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Save money by stocking Deep Swamp Cypress in place of redwood and cedar. This beautiful, versatile, all around species, for exterior and interior use, finishes better than cedar or redwood and is more stable than southern Dine. We mill to your specs-any pattern siding, plus finish, S4S, fine bevel/bungalow sidings, 1" sidings, paneling, ceiling, wainscot stock and flooring. All kiln dried, from finish to common grades. No order too small.

Elder Forest Products. Inc.

Plant:1726 West Street, Crowley, LA 70526

(800) 256-7197 . (337) 625-8141 . FAX 337-625-5275

Associate Member - Southern Cvpress Manufacturers Associalion words, slogans, button days and crafted presentations you want, but unless the average worker understands how those goals and targets impact his or her job, the initiatives go down the proverbial chute. Even great ideas are given short shrift if the company fails to practice what it preaches, communicate the mission, set goals all the way down the hierarchy, offer rewards both financial and non-financial for achieving pigeon steps, recruit and train the right people to implement the mission, and get rid of the wrong people. The goal must be to find the talent to both implement and build on the plan, and match the behavior with the expectation.

There are companies that have been extraordinary successful in creating an environment of genuine customer appreciation. It always amazes me, for example, how some hotel personnel remember your name and how genuinely pleased they seem to be to see you or welcome you back. I had one harrowing experience at a hotel a few months ago, which was dealt with by inviting me back as a guest and giving me instant gratification of an expensive brunch on the house for eight of us. But that treatment seems a rare exception today.

Unless your company daily practices and, more importantly, reinforces the goals and mission, you cannot be successful. A tree of goals should be built from the top down, layer by layer, based on the goals immediately above your layer. Every employee should have not only a set of company, division, department and supervisor goals, they should have a set ofpersonal goals that tie in with the overall objectives.

The problem in corporate life is that in today's stop/start environment, initiatives come and go and become meaningless. But if you can get employees to identify with the mission, they are vastly more likely to outperform expectations not only internally, but with your customers. Now patch me through to Delhi!