Each of our webinars is tailored to study a critical aspect of business leadership, human behavior, or organizational dynamics. Each webinar will also identify several world-class examples and examine them to learn the common characteristics and management approaches, and how we can transform your team into a world-class organization.
What Is "World-Class" ...Really? Webinar
We hear and read every day about World-Class…We have the banners that say we will BE world-class and the “Provider of Choice” but what does that REALLY mean? In a world full of organizations that claim be the “World-class provider of”…why are so many of them mediocre? How do we identify the principles and behaviors that turn a team of ordinary people into the envy of the world?
In the course of working with and studying truly world-class organizations, we have identified the four key principles and the four key attributes of a world-class organization. In this webinar, we will study these principles and attributes as well as identify several world-class examples and examine them to learn the common characteristics and management approaches, and how they transformed into world-class organizations. We will then explore the critical competencies required for any team to achieve world-class performance by examining organizations like: Special Forces Operations; Toyota; Disney; Wal-Mart; and others. Sign up for this dynamic webinar and we will examine in detail what is required, what you need to do, and where to focus if you want to develop YOUR team into a world-class power house!
"Winning the Battle of the Budge" or Overcoming Middle Management Resistance to Change Webinar
Middle management is in a unique situation and receives “incoming fire” from both above and below. They are often in “survival” mode and often are not very receptive to change. Many times they have tried themselves to implement change with little to no success and as a result are often very skeptical about the chances for your changes to really make a difference.
Understanding that middle managers have gotten where they are today because the things they have done have been successful can help you better understand why they see change as “risk” and oftentimes a direct threat.
In this webinar we look at the “cycle of resistance”; how it begins and how it develops. We explore why people resist and learn different ways to successfully influence them in order to convert them from opponents into advocates! We will look at specific examples of people who have faced serious challenges, how they faced them, what they did, and what they learned from the experience. We then explore how we can learn from and use these techniques in our work place to foster change, improve our chances of improving our organizations, and become more skilled at working with and leading people from all walks of life in order to GET THINGS DONE!
I Should Have Learned How to Play the Piano Webinar
Are you feeling tired and inadequate in your current position? Hate to get out of bed in the morning and go in to work? Do you spend a lot of time on Monster.com trying to find something that sounds more fun or rewarding to do? It may not be the job, or the company at all – it may be a mismatch between your personality type and your occupation! However, before we start talking about whether you need to take piano lessons or combat training, let’s get clear on what is meant by personality type.
Perhaps you have taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) some time in your past and you can vaguely remember that you were given some four letter code that was supposed to explain you and how you interact with co-workers and family. Depending on how well it was all explained, you may have come away with some useful, vital information; or a feeling of frustration and disenchantment based on the fact that they perhaps labeled you an extrovert and yet you have never been the life of any party.
This presentation will offer some insight into what those indicators mean, and how and why certain personalities are drawn to certain career choices. First, let’s talk a little data. In some of the ongoing research being conducted around Personality Type and careers, there have been several based on the database maintained by the Center for Applications of Psychological Type. When a coach administers the MBTI to any group, they have the option of feeding back some non-biographical data to CAPT; things like job title and Personality Type. So this is a large data base from which you can draw data for research. For this workshop, when we assess careers and Personality Types, we would expect to find the highest percentage of people with a similar Personality Type in similar careers.
Therefore after this presentation and based on data, you can decide if it is your job, your personality, or the combination of both that is keeping you awake at night.
Attaining Team Excellence Webinar
How many times have you chosen to join a team, or been asked to join a team, only to find out that some of the personalities on the team make it impossible to get any work done. Have you ever tried to lead a team of co-workers and compared the effort to herding cats? What makes the difference between good team leaders and great team leaders? This workshop will attempt to answer those questions and give participants both the knowledge and tools to use with teams back at the office.
There are two major challenges facing most teams, whether newly formed or pre-existing. The first is communication – communication in a manner that allows everyone on the team to have a clear, unambiguous understanding of the issues and actions. The second one is Leadership and how to form a group of different personalities and cultures into a high performance work team.
What most of us are seeking when we’ve given a team to lead or participate with is not a committee – remember the old joke that an elephant is a horse designed by a committee – but a like-minded group of people who can accomplish what needs to be done as quickly as possible with no interference and no barriers.
Reality, on the other hand, is that any team is made up of people with different personalities, cultures and values and rarely does anything get accomplished without the team moving through the five stages of team development; forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Of course, we all prefer to get through the first two as quickly as possible and get right into the norming and performing. However, how long the team spends in the forming and, most critically, the storming stages depends on how well each of us recognize the different types of personalities with which we are working and how we change our style of communication to meet the needs of those personalities.
There are many ways of determining the personalities that make up a team, some formal and some informal. This presentation will look at the most common as well as the most useful tools for making that determination.
Don't Just Plan it, Make Excellence Happen Now Webinar
Many of the companies we hear about today are advertising that they are doing six, twelve or even twenty Kaizens or rapid improvement events every month. Yet, when pressed to see the “before” and “after” states, are quick to explain that the “after” state will not be in place until all of the action items are completed – twelve months or so down the road. In fact, we believe that the terms Rapid Improvement Event, Kaizen and/or Blitz are some of the most misused terms in the Lean vocabulary.
There are several types of events or projects that are used to remove waste from the process and increase the value in the eyes of the Customer. Several of them even use the same tools, such as current state maps, ideal state maps, and future state maps. However, the output from each type should be significantly different. For instance, the outcome of a VSA is typically a Getting to Excellence Plan of prioritized future events, projects or actions. The Plan will usually stretch over the next twelve to eighteen months, with names and dates assigned to make sure the actions happen. This is not Rapid Improvement – although many times teams will call these Kaizens or Rapid Improvement Events (RIEs).
However, a Rapid Improvement Event means making change happen now. These are typically four to five days of:
• understanding the current state
• brainstorming changes
• putting those changes into effect
• validating the outcomes
It means that when you come into work on the following Monday morning, a new process is in place and being used. There are occasionally a few items left to be accomplished at the end of the RIE, but this should be less than 2% of the total actions. If, at the end of those five days, you have a list of things that need to be done in order to change the process, you have just completed a Value Stream Analysis – a very useful tool, but not Rapid Improvement.
Four to five days also means you have to carefully scope the process you intend to change. Hard boundaries must be set. At exactly which step in the process are you going to start mapping, and at exactly which step in the process will you end? These boundary lines must be drawn prior to the event and adhered to during the event. If the entire team is not perfectly clear on the start and end points, scope creep can have a disastrous effect on the event, and turn a Rapid Improvement into a VSA with no real change able to be accomplished.
Leadership: Giving and Getting the Call for Action Webinar
In working with many different companies in all types of industries during the past year or so, I believe I’ve noticed some new trends among the work force. We all know that career-long loyalty to any one company had been a fading ideal for many years now – mostly due to the new reality of global mergers of companies, buy-outs, restructuring and doing more with less. Today’s employees don’t hire on expecting to be with a company their entire career. Most don’t want to. That doesn’t mean they aren’t loyal – they can be and usually are extremely loyal to each company for which they work. However, human resource data indicates that the highest turn-over rate is for employees with between two and five years with the company. In fact, multiple studies, such as those seen on blog.forbes.com have shown that for professionals between the ages of 20 – 30, approximately 84% plan to leave their current position in the next five years.
Another trend I’ve noticed lately is that companies are becoming much savvier in the difference between a true “High Performer” and someone who does a great job – which is “Expected”. Not showing up late, getting all your work done, contributing new ideas to the team and not making any major errors is no longer enough. Unfortunately, in today’s economy, just doing a great job can mean you’re on the bottom when a reduction-in-force (RIF) occurs. What most companies are looking for today in high performers include someone who:
- Gets results now
- Influences others both up and down the chain of command
- Displays leadership with all types of teams
- Seeks continuous learning
-Demonstrates extremely high functional competency
It also used to seem that it wasn’t as much “what” you knew that would get you hired and keep you employed as “who” you knew. That also appears to be changing. From my experience in the last few years, any manager who operates strictly from the ‘buddy’ system is just as likely to find him or herself on the block as well as the employees they promote. In today’s market is seems to be neither what you know nor who you know, but “how well do you know” whom you know. This means you have to cultivate relationships with a network of people you can call on when the need arises. The ability to cultivate that network and use it successfully will depend upon building and maintaining your credibility.
So, what can you do to build credibility? How can you get noticed (in a good way)? What does it take to stand out above the crowd? I’ve recently done some informal research using well-respected managers and employees in different industries, and, based on my research, this presentation will discuss some ideas that might make you indispensible to the company you wish to stay with, or get you a glowing recommendation should you decide to leave.
Sustainment: The Final Frontier Webinar
For the past ten or fifteen years, companies have been jumping on the Lean/Six Sigma bandwagon, spending millions of dollars in the pursuit of “Perfection”. What have you been able to sustain from all of the events and changes made to processes – for your entire Lean/Six Sigma Program implementation? Learn how to measure what you have really accomplished, what needs to be done immediately, and where you should be making changes for tomorrow. Let’s stop and take a look at what we have been able to sustain from all of the events and changes made to our processes. If we were to measure how well we sustained all of the changes anticipated for each project how would we score? Do all of those great changes the team came up with ever get implemented? If implemented, how long do they last? This session will provide you with a tool to make the calculations.
Learn how to measure what you have really accomplished, what needs to be done immediately, and where you should be making changes for tomorrow.
Using Measurement System Analysis for the Soft Stuff Webinar
Most employees don't like performance appraisal time - and most Managers dread it even more. It's such a great way to bring down the morale in any company. This presentation will be an interactive look at using Measurement System Analysis to manage the people side of the business. Based on several studies some completed by Master Black Belts, some during an actual event, and some during Green Belt and Black Belt training on scoring of performance appraisals, it was found that not only do different managers score the same appraisal differently, but the same manager will also score the same appraisal differently when tasked with scoring on different days or different times during the day. The outcome of the presentation will be guidelines to help take the fuzziness out of scoring criteria and improve the morale of employees during appraisal time.
It may sound a bit bizarre, trying to use measurement system analysis (also known as Gage R&Rs) for performance appraisals, but this presentation will show you the results that prove, if applied correctly, the results will be just as meaningful as on any piece of equipment tested in your labs.
It all began for me with a project I was asked to facilitate on the performance appraisal system at an aerospace company. It’s a fact that I have yet to find any employee that enjoys performance appraisal time – whether it’s the giver or the receiver! The data collected on the project included the following: “For the past five years, in every one of the 19 employee surveys sent out to all employees, performance appraisals have ranked absolutely last in satisfaction. Five years ago there were 53 employees who refused to sign their performance appraisals, and 22 of those appended comments directly related to the unfairness of the rating process. This past year that number of refusals to sign has jumped to 187, with those who commented on the appraisal process at 156.”
As a result of the work of this team, the satisfaction of the performance appraisal system went from the <10th percentile to the 31 – 40th percentile! A little more probing by the Human Resources group shows the actual percentage to be just over 38%. Not only did the satisfaction greatly increase, but the number of refusals to sign had dropped from 187 to 9! Not one person of the 9 refusals cited anything to do with the appraisal process! Project success!!
It is through non-traditional uses of tools such as the Measurement System Analysis that we can continue to improve the “above the factory” processes that cost us the most. Employee satisfaction may not have a place on the profit and loss statements, but we all know how easily it can affect that bottom line.
People…The Ultimate Competitive Advantage! Webinar
We have all heard it…the corporate “value” that states so piously “Our People Are Our Greatest Asset”. We have also seen (more than we care to admit) the banners and slogans that talk about employee “Empowerment”! But let’s be honest here…how many times do we actually see organizations managing the business to these standards? How often are we forced to witness business decisions and organizational actions that clearly do not support the rhetoric? These values are not wrong by themselves; indeed, they are admirable. The disconnect we experience is in the hypocrisy we witness between what these values represent and what we so clearly see as the true values demonstrated by the actions of the management team.
Can we do anything about the impact that this is having on our organizations and our competitive positions? I believe the answer is emphatically yes! But we have to change the way we think about our people and what they offer. We can no longer just pay lip service to the concepts of empowerment and employee value. It’s time to move beyond the slogans and banners proclaiming our commitment to empowerment and actually engage our people to their fullest potential. The organizations that most effectively utilize their people and their creativity will ultimately succeed in the marketplace of tomorrow. Learn effective strategies to become more influential and effective at selling your ideas and staying a step ahead of your competition.
This webinar is an interactive presentation and discussion session to learn the importance of utilizing people more effectively. We will demonstrate that there are tools and techniques available, when properly applied which will increase the participant’s probability of success in developing themselves and their employees!
A Middle Management Survival Guide Webinar
As Middle Managers, we often find ourselves in unique (and sometimes uncomfortable) situations where we receive “incoming fire” from all directions every day. We have to deal with impossible demands from above, limited or no support from below, tight budgets, and unreasonable customer demands. Yet, we are held directly responsible for the critical success of the organization! Sound familiar? Many in middle management positions find themselves in this situation and struggle with how to achieve their goals and objectives in the face of seemingly overwhelming obstacles. Many of us deal daily with these conflicts and concerns. We often feel that nobody truly understands what we are trying to accomplish in the face of such adversity. How often have you listened to your boss describe yet another set of demands and goals, deadlines or initiatives, and think to yourself “how in the world do they expect anyone to get all this done?” And yet, we almost always find a way. We are often in a “survival” mode and as a result not very receptive to change.
In this webinar, we will introduce and demonstrate a dynamic model that illustrates the reasons for resistance to change and explore the different techniques and tactics a successful change agent can utilize to not only survive in the workplace, but achieve world-class performance for themselves and their organization! These techniques will improve the performance of your team, increase your ROI, drive change initiatives, and SUSTAIN those changes!
Achieving World-Class Performance In a Multi-National/Multi-Cultural Team Environment Webinar
You find yourself coming out of a meeting where your boss informed you (and everyone else) that you have just been promoted! Due a merger between your company and another business, you are now the leader of a global team. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to develop a world-class, high performance work team utilizing combined personnel from several countries and multiple cultures. Piece of cake, right? Many of us today are finding ourselves in this or similar situations. What do you do first? Where do you go for help? What is “normal"? And is it enough to ensure that you simply have diversity on your team? What does world-class performance look like in a multi-national/multi-cultural environment? How does one achieve high quality, provide value-added service, value diversity, understand different cultures, appreciate individual personalities, and still blend all this into a high quality high performance work team? We believe that the answer is two-fold: accomplishing the four key objectives that define a High Performance Work Team, and fully understanding the subtleties and nuances of managing in a multi-national/multi-cultural team environment.
In this webinar, we will look at how we accomplish this. We will also look at some examples of world-class, high quality, high performance organizations currently operating in a multi-national/multi-cultural setting, and explore what makes these organizations so successful.
Multi-national/multi-cultural teams offer significant challenges to management and leadership in today’s global work situations. But few things are as satisfying to build or as powerful to work with as a world-class, high performance work team that can change the world!
Metrics Friend or Foe Webinar
Our focus for this webinar is to examine our data and metrics and then ask ourselves some critical questions that will lead us to determine if we do indeed have the proper metrics focus. This can be one of the most basic (and boring) topics in the world of business management. But few things are as critical to your success! If your focus is on metrics that tell you what happened last week or last month, or have little to no visible effect on your customers or the behavior of your employees, your metrics are not your friend!
X-Stream Leadership Group also believes that there are Four Phases in the life of a metric that determines the effectiveness of the decisions made in driving value as determined by your customer.
There are a few key questions you can ask yourself to determine just how critical any metric or any piece of data really is. Is it the right data? Is it formatted and processed properly to allow effective analysis? Does it lead you quickly and effectively to the right answer or solution? Can your data be depended upon to be accurate and reliable? How old is the data upon which you are relying for the success of your business or your enterprise? Would you bet your life on the accuracy or reliability of this information? If not, why would you bet your business?
The focus for organizations that are serious about becoming world-class must shift to Customer Value in all that we do and that includes how we measure our business! Make your metrics management a friend indeed and watch what happens to your bottom line growth!
Cancellation and Refund Policy
Cancellation Policy: A webinar registration fee will be fully refunded, less any PayPal fee, if the participant’s cancellation is received 10 business days in advance of the start date. A webinar registration fee will be 50% refunded, less any PayPal fee, if the participant’s cancellation is received less than 10 days but more than 2 business days in advance of the start date. A webinar registration fee will not be refunded, if the participant’s cancellation is received with less than two business days in advance of the scheduled start date for the webinar.
Cancellations must be received in writing by e-mail, fax, or by U.S. mail.
No refunds will be made for requests received after that time. Refunds will be issued in the same form payment was made. Please allow two weeks for processing. Registrants who cancel will not receive webinar materials.”
Refund Policy: Other than for the refund of the seminar registration fee, X-Stream Leadership Group, LLC shall not be liable for the inability to present a seminar, when such inability is attributable to labor troubles, disputes or strikes, accidents, government (federal, state or local) regulations of or restrictions upon travel or transportation, riots, national emergencies, acts of God and other Force Majeure causes whether enumerated herein or not which are beyond the reasonable control of X-Stream Leadership Group, LLC.
Substitution Policy: A substitute may attend the webinar in lieu of the registrant.