What made you decide to hire Stop At Nothing?
At the center I was working in years ago, we had a tremendous need. The employee survey in the center we were in had one of the lowest employee satisfaction scores in the company.

What made you continue to work with Stop At Nothing over the years?
Stop At Nothing has been instrumental in helping me grow organizations that I am managing. I find that when confrontation comes up within team building, most companies have the tendency to want to step back from it and not go through it. Therefore, the barrier never changes and never goes away. The real value of Stop At Nothing is that the facilitators are very effective at seeking out the barrier that exists and taking the organization through it to get to new levels, which is unusual.

Why is it important to work through those types of issues?
It gets you the growth that you are really looking for. Instead of just feeling good for a couple of days and it going away, the team building efforts with Stop At Nothing are actually a process where continual growth happens.

What have you seen change as a result of the team building sessions?
Something very obvious is the lack of fear when dealing with each other. The fact that people spend a considerable amount of time partnering with each other. They are not making decisions in a silo. They are actually confronting each other on issues.

So you’re starting to see the impact throughout the organization, too?
Right. It makes the job a whole lot easier and everyone is a lot happier.

Can you share anything with respect to Stop At Nothing’s approach?
They gain an understanding of where the organization is currently. When you go through the feedback process, it is almost like you are a third party reviewing it, which enables you not personalize it so much. You feel like you are teaming up with a group of people and tackling a problem together. It is a unique style that I find to be pretty effective.

What does that allow people to do?
It allows them to actually look at solutions without being defensive and move forward. It gives you more effective outcomes and possibilities that are not shrouded in defensiveness.

Are there any other techniques Stop At Nothing used that you liked in particular?
Some of the processes and exercises that Stop At Nothing uses help bring all members on board. If you don’t participate, it becomes clear, and the group has discussions around why you may not be participating. It’s pretty effective in getting everyone on board.

It sounds like the team has the opportunity to take ownership.
That’s right. What we’re talking about is one of the fundamental skills that Stop At Nothing espouses -- self-leadership, where people take responsibility for where they are in life. It’s a process that is not about changing people. It’s about giving people the ability to see life in a different way. They realize that by changing some behaviors, they can actually improve where they are interpersonally.

What kind of bottom-line impact has that had?
In Florida seven years ago, we had the worst employee satisfaction scores in the whole company. In one year, we had the greatest increase in employee satisfaction in the history of the company that was doing the survey of any company that had ever been surveyed.

Another example was when we took the entire staff of 700 people into night shifts and they fought us every step of the way. I had a morale problem. We stepped back and brought the entire employee population into the process and said, "Okay, you guys design the shifts you want to work and how you want to approach this." They did it. The morale went up. Productivity went up 300 percent, and that is huge. We took a $21 million operating budget down to $16 million by the end of the year. I don’t think we could have done it without the support and help of Stop At Nothing.

Can you tell me where you’ve noticed the changes most within the team?
The interpersonal relationships. Instead of competing with each other, they are supporting each other. When we have visitors and executives come in, instead of people saying, "look what I did," they are making comments such as, "look what my partner did."

What advice would you give others who want to build stronger teams and stronger leaders?
I’ve worked with Stop At Nothing now in the U.S and in Europe, across country boundaries where we had language barriers and cultural differences between people. I have worked with both high-performing teams and dysfunctional teams. The process is effective no matter what the situation.

Could you give me an idea what kind of impact on the bottom line you may be realizing?
We’re running a brand-new New Accounts operation in which there are a lot of bugs still to be worked out. We have cut the processing time to a third of what it was. The satisfaction level this year was 92 percent—75 percent is considered world class. If that isn’t a measurable, bottom-line impact, I don’t know what is.

Would you recommend Stop At Nothing?
I would recommend them to anyone who is managing a group of people.

So even though it is a good investment, it may not be so easy?
Yes, the advantages are unbelievable. The teams will work together. They will overcome barriers. They realize the enemy is not in your own room, but actually outside the building, and they start working together. That synergy gives you a lot better return than you ever had before. That takes time and effort and a lot of focus to do that, but there are a lot of programs that can be brought in. Stop At Nothing takes the time to help you determine what is best for you.