"Rather than just presenting the changes or improvement plan, effective education and communication engages everyone in discussions that deepens understanding and provides feedback, options, and further ideas to the team guiding the improvement effort."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "An Educational Process for Change and Improvement Efforts"

"Effective communication is no more a natural skill than leadership is a born trait. Very few powerful communicators just opened their mouths and let the words naturally flow out. Most leaders learned, developed, practiced, and refined their communication skills through a lot of hard work and conscientious effort. They learned how to sell and persuade. They learned how to infuse a well-formed case or logic with emotional appeal. They were able to light their logic on fire."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Communication Strategies, Systems, and Skills"

"The amount and type of communicating we do speak volumes about how much we trust people and whether we see people as partners or "subordinates" who "work for me." Our communication strategies, systems, and practices set the dimensions of the environment we are putting people in."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Communication Strategies, Systems, and Skills"

"Despite all their talk about communications, many managers don't appreciate the highly strategic role communication plays in their improvement efforts. Consequently, they don't spend enough time thinking through what they want to say and the best ways to say it."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Communication Strategies, Systems, and Skills"

"Managers routinely underestimate the amount and quality of education and communication required to make changes and improvements. They fall victim to our human tendency to judge others by their actions, but to judge ourselves by our intentions."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Education and Communication Build Commitment"

"In my early management years I got a lot of mileage from having my team sit around a conference table reading, discussing, and debating selected book passages or articles. This dialogue established a common values and knowledge base that enhanced mutual understanding, teamwork, communications, and context for further training and work together."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Education and Communications Pathways and Pitfalls"

"With few exceptions, highly effective leaders have very strong verbal (and often written) communication skills. They connect with people. Since leadership deals with emotions, energy, and spirit, verbal communication skills have a huge role to play in mobilizing and energizing."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Strong Leaders are Strong Communicators"

"In any company, front-line employees are not just important sources of customer feedback - they play direct roles in raising satisfaction. Research consistently shows that customer and employee satisfaction are intertwined. You seldom find happy customers being served by unhappy employees."