Teamwork
Tony Miller on Systemically Strengthening Our Schools
Employing business development practices to target deficiencies in America’s Education System
June 24, 2011 / Podcast # 11-25
In devising a strategy to bolster the nation’s eroded educational framework, Anthony Miller, Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Department of Education, pulls from his business background as well as international research on the processes and metrics employed by other countries to raise the academic bar. At the core of Tony’s blueprint, is the alignment of student achievement goals and initiatives with budgets and operating plans, and making critical investments in training teachers, particularly in the use of technology and collaboration tools to facilitate communication and maximize targeted learning. Tony also discusses partnerships between major corporations and higher education systems, and the importance of deploying such initiatives to equip students with the competencies most essential to competing and exceling in the 21st century global workplace.
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Michael Nick on Selling to the C-Suite
Priming Your Sales Pitch for Today’s Decision-makers
June 17, 2011 / Podcast # 11-24
In today’s fickle economy, senior executives are no longer relying solely on ROI in their purchase planning. In his book Key to the C-suite, Michael Nick outlines the additional financial metrics being used to make buying decisions and empowers sales professionals with the tools to communicate within this new landscape. He explains how to skillfully articulate your value to their bottom line and how to build a business case by assessing your value inventory and leveraging new tools like Linked in to gain a leg up of insight on the client.
Adrian Gostick on Creating Engaging Teams
Small changes can make big results.
February 4, 2011 / Podcast # 11-05
When Medical City Dallas Hospital wanted to increase their patient satisfaction scores they didn’t just re-write another long mission statement or come up with a new set of rules. They said they wanted “to create raving fans out of our patients and families.” The phrase “raving fans” got the employees’ minds engaged and they started to think about their jobs in a whole new light; every time they had patient interaction they had to think, will this make a “raving fan?” And their satisfaction scores went up as a result. That is just one of the stories about teamwork and engagement that Adrian Gostick has to share, about tiny tweaks that shift the mindset of employees to create big changes. Read more…
J.P. Flaum and Becky Winkler on Hiring for Emotional Intelligence
How the interview is much more important than the resume.
December 31, 2010 / Podcast # 10-53
J.P. Flaum and Becky Winkler just finished a study that shows the most important skills in the workforce are interpersonal skills. For someone to get ahead, intelligence didn’t matter as much; a less prestigious candidate can always be trained. Traits like a willingness to learn, friendliness, and a collaborative attitude indicate future success much more strongly. Read more…
Jonathan Byrnes on Focusing on the Profits, Not the Losses
Keeping the high performers as top priority.
December 24, 2010 / Podcast # 10-52
When only 30% of your organization is responsible for 100% of the profits, it’s tempting to focus on getting the remaining 70% to catch up. Johnathan Byrnes disagrees. The most important thing is to make sure that those “islands” of profitability are protected and keep bringing in profits before turning all your attention on the losses. Thus, manpower is not spread thin, desperately trying to bail out the “red ink” and high-performing teams will continue to subsidize the organization. Read more…
