How will you work differently in 2013?

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I’m finding myself in a lot of conversations about 2013 and several clients have asked if I think anyone in their company would find meaning in going through our Predictive Index Management Workshop™, which certifies them as a Predictive Index® analyst.

The short answer is always, YES!  Anyone who is dealing with any of the following matters stands to find tremendous value in the training…and who do you know who is NOT dealing with one of these?

  • hiring new employees
  • improving performance of employees
  • building sales
  • navigating change

Is this you?

Perhaps you’ve already been through the training once.  In that case, consider auditing it alongside someone from your company who is being newly trained. You’ll be able to use the training as a time to explore challenges and opportunities with your team…and you’ll be able to come to the training for free!  Many analysts say that while they understood their first training, their repeat training is when PI® really began to stick.

If you’re dealing with one of the matters above, have been trained and are still looking for more, let’s talk.  We have everything from free tools, to free webinars, to additional training or coaching available to share with you.

Now’s the optimum time for planning in 2013.  How will you be doing your work differently in order to achieve even better results next year?

Five Ways to Develop Your Leadership Talent Pool

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You’ve heard it before: good leaders are made, not born. Simply put, leadership is working through others to achieve results. This is often easier said than done, especially when the others may be quite different than us. Here are five ideas for how to develop a deeper pool of leaders at all levels of your organization. You can also contact us to help you develop a custom leadership development program for your organization.

1.  Improve self-knowledge

The Connection Circle below shows that achieving business results through others starts with understanding oneself.

With self-knowledge, one has the capacity to harness strengths and manage weaknesses. (And we all have strengths and weaknesses.) When we are able to manage ourselves effectively, we can be more successful engaging others, and achieving business results.

As you know, Predictive Index® is a powerful tool for working through the Connection Circle, starting with building self-awareness and moving out from there. Identify your high-potentials and send them to the PI Management Workshop™. Your leaders can shift from judging others (“She just ‘doesn’t get it.”) to understanding them and working with them in the most effective way (“She’s needing more clarity from me. I need to be more specific about what I want the final product to be.”) See PI Workshop dates.

2. Consider Coaching

Pairing training with coaching boasts ROI. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Consider:

  • An International Personnel Management Association survey (Jan. 2001) found that productivity increased by 88 percent when coaching was combined with training (compared to a 22 percent increase with training alone).
  • A Manchester Inc. study of Fortune 1000 executives (2001) found that coaching resulted in a ROI of almost six times the program cost as well as a 77 percent improvement in relationships, 67 percent improvement in teamwork, 61 percent improvement in job satisfaction and 48 percent improvement in quality
  • Research conducted by Metrix Global, LLC with Fortune 500 companies (2001) reveals that 58 percent of those clients whose coaching experience was limited to working on more tactical issues reported that their coaching significantly impacted the business. In contrast, 100 percent of those who’s coaching addressed more strategic issues reported making a significant impact on the business.

Learn more about our coaching services.

3. Schedule Training

Learning and growing is not a “one and done” event. Rather, it’s a process. And because adults learn best when they can experience new thoughts and ideas, not just hear about them, our group-format training includes interactive exercises and application activities. We offer a robust selection of topics for ½ and full-day sessions:

  • Change Management
  • Motivation
  • Decision-Making
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Communication
  • Performance Management
  • Team-Building
  • Using Predictive Index in Hiring
  • Implementing the Predictive Index at an Organizational Level
  • Coaching
  • Performance Goals and Standards

Contact me to learn more.

4. Brunch and Learn

Our monthly PI Fridays refresher webinars are an excellent opportunity to gather your trained PI analysts (those who have attended the PI Management Workshop™) around bagels and coffee. These sessions revisit PI topics first encountered during the PI training as well as give you the opportunity to ask questions. See webinar schedule.

5. Attend Our Annual PI User Group

This annual gathering of trained PI analyst deepens knowledge, sharpens skills, and refreshes enthusiasm. Generally scheduled during the fall of each year, this event includes sharing of best practices, application activities and skill-sharpening presentations. Learn more about the 2012 PI User Group meeting on Nov. 15th in Lansing, MI.

Do you have a favorite method to develop leadership talent to add to this list?  Contact me or leave a comment.

 

We Welcome Stephanie Murphy as Management Consultant

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While Stephanie is new to ADVISA, she is not entirely new to Predictive Index®.  Stephanie first learned about PI® when her previous employer, M&O Marketing, became a client in 2009.  Her “Ah-ha!” moment came during analyst training this past January when she gained a deeper understanding of the science behind her intuitive understanding.

While at M&O, Stephanie excelled in a variety of sales and marketing leadership roles before taking on her most recent role as vice president of operations. Along the way, she earned an impressive five promotions in 10 years! M&O provides marketing services, training and other support to independent insurance agents, specializing in annuity, long-term care and life.

Stephanie lives in Plymouth, MI, with her husband and daughter, and will focus on serving clients in our Detroit market. She earned her undergraduate degree in marketing from Michigan State University, and then added an MBA and a master’s degree in finance from the University of Michigan, Dearborn.

We think you will find Stephanie has a true passion for helping others achieve success.

Self-discipline and reinforcement are keys to effective training

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Training can be wasteful and worthless for you and your employees.  Training takes time.  Costs money.  Takes key people out of the job for a period of time.  If you wanted to list out the reasons not to do training you could produce a nice-sized list even longer than this one.

Effective training involves two variables every time:
  1. Self-discipline
  2. Reinforcement
Without those two variables, training can be a waste.  The two variables are in order of importance as well.  Consider the changes in your own life - the important lessons that have stuck with you to this day.  What is consistent with each of them?  Likely, self-discipline and reinforcement were involved in all scenarios.
Without self-discipline our behaviors do not want to change.  As human beings we have the distinct ability to say “no” or “yes” to things our bodies/minds want.  Breaking habits developed over time are not easy.  Our bodies want to continue doing what they’ve been doing.  Self-discipline is the opposite force that must be larger than the habit.  Over time, the need to exert self-discipline lessens as the new behaviors firmly take the place of the old behaviors.  Self-discipline is a limited supply resource in that we only have so much of to dole out.
Reinforcement is the other critical piece of the equation for effective training.  This is the outside influence or accountability that keeps us, or our employees, on the new behavior path.
Consider New Year’s resolutions as a great example of reinforcement.  Andrea decides that after New Year’s Day she is going to go to the gym every day and give up soda.  For the first week, she makes it happen.  Then the following week she skips two days because “something came up”.  Then in week three of the new year she only goes once because “things just got busy”.  Then in week four all behaviors are back to “normal” for Andrea.  There was no reinforcement to produce the new desired behaviors.  The self-discipline alone ran out after one week, which can be typical.  She lacked outside accountability to shore her up.  Most of us need a person or outside force to keep us on track with new behaviors.  The more ingrained the old behavior, the more reinforcement we will need to enforce the new behaviors.
On a go forward basis, once you know the new behaviors you wish to see from yourself and your employees, consider how much self-discipline will be necessary and what reinforcement you will be able to maintain to make them happen.  Without those pieces you should reconsider your investment of time and resources.
Ask yourself this:  “Do I have the self-discipline and reinforcement in place to sustain these changes I wish to see?”
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