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If you want the people in the stores to take care of the customers,
you have to make sure you’re taking care of the people in
the stores. That’s the most important single ingredient of
Wal-Marts’s success
Sam Walton
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Case studies and other research results that have come out
about high performing systems consistently refer to the “spirit”
people feel. This is what accounts for the special energy—the
inspiration, enthusiasm, vigor and so forth—that you find
in these high achievement environments.
Professor Peter Vaill
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We offer two workshops based on the
business novel, The Gatehouse, by Craig Elkins. These
groundbreaking workshops lead you through an exciting journey. One workshop
is designed for individuals and the other is for leaders. Each individual
can change the spirit at their desk, on their team, maybe even in their
organization. Their journey starts with themselves. A leaders journey
also starts with him or herself but must extend to the organization
and people they lead. Both workshops recognize that individuals and
leaders build great organizations together. And in this time of ever-changing
economics, technological revolution and stock market pressures, it is
great organizations that will not only survive, but thrive.
Individual’s Workshop
The individual’s workshop combines key elements of
two of the hottest practices in management and leadership: Storytelling
and Finding Meaning and Passion in Your Work. Stories are one of the
most effective ways to communicate in any culture, and can be especially
important in a work environment where change is constant and relationships
are subjected to a multitude of pressures and stressors. Stories from
The Gatehouse provide an easy way to see others deal
with work and life issues including their own passion (or lack of it)
at work and their struggles to build and lead an engaged work force.
From there it is a smaller step to your own story. Understanding your
story can provide insights to your future.
The individual’s workshop will help you to:
Leader’s Workshop
As we prepare our leaders for the future, we must help
them understand how important people are, and that they can perform
with passion and vigor and inspiration; or they can leave most of themselves
at home, in the car, or in the lunchroom and just “make it through
the day.” It is no secret which organization outperforms the other.
Whether we call this “Spirit in the Workplace,” “Soul
Work,” “Building a Passionate Workforce,” “Building
High-performance Organizations” or any number of other titles,
the bottom line is that great leaders get the most out of their people.
AND, they keep their people, building loyalty and deep knowledge
of the job, services and customers, and avoiding the high costs of hiring,
training and assimilating new people.
In this one-day workshop to support leaders in understanding
and moving forward on these concepts, we focus on three main areas.
- Understand the practical, business side of spirit in the workplace.
- Using examples from industry leaders and successful companies,
show how powerful it is when leaders focus on people, values,
making a difference, listening, respect and other concepts that
demonstrate true caring. For example, The Center for Creative
Leadership (CCL) found in their research that the single biggest
factor that separated the top 25% of the managers they studied
from the bottom 25% was “affection.” They got closer
to people and were significantly more open in sharing their thoughts
and feelings than their lower scoring counterparts. (And, by the
way, they also scored high on thinking and taking charge; they
were not “soft” or “weak” in any way.)
- Personal Reflection and Work
- Carl Jung, the great Swiss psychologist said, “the first
step to self-development is self-understanding.” Buddha said,
“Your life’s work is to discover your life’s work
and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.” Doing
their own soul work is essential for leaders. They need to start
thinking about their personal mission, the character and courage
they want to emulate, and the legacy they want to leave behind.
They need to think about their values and begin to understand
that as leaders others see the values they model as the values
of the company. They represent the company as they move into senior
leadership.
- Building and Leading a Soulful, Passionate Organization.
- As our future leaders recognize the power of soulful, passionate
organizations (from section one) and the importance and power
of aligning with one’s own personal mission and values (from
section 2), they face two questions. How do I help others align
in a personal and soulful way? And how do I align the individuals
with each other and with the overall organization so that we capture
the power of true synergy in my organization and ultimately the
company? A great first step is case studies and discussion of
them with the thinking then shifting to their company and how
things are done, and how might they change them.
Benefits You Can Expect:
- Understand the power of soulful, passionate organizations.
- Ground the concepts in real world examples and success.
- Understand the power of personal mission statements, clear focus,
and the part values play.
- Develop a personal mission statement.
- Understand the roles of a leader in building a soulful, passionate
organization.
- Understand what motivates their employees in a better way.
- Learn key factors in building a soulful, passionate organization.
- Have fun!
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