Spicy Grrrls is women-owned and operated small batch, craft hot sauce company based here in Chicago. In addition to creating flavorful sauces, they also focus sustainability and strive to be waste-free. Part of which ties into their efforts to be involved with and give back to the community!

This is an original article from the American College of Healthcare Executives.

"Holding a tough conversation is not a task for the timid. There is an art to doing it well...seek to complete, not compete." Lynne S. Cunningham, MPA, FACHE and Coach with the Studer Group.

Think back to a time when someone shared something so compelling, you were engaged, attentive and present. You wanted to listen. Now think of an equally difficult conversation. Chances are, it was an entirely different experience altogether. But did it have to be? Can tough conversations, especially in the workplace, also be compelling?

After serving as a regional manager at IMEC for almost 20 years, Mark is retiring from the workforce! Over the years, and currently, he has been successfully assisting manufacturers in the Peoria area to improve their processes, efficiencies, and cut costs. Mark believes in assessing, suggesting, delivering, and servicing projects quickly and accurately. As a result, he is able to foster meaningful relationships with his clients and set them up for sustainable competitiveness.  

Midwest Turned Products is a world class manufacturer of precision machined components. Their goal is to engineer, manufacture, and deliver each part to the exact requirements of our client. With a mission to serve customers, employees, shareholders and society through world-class precision machining service, they pride themselves on remaining flexible to meet the ever-changing needs of the marketplace.

This is an original blog post from our partners at LMI Chicago.

“We can’t change the world until we change the people and we can’t change the people until we change ourselves.” – Paul J. Meyer, founder LMI

Change is crucial to learning and growing. It is your attitude to change that allows you to become more of the person you want to be. Making small, positive and continuous changes to your attitudes and habits will improve your productivity and performance. This, in turn, results in greater success – not only in the workplace but also in your personal life. In the words of Max de Pree, “We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are”.

Written by Andrea Belk Olsen, MSC and CEO of Pragmadik
https://www.linkedin.com/in/olsonandrea1/

We use abbreviations all the time. CRM, SOW, CPA, etc. While this shorthand often makes it easier to communicate internally between co-workers, it often is confusing for customers. Companies inadvertently start to create their own language with these acronyms and even put them within their marketing materials, proposals, and other communications. Yet the problem is that this frequently minimizes communication effectiveness, creates confusion, and even worse, causes customer frustration.

Incorporated in 1963, Wichita Packing Company has evolved into a corporation with global distribution and is the leading independent provider of pork ribs in the country. The company is rooted in its earned reputation as a worldwide provider of consistent, quality products. Regardless of a single unit or an international franchise, their goal is to work with clients to create an application for their establishment, based on specific needs.

This is an original article from NIST's Blogrige, the official Baldrige Blog, written by Christine Schaffer.

The national Baldrige Performance Excellence Program's website is the source of the regularly updated, widely validated leadership-and-management-strengthening tool known as the Baldrige Excellence Framework (which includes the Criteria for Performance Excellence).

Are you already using this comprehensive self-assessment guide to strengthen your organization’s performance?