Many companies start with a similar story; a street-smart and passionate individual—fueled by the entrepreneurial spirit—sets out to make a difference in the world. In 1985, one such individual identified a void in the field of human development and performance and seized the opportunity. The result is a company that has earned national and international recognition for inspiring people to greatness.

Here is the Clearview Performance Systems story as told by our Founder, President and Chief Muse, Jessica Turvey.   Prior to Clearview's inception, 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 a 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, most organizations felt the problem had to do with 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 always pointed back to a lack of management and/or leadership—not a popular notion at that time!

This discovery was the impetus behind the launch of Clearview Performance Systems. My 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, speaking engagements and facilitation services that would emulate the process utilized during my one-to-one sessions. While wonderful endorsments of my work, it was clearly apparent that I could not be all-things-to-all-people without compromising the quality of my individual work. To address this bourgeoning opportunity, I brought Neil Dempster in as a partner to develop the large-audience practice area. His knowledge and experience in the behavioral sciences, organizational development and human performance areas fully complemented what I had been doing within my individual practice areas. His training programs and keynote speeches have been delivered to tens of thousands of managers in private and public sector organizations with incredible results.

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 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 can be reached at Jessica@ClearviewOnline.com.