Sept. 6, 2018

This paid piece is sponsored by Howalt+McDowell Insurance, a Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC company.

The biggest issue in your business isn’t cash flow. And it isn’t your product, your customers or your employees. It’s you.

That’s according to Dr. Kim Hoogeveen, the founding president and CEO of QLI, an exceptional rehabilitation center in Omaha for young adults with brain injury or severe physical disability. Under his leadership, QLI grew to be the nation’s largest specialized center of its kind. More impressive, QLI boasts an employee turnover rate one-fourth the industry average, record-setting customer satisfaction ratings and has been recognized as the No. 1 Best Place to Work in Omaha multiple years running. This year, QLI was the only organization to receive the Sustained Excellence Award, which is given to organizations that have been identified as one of the Best Places to Work in Omaha at least three out of four consecutive years.

The driving force for these achievements has been MindSet, the genesis for which came when Hoogeveen was approached by several top corporate leaders who were disenchanted with the trendy leadership training programs they were being offered. These leaders wanted to learn more about the applied and functional leadership approach that Hoogeveen had developed that was producing such exceptional results at QLI. As a result of that interest and encouragement, Hoogeveen created MindSet.

MindSet is a leadership training and consultation company that has helped hundreds of companies improve their ability to attract, build, motivate and retain great employees. The curriculum draws from a combination of real-world leadership experience and a blend from organizational, social, counseling and cognitive psychology.

“It is odd that the same leaders who will quickly call in expert help if their air conditioning goes down or a copier stops working will often struggle without help when faced with the challenge of improving their company’s culture so that it can better attract, build, motivate and retain the quality of staff necessary for the organization to excel,” Hoogeveen said. “A broken air conditioner or copier creates discomfort or inconvenience; a broken culture erodes the very foundation of the enterprise. One hallmark of a healthy culture is a fierce desire to become even better. The challenge is finding a concise and potent body of knowledge that can provide leaders with the insights and tools necessary to impact cultural health.”

With his background in organizational and behavioral psychology, combined with an unusual opportunity to learn from many of the most successful business leaders in the region, Hoogeveen has observed six big mistakes leaders commonly make that negatively impact their organization’s work environments, productivity and bottom line:

• Not recognizing the value and importance of culture.
• Failing to make accumulation of talent a priority.
• Uninformed supervisor selection.
• Failing to build stars.
• A pittance of pride.
• Failing to deal with problem staff.

Howalt+McDowell Insurance is offering Sioux Falls-area leaders an opportunity to experience MindSet during a free event the morning of Sept. 13 at the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown. A Morning With MindSet: Big Mistakes Leaders Make will give business owners, executives and senior human resource professionals an opportunity to work with Hoogeveen and the MindSet team to gain clarity on what constitutes great leadership and develop strategies to mitigate the big mistakes.

“As an organization that supports our clients with more than just insurance, we have partnered with MindSet to provide attendees real-world-tested, roll-up-your-sleeves, applied and functional skill sets and understandings that will enable our clients to better impact the culture in which they operate,” said Abbey Vanderwerf, vice president, employee benefits at Howalt+McDowell. “Dr. Hoogeveen’s extensive work with employers has allowed him to build a proven curriculum that gives leaders the skills they need to build an employer-of-choice organization.”

As a testament to the common struggle businesses face recruiting, retaining and engaging great employees, the event quickly filled up when offered to clients. Plans are underway to open up additional capacity for SiouxFalls.Business readers. For  information and to reserve a spot on the wait list, click here and use registration code SFBIZ.