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

A Snapshot of Brillance: What's Yours?

If you are a photographer and you want to grow your business, how do you do it?

Most likely you thought of the typical marketing ideas of advertising, tweeting, or maybe even blogging on how to ensure you get great pictures. All of those are good ideas but I saw one the other day that was absolutely brilliant in its simplicity.

My girlfriend had pictures of her son taken. When she picked up her pictures the photographer handed her 100 business cards that had on the front- the photographers website and phone number as well as a picture of my friend's baby, the back was a full picture of my friend's baby crawling.

There are six reasons this is brilliant:

1. Allows parents to pass out pictures of their child without buying extra expensive prints.
2. They are small and easy to carry around
3. Friends are likely to keep the card as it has a picture of the friend's baby on it. Hence better chance they will call down the road.
4. Every person who gets a card feels it is "customized" and relevant to them because the picture on it is someone they know. Thus the card suddenly has "character."
5. The parents are proud to hand them out because it has their child's picture on it
6. It eliminates the "who took these pictures" attempt at referrals and promotes the photographer without a word spoken

Now you have feel good energy around the handing out of the cards as well as the receiving of the card.

Looking at this example, ask what you can do in your business to generate this same goodwill. What can you do that clients will hold on to? What can you do that clients will want to distribute for you?

Now I realize not all our businesses lend toward the cute idea this photographer has done but I would bet if you think on it, you can come up with something equally as brilliant. So what have you done that has made you or your business stand out?

More on creating a positive impression by Anne Warfield

President Obama - State of the Union - Body Language Insights

Anne Warfield shares her insights on President Obama's body language during the State of the Union Address:

When is Right Wrong?

I am a fan of the show Bones. I love watching the completely analytical mind of Bones going up against the "feel it in your gut" thinking of Booth.

In last night's show Booth did a background check on his brother's girlfriend. Why? Because he believes his brother often doesn't think through his decisions well so Booth wanted to make sure this woman was good for his brother. He felt he was right in what he did.

Bones, trying to get him to see the error in his thinking said a classical line, "I don't know if you were wrong, but I fail to see the point of being right."

Take a moment to re-read that line.  It is profound in its simplicity.  Many times being wrong or right is not the point.  The outcome you are going after can often be totally lost because you are focusing on whether you are wrong or right (an either/or thinking) versus focusing on the outcome (an "and" thinking).

For your OT Journal, go back and look at how many times you go for being "right" versus going for the outcome.  Now thinking about that, what would you need to change in your thinking to get to the outcome versus being right? How would that have impacted the situation?

If you don't have an OT Journal, email us at contact@imp.us.com and put "Blog OT Journal Intentions" in the email and we will send you a free downloadable journal.

Anne Warfield

Conan & Leno: A Story in Brass vs Class

What you say outloud  is just a reflection to the world of how you think of the world and yourself. So if I cut other people down when I talk, I am telling you I don't value myself or others.  If I look for the good in others when I talk I am showing you that I see the world as good and my brain looks for the good in others. What you say reflects your thinking, so what is yours saying?

I watched Conan's last two shows to see how he would handle coming off the air.  Remember this is a spot he fought 5 years for.  He was the one that went to NBC and said he wanted to be promised Leno's spot or he was going to walk from his contract.

So NBC gave him the spot.  They went to Leno and said it was time to retire. Leno went off the air gracefully without harsh digs on NBC or on Conan.  Instead he focused on the opportunities he was going to have and poked fun at how the ending happened. He showed all of us that he wasn't happy with the decision but he was settled with it and he would come out on top again. He displayed Class.

Conan's exit was bitter.  He took huge digs at NBC, did expensive stunts (costing millions of dollars), and basically said that NBC screwed him over.  Remember, this is a guy that went to NBC and told them he could handle the Tonight Show and then when he couldn't handle it, instead of owning that, he fought back and said it was NBC's fault.  That is Brass.

Leno's actions showed that his brain automatically moves to making the best of a situation by being the best he can.  Conan's actions showed that he will move to blaming others when things go wrong rather than owning what he needs to change or modify to make things better.

Which employee would you want? Which employee are you?

Every day your words and action demonstrate your THINKING.  So, for those of you following in your Outcome Thinking Intentions Journal, go back and look at some of the thinking you demonstrated.  What does it say about you and your view of the world?  If it is not what you want start changing it today.

PS. If you don't have a OT Journal, see our previous blog to see how to get your hands on a free journal.

Anne Warfield

New Webinar: 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.

PS: Feel free to pass this invitation on to your family, friends and colleagues 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.


Register at: http://www.impressionmanagement.com/webinar.html

Outcome Thinking & Intentions

Yesterday I did a Webinar on the The Scientific Proof behind the Hocus Pocus of Thoughts and Intentions. If you weren't able to tune in, you can go purchase a copy on the website. Here I am going to tie activities and things y0u can do to expand your thinking and analyze the impact your thoughts have on meetings, discussions and your daily life. This will allow you to make your own conclusion.

You may also wish to get your hands on our Outcome Thinking & Intentions journal. Just email us at contact@imp.us.com and put Blog OT Journal in the subject line and we will send you a free downloadable journal.

In studying the impact your thoughts have on actual situations I had you start writing down what your THOUGHTS are and then what results you saw happen. This is important because there is tremendous power in what is not said. Matter-of-fact, in some people this comes out in expressive body language that tells you what they are thinking but not saying.

If you want to stop giving away tell-tell signs you need to first learn to manage your thinking. That is one of the beauties of Outcome Thinking- it shows you how to flip your brain so you automatically starting going to the offense side of thinking rather than the defense side of thinking.

So between now and my next blog, I just want you to observe your thoughts and what happens. Blog back and let us know what you thought and what happened. You will be your own Intention Experiment.

My first test on this was rather simple. I said I was going to change my "parking Karma." In my family we used to joke that I always ended up with the crappy parking spaces. So I simply started to say that I would get a front row spot. The amazing thing is that in 6 months I have only had ONE parking spot that wasn't front row! Every time I land a front row spot and no, I am not circling the parking ramp waiting for a spot. I drive in confidently thinking, "where is my front open spot?" and then there it is!

If you have a co-worker you are having trouble with try to just send positive thoughts about that person out and see how it changes their interaction with you.

Anne Warfield

Learn the Scientific Proof to the Hocus Pocus About Thoughts & Intentions!

What is the link between intention, crime and muscles?


Can you alone, impact change in your department, your company?

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 opportunities.





Take 30 seconds to RSVP for this “NO-COST WEBINAR” on Thursday January 21 at 1:00 cst.



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

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/917740242

When Big Isn't Big Enough

Picture your drive way with 80,000 rubber squids dropped on the driveway by a delivery truck the size of Kentucky. How would you move them all?

Let me introduce you to Steve Spangler a science aficionado. He loves to share the fun of science with teachers and kids around the world. He creates experiments that explode and makes science an art to be explored. Check him out at stevespanglerscience.com.

Steve is a good example of how thinking small but pushed to big gets awesome results. See Steve decided to create some small rubber squids for his science activity SQUIDYtm. He set about to get a mold made and when told he had to buy in quantity, he agreed. For after all, how hard could it be to sell 500 of them?

What he didn't expect was 80,000 of them dropped at his driveway with a $20,000 price tag to be paid in 30 days.

This "error" forced Steve to think far bigger than he originally planned. Today his experiments are in 1,000 stores and over 20,000 educational catalogs worldwide.

All because Steve couldn't "afford" to sit on this quantity. He needed to make money fast so he could pay the $20,000 invoice.

When do you think too small? In what ways are you trying to play it safe and be in the 500 quantity range rather than in the 80,000 Oh-my-gosh-what-are-we-going-to-do range?

Live large rather than just playing safe!

Anne Warfield
More on becoming innovative by Anne Warfield

Meaning to Be Happy or Happy to have Meaning

There is an old proverb that has a couple traveling to a new town. Halfway they find an old man and they ask him what the next village is like. He says, "what was your last village like?" They respond, "It was awful. The neighbors were rude." He responds, "You will find the same thing in the next village."

A few hours later another couple comes upon the old man. They two are traveling to the same town as the previous couple. They ask the man what the next village is like. He says, "What was your last village like?" They respond, "it was wonderful. We hated to leave the love and friendship of all our neighbors." He says, "You will find the same thing in the next village."

The proverb was to show us that the village contains what we bring to it- you bring misery and you will get misery; you bring joy and you will get joy.

Marshall and Kelly Goldsmith just did a study on happiness and meaning and they found that happiness and meaning has more to do with WHO you are rather than WHERE you are.

So gone are the excuses and the blaming. Instead you need to look in the mirror and own the baggage you are carrying with you.

They found the number of hours being worked and even the quality of the work didn't have bearing on the happiness. What did was the meaning the employees gave the work they did.

Another interesting point was those that were happy at work were generally happy at home and those that were miserable at work were generally miserable at home as well.

So, think of yourself, like a snail. You carry your entire world with you each day. If you want it to be happy and to have meaning, look no further than inside your own shell!

Anne Warfield

More on developing leadership by Anne Warfield

Fall from Grace

Celebrity scandals abound and even if you don't like gossip you can't help but be inundated by news of the latest scandal.

The latest fall from grace, of course, is Tiger Woods. Think of all the years Tiger Woods has spent building his brand. In the industry you knew that if his name was tied to something it had to be of the utmost quality. His perfectionism and drive spoke louder than his words.

Yet in just one night his ratings plumeted to 80% of people having a negative impression of him. Prior to the "crash" and women coming out of the woodwork saying they are mistresses of his, only 2% of the public had a negative impression of him.

Can he ever recover?

The reality, based on history, is NO. He will never reach the height of trust and respect he had just one short month ago in November of 2009.

There are several business lessons for you to learn here:
1. Trust crumbles easily- your words and actions must match or they will catch up to you. And when they do people don't like feeling like they have been duped by you.
2. Quality & Perception relate- people will relate your companies quality to their perception of the quality of the individuals you hire. Make sure their attitudes match the perception you want.
3. Actions not Words Count- People will look for the actions to match the words. If they don't, the words mean nothing. Just last month Woods gave an interview on the value of family. Now that same interview is being used to "mock" his actions.
4. Morals & Values do count- Kanye West went from 17% of the population having a negative impression of him to over 81% of the people having a negative impression of him after he humiliated Taylor Swift at the awards. I wouldn't be surprised if his career never recovers.

So the moral of the story is THINK. Your reputation and brand is directly tied to your actions. Yes, people will interpret the value of your brand through how they interpret the value of EACH and EVERY interaction they have with your employees.

All it take is one poor interaction with one person to lose a life time customer. So my advice to you, is to take care of your employees so they take care of your customers.

Anne Warfield

More on managing your message by Anne Warfield

How to manifest the life you want

As you have noticed from my blogs, they are all designed to spark thinking. For all change starts with a change in thinking. You can not change on the outside long-term if you don't change on the inside. They go hand in hand.

The other day someone was telling me about what kind of team they wanted at work. He knew exactly how they wanted it to operate. He wanted a team that operated with a high degree of accountability, respect, and accuracy. I asked him what he was doing to make that "culture" happen, and he told me he couldn't make the culture change because he didn't have the right people. His solution was to keep firing people and hiring new people- which he had been doing for over 3 years!

In his mind, he didn't have the right people. The real problem isn't the people, it is the thinking that is now infiltrated in to that department. Imagine if you are one of those team members. What they are seeing is that you stick your nose in your job and just protect it because you could be axed. So problems become buried because no one wants to be the one fired. He is actually creating a culture of fear rather than a culture of accountability.

You see the message that is sent when you fire people rather than work on changing what needs to be changed is that "you are dispensible so don't disrupt the flow."

If you want to manifest the changes you want, you need to start with YOU. Anything you see happening around you that you don't want to be a part of figure out what you are doing to contribute to it. I know this manager doesn't see what he is doing that is causing this but instead is focusing outward on "I just need the right people."

So here is a great line to ponder: You don't get in life what you want; you get in life what you are.

Make sure you ARE what you WANT.

Anne Warfield
More on effective leadership by Anne Warfield

You need to reVerse to move Forward

There is one person more important to you than anyone. I want you to take a moment right now and picture in your mind who, for you, is that person.

You most likely thought of your parents, your children, your significant other or a good friend. But I don't think that is the one person that is more important to you than anyone.

Here take this quick test: When the person you pictured in your mind is in a photograph with you, do you first look at them or do you look at how YOU came out in the photo? Most likely you checked out you first. You most likely criticized how your hair looked, your smile, your teeth and your stance or you smiled pleased as punch at how good you came out and then and only then did you look at how everyone else in the picture came out.

My point is not that you don't love the other person, but that your first instinct when thinking is to think of YOU. You want to make sure you come out okay.

This need to have yourself look good and to take care of yourself causes some big problems in your thinking with others.

When we look at others and try to figure out what they meant by what they said or did, we automatically filter it through, "now why would I have done that if I were them?"

We then move forward putting our judgment on their actions and assume that is the truth. But alas, it is only the truth as we perceive it.

In order to move FORWARD with your THINKING you need to start working in REVERSE.

Here are the steps to start Thinking in REVERSE:

1. Listen to your thoughts. What you think about other people is EXACTLY how you think of yourself. If you are critical of how people dress, then your mind is critical of how you dress. If you watch to make sure people don't cheat you, then that means you have cheated people.

2. Stop negative thoughts immediately. Literally say "Stop, Stop" and change the thought to a positive.

3. Make note of any negative thoughts you have during the day. These thoughts are what are driving your behavior. If you don't own them, they will own you.

4. Once you have selected the thoughts you want to change, start immediately changing them. For example, if you usually look for hidden meanings when others talk, start working on NEVER having hidden meanings when you talk. As you get rid of your negative habits your thoughts will start to change as well.

We get back what we sow so make sure you plant good seeds. Reverse can be your new way forward.

Anne Warfield
More on managing your message by Anne Warfield

You Can Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

You can't teach an old dog new tricks. How often have you heard that statement? It has been around since Socrates, I believe.

Well, new reseach on the brain is blowing that statement to smitherenes. They are now finding that if you repeat certain thoughts or beahviors, neuro-connections are made and repeatedly strengthened so that you essentially restructure your brain or that element of your brain that deals with that behavior.

So in a sense, you can think your way out of anything.

So look at your life. What is not the way you want it to be?

Take time, right now, to write out how you want it to be. Then start training your brain to believe it IS that way already. Your brain will literally start to modify your behavior to align with the new thought.

Anne Warfield
More on improving productivity by Anne Warfield