Management Training

A generation ago, management training meant bringing in a young graduate, introducing them to their team, and giving them a copy of the company’s handbook. These days, thankfully, we know a bit better. Decades of experience in a competitive global economy have taught us that leaders can come from anywhere, and that they need more than a set of rules and a pat on the back to get ahead.

Make no mistake, management isn’t easy. To guide any team – whether it’s three people or three thousand – requires and awareness of the various personalities, skills, backgrounds, and motivations involved. To forget about any of these factors risks having a project move slowly, or stop going forward altogether. 

That’s why management training is so crucial. Done correctly, it can prepare a professional of any age to work and communicate with their team in a way that inspires top-level performance. Without the proper foundation, it takes your brightest employees and throws them to the wolves. But the difference isn’t to be found in the amount of time or money spent; it’s in the approach to the problem.

Consider it this way: which would you rather have, a supervisor who does everything by the book, or one who follows your organizations principles and gets results? That’s the power of an integrated approach to management training. It goes beyond the what and how, and into the why. And in the process, you don’t just train managers, you create leaders. 

Many traditional management training programs and seminars come up short because they focus on specific situations and fail to aim at the underlying issues that new and experienced supervisors struggle with in the office. Avoid that trap by putting our experience to work for you.

Clickhere to see an overview of our management training programs, and see why so many companies turn to us for answers to their real problems.

Jesse James and Sandra Bullock: Truth or Fiction?

There is nothing that sparks more interest in people then getting the inside scoop on the good, the bad and the ugly for other people. Unfortunately that light is being cast right now on Jesse James and Sandra Bullock.

I will not attempt to prove whether he has or has not cheated on her but instead show you how information can be skewed based on perceptions- how our brains can make leaps in logic.

Here are some of the leaps I am hearing people do:
1. He cheated on her, he wears tattoos, therefore an indication of cheating is the fast paced live of tattoos.
2. His second wife was a porn star- proof the guy has more raunchy taste and Sandra is his exception.
3. All the women coming forward have tattoos, and tattoo people are daredevils so it is proof that he did have the affairs
4. He has been married twice before, proof he can't be true.

All of these have elements of facts and lots of opinion that is being put together to become fact based.

So here is all we do know:
1. He has been married twice before and both marriages ended in divorce.
2. He does like fast cars and tattoos.
3. At least one of his previous marriages ended due to affairs he had, so he does have knowledge of how to conduct them.

Those are the only facts we have now, and the rest we need to see played out. What you want to avoid is jumping to generalizations based on some facts.

The hardest thing in business is to stay focused on the facts and not be swayed by opinion. It is easy to say, "Joe didn't get that report in on time therefore Joe is always last." There you have fact "he didn't get the report in on time" and then move to opinion "Joe is always late." Good critical thinkers know when to listen to the facts, weed out the assumptions and opinions, and when to act on what they know.

For now I wish them best of luck in sorting things out and if it is true, then, in my opinion, he needs figure out why he needs the element of risk to feel alive.

Resilence: How resilient are you?

My Grandpa is 96 years old.

Just imagine in his lifetime what he has lived through:

He has lived through the first cars. He saw when America was the number one car seller to having America displaced by foreign cars.

He has lived through World War II, Vietnam and Desert Storm. So he has seen how the news covered and delivered updates on the war after the fact and then Desert Storm when we were right there with the troops.

He has lived through the small Mom and Pop grocery stores to the big chains we have today.

He has lived through the traditional "treat a woman like a lady" to the women's movement "I can get my own door, thank you."

He has seen the telephone go from being a clunky desk object to being a cell phone you put in your pocket.

He saw Kodak almost disappear as we went from film to digital prints.

He saw games move from board games to electronic pong to the Wii.

He has been resilient. He has had to change continuously. Never once have I seen him complain about the changes or regress to saying what they had was better.

No, instead he says, "Will you look at that? Isn't that amazing?"

You see resilience is attitude. What is your attitude?

More on attitude by Anne Warfield

What Does President Obama's Hands Say?

Often with leaders it is not what they say, but rather, what their body language says that tells the real story.

I find that President Obama's hands are very revealing. Go back and look at his last State of the Union address and you will find the following:

1. When he is expressing an idea that is an ideal but doesn't have a concrete plan behind it, he uses open palms while he talks.
2. When he has firm plans that are in place he touches his thumb and pointer finger together making a small circle.
3. When he has plans but they have not come together completely he puts his thumb half way down his pointer finger making a smaller or flattened circle.
4. When we wants an idea accepted but he is getting massive push back, he laces his fingers together and pounds them up and down to make his point.

So watch his hands in further speeches to see how ideal or how concrete his path and thoughts are!

More on body language by Anne Warfield

Why Strategic Planning May Get You To The Wrong Place

You have your entire trip planned out including what museums you will go to, when you will go to them, and even your map with the route marked out. Being that prepared is what Strategic Planning is about. It is making sure you have what you need to get from Point A to Point Z.

Now the problem occurs when you have all of that planned out for Boston and you are actually in Los Angeles. It doesn't matter how good the strategic plan is since it doesn't take in to account one of the major stumbling blocks right up front. It requires Strategic Thinking-looking at the problem or challenge from a holistic approach- to happen FIRST before Strategic Planning is effective.

I bring this up because many companies today are training their leaders on Strategic Planning and mistakenly thinking that means they are elevating the leader's thinking process. In reality you are giving them a tool that will only be as useful as the base of thinking it rests on.

So how good is your team's thinking? If they are like most managers, they actually immediately move to solving a problem rather than thinking through the problem. This leads to a constant stop-start action at your company where people are constantly moving but nothing is getting done.

As Einstein said, "You can't solve a problem from the same level of thinking that created it."

In today's economy it requires you to use Critical Thinking skills in order to be more strategic in what you do, how you do it and how you create action in others. It requires leaders to move from training people on what to do to showing them how to think.

The only asset your team will bring to every meeting is their brain. Do you know how to tap in to all it's richness? Or are you sitting with Boston maps while you are in Los Angeles?

More on Strategic Thinking by Anne Warfield

Power vs. Force: Use OutcomeThinking® to Unleash Your Personal Power!

Outcome Thinking® Webinar Series
Power vs. Force: Use Outcome Thinking® to Unleash Your Personal Power!

You will learn:
1. To unleash your best, highest and most authentic self
2. How to fully step into your inner power and magnificence
3. To create a high frequency vibration and calibration

We will share with you how to tap in to your personal power with Outcome Thinking®.

Join us for this engaging webinar to unlock your personal power.

Take 30 seconds to RSVP for this “NO-COST WEBINAR” on Thursday May 6 at 1:00 cst.

REGISTER TODAY


PS: Feel free to pass this invitation on to your family, friends for this one-of-a-kind-webinar experience.

Can't make the date?

Still register so you can get Free access to the recording after the event.

For those who don't register, the recording will be available for purchase.

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/849966946

How to Use Outcome Thinking to Increase Your Luck

Outcome Thinking® Webinar Series
How to Use Outcome Thinking® to Increase YOUR Luck!

You will learn:
1. the four things lucky people do
2. how to persevere in achieving goals
3. what steps to take to attract good luck

We will share with you how to tap in to and access the greatest power you have using Outcome Thinking®. You will see what changes you need to put in place to make sure that you accomplish what you want in 2010.

Join us for this introspective and engaging webinar to get your key to unlock your luck.

Take 30 seconds to RSVP for this “NO-COST WEBINAR” on Thursday March 4 at 1:00 cst.

REGISTER TODAY

PS: Feel free to pass this invitation on to your family, friends for this one-of-a-kind-webinar experience.


Can't make the date?

Still register so you can get Free access to the recording after the event.

For those who don't register, The recording will be available for purchase.

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/280718586