Making Training that Sticks with Meredith Bell

 

In this episode of Training Unleashed, Evan’s guest is Meredith Bell, Author, Speaker, Publisher of Assessment & Development Tools, and president of Performance Support Systems is the guest in this episode of Training Unleashed. Evan and Meredith have a great conversation about how to make training that sticks.

Meredith explains their theory for the reason training doesn’t stick is because there usually isn’t any follow up after the training is done. Lots of people are sent to training and it’s an event. According to Meredith, when they get back to their job they’re playing catch up. So, when they encounter a situation where they can use the new skill they automatically revert back to doing it the way they did it before training. And that’s because the brain hasn’t had a chance to rewire itself for the new behaviour.

To help the brain rewire itself, a process needs to be put in place where people are meeting regularly ideally with an accountability coach—whether it’s by phone, by a platform, or in person. “We want to have the connection to real people where there’s a structured process for talking about follow up,” explains Meredith. What commitment did I make? Did I do it? If I didn’t do it what did I do instead? If I did it, how did it go? And the learner can also support and encouragement from the coach, in addition to accountability.

Meredith and Evan discuss the process that Performance Support System follows to help make training stick: Focus, Action, Reflection. But you’ll need to listen to the episode to get more details on how to add this follow up process to your training to make it stick.

Remember to listen to the end to get Meredith’s BIG tip. Details about Meredith’s giveaway are below.

Meredith’s Giveaway

Meredith has three offers for Training Unleashed listeners.

A free ebook that will help you discover how to improve the way you listen so you really “get” what someone is trying to tell you and create a stronger relationship at the same time.

A free quiz to rate how well you and the people you work with interact with each other.

And lastly, a call with Meredith.

All are available by visiting: https://growstrongleaders.com/trainingunleashed/

About Our Guest

Meredith Bell is co-founder and President of Performance Support Systems, a global software company providing assessment and development tools for the workplace. Their award-winning tools and books guide leaders and team members to make the shift from KNOWING to DOING. The result is permanent improvements in the way people interact with each other.

Meredith is an expert in leader and team communications, the author of two books, and the host of the Strong for Performance podcast. She’s worked with thousands of business leaders, Human Resources professionals, and Learning & Development executives to successfully implement their tools. Meredith co-authored her latest book, Connect with Your Team: Mastering the Top 10 Communication Skills, with her business partner, Dr. Dennis Coates. In it, Meredith and Dennis provide an unprecedented, practical step-by-step how-to guide for improving communication.

2021-05-08T20:28:36-04:00May 8, 2021|

Fixing Workplace Injustice with Kim Scott and Trier Bryant

 

In this episode of Training Unleashed, Evan is joined by Kim Scott and Trier Bryant, co-founders of Just Work LLC. They have a very interesting discussion about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace and how we can be part of the solution to fix workplace injustice.

Just Work, the company, takes the theory from Kim’s most recent book, Just Work, and puts it to work. According to their research, bias, prejudice and bullying are the root causes of workplace injustice and each cause problems in the workforce, AND there are different ways to respond to each whether it is happening to you or you are an upstander.

Not only do Kim and Trier provide great examples of how to respond to bias, prejudice and bullying, they also give guidance on what leaders need to have in place in the workplace to help guide them, whether that be values, a code of conduct or consequences. But you’ll need to listen to the episode to get all of the great tips and guidance they provide.

And, their tips and guidance aren’t just for the workplace… think about children having to deal with bias, prejudice and bullying. Their advice can be used where ever you encounter injustice.

This is a great interview with Kim and Trier sharing their experiences, and tips to help you create the kind of environment where everyone can do their best work and enjoy working together. Remember to listen to the end to hear their BIG tip and giveaway available on the Just Work website.

Kim and Trier’s Giveaway

Kim and Trier are currently curating personal stories to help bring the Just Work framework to life. They invite Training Unleashed listeners to share your story with them by completing an online form on their website: https://www.justworktogether.com/share-your-story

About Our Guests

Kim Scott is the author of Just Work: Get *t Done Fast and Fair as well as Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity. Trier Bryant and Kim co-founded the company Just Work to help organizations and individuals create more equitable workplaces. Jason Rosoff and Kim co-founded the company Radical Candor to help people cultivate caring and candid relationships at work by implementing a feedback-first culture.. Kim was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and other tech companies. She was a member of the faculty at Apple University and before that led AdSense, YouTube, and DoubleClick teams at Google. Earlier in her career Kim managed a pediatric clinic in Kosovo and started a diamond-cutting factory in Moscow. She lives with her family in Silicon Valley.

Trier Bryant is Co-Founder and CEO of Just Work LLC. She is a strategic executive leader with distinctive Tech, Wall Street, and military experience spanning over 15 years. She’s previously held leadership roles at Astra, Twitter, Goldman Sachs, and proudly served as a combat veteran in the United States Air Force as a Captain leading engineering teams while spearheading diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives for the Air Force Academy, Air Force, and DoD. Additionally, Trier advises leading companies like Equinox, Airbnb, SoundCloud, Alto, Rockefeller Foundation, and others on their talent and DEI strategies. Trier has an unwavering commitment to employees within organizations to create a more equitable, inclusive, and thriving workplaces producing prosperous companies. She has been featured as an influential DEI practitioner by several publications and outlets from USA Today to CNN and SXSW. Trier earned a B.S. in Systems Engineering with a minor in Spanish and Leadership from the United States Air Force Academy (Beat Army, Sink Navy) where she played Division I volleyball. Trier enjoys spending time with her close knit family who taught her to live by the family motto “…good enough isn’t.”

2021-04-29T09:16:46-04:00April 27, 2021|

Applying Peer Group Learnings to Business Teams with Leo Bottary

 

In this episode of Training Unleashed, Evan’s guest Leo Bottary, founder and managing partner of Peernovation, LLC, gives you a different way of thinking about the culture of accountability. The conversation centers around applying the learnings from peer groups into teams in your business. Leo explains how peer groups can help with employee retention and engagement, AND retention of information taught in training!!!

When Evan asked Leo, how he decided to take what he learned about peer groups and recreate it inside an organization? he explained the concept has been a decade in the making. That in looking at what made a peer group effective and what made a team effective—there were a lot of similarities. In peer groups you have “individuals who come together to help one another achieve their individual goals. While a team comes together to achieve a collective goal or shared work product.”

Evan asked Leo to tell us what he’s learned about peer (groups) that can be brought into an organization?

One of the things that Leo touched on is the concept of psychological safety being fundamental to peer groups. That when people come together as a group, they need to trust each other and feel that they can safely talk about what they don’t know, what they’re afraid of and what mistakes they’ve made. Leo continued by explaining, “When they come together, they’re sharing, often times deep personal and business issues with one another, they have trust that what happens in the room stays in the room. And that they’re helping one another in that way. And in teams it’s not a lot different, you’ve got to be able to share and be open with one another as peer groups do.”

Leo shared five things that he thinks are important learnings from peer groups that can be applied to teams, as well as the best way to roll out the concept to your organization. Listen to the entire interview to hear them all… and remember to stay to the end to hear his one big tip!

About Our Guest

Leo Bottary is the founder and managing partner of Peernovation, LLC. He is a sought-after thought leader on Peer Advantage and Peernovation, emerging disciplines dedicated to strategically engaging peers to achieve personal and organizational excellence. A popular author, keynote speaker, and workshop facilitator, he also serves as an instructor for Rutgers University and Opinion Columnist for CEOWORLD Magazine.

Prior to teaching for Rutgers, Leo was an adjunct professor for Seton Hall University, where he led graduate-level online learning teams and on-campus residencies in the areas of leadership and strategic communication. In April 2015, he was named adjunct teacher of the year for its College of Communication and the Arts.

Earlier in his career, Leo served in senior leadership positions at Mullen and Hill & Knowlton, where he was also Director of Client Service for the US. In the mid-1990s, he founded a public relations agency that a leading industry trade publication hailed as a regional powerhouse, new media pioneer, and great place to work. Leo earned a BA from Jacksonville University, an MA in Strategic Communication and Leadership from Seton Hall University, and completed his doctoral coursework at Northeastern University.

2021-04-21T14:19:17-04:00January 20, 2021|

Establishing a Noble Purpose with Elizabeth Lotardo

 

In this energizing episode of Training Unleashed, Evan speaks with Elizabeth Lotardo, VP of Client Services at McLeod & More (and self-proclaimed training nerd) about the concept of noble purpose behind the book, “Selling with Noble Purpose,” that Elizabeth co-authored. According to Elizabeth, purpose-driven organizations score high in customer retention, employee engagement and other quantitative metrics.

Evan kicked off the interview by asking Elizabeth, “what is a noble purpose?”

Elizabeth’s response, “A noble purpose is a declarative statement about the impact you make on someone else. You’ll hear a lot in business we talk about the why, the higher calling, some people call it a mission or a vision, we call it the noble purpose. It is the essence of why you exist as a business or why you exist as a person.”

Evan continued the conversation by asking, “what was the genesis of the idea” of a noble purpose?

“The genesis of the idea is that people want to feel good. Beyond food and shelter we have core needs as human beings for belonging and significance. We want to be part of something greater than ourselves and we want our work to matter.”

Elizabeth continued, “[t”he crux of nobel purpose, Selling with Noble Purpose, the first edition which obviously came first, was born out of a research study which identified how that feeling of pride how that impact lens played out in a sales capacity. What we know is that sales is really measurable and you can see now from the research a clear difference in sales and in other professions of the people who do keep that purpose at the fore of their heart who show up every day to make an impact on their colleagues and customers and the people who are only focused on their own individual metrics.

“The difference in performance is really clear on an individual level and of course an organizational level. We’re seeing all kinds of data that the organizations who operate as purpose-driven businesses hit it out of the park on metrics like customer retention, innovation metrics, employee engagement, all those quantitative things we work so hard to adjust.”

Elizabeth notes that being a purpose-driven leader or being a purpose driven employee is a learnable practice and the way you learn it is by through closely connecting with the impact you have on others. She shares an exercise to help people find their purpose or connect to the purpose of your organization. But, you’ll need to tune into the episode to get her recommended exercise.

And, don’t forget to listen to the end of the episode for Elizabeth’s tip!

Elizabeth’s Giveaway

If you think your sales team could use a little more purpose, check out our assessment: Creating a Tribe of True Believers today!

About Our Guest

Elizabeth Lotardo is a consultant, researcher, and co-author of Selling with Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work that Makes You Proud.

As the VP of Services at sales leadership consultancy McLeod & More, Elizabeth leads sales transformation initiatives for clients like Oracle, G Adventures, and Fiserv. She is a popular LinkedInLearning author, and her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and on NPR.

With an undergraduate degree in advertising from Boston University and a Master’s in Organizational Psychology, Elizabeth has enabled firms to drive employee engagement, competitive differentiation, and ultimately revenue.

2021-04-21T15:15:52-04:00January 12, 2021|
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