Dear randy,
Over the past several years we've been fortunate enough to work with clients assisting them in developing their leaders. Biz Improv and MBA Consulting have contributed to the success of teams and individuals in numerous market segments and companies. We felt it might be time to reach out and circulate some of the knowledge we've discovered. Your feedback is more than welcome, and thank you for the support over the years.
Randy Sabourin
Cam Anderson
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| Four Generations - One Challenge
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For the first time the history of the corporation, there are
four distinct generations at the meeting table. Traditionalists, Baby Boomers,
Generation X, and the Millennials all view the world of work differently and
this can lead to challenges - especially from a coaching point of view. Add to that the ever increasing amount of multiculturalism we find in any corporation and the challenges are not hard to find. One of our most requested modules in our SLMD (Situational Leadership & Management Development) program is the Generational Aspects of Leadership and Coaching. Our clients face a difference between cultural and generational challenges that manifest themselves differently in Canada, USA, Europe and Asia. The coaching and motivation of these different generations is also becoming very pertinent to Succession Planning. One of the "guru's" in the generational conversation is Environics' Michael Adams. He's written several books on the subject. You'll find a few very interesting articles on Succession Planning at our Resources page and we're always glad to share our perspective.
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| Your Leadership Style
Why a Psychometric Inventory is Critical to your Coaching Strategy
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 One of my favorite quantum mechanics stories (and believe me I don't have many) is the thought experiment of Schrödinger's Cat. There are several conclusions that are drawn from the experiment but I think the most significant is the Observer Effect. The term refers to changes that the act of observing will make on the phenomenon being observed. I always think of this phenomenon when engaged in coaching or facilitating one of the Coaching modules in our SLMD program. Who you are effects how you coach. One of the toughest things about coaching effectively is suspending your judgment and keeping the coachee's style and interpersonal skills in mind. We find that TAIS (The Attentional and Interpersonal Style inventory) to be a great advantage for both the coach and the coached. I like to have the TAIS Basic Scale Report in front of me when I'm coaching so that I can look at the situation through the "eyes" of sales person or executive I'm helping. My suggestions and observations are then consistent with the coachee's style and more readily accepted. The key to coaching is embracing the fact that any goal can be accomplished in many ways. Understanding your style and how it effects your team is achievable by utilizing a tool such as TAIS.
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| Experiential Learning
Changing Behaviour in Real Time
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Many of you
know of or have participated in the GO Game: its one of the coolest high-tech
adventure scavenger hunt team building events ever designed. I heard that a
game in San Francisco for Goggle last week marked the 2,000'th game. We've
begun to incorporate content that comes from our Leadership and Sales workshops,
into GO Game missions. Participants are put in high pressure, high performance
situations that require the concepts learned in the workshops to solve a
problem. "You walk into your client's retail store to find your product
removed from the shelf and replaced by a competitors. Leslie introduces herself
as the new store manager and asks you why your product is any better. From the
workshop this morning please formulate a new value proposition and convince
Leslie to return your product to its rightful place." The missions are
based on a combination of workshop content and real world situations from a client's business. Measuring the effectiveness of a learning program is a critical
successful factor. Using an experiential platform like the GO Game gives us
empirical data on how the participants' behaviour has changed (Kirkpatrick level 3). The testing can continue over the course of a conference, a few weeks
or a few months. We have conducted several successful pilots, the largest with
80 players.
More on experiential learning and pervasive gaming environments. |
