Jan/120
How to Get Leadership Buy-In For Your Initiatives
How do you win senior management’s confidence and commitment when your initiatives are competing for time, attention and budget?
Learn how you can better harness your own thinking preferences and the brainpower of those around you to make your case. Ann Herrmann-Nehdi shows you how in the free HR.com webinar, Getting Buy-in for Your HR Initiatives: Applying C-Level Thinking for Faster and Better Results.
In her signature high-energy, interactive presentation style, Ann demonstrates ways you can adapt your thinking to the circumstances to quickly get the buy-in you need, exploring the distinct thinking styles of C-level leaders and the specific questions they focus on when making key business decisions. Ann will show you how to align your own thinking with theirs to increase your strategic outlook, build your influence and present a compelling business case.
If you’re in Human Resources, Training, Learning & Development, or any role that needs to present a compelling case to senior management, this technique- and tip-filled webinar is a don’t miss, as several participant evaluation comments from the live session attest:
It was very good the first time around and I am going to watch it again because there was so much good information I may have missed something and want to absorb as much as possible. Thanks!
This speaker and her slides were awesome!!!! I want to review the information again and again. This is a tool that will help me develop a roadmap to getting better buy-in with the changes that need to occur in the world of benefits.
Excellent research and timely topic as we are doing more with a whole lot less! I definitely gained more insight for effective communications with senior leaders.
The webinar archive with downloadable handouts is available on demand to HR.com members. If you are not a member, simply sign up for a free HR.com membership.
Jan/120
Engaging Employees: Pay Attention to What Really Matters
Engaging Employees: Pay Attention to What Really Matters
From business magazines to HR publications to health and wellness websites, employee engagement is one of the hot topics of the moment.
The Googles and Zappos.com’s of the world are often name-dropped as examples of companies that are doing it right, keeping their employees happy and, well, keeping their employees.
But what makes them happy? Is it the perks like free food and dry cleaning? The financial incentives? The social activities?
Before you install that coffee bar, take a look at what employees say really matters to them.
While Google offers many perks, the research shows that these aren’t actually the primary drivers of job satisfaction. Referring to the results of his study of more than 1,400 US-based companies, Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ, put it bluntly about what motivates employees:
“What they really need is a workplace that isn’t going to irritate them.”
What actually makes Google so successful, he adds, “is the competition of ideas, the pure meritocracy, whoever has the best idea wins.”
Blessing White’s Employee Engagement Report echoes these findings. In their survey of more than 11,000 people around the globe, they found that “employees worldwide view opportunities to apply their talents, career development and training as top drivers of job satisfaction.”
And managers, they point out, aren’t necessarily focusing on the things that matter most to their employees.
No wonder employees are irritated. And no wonder the high potentials at those organizations are looking for other opportunities.
What motivates one person won’t necessarily motivate another, but applying what we know about the brain makes it easier for leaders to understand how different employees prefer to think and approach their work and what they pay attention to. Because thinking drives behavior, it gives leaders the clues and framework to focus on what will really engage, motivate and retain their employees.
If you’re an HBDI® Certified Practitioner, be sure to register for the January 25th THINC™ Webinar, Don’t Lose Your Top Talent! Engaging Employees With Whole Brain® Leadership, for specific tips and takeaways on how to help your managers take action to engage their employees in a meaningful way.
Dec/110
Leadership in an Age of Information Overload
What does it take to be an effective leader in an age of information overload?
In an HR.com webinar last month, Ann Herrmann-Nehdi showed participants how to develop their leaders’ “mind management skills” so they can successfully navigate in an increasingly noisy and demanding environment. If you missed the session, or if you want to view it again and download the slides, the recording is now available on the HR.com website.
In this webinar, you’ll learn how to align leadership competencies with the type of nimble thinking skills that are critical in an age of smartphones, overflowing email inboxes and continual change. Ann gives you an easy-to-apply approach for helping your leaders get more strategic while getting more done.
Access the recording and handouts here:
From Mind-Full to Mindful: Developing Strategic Leaders in an Age of Information Overload
NOTE: If you are already a member of HR.com, simply log in to access the webinar. If you are not a member, you will need to sign up for a free HR.com membership, which will take only a moment.
Once you have confirmation of your membership, you will be able to access recordings and register for other educational opportunities, including Ann’s upcoming HR.com webinar, Getting Buy-in for Your HR Initiatives: Applying C-Level Thinking for Faster and Better Results.
Sep/110
Sales Growth: The Thought That Counts
When it comes to sales effectiveness, are you paying attention to what really matters?
If you’re not focusing on the thinking that drives sales growth, you won’t get the best from your people and processes. It’s that simple.
How we think impacts everything we do—and the results we get. Our newest white paper will be filled with proven tips and tools based on what we know about thinking and performance to help you sell more, waste less and set your team up for success:
“We don’t have to throw out everything we’ve been doing in our sales organizations. Instead, we need to take a closer look at the engine that drives our sales results: the brains of those who make it happen and the systems they engage to achieve those results. Too many of us are wasting time, energy and effort and risking revenue because we’ve haven’t paid attention to the core—the thinking that produces results.”
You can get your copy by attending our upcoming free webinar, Optimizing Your Sales Organization for Long-Term Growth.
Join us on September 28th for an exploration of how to apply agile thinking and a Whole Brain® approach to drive sales results, and get priority access to this new paper.
Aug/110
Top Young Talent Looking for a Good Mentor
How will organizations succeed in attracting the next brightest minds? By paying attention to their development.
That’s the conclusion of a recent Business Insider article, which references the results of recent global surveys by PricewaterhouseCoopers, explaining that Generation Y employees consider training and development to be a more important benefit than cash bonuses.
PwC’s Millenials Survey also found that 98% of millenials believe having a strong mentor is critical for their development.
It’s no surprise, then, that there has been a resurgence of interest in workplace mentoring programs recently. But it’s not as simple as setting up a mentoring program. Whether or not a mentor pair is successful is highly dependant on the effectiveness of the mentor-mentee match.
A great example is the work that HBDI® Certified Practitioner Lynne Krause has done in creating mentor pairs based on HBDI® Profile data.
Through her work with the US Naval Command and others, Lynne found that matching mentors and mentees with similar thinking preferences led to better communications, faster bonding and increased trust. The result is longer lasting and more mutually beneficial mentoring relationships.
In the US Naval Command project (which is described in this case study), matching mentors and mentees based on their thinking preferences led to a 99% success rate in terms of the pair “sticking,” a huge improvement over the previous success rate of just 50%.
Lynne explained how it works in a recent THINC™ Webinar, Match Point: Creating Mentor Pairs That Go The Distance. If you missed it, you can still view the recorded webinar to learn some of the tools and methods she uses to build successful mentoring, coaching and development programs with a foundation in Whole Brain® Thinking and the HBDI® assessment.
Looking for more on Generation Y? Check out these on-demand webinars:
- Engaging a Multigenerational Workforce: A Whole Brain® Approach to a 21st Century Challenge
- Bridging the Generational Divide with Whole Brain® Thinking
Access our full library of recorded THINC™ Webinars.
Aug/110
Learnings From The Leadership Challenge Forum Conference
Orin Salas, VP of Sales for Herrmann International, checked in from The Leadership Challenge (TLC) Forum in Chicago.
175 people attended The Leadership Challenge (TLC) Forum Conference this year, with participants from across the US, Canada, the UK and Asia. It was a good, enthusiastic group of people who are certified in the TLC methodology or are users of the materials.
On Thursday morning, Ann Herrrmann-Nehdi and I attended several sessions including the kick-off by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, the leaders of TLC. There were several breakout sessions featuring companies using TLC methodology.
The afternoon started with the Chicago Comedy Company leading us through a number of improvisational activities in a session entitled, “The Improvisational Leader.” They did a good job of connecting the activities back to the business challenges leaders face.
And with that as an introduction, Ann took the stage for the final presentation of the day, her keynote, “It’s Not Left Brain or Right Brain, It’s Whole Brain®.”
The group took a few minutes to warm up, but less than 10 minutes into her presentation, Ann had full participation. She led them through some background information about the brain, connected thinking preferences to leadership competencies, and reviewed the Whole Brain® Model, exploring how Whole Brain® Thinking is becoming even more critical for leadership success in today’s business environment. As always, the participants were wowed by the handouts and the tools they received.
Friday began with focus groups discussing the future of leadership and development. The groups touched on topics such as virtual leadership, technology, technology etiquette, generational challenges and the “size” of learning. This was followed by an interesting presentation on emotional quotient (EQ) and emotional intelligence.
All in all, it was a learning-filled two days in Chicago with plenty of opportunity for best practice sharing and knowledge exchange about how to develop leaders in an increasingly complex world.
For other participants’ take on the event, you can search the Twitter hashtag #TLCForum11 and read the live updates at @TLCTalk.
Jul/110
High-Performing Employees Are Leaving
Are Your Managers Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?
The latest survey from Right Management reveals that three out of four organizations lost high-performing employees they did not want to lose during the past year.
Good people will find good opportunities, even in a slow job market. The question is, what’s making them leave?
While many factors can come into play, study after study shows that one of the main reasons people leave a job is their boss. If your managers aren’t able to communicate effectively and build connections with employees, they’re helping push those top performers out the door.
A few questions to consider:
- What are you doing to avoid being part of the 75% of companies that have lost top talent in the past year?
- How are you taking care of your top people?
- Do your managers communicate effectively with each of their direct reports? Do they have the tools and skills to engage employees in a meaningful way?
- How are you equipping people to be better leaders and managers?
A number of leading organizations are using the Whole Brain® system to give managers an easy-to-apply, practical framework for understanding what different employees pay attention to and how they prefer to think and approach their work. Whole Brain® Thinking skills not only help managers better communicate with their employees, but they also ensure the organization is fully capitalizing on the potential of high performers.
And when top talent is engaged and able to contribute, they’re more likely to stick around than take up the next offer from the competition.
Check out our case studies to see how organizations like Cirque du Soleil, IBM, Integ and Cookie Time are making it work for them.
Jun/110
Learning and Development Trends from ASTD
The Herrmann International team checked in from the floor of the Expo Hall at the 2011 ASTD International Conference & Expo in Orlando last month, giving us a glimpse of some of the hot topics they were hearing about during the show. Hear what they had to say.
As you look back on it now, what were your biggest take-aways from ASTD this year?
We’re heard from a few of you on Twitter and through your own blog posts (such as Jack Massa’s Top 3 Things I Learned at ASTD ICE 2011). If you haven’t already done so, we invite you to share your key learnings in the comments.
What were your impressions of this year’s show?
What were the top take-aways?
What topics do you want to hear about next year?
Mar/110
Brain Awareness Week is March 14-20
Brain Awareness Week is March 14-20
Next week is Brain Awareness Week (BAW), a global campaign sponsored by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research.
The Dana Alliance’s website provides a number of brain-related activities and puzzles that promise to give your brain a workout, as well as reports, educational information and other resources from participating organizations and experts around the world.
Brain Awareness Week happens only once a year, but if you’re looking for ways to exercise your Whole Brain® Thinking skills throughout the year, be sure to check out our job aids and tools.
As Adrian Hall recently commented on Twitter:
“I need my @herrmannintl Red Bear today. For those who have done the HBDI®, they will understand!”
Jan/110
Four Secrets of the Learning Brain – ASTD Video Available
At the 2010 ASTD Conference & Exposition, Ann Herrmann-Nehdi’s session, “Four Secrets of the Learning Brain,” received a 98% participant satisfaction rate. You can now preview and purchase the mp3 or audio file of this popular session by visiting the ASTD Live Learning Center.
Discover how to align training design, e-learning, activities, tasks and responsibilities with multiple thinking models – thereby improving the impact of your learning design.
In this information-packed, engaging presentation, Ann draws on decades of research on the brain and learning to show you how to build a performance-based program that gets the results you need, meeting the requirements for your organization to remain competitive.
You’ll take away a practical set of tools you can apply immediately to leverage your talent’s brainpower, and you’ll learn how to design and implement training using a proven Whole Brain® approach.
Head over to the ASTD Live Learning Center for full details:
Four Secrets of the Learning Brain
ASTD 2010 International Conference & Exposition
Speaker: Ann Herrmann-Nehdi
Program Code: 214158
