Greetings randy,
We hope this newsletter finds you well. Seems it is now officially the season for office Christmas lights and holiday parties, we wish all the best of the season to you and yours.
We hope you enjoy this newsletter and if you missed one of our past
issues, please follow this link to take a look at previous Leadership Chronicles
All the best,
Randy Sabourin & Cam Anderson
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Using Behavioral Tests for Selection, Identification of Top Talent and Leadership Development |
Many of you who have participated
in our workshops over the years know that TAIS (The Attentional and
Interpersonal Style inventory) is our preferred psychometric tool. TAIS is the
only inventory that accurately predicts how an individual pays attention and they will react
under pressure; valuable information for any leader or manager. Our workshops focus on the
unique challenges faced by a team or specific learning objectives such as sales
training, strategy creation, coaching, improvisation or leadership.
The value comes from tying the participants' specific behavioral styles directly
to those challenges and objectives.
Furthermore, TAIS helps us prepare for our
workshops by revealing how participants will pay attention and get distracted. It also reveals
learning styles which allows us to
modify how the content will be experienced by group.
ASCI clients also use TAIS in selection
processes, for new hires or for entrance into leadership programs. TAIS
incorporates 'the big 5' personality variables; surgency, agreeableness,
intellectance, conscientiousness, and emotional stability as its foundation.
These variables ensure valid results and are used by most psychometric
inventories such as Myers Briggs, NEO, and Hogan. Unfortunately a large number
of 'personality tests' rely on measuring your current mood and offer no valid or
reliable data. TAIS considers the test-re-test reliability percentage as one of
the most important factors required to predict future behavior.
We have posted an article with much more detail on
using psychometric inventory tools for selection and the TAIS advantage here: follow this link to view the article.
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Corporate Improv Challenge!
 As you probably know, ASCI is a big advocate of applying the principles of improvisation to the workplace. Why?
Well, because the art of improv has helped many executives, managers and employees from thousands of companies and organizations around the world develop key business and life skills. Improv is about listening, risk-taking, focus, trust, openness and the ability to accept and make the most of change. Pretty valuable skills in the unpredictable business climate, no?
Well, now it's your chance to bring your highly honed business skills and competitive spirit to the improv stage! We want you! We want you to prove, in the public arena, that your company is the best- the fastest, the fiercest- the FUNNIEST!
ASCI will lead you and your team-mates through a half-day improv workshop. Then comes the moment of truth. Your team will face-off against another organization and only one team will emerge victorious! If you think you're company or organization has got what it takes, get a team together and email us. The workshop is free and run by professionals. Teams of four participants are preferred.
The bottom line is FUN!
Check out Ultimate Improv Canada to see how the pros do it or even to hire them for a corporate event.
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Conference Go Game in The Muskoka's
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The Go Game is the one of our most unique experiential learning
environments. We have indoor versions for fall and winter and have numerous variations that include movie-making or teams acting as spies in order to save their boss. Our newest version is called the Conference Game. Back in September, 120 senior managers
from Flynn Canada converged on The Rosseau Resort for three days of learning
and adventure. The Go Game was used as a conference guide (time, location, etc.) and
also as an interactive mobile learning platform. After each session
the teams would be asked questions about content or asked to recreate the essence
or key message of the session in a short video. All 'missions' are transmitted to each team's Blackberry where they enter the answers. Halfway through the second day a
full blown Go Game kicked in and the teams were off to fight Ninjas, convince a Run Away Bride to go back to the alter and to woo Agent Hotpants with their savvy pickup lines.
The conference was a huge success from both a fun and
learning standpoint. We were able to measure the effectiveness of each session
by the number of correct answers. Teams felt they had to remember every
single piece of information throughout the conference because it appealed to
their competitive nature. "This was awesome...a totally different
experience working with your colleagues in this fashion. You really got to see
another side to people. It was great! ""Excellent way to meet new colleagues and
collaborate on very unique situations and problems. Acting in pressure
situations happens all the time in our business and it's how we act as a team
in the face of adversity that makes us the company we are! ""The Go Game and crew from ASCI were amazing! We had a blast, everything went smoothly. Can't wait to see what you top it with next year."Contact us for more information on Go Game, Movie Game or Conference Game or take a look at the Go Game site.
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We know your time is valuable so thank you for taking a minute to look at our view of business and the world around us. You can find more information at our site or send us your thoughts. Enjoy the Holidays.
Sincerely,
Randy & Cam
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TED
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TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started
out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three
worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Since
then, its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED
Conference in Long Beach, California, the TEDGlobal conference in
Oxford UK, and recently the TEDIndia Conference, TED has been exposing us to some very interesting people. We follow the posts, use some of them in our programs and always find them interesting and inspirational. You can find TED on facebook or twitter or directly at TED.com. Here are some of our favorites, hope you enjoy them.
I highly recommend Oliver Sacks'
latest book Musicophilia in which he reveals how our brains work or
don't work in regards to music. In this TED clip he brings our attention to Charles
Bonnett syndrome -- when visually impaired people experience lucid
hallucinations. He describes the experiences of his patients in
heartwarming detail and walks us through the biology of this
under-reported phenomenon.
Neuroscientist Michael Merzenich looks at one of the secrets of the
brain's incredible power: its ability to actively re-wire itself. He's
researching ways to harness the brain's plasticity to enhance our
skills and recover lost function.
A pioneer in research on play, Dr. Stuart Brown says humor, games,
roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of
play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults -- and keeping it up
can make us smarter at any age.
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Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists
and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare
person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny,
personal and surprisingly moving talk.
And finally, my all-time favorite. Rory Sutherland has a great view on creating value. Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather
than the product itself. Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion
that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we
consider "real" value -- and his conclusion has interesting
consequences for how we look at life.
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