Our culture lives and breathes when we have communication flowing back and forth.

—Blake Nordstrom

Communication is the imparting or exchanging of information or news; a means of connection between people or places.

There is no communication without collaboration and vice versa. You can't have teamwork without communication. You can't have communication without teamwork. And without teamwork and communication you can't inspire and empower employees to take ownership.

The essence of communication and collaboration is the forthright exchange of information, ideas, opinions, disagreements, changes, and news (both good and bad). The results are a meaningful partnership based on shared goals and win‐win outcomes.

Research has shown that when employees don't feel well informed on their organization's goals and strategies, they experience increased stress, which weakens teamwork. That's a prime reason why daily communication is essential.

No matter what kind of domestic or international organization we've consulted with, virtually all of them admit that their biggest issue is communication. Any time there is more than one person involved, you have a communication challenge. Without clarity, respect, and trust, communication is impossible. Productive collaboration is a challenge because meaningful communication is so rare.

Is communication an issue in your business?

Today, with all the communication instruments at our disposal we now have more ways to miscommunicate. Emojis can be bewildering. When was the last time you misinterpreted an emoji? Have you ever puzzled over a misspelled text message? Never assume a meaning. What if you're wrong? It's better to overcommunicate than undercommunicate.

At Nordstrom, communication begins before the store opens with the daily morning team meeting. The store manager conducts morning announcements either in person or over the intercom system so that everyone can hear the information while they prepare their departments for the day's business. The store manager provides a review of the prior day's business, highlights individuals who exemplified outstanding service, recognizes employees who had great results (such as the top 10 individual selling performances), reads customer service letters, discusses new product in the stores, gives an update on store events, and motivates employees for the day by establishing sales goals.

Sometimes, these morning announcements morph into rallies, when everyone in the store gathers together in a particular location to have face‐to‐face meetings and conversations on a variety of topics, such as building customer relationships, details on new merchandise, or an upcoming event such as the Anniversary Sale, held in July, which is the largest volume‐driving event of the year.

“Keep it simple and make sure everyone is on the same page,” said store manager Adrienne Hixon. “We talk about yesterday's results, the priority of the day, what's happening in the store and the things we want to work on. We recognize birthdays, years of service, and the fun things that make this an enjoyable place to work. We are all part of a team. If the team doesn't work, the dream doesn't work.”

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

The company communicates with all 72,000‐plus employees in a variety of directions and channels—corporately, regionally, locally, within stores, within divisions, within departments, and so on, using e‐mail, company intranet, blogs, and other technology including the good old telephone. Nordstrom uses all these touchpoints in order to maintain and enhance the culture, to get alignment, and to get feedback on strengths and opportunities to improve.

Leaders must be in close contact with their teams to avoid uncertainty and misinterpretation. At Nordstrom, whenever there is an announcement of a major change in the business or an important new initiative, the company's strategy is for the information to “trickle up” the Inverted Pyramid in face‐to‐face meetings.

Regional managers are responsible for communicating information to their store manager teams; store managers are responsible for relaying the messages to their department manager teams; department managers are responsible for passing the information on to those at the front lines. The simple idea is to keep everyone abreast of what's going on.

Employees receive e‐mailed articles on the shared culture and common purpose of driving results and improving customer service, as well as general company news, philanthropic efforts, customer service letters, fashion trends, selling‐related features, and company‐wide employee recognition.

Letters of complaint about customer service (omitting the names of the offending salespeople) are also read over the store intercom.

Nordstrom sends out monthly and quarterly e‐mails announcing sales results, recognizing individual and team achievement, and alerting people to upcoming special events and new initiatives.

At the annual State of the Company employee meetings, management talks about past results and future goals, the game plan for the new year, how profits are divided, and so on.

Using internal “connect boards,” employees can anonymously submit questions, suggestions, or concerns. Usually within 24 hours, the appropriate person or team will follow up with an answer. Through this system, store managers get to hear what's on the minds of their team members and then have the opportunity to respond. This forthright communication strengthens the connection between salespeople and support groups and builds the sense of the whole store as a team.

Nordstrom has an open‐door policy, where managers and executives are always available to converse with each other by any and every means necessary. During orientation, the company tells new employees: “Our door is always open. It's important to us that every person who works here feels valued, welcome, and cared for.”

Shared Leadership

Management by consensus has been a hallmark of Nordstrom. John W.'s three sons—Everett, Elmer, and Lloyd shared the leadership during their tenure. The brothers realized that their ability to work well together was crucial to the success of the business. Their relationship was akin to a marriage. “You worked together for a common goal, but you didn't get your own way all the time,” said Elmer. Options were weighed and discussed as a team. Disagreements were resolved by majority rule.

When they retired, their sons Bruce, John N., Jim, and Lloyd's son‐in‐law Jack MacMillan applied those lessons to their own leadership of the company.

“Our dads set a great example for us,” Bruce wrote in his memoir. “They'd go into a meeting, shut the door, and always came out of that meeting of one mind. That's what we wanted to do. To understand the dynamics of our committee, you have to know that we started with the unanimous feeling that we wanted to be of one mind—not that we didn't want to disagree with one another, because that was the strength of our setup. We all had the same goal, but we had different thoughts on how to reach that goal. To me, if you've got the right people, you'll come out with the right answer more often than not.”

That approach was emulated by the fourth generation, Bruce's sons Blake, Pete, and Erik.

“My brothers and I never decide an issue by a vote,” said Erik. “What means more is the strength of someone's convictions. You may be the one who has a different view than the other two. Your choice is either to convince the other two by the strength of your convictions or agree with them. We do the same with our executive team. It's not about people's titles or how many votes someone has. If you disagree, then you have a responsibility to present your view. If it's a good argument, it's going to carry the day. We are better as a team than we are individually. That has to guide your behavior.”

Face‐to‐Face Communication

Even with all the electronic channels of communication, Nordstrom believes that there's no better channel than in‐person, face‐to‐face. The company conducts periodic, regional town hall meetings where employees have personal interaction with members of the Nordstrom family and other officers and managers.

“Listening to everyone is important,” said Blake. “It's good having a big family. There's lots of us. My brothers and I and our executive team spend over half of our time on the road—an average of three days a week. We meet with every employee. It takes us a month. We are out there trying to kick tires and stay close to the business and take that back to what we're doing.”

Nader Shafii, a million‐dollar salesman in the South Coast Plaza store in Costa Mesa, California, recalled early in his career the opportunity to encounter members of the Nordstrom family at store meetings, where they would walk around the store and talk to the people on the floor.

“As a business graduate, I was impressed that the copresidents of the company would talk to the sales staff on the floor and ask questions,” said Shafii. “It intrigued me. I felt the warmth, the closeness among the managers and staff. You did not feel it was a boss/subordinate relationship. That's when I started to look more seriously at a career in retail. The more I listened to them speak, the more I understood what this company is based on. It changed me from wanting to have a job to having a career. I stayed in retail, specifically at Nordstrom, because of who these people were.”

Greg Holland, a regional manager, said: “We can't communicate enough with our employees. Every quarter I ask, ‘How can I, as a servant leader, help you achieve the objectives that we've agreed upon?’ I ask managers to share the three things that they are: (1) most proud of; (2) would like to do differently; and (3) going to achieve this year. We communicate and collaborate on how we're going to get all that nailed [down].”

Communication with the sales staff is obviously an essential part of the buyer's job. Nordstrom's best buyers support the salespeople in the stores. The buyers work for the salespeople; the salespeople don't work for the buyers. That's what Nordstrom's Inverted Pyramid structure is all about.

“My customer service is to my managers and salespeople because they are talking to the customers,” says a buyer. “I need their feedback to help shape my buy.”

Buyers get their feedback directly from the salespeople and the customers because they are encouraged to spend several hours a week on the sales floor. Interacting with the customer is powerful. Computer spreadsheets can tell you what's selling, but they can't tell you what you're not selling because you don't have it in stock. The best buyers at Nordstrom are good listeners. Customers appreciate being able to talk directly with a manager or a buyer. If a customer wants to know when a particular shoe will be in stock, a salesperson can turn to his or her buyer or manager and get the answer immediately.

Nordstrom has many ways to get feedback from the people on the sales floor. For example, every year, the company flies in to Seattle all the salespeople who have recorded a million dollars or more in sales.

“We are closest to the market,” said Van Mensah, a million‐dollar performer. “We talk about different trends, what we need to do to improve the business. A lot of the things we talk about get implemented. We give that advice freely. The company saves a lot of money by getting advice from people inside the company rather than bringing in a consultant who has no clue on how to sell to a customer. Our markets are different. By bringing in all these people from different markets, you get a good idea of your total business.”

Salespeople are asked to provide immediate feedback to the department manager on the quality, construction, fit, and availability of every product they sell so that the manager can respond accordingly.

At the Rack, Nordstrom's clearance store division, they send out informal surveys to employees, called “What Would You Do?” to get insight into topics such as improving service and “What two things can we improve upon in your department and/or store?”

Because salespeople are so close to the customer, their feedback is essential for upper management. Nordstrom management finds ways—official and unofficial—for salespeople to advise on topics such as floor layout and design.

Nader Shafii recollected a meeting where then‐cochairman Jim Nordstrom (who died in 1996) addressed buyers and managers and some Pacesetters, who are the highest achieving salespeople in their respective departments.

“Mr. Jim told the buyers and managers that the salespeople on the floor were the most important people in the company because they are the people between management and the customers,” recalled Shafii. “He said, ‘The salespeople are the ones who can bring the message from the customers to management—they tell us what they need in order to be able to make the customers happy. If the salespeople are not happy with the product, the buyers and managers should know. You should be able to react to that.’ That was a huge statement. That was the turning point for me.”

When we once asked Jim about the importance of listening he said, “The person we are going to learn from is the one who's actually doing the work. The guy I'm willing to trust is the guy who knows how our loading dock should be laid out, and when we should open it up and when we should close it. That guy understands how to make things better.”

The department managers are the shopkeepers, accountable for hiring and coaching. They need to be on the floor, rubbing elbows, coaching in the moment.

“Communication up and down the Pyramid is essential,” said manager Nancy Love. “Patience, creativity, persuasion, and respect for all aspects of the business. These experiences made me a better store manager because I understood the dynamics of making changes to our merchandise mix and what it took to make those changes happen.”

It's imperative for your organization to regularly ask your frontline people their thoughts on how they can do their job better. Start out with this simple question: “How can I make your life easier?” We guarantee that they will have plenty of answers—and most of the time those ideas won't cost you any extra money. Try it.

Hearing and Listening

Larry King, the U.S. television talk show host, once said, “I've never learned anything while I was talking.”

Cultivate a culture of listening—to colleagues, patients, vendors, and your community. Listening is the apparatus for communication and collaboration. A good coworker is a good listener.

Nordstrom reminds its employees to, “Always be doing at least as much listening and responding as you do talking.”

Most of us are hearing but not listening to what the other person is saying. Rather, we are waiting for the other person to take a breath or stop talking so we have a chance to express our brilliant thoughts.

When he started with Nordstrom in the early 1970s, Brian Tatsumura, a now‐retired store manager, took note of the best salesperson in his department, Mr. Kato, and invited him to lunch. Mr. Kato said, “Anyone can talk but how do you listen, Brian? You need to listen with all of your senses.” That simple question changed his approach with each and every customer.

David Witman, another retired executive, said, the best advice he was given throughout his career was, “Listen. You'd be surprised how much you learn if you just listen when you're surrounded by smart people.”

Collaboration: Teamwork

“If you're not a team player, you won't have a long career at Nordstrom,” said Bruce.

Nordstrom demands individual achievement and unselfish teamwork, both of which are essential to (a) the culture, (b) the experience, and (c) the bottom line.

Teamwork may be the more important of the two. You can be a top salesperson, but you won't last if you don't also give service to your fellow employees. Nordstrom employees must be team players who make a contribution to the success of their department, store, region, and the company, particularly in team selling competitions and contests, which are essential motivating tools for the Nordstrom Way.

Nordstrom constantly reinforces the idea that when the company is at its best, it is the result of a group effort. Nordstrom is both a collection of individuals and a seamless team, with each member of that team expected to be ready, willing, and able to take care of the other members while, at the same time, taking care of the customer. Consequently, Nordstrom employees are encouraged to cherish shared experiences, celebrate achievements (both individually and collectively), and appreciate one another as part of the collaborative effort.

Here's one example: On one Saturday afternoon, a Nordstrom salesperson named Linda took a phone call from a woman who wanted to buy an outfit for a wedding that she and husband were going to attend. Her husband needed to be fitted for a suit. She told Linda that her husband had recently become partially disabled and was in a wheelchair. Linda recalled:

Do you have stories like that? If you do, communicate and share them with all of your colleagues. That's how you create a collaborative culture built around your values.

These anecdotes reinforce the list of values that comprise this book and provide guidelines and inspiration for how individual team members can advance themselves as individuals. At the same time, they enhance the company's reputation, which ultimately benefits everyone.

Teamwork takes many forms at Nordstrom. Sometimes it's subtle, other times it's obvious.

On her wedding day, a customer had forgotten to pack a few items and her maid of honor had yet to buy her dress. The two women had rushed to take the hotel shuttle to the mall and had about an hour before they would have to return in order to get to the church on time.

The bride and maid of honor were greeted by a salesperson (whom we'll call Lynn) in the Mall of America store in Bloomington, Minnesota, who was apprised of the situation and the time constraints involved. Lynn picked out the perfect dress for the maid of honor, and then handed off the soon‐to‐be‐bride and her maid of honor to a shoe salesperson.

While the two customers were trying on shoes, the original salesperson brought over earrings to complement the dress. They purchased two pairs of earrings. Putting the proverbial cherry on top of the cake, Lynn asked the store concierge to find the name and location of a mall merchant from whom the customers could buy silk flowers. That is what teamwork looks like.

Of course, the two salespeople in this story both earned commission money on those sales. But sometimes the most impressive examples of teamwork occur when salespeople don't earn a commission, when they selflessly go out of their way for the greater good of their department or their store or their region or their company—or just because it makes them feel good. This is a perfect example of the company's striving to strike a balance of customer service, teamwork, and individual achievement.

One more teamwork story:

Britton Colquitt, punter for the 2015 Super Bowl‐winning Denver Broncos, and his teammates were flying to Washington, D.C., for a meeting at the White House with President Obama. Colquitt remembered that he neglected to pack the pants to his suit. His brother, Dustin, a punter for the Kansas City Chiefs, is a good friend and long‐time customer of Jacob Hershewe, department manager at the Nordstrom store in Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kansas. Hershewe identified a pair of pants to perfectly match Colquitt's suit and connected with the punter's own stylist to get his exact measurements for tailoring. The style and size of the pants that Colquitt needed were in stock at a Nordstrom store in Washington, D.C. Amy Conway, the store manager in D.C., drove the pants to the hotel where Colquitt was staying. He needed the pants within an hour of landing, and she delivered them with 10 minutes to spare.

“I actually thought to myself, ‘Here I am, a die‐hard Kansas City Chiefs fan, and I'm helping out a division rival Denver Broncos player!’” Hershewe said. “I felt proud to work for a company that could provide such fantastic service, starting at one store and finishing at another across the country. We really demonstrated our ‘One Nordstrom’ mentality and I'm so glad we were able to make it happen, all in under an hour.”

Social Media: Communicating with Customers

Social media helps drive Nordstrom's business because the company and individuals create content for people to share and comment on, as a way of building and strengthening relationships.

A Pacesetter on the East Coast views selling as the outcome of her primary focus, which is communicating. “I don't think you can be successful at Nordstrom unless you have a reason to communicate with the customer other than, ‘I have something to sell you.’ I like to spend a lot of time in the fitting room, asking questions, learning about the customer's life and sharing stories. Of course, I also keep them up to date on what's happening in the store and what items they might be interested in.”

Top salesperson Chris Sharma says it's all about “being proactive: You have to follow up with every single transaction to make sure that customers are happy with alterations, how they like the product, the style. I check new merchandise every single day and stay in touch with customers.”

Sharma uses all of his tools to communicate with his customers in order to create business for himself. When he first started with the company in the early 1990s, he communicated with a handwritten thank‐you note after every sale. Communication then evolved to phone calls, then e‐mails, then text messaging.

In that spirit, Nordstrom encourages salespeople to communicate with their customers via e‐mail, text messages, Twitter, or Facebook and make comments in other forums such as Yelp. Nordstrom tells its employees: “Whichever approach your customer prefers, that's the best way to do it.”

Using the website and customer input and feedback from its Facebook page and Twitter stream, Nordstrom fine‐tunes offerings, from both a story and a product standpoint. Nordstrom passes those customer comments on to the people responsible for making decisions and responding to the customer.

Salespeople send out messages and photos to their followers to let them know about exclusive items in the store or upcoming events, and they share their expertise, advice, and recommendations.

Nordstrom takes a leap of faith in empowering employees to represent the company in a sales capacity. “Use good judgment”—Nordstrom's one rule—still applies to the use of social media, without restricting what employees should say or do. Nordstrom suggests some topics to avoid, but it encourages employees to have fun and to build on their relationships with customers and each other. Social media guidelines are shared with all employees who participate and are posted for the public to view at the company website.

Nordstrom expects employees to be positive, respectful, considerate, and inclusive; to always treat others (including customers, noncustomers, shareholders, coworkers, vendors, and competitors) as they would expect to be treated. Although they are approved to represent Nordstrom, they must state that the views they express in their postings and other communications are their own. They are asked not to publish, post, or release information that is considered confidential or not meant for the public, such as strategies and forecasts; legal issues or future promotions and activities; merchandise pricing information or comparisons; nor should they give out private and personal information.

This being Nordstrom, employees are expected to be humble.

“Stay away from boasting about customer service,” the company tells its employees involved in social networking. “Let's stay focused on working to deliver great service instead of talking about it.”

A personal stylist in Florida helps her customers do most of their shopping via e‐mail and texts. “I can connect with them quickly and be more accessible. Before our Anniversary Sale, I edit down the choices appropriate for each customer, and then send small‐resolution images that I get from nordstrom.com or photos I take myself. Instead of spending 20 minutes on the phone trying to describe an item to a customer, it's right there in front of them on their computer or phone.”

A Seattle women's wear salesperson periodically takes pictures of items she thinks her customers would like and sends them via e‐mail, text, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. One of her customers wrote:

Although she moved from New Jersey to Long Island, New York, a customer named Molly still shops at the Nordstrom in New Jersey's Garden State Plaza because of the communication she has with Keith Charles, a personal stylist, whom Molly describes as “very educated about every single thing. There's a lot of energy around Keith.”

To which Keith replied, “My customers are confident that whatever I put together is a home run. I want my customers to think ‘Keith is the guy who's going to make it happen.’ That's what I live for.”