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 Wed, Aug 18, 2010
According to a recent "Management Tip of the Day" by HBR, faced with failing businesses, most leaders tighten the purse strings, take strict control over the organization, and put strategy first. However, in the famous words of Peter Drucker, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." To right an organization headed for trouble, you need to build a culture that supports strategy implementation. Give employees a reason to care about your customers, their colleagues, and about how to do business right in a world that rewards cutting corners and compromising values. During a turnaround, don't focus exclusively on distinguishing yourself from the competition; find what brings you together as a company. It may be values, a vision, or a set of shared emotions. Articulate this sense of unity well and the business will follow.
In a recent blog post by HBR's Bill Taylor, he asks leaders two questions: What keeps you up at night, and what gets you up in the morning? What keeps you more committed than ever, more engaged than ever, more excited than ever, as the environment around you gets tougher and more demanding than ever?
According to Taylor, that question—what gets you up in the morning?—is one organizations need to take seriously if they hope to prosper during this period of crisis and (slow) recovery. And that's exactly what new CEO, Kent Thiry, did for DaVita just over 10 years ago in 1999. To read Taylor's article on Thiry's incredible culture change at DaVita, click here.
For Western Region/San Francisco-area OD, HR, & TD professionals looking for research-based training and development tools that engage participants, inspire sustained culture change and measurably improve organizational performance, consider attending our 4-day training forum, Foundation Workshop, on September 21-24. Click here for details.
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 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 Thu, Apr 01, 2010
San Francisco area workshop - April 22, 2010.
Providing leadership feedback can be a delicate and challenging task, but using Acumen® Leadership WorkStyles™ (LWS) assessments makes the job easier. The feedback from this tool not only increases self-awareness but also provides suggestions and action steps to improve one's effectiveness.
LWS is a 360° feedback assessment that provides clear and concise information about personal work styles. It gives managers and leaders an assessment of their key strengths and developmental needs, as well as specific suggestions for changes that will allow them to make greater contributions.
Well-documented research on LWS is available in a technical report.
WHY COMPANIES CHOOSE LWS
LWS gives a complete picture of how individuals perceive themselves and how their co-workers see them. But LWS’ particular value is that it builds on an individual's strengths and presents negative feedback in a positive way. LWS offers suggestions for people with particular work styles to be more effective, either alone or in employee interactions.
APPLICATIONS AND HOW TO USE LWS
HR professionals, consultants, and internal coaches can use LWS to promote leadership development, team development, and a more collaborative learning environment.
Clients report that when they create readiness and set the context for learning, using LWS supports an ongoing process of continual personal growth. This process begins to create cultural values of collaboration, learning, and open, honest communication.
LWS could be helpful to companies going through major changes and ones that are establishing either new business units or new ways of doing business, particularly if these changes require employees to develop new skills.
SUMMARY
Acumen Leadership WorkStyles (LWS) fills the need to individually assess managers and leaders and provide a framework for behavior change. The assessment’s ease of use and confidentiality allows co-workers to give more honest, accurate data while providing insightful, helpful feedback. What is most significant is that LWS is accompanied by concrete, specific steps for changing behavior in a positive, constructive way.
UPCOMING TRAINING WORKSHOP: April 22, 2010 in Emeryville, California. Click for details.
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Thu, Mar 25, 2010
Initiated by Hewitt Associates and in partnership with Fortune and The RBL Group, the 2009 Top Companies for Leaders Study highlights those organizations that have gone beyond the basics of grooming strong leaders.
Six components differentiating the top company approaches from the less successful ones are as follows:
- Centralized efforts
- Top executive involvement
- Focus on a few key processes
- Make leadership development a strategic focus
- Build leaders and leadership
- Create value for inside and outside stakeholders
This 20-page study is a brilliant and quick read. If you're an HRD/LD/OD professional, leadership consultant, executive coach, or change agent, read and understand this study. You'll be glad you did.
- To view the Hewitt study, click here.
- To review our 360 Feedback instrument for leaders, click here.
- To review our leadership development workshop, click here.
If you care to share your comments after reading the study, please do so.
Thanks, in advance!
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Thu, Feb 18, 2010
Instead of abandoning learning and development in the face of their recession, UK organizations are pouring resources into developing middle managers' leadership and change-management skills as a top 2010 priority.
That's according to Henley Business School's Corporate Learning Priorities Survey 2010, which was conducted among over 2,500 HR and learning professionals. Over 60% of those completing the survey were HR Directors, Vice-President or Heads of HR or Learning & Development in some of the UK's largest employers.
The survey found that developing middle managers’ leadership skills and equipping them to deal with change were among participant organizations’ top priorities for 2010, along with developing a coaching culture and developing the capability of HR and L&D teams.
"Managing directors, CEOs, HR directors and L&D professionals have adopted a pragmatic, level-headed, measured approach when faced with the tumultuous economic climate we have endured," said Linda Irwin, Henley's executive director.
“Rather than axing development budgets and cutting leadership development, they have focused effort on those individuals who they expect will lead their organisations into a future yet to be created. Softer skills in leadership styles and in coaching, for instance, that bring out the very best in people and facilitate team working are also a priority."
Check out the Henley report here.
Conversely, the global economic recession made 2009 a difficult year for US companies and significantly impacted corporate learning. Due to budget constraints, companies have cut training spending and staffing; eliminated programs; increasingly used informal learning methods such as coaching, mentoring, and social learning environments; and centralized training operations.
The 2010 Corporate Learning Factbook (for US corporate training investment) by Bersin & Associates found:
- The U.S. corporate training market shrunk from $56.2 billion in 2008 to $48.2 billion in 2009, a decline of 14%.
- Many organizations shed jobs in 2009. The median L&D staff fell to 6.2 training staffers per 1,000 learners, down from 7.0 per 1,000 in 2008.
- After a decline in 2008, the percentage of training funds directed toward leadership development rebounded to 24%.
How about you? Have you noticed a change in your company or industry as it relates to training, or specifically regarding leadership learning and development?
Thanks for reading!