Workshops and Speeches -

Workshops

and Speeches

" A 10! This is exactly what we needed to keep our company growing!"

Travis Isaacson
Sr. Dir. OD, Access Development

“Very informative and insightful, with a tremendous amount of valuable information.”

Chris Hollender
Claims Director, Argo Group US

“A 10. Excellent workshop. Very enlightening and thought provoking.”

Ron Walker
AVP – Claims, Argo Group US

“Great program. Will take the company to the next level.”

Maura Slattery-Machold
VP of Manufacturing Effectiveness, Sun Life Financial

“Lots of great data points. Very powerful metrics that support the methodologies.”

Kimberly Eyhorn
Senior Recruiter, HomeAway

“Excellent content. Presentations were very focused and informative.”

Dave Kelly
Director, NetScout System

“I thought it was wonderful – very insightful and informative. I can definitely see how the process would work.”

Kiesha Gasparac
Administrative Assistant, RS Hanline Company

Topgrading Workshop: February 15-16, 2012, Chicago, Illinois

Day 1 is “Content,” with explanations of all 12 Topgrading hiring steps, and plenty of fun exercises to learn them. Day 2 is in-depth training in the Topgrading Interview. Meet other Topgraders, enjoy great cuisine, and get personalized coaching from Brad Smart. Click here for more information. Call Kerri Badgley at 847-356-6840 to register or click here. Our tentative workshop dates for 2012 are: June 6&7, September 12&13, and December 4&5.

Topgrading Speeches

Whether it is a 30-minute presentation, or a 2-hour presentation and extended Q&A, we can tailor a Topgrading speech for your interests. Ideal for off-site meetings or conference keynote addresses. For more information, contact Margaret at Margaret.Brask@SmartTopgrading.com.

Topgrading Workshops at Your Location

We offer workshops on Topgrading at your location. The purpose of workshops is to introduce managers to the key concepts of Topgrading and train participants in the full Topgrading process.

Participants are coached through the Topgrading Interview, analysis of interview data, preparation of an executive summary, and coaching the interviewee. The sessions are designed to be highly interactive and entertaining. We cover actual cases so you can see how it works in practice, identify common pitfalls, and show you how to institutionalize the Topgrading approach.

Train-the-Trainer

Almost all larger clients, those with Human Resources departments, ask us to license trainers. HR and others are first trained in a 2-dayTopgrading workshop, then conduct Topgrading Interviews and other Topgrading hiring steps, and finally participate in the Train-the-Trainer workshop, in order to be certified. They then conduct Topgrading workshops internally, using the New Topgrading Toolkit. Call Margaret (847-265-7415) for information.

Certified Topgrading Affiliate

Consultants and free-lance trainers can become affiliated by following a similar process as in Train-theTrainer. Call Margaret (847-265-7415) for information.

Team Effectiveness Workshop

Smart & Associates Topgrading professionals work with senior teams in many client organizations. It is not uncommon for us to assess and coach all, or almost all, members of the team, and therefore have insights about the team, individually and collectively. These insights enable us to assist with improving team effectiveness, including:

Enhanced daily communication
Better team alignment with strategy and business priorities
Resolution (and prevention) of conflict
Continued individual development within the team context
Improved staff meetings

Typically, Team Effectiveness workshops last two days. The Topgrading professional interviews all members with respect to agenda preferences, team priorities, current team dynamics, team improvement opportunities, and the like.

The agenda is tailored for each team, but we have found that by mastering ways to improve its effectiveness dealing with real issues in this two-day meeting, meetings and daily communications in the future will improve as well. A typical agenda for a meeting is:

Review agenda

Team assessment exercise – a scored exercise that is fun but more importantly, enables the group to agree on 15 characteristics of effective teams (trust, listening, time awareness, etc.). This becomes the “scorecard” for how the team handles issues throughout the two days … and in the future.

Rank order the key issues to be addressed, and jump into #1, with the Topgrading professional facilitating the discussion, reinforcing the groups commitment to the 15 key principles of team effectiveness. Opinions are drawn out, discussed, and resolved with an action plan. After addressing a couple of issues, the team rates itself on the 15 criteria of effective groups and commits to ways to improve.

No later than the morning of day #2, the Topgrading professional leads a discussion, which everyone knew about in advance, in which team members can solicit feedback with respect to a) how they can be a better team member, and b) how they might maximize their individual performance and growth. The Topgrading professional, having interviewed all on the team, knows exactly what they will tell each other, and has already offered suggestions for how to make the feedback constructive.

Remaining issues are addressed with the team monitoring itself (less active Topgrading professional) with respect to the team effectiveness principles. The goal is to sustain the higher level effectiveness in the future without the consultant present to “keep score” and intervene.

The final hour is a summary and review of all action plans.

Typically, the team is very pleased with how their functioning improved during the session, what they learned about making their team more effective, what they need to do to sustain and build on these improvements. A common learning and commitment is for all team members to take responsibility for effective group dynamics and meetings, rather than relying too much on the “boss.”

For more information, contact Margaret at Margaret.Brask@SmartTopgrading.com