within the first 90 days. That turns focus to hiring right, onboarding your employees properly and keeping them engaged.

“The first 90 days are vital,” he said.

To help, Studer cited the Gallup Q12, a questionnaire developed by the research and polling firm, questions that can shed light on how engaged employees are:

Area small business leaders took the advice to heart.

Studer’s presentation was rated by the more than 90 leaders in attendance as a 9.8 out of 10, and 96 percent of attendees would recommend a training to friends or colleagues.

“Great seminar and event (Tuesday),” said Paul Cope, vice president of sales and business development at BlabTV. “I was touched by many of the words and absolutely blown away by the content.

“I will very much use the tools provided. Today was first class.”

Megan Fisher is general manager of the Pensacola Beach RV resort who has regularly attended SCI trainings for about a year.

“Quint always gives clear, concise solutions to make any company a better company,” Fisher said. “Learning to make employees feel engaged just means you pass that happiness and those great attitudes on to your customers.”

One way to measure those employee hearts and minds is through the Studer Community Institute’s employee engagement survey.

Intelligent Retinal Imaging Systems (IRIS) used SCI’s service to measure the engagement of its 18 employees.

Felicia Wynne, IRIS’s vice president of operations, said her company found an issue of miscommunication with its employees in regards to its benefits packages.

With the help of the survey, IRIS was able to explain the “why” behind the misunderstanding and take a hard look at where the company could grow.

It’s those positive effects of capturing the hearts and minds of employees that could kickstart any small business in 2017.

More training will be added to the February calendar. Plan to attend "People and Possibilities: How to Leverage Employee Engagement” with Stacey Keller Williams from Navy Federal Credit Union. It is set for Feb. 24.
Click here, for the most up-to-date information on SCI training.