Club Meeting Recap--January 30, 2017

 
Rotarian Merritt Dilts Spoke to the Club About
the Center for Business Excellence
 
 
Guests are always welcome at the Elkhart Rotary and new membership is encouraged. If you are looking for a place to connect with people and are someone who loves to serve and desires to make Elkhart and the world a better place, you are invited to check out the club. The Elkhart Rotary meets at The Matterhorn every Monday at noon. Plans are currently underway for celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Elkhart Rotary which held it's first meeting on March 13, 1917. Guests are welcome to come celebrate with us on March 13, 2017 and there will be special events each month March through August, 2017..
 
Each week, the Sergeant at Arms finds creative ways to extract generosity from the pockets of Rotarians. This week was no different as Anthony Hunt used humor & and wit to "fine" fellow rotarians. The funds are collected through the year, raising approximately $10,000 - $12,000 which is then donated to local non-profit organizations through grant requests.  
 
A guest speaker is invited each week to share a 20- 30 minute presentation. The topics are interesting and vary all throughout the year. Today's guest speaker was one of the Elkhart club's own rotarian, Merritt Dilts. Merritt is very giving of his time to worthy causes including mission trips to Haiti. He spoke to the club about Center for Business Excellence (CBE).  CBE is a non-profit organization that was originally formed in 1992 as the North Central Indiana Business Assistance Center and was funded by private sources.  The name was changed in 2016 to Center for Business Excellence because the original name was too long and it was also difficult to resonate with people.
 
CBE is affiliated with the Elkhart Chamber of Commerce to provide training and consulting services to businesses and non-profit organizations.They teach businesses LEAN & continuous improvement, leadership & cultural transformation, Safety and Quality Programs and Employee Retention. What is lean? Merritt said "Well, it is NOT cutting people out". The goal of CBE is to coach and train.  Excellence is the key  - especially to small business and non-profits. These services by CBE are provided to businesses that are "CLICKING" - not to repair struggling or failing business.  CBE works with companies' current strengths by helping them in the following ways:
  • be more competitive
  • recruit and retain talent
  • improve processes
  • help entrepreneurs thrive
  • promote inclusion
What have we done for people in common? Merritt shared this food for thought about CORE VALUE (quoted from a famous doctor and mentor):
"from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted much, much will be expected." Luke 12:48
 
Here are some success stories of CBE:
  • retention: 50% reduction in employee turnover
  • sustain throughput improvement 11%
  • improved bonus payouts for associates
  • removed process and office waste
  • improved client service response rates
 If you would like more information about Center for Business Excellence or to see REAL savings in your business, contact the Elkhart Chamber of Commerce.