It’s nearly April, and April is the usual time for spring cleaning at my house. Since the word “clean” has taken on a whole new meaning for all of us, I decided to really dig deeply into old dark corners to tidy up and truly sanitize. When moving some old picture frames and clay pots aside, I found a resource that I’d forgotten about. Published in 1992 and written by Donald T. Phillips, the little paperback Lincoln on Leadership is a profound, timeless reminder of the simple yet effective things we can do, not only in times of trouble, but every day to build confidence and loyalty among our employees. (And I found it on Amazon for as little as a quarter! Now that’s a bargain.)

Regardless of what is going on in the world and within our community, company leaders must be able to effectively communicate when a quick response is needed. Here are three methods for communicating with your workforce in a timely and reliable manner:

Part 3 of the Remote Work Best Practices series addresses concerns around creating  telecommuting policies. Thank you to our partners, Greensfelder Attorneys at Law for their guidance.

During these days of rapid change and long isolation, it is easy to lose sight of the organization's longer-term needs.  Now is a good time to slow down and assess your organization’s strengths and challenges so that when we do return to a new normal, you’ll be able to upscale quickly with employees who are clear about and committed to your mission and vision.

For the next few days, we will be sharing Legal best practices around the ever-changing workforce challenges that Illinois Manufacturers are facing.

New unemployment laws and the switch to remote work environments can be tricky. Thank you to our partners, Greensfelder Attorneys at Law for their guidance.

As the Illinois MEP, IMEC’s role is to be a resource for Illinois manufacturers and advocate best practices. Helping with strategy and creating systems to solve the challenges that these businesses face is our mission.

It remains our goal with today’s challenges. To that point IMEC, has created the Illinois Manufacturing Helpline and has been accepting questions 24/7 for the past week. It is our hope that some of these answers will save you precious time and assist with the challenges that you are facing.

Workers play a strong role in keeping themselves safe due to their willingness to take personal responsibility for decisions that will keep them safe. Safety training and policies are commonly used tools to help encourage risk-free behaviors through building safety knowledge. However, these practices alone will not be enough to create a complete safety culture.

As the cliché, but true saying goes: “numbers don’t lie.” We can’t help but agree as we review our 2019 client reported impacts! While it is certainly a time of celebration here at IMEC, it’s also a celebration for the 770 manufacturers who have invested in their competitive futures.  By partnering with IMEC and reporting the impacts our work has contributed to their business, it allows us to show that we all play an important role in a much bigger story. These numbers speak volumes to the value our clients add to our manufacturing ecosystem. Not only are companies on a path to enterprise excellence, but they are also strengthening Illinois’ economic well-being, their communities, and their organization as whole. 

This is an original article by Robin Friestad of Quality Time Consulting.

I’ve recently taken the plunge into starting my own business. Part of what I’m learning to do is to “sell” what I love best. Twenty years ago, I would have been dumbfounded to predict that I would want to make a living out of ISO 9001 implementations and Internal Audits. I mean – I had been through a major implementation, several surveillance audits, and a couple re-registration audits at a Fortune 500 company. They were never pleasant. Oh, it wasn’t the external registrar, it was my upper management fretting about whether we would “pass” or not. I even came into work during my maternity leave to lend some confidence to my General Manager that it was going to be ok.

Who is LMI Chicago?

LMI Chicago is part of a worldwide organization called Leadership Management International. For over 50 years, in 80 countries and 27 languages, LMI programs have helped develop effective and productive leaders.  Jeff Johnson, President of LMI Chicago, personally completed the LMI programs with his management team (at his previous company) prior to starting LMIChicago four years ago. Witnessing the benefits, Johnson was attracted to the proven programs and processes and the difference they made in people’s lives.