Up to 1983, I had been a consultant with a business development organization providing strategic management consulting services to a variety of organizations. My primary focus was change management, continuous learning, and employee performance management.

As I performed my consulting services and drilled deeper into organizations, I became troubled by the lack of employee engagement. We did not call it "engagement" back then, however, the outcome was the same: poor productivity, low quality, complacency, absenteeism, and low customer service scores—in essence, employees were not enthused by their jobs, not willing to go the extra mile, and not inspired to deliver great customer service or to create great products.

Interestingly, the organizations always seemed to blame the employees; I was frequently asked to “fix” employees by providing employee motivation training programs. On the surface, that intervention appeared to be the right solution, however, after my environmental scan of the organization’s culture and management practices, I was able to demonstrate that employee motivation was only a symptom and would not address the real issue which—as unfair as it may seem—always pointed back to a lack of leadership. I would now like to make a bold and defendable proclamation:

It was this realization that propelled me to pursue my entrepreneurial dream and Clearview Performance Systems was launched. Our initial focus was one-to-one executive coaching in the areas of leadership development, management development, and employee performance management.

As the practice grew, so did the number of requests for training programs and facilitation services that would emulate the process utilized during my one-to-one sessions. To address this bourgeoning opportunity it became apparent that I could not be all-things-to-all-people without compromising the quality of my individual work, so the large-group practice area was formed and Neil Dempster was brought onboard. He was instrumental in developing several training programs designed to address the complexities of workforce effort. These training programs have been delivered to thousands of managers in private and public sector organizations with incredible results (please visit Who We “WOW! for a complete listing).

As a result of our accomplishments, Clearview Performance Systems has become synonymous with workforce effort. When employees see strong leadership capabilities - guidance, direction, vision and clarity - they are much more inclined to commit to the effort level necessary to achieve organizational objectives. Leadership in the workplace is one of the key drivers of employee engagement.

I am so proud to have nurtured a dream that is now called Clearview Performance Systems and serves as a catalyst and foundation for individual and organizational peak performance. The companies we work with have discovered that employee engagement actually grows from the fulfillment of universal human needs - reinforcement and recognition, becoming a valuable contributor, personal growth, and a sense of accomplishment. My work is both exciting and humbling; it is exciting because I have the opportunity to watch our clients grow and prosper; it is humbling because I never dreamed that my entrepreneurial start would impact so many people in such a positive manner.

Jessica Turvey, MA, is President of Clearview Performance Systems where her primary roles are new market development, researcher, product and presentation design, project coordination . . . and Corporate Muse!

She has been active as a volunteer in literacy initiatives and was Chairperson of the Phoenix Public Library Advisory Board. Since 2003, she has been a volunteer for Sun Sounds of Arizona, an information access organization for the sight-impaired. She produces and hosts a weekly program entitled "Inspirations."

Jessica is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

She can be reached at Jessica@ClearviewOnline.com.