Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Wed, Sep 01, 2010
If you are tasked with heading company-wide development initiatives, join us on September 21-24 and learn why more than 10,000 clients and over 3,000 consultants consider our research-based measurement tools as some of the most respected in the field of organization and leadership effectiveness.
Designed for HR/OD/TD professionals, this interactive "how to" workshop will provide you with an integrated system and practical tools for building a highly effective workplace culture.
To learn more or to reserve a seat today, click here.
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Tue, Aug 24, 2010
To be successful, organizations must fully utilize the skills and abilities of their people. Getting the best effort possible from members of your organization and operating in a manner that encourages growth and fosters new ideas are even more crucial in a down economy. According to Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown of The Wiseman Group, a leadership research and development firm, organizations can increase innovation and effectiveness without negatively impacting their bottom lines.
In their article for the Harvard Business Review, Wiseman and McKeown separate leaders into two categories: diminishers and multipliers. Diminishers “underutilize people and leave creativity and talent on the table” and have a “view of intelligence […] based on elitism, scarcity, and stasis.” Conversely, multipliers “bring the right people together in an environment that unleashes their best thinking—and then stay out of the way.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wiseman and McKeown’s research shows that leaders who are multipliers get the best performance and results from their people.
Don’t despair if your organization has a few diminishers—according to Wiseman and McKeown, anyone can learn to lead like a multiplier. All it takes is a willingness to “shift the responsibility for thinking from yourself to your employees.” Becoming a multiplier will not only add to your organization’s success; it will boost the morale and engagement levels of the individuals with whom you work.
Want to find out if your colleagues see you as a diminisher or a multiplier? Consider using team-effectiveness activities, such as our Survival Simulations combined with the Group Styles Inventory™ (GSI), a flexible suite of interactive exercises that promotes collaborative decision-making and constructive change. Programs that pair a simulation with the GSI offer an opportunity to achieve positive team growth in a low-cost, easy-to-use format.
To learn how to teach teams to break down the personal interaction barriers that prevent them from achieving their full potential and provide a focused direction for team improvement efforts, join us for our Foundation Workshop. The Workshop takes place September 21-24, 2010, in the San Francisco area—sign up and reserve a seat today!
Source Article: “Managing Yourself: Bringing Out the Best in Your People”—Harvard Business Review, May 2010.
Special thanks to Meghan Oliver for this article contribution.
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Fri, Aug 06, 2010
In a recent BNET article by Margaret Heffernan, the question is asked, "Is competition among staff good for your firm?"
What's your experience or thoughts on this?
As developers of one of the world's most widely used organizational culture survey, the Organizational Culture Inventory®, our findings support this article's premise, which suggests that encouraging employees to one-up each other has real impact on the office—and it might not be the effect you expect. Our research further suggests that leaders who lead their teams away from defensive cultures and toward a culture based on constructive styles, will realize profound improvements for stakeholders and shareholders alike.
Heffernan's BNET article is a quick and enjoyable read. As a producer for BBC Radio and Television for 13 years before running her first company, she has since been CEO of five businesses in the United States and United Kingdom, and has seen her share of leadership and organizational challenges.
If you are responsible for driving organizational improvement, we invite you to our Foundation Workshop training session on September 21-24. Designed for HR and OD professionals, this interactive "how to" workshop will equip you with an integrated system and support for building highly effective individuals, teams, and workplace cultures.
So join us on September 21-24 and learn why more than 10,000 clients and over 3,000 consultants consider our research-based measurement tools as some of the most respected in the field of organization and leadership effectiveness.
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Mon, Aug 02, 2010
The National Wildlife Federation and state affiliates in the Gulf are organizing and deploying teams of volunteers to observe the more than 10,000 miles of shoreline along the Gulf Coast. To monitor the impact of the BP oil spill, these surveillance teams will:
- Make daily tours of key coastal sites.
- Notify trained rescue and rehabilitation teams of oiled or trained wildlife.
- Help watch for signs of the oil spill to new areas in the Gulf region.
We were happy to support Wildlife Victoria's rescue efforts of wildlife after the ravaging Victorian bushfire of Feb. 2009, Australia's worst bushfire on record. We proudly supported the Red Cross' rebuilding effort of the Jan. 2010 earthquake which devastated the island nation of Haiti. Similarly, Human Synergistics will donate a portion of all Survival Simulation sales to the National Wildlife Federation’s Gulf Oil Spill Restoration Fund through October 15, 2010. Donations will go toward training volunteers and putting together Gulf Coast Surveillance Teams for both immediate and long-term wildlife rehabilitation.
For more than 30 years, Human Synergistics has provided businesses and organizations with an interactive survival-themed, team-building exercise designed to:
- Teach the interpersonal (people) and rational (task) behaviors involved in successful teamwork
- Demonstrate the impact of constructive group styles on performance
- Improve group problem-solving skills and decision-making effectiveness
- Strengthen cooperation and communication among group members
For information on the various survival scenarios we offer (Desert, Cascades, Subarctic, and more), click here. For pricing to be emailed to you, click here.
To learn more about the NWF's Gulf Coast Surveillance Teams or how to volunteer, click here.
If you learned a valuable team lesson while volunteering, please share your experience here. Thank you in advance!
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Wed, Jul 21, 2010
Bnet.com provides a video series titled, CXO Unplugged - Smart Business. The series offers insights into how top international executives are addressing the challenges of working smarter and for a more sustainable future. The focus is on the future and on how businesses need to evolve.
In this first video clip, Tom Barry, managing director of BlessingWhite Europe, discusses employee engagement in tough times and explains what it takes to get the best from your teams and why every manager must become a coach.
Most clips are under 10 minutes and all of them offer valuable learning gems for managers, leaders, and team members. Be sure to view at least one full clip. Enjoy!
BNET video: CXOs Unplugged
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Fri, Jun 18, 2010
For over 20 years, our Organizational Culture Inventory® (OCI) has been at the core of successful business transformations across the US and abroad. In this brief video, our Australian colleagues celebrate successful culture change projects of client firms at an annual conference.
Using the Circumplex for visuals, the leadership at Kennard's Self Storage shares an amazing turnaround story that continues to thrive today.
If you are leading a change project, feel free to share your learning experience.
UPCOMING WORKSHOP: If you are tasked with change initiatives for your company or a client firm, click here for information on our upcoming Foundation Workshop, Sept. 21-24, 2010, San Francisco area.
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Tue, Jun 01, 2010
Our workshops help you measurably impact the effectiveness of the individuals, teams and organization(s) you support. These interactive, hands-on workshops prepare you to expertly apply our processes, assessments and simulations to meet a variety of organizational change and development goals including:
- Enhancing the positive impact of managers and leaders
- Quantifying, creating and reinforcing constructive cultures
- Capturing and developing team synergy
- Optimizing organizational effectiveness
Foundation Workshop | June 14-17 CLOSED | Sept. 21-24 | San Francisco
This three and a half day workshop provides an introduction to the Circumplex, the driving force behind Human Synergistics' Integrated Diagnostic System. It focuses on several products that illuminate the connection between behaviors and outcomes at the individual, team and organizational level, equipping you to address factors that increase productivity and produce measurable, cost-effective improvements.
The Advanced Workshop Series | July 27-30 | Chicago
Comprised of three discrete workshops, the AW series is designed to provide both a theoretical and practical understanding of Human Synergistics International’s more advanced products. The series focuses on:
- Learning how to provide leaders with insights into their personal styles, and how these styles combine to shape their leadership performance.
- Moving beyond culture measurement by identifying the specific impact of culture in terms of business outcomes, as well as potential change targets or “levers” that can be adjusted to improve organizational effectiveness.
- Learning to install a proven process for assisting leaders and managers in determining development opportunities, selecting the most fruitful change strategies, and monitoring ongoing improvement efforts.
- Getting to the heart of performance difficulties by providing leaders with insightful feedback on how their actions influence others and the culture.
Developing leaders and providing leadership feedback can be a delicate and challenging task—InPractice provides you with the tools necessary for success. Learn how to...
- provide leaders with insights into their personal styles and how these styles combine to shape their leadership performance
- install a proven process for assisting leaders and managers in determining development opportunities
- offer feedback on the impact of one's current leadership style
- identify behaviors and attitudes of effective leadership
- develop an action plan to enhance one's effectiveness
- use Leadership WorkStyles (LWS) to promote leadership development, team development, and a more collaborative learning environment
For more information, click here.
We look forward to training with you at our events.
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Mon, May 03, 2010
Join us and 8,000 other HRD & Learning professionals from over 70 countries at this years ASTD conference in Chicago, Illinois. Whether it's networking, learning about new trends in team-leadership, or developing your training skills, attending the ASTD ICE can be one your most rewarding career decisions.
For you Yoga fans, join us Tuesday, May 18th for a presentation by Janet Szumal, Ph. D., on how constructive thinking and behavioral styles enable you to strike a balance between effort and ease. Janet is a senior research associate at Human Synergistics/Center for Applied Research and is a certified Hatha Yoga teacher.
While you're at the conference, visit us at booth #1231.
See you in Chicago!
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Mon, Apr 12, 2010
Each episode of this reality TV series features a senior executive at a major corporation working incognito as a new entry-level hire in his or her company. For one week, the executive hopes to learn how the company really works and attempts to identify some of the unsung heroes among the employees.
Tonight's Undercover Boss finale featured Chris McCann, president of 1-800-Flowers. Together with his brother, Jim, their company has become the world's leading florist and gift shop. An early lesson for the McCann brothers was to always manage company culture, and in a business of delivering thoughtfulness and smiles, their effort to "build relationships first and business second" has proved positive for the company.
Early naysayers said the show wouldn't fly but the show has clearly touched a nerve with viewers having consistently pulled favorable TV ratings since its debut on Feb. 7, 2010. It has also been renewed for a second season.
For a brief article, click here to read Steve Tobak's blog post for BNet.
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Thu, Feb 25, 2010
From Alpine Skiing to Speed Skating, the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada have been awesome and awe inspiring!
Two weeks and fifteen winter sports, some of the world's best athletes from 83 countries converge to display a dizzying array of talent, skill, discipline, focus, and heart to do their very best. Indeed, this is the essence of achievement and high-performance, both personally and as teams.
As a global company, we take pride in our international presence and the Olympic games remind us of how distance and differences can be bridged by a common goal. In the spirit of the Olympics, we wish our international affiliates and colleagues—and their country men and women—a successful winter games!
If you care to comment on the Olympics and perhaps offer observations of collaborative teamwork or effective leadership, please do so.
Thank you!