St. Louis Business Achieves Highest Sales Honor

Local business Wings of Success LLC has been honored as an Inscape Publishing Diamond Award Winner, Inscape’s highest award level. In 2011, less than 1% of Inscape Distributors earned the honor of Diamond Award.

Wings of Success LLC brings insight and practical tools to help individuals be more effective in the workplace. To be successful in workplace relationships, people need to have a memorable framework to understand themselves and others,” says Jeffrey Sugerman president and CEO of Inscape Publishing.

Founded in 2002, Wings of Success LLC has become known as Your PEOPLE Development Partner!  The company provides assessment-based learning resources that develop Personal Excellence, Organizational Performance, and Leadership Effectiveness.  The company has steadily grown under the leadership of Sharon Wingron, CPLP.  Wingron is known for her DiSC behavioral styles expertise and is an internationally recognized leader in the learning and performance profession.

Wings of Success LLC’s work is helping people learn to be better leaders, managers, and individual contributors,” Sugerman says. “Organizations are becoming stronger and more efficient as a result. We are proud to have Wings of Success LLC as a partner.”

About Inscape Publishing

Inscape Publishing, Inc. is a leading developer of DiSC^®-based corporate training and assessment solutions. Inscape recently launched Everything DiSC^®, its third-generation applications that combine online assessment, classroom facilitation, and post-training follow-up reports to create powerful, personalized workplace development experiences. With a global network of nearly 1800 independent distributors, Inscape’s solution-focused products are used in thousands of organizations, including major government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. Every year, more than a million people worldwide participate in programs that use an Inscape assessment. Inscape products have been translated into 30 different languages and are used in 70 countries.

For more information about Inscape Publishing and Everything DiSC products, visit www.everythingdisc.com

She's really good and other TSA sales

As many learning professionals do, I travel frequently around the U.S. and sometimes to other countries.  It has been interesting to watch the “security” procedures evolve since 911 and to observe the consistency, or lack thereof, across the U.S. airports.  How many times has something that didn’t raise an alert in my outbound airport suddenly cause concern in the return airport?  Or it was fine one week and the next week concern are raised?  I love to travel, and it is essential for my professional success, yet I have found packing and navigating through security to be more and more of a hassle over time. 

And as a learning professional, I wonder how well trained these agents are and how TSA ensures learning transfer and quality of work.

Yesterday I flew from St. Louis (STL) to Denver (DEN) to begin a 12-day business trip which will include a business mastermind retreat with some valued colleagues, facilitating a 3-day ASTD Training Certificate pre-conference workshop, and attending and presenting at the 4 day ASTD International Conference & Exposition.  No easy way to pack light for this trip due to the variety of activities and outfits required!  One of my check-in bags (weighing in at 40.5#) exclusively held materials for the pre-conference workshop!  (I often say, “If you are going to do training right, you don’t travel light”).  As I constantly do, I thought carefully about how to pack to minimize hassle and maximize productivity.

Two checked bags later, I was in the security line with one rolling check-in bag (containing my casual clothes for the retreat as well as some business materials) and my over-sized purse/duffel (containing my computer, reading material, purse, etc.).  It was 6:00 a.m. – earlier than I typically want to even talk to people let alone be lectured to.  One of the two TSA agents that check boarding passes and IDs was continually admonishing the passengers to

“Remove all of your liquids from your bags.  This is why the line is so long and moving so slow.  How hard is it people?” (she actually said that a couple times!) “Anything liquid needs to be seen to verify it is safe.  Remove it before you get to the scanners.  You need to make these lines go faster.”

REALLY? I get that TSA’s job is to keep us safe, but is belittling us helpful to that end?  On the TSA website, they state “we are people of integrity who respect and care for others …”  That didn’t sound or feel like respect and caring to me.

Finally, my bags went through the scanner as I did.  On the other side, one of the agents asked if the green rolling bag was mine and explained there was an item that looked like a small knife in there, so they needed to search the bag.  No problem, I’m happy to cooperate.  She asked to see my jewelry bag and I also pointed her toward a small office supplies bag as I assumed what she was looking for was in one there.  Sure enough, a small pocket knife, blade about 1.5″ long (that once was my father’s and I’d been carrying around with me for about 8 years), that I use to open boxes and training materials, was the culprit.  (Note: TSA prohibited items list states no knives are allowed in carry-on but you can bring metal, pointed tip scissors with a blade up to 4″ long. Hm.)

I comment to the agent that it is frustrating that I’ve been through so many airports, including STL with this little knife many times and no one has ever questioned it.  She says “Yes, it can be easy to miss things.  This inspector is really good though; she and I have both been here since 911.”  Being polite, albeit frustrated, I sacrifice my knife, thank her for helping keep us safe and go on my way.

About 4 hours later I am at the Valdoro Mountain Lodge in Breckenridge, CO (beautiful place) unpacking and can’t find my toiletries bag.  I was sure I put it in the big checked bag that had my conference clothes and, other than the toiletries bag, was intended to stay in my car while in Breckenridge.  I’m digging in it (in the hotel parking garage) and finally decide I need to bring the bag up to my room to properly unpack it and find my toiletries.  Upstairs we go.  No luck.  Toiletries bag MIA.  About to call my husband to ask him to overnight it because I clearly must have left it at home, I decide I might as well unpack my carry-on bag first.

Much to my surprise, there was my toiletries bag!  While I thought I had packed so carefully, I had accidentally put my toiletries in my carry-on bag!  In the green rolling bag.  With the 3-1-1 clear plastic liquid bag inside it.  Filled with multiple bottles and tubes of liquids.  Not far from the office supplies bag (less one small pocket knife) and the jewelry bag.

“She’s really good; we’ve both been here since 911″ echoed through my head.  One of TSA’s expert, high-performing screening agents completely missed my large toiletries bag with the 3-1-1 liquids bag filled with liquids.  REALLY?

As a traveler, I was #thankful that my toiletries bag wasn’t discovered.  It would have really bummed me out if fueled the fire of the rude Security Checkpoint agent by being one of the admonished travelers who “didn’t take out their liquids” and “slowed the line down.”  I was also a bit shocked that something that obvious was missed and a bit concerned for the true safety of our air travel.

As a learning professional, I was flooded with questions.  If she was one of the “high performers,” what were the lower performers missing?  What happens to the security agents scanning ability when they have locked in to one concern?  Is it normal brain functioning to completely miss other potential concerns at that point?  Does TSA use recent brain research to design their processes and training?  How does TSA train their agents?  What type of refreshers do they give long-term agents to keep them fresh?  What are their quality metrics?  How do they track quality lapses such as this?  Do they have a feedback loop to incorporate learning from lapses such as this and improve their processes?  Not to mention, do they provide Customer Service and Interpersonal Skills training so that their agents reduce the stress of travel and tension of being in security lines instead of adding to it by insulting and belittling the travelers?

We take our shoes off because one person put explosives in his shoes.  We have severe liquid limitations because a few people smuggled on explosive liquids.  Both of these measures were after-the-fact, reactionary measures.  How can TSA get ahead of potential threats, modify their rules and train Security personnel ahead of the fact to keep us safe?  And then, of course, how can they ensure consistent quality inspection and smooth processes so that the minority of “bad guys” don’t get through but the majority of “good guys” aren’t punished in the process?

What about your organization?  How often do your “high performers” slip?  How do you keep all of your employees skills sharp, especially in critical operations?  How do you learn from quality misses and improve your processes?

These are just a few of the questions learning professionals need to be thinking about to help our organizations succeed.

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What would you tell your boss?

About a month ago, in the daily snapshot survey, USA.

TODAY asked the question:

“What would you say to your boss if there were no consequences?”

31% answered, “I appreciate the direction you’re giving.”

15% answered, “I need a chance to express my ideas.”

12% answered, ”You don’t provide any value to my role.”

9% answered, “Stop pretending you’re perfect.”

8% answered, “Don’t tell me how to do my job.”

What would you like to tell your boss if there were no consequences?

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Employee Disengagement due to massive changes

I heard an interview on the radio this weekend discussing how employee engagement is at an all time low due to the massive amount of change and uncertainty in the economy. The interviewee (missed his name, sorry) commented that research showed many people would be looking for a new job if the economy wasn’t so slow still.

I find that interesting. Certainly the economy is still slow and certainly employee engagement is low. What I find interesting is that so many employees think the best solution is to find a new job as opposed to trying to influence their current situation to improve it. Additionally, I find it interesting that so many employers are perpetuated a culture that breeds dissatisfaction in this economy as opposed to taking swift steps to engage their employees and come out on top when the economy re-bounds.

Our Integro Leadership Institute offerings for building cultures based on trust and accountability, as well as our Accountability in Action Personal Excellence series are just what these employers and employees need to get jump-started, get out of the doldrums, get re-engaged and energized to increase productivity and exceed customer expectations. That will get our economy moving!!

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Multi-Taxi

I just spent the last two and a half days in a Hilton Grand Vacations Club (HGVC) timeshare unit right on Ocean Blvd in Miami Beach.  My goal was to pull myself away from the distractions of life and focus on writing some articles and working on “bigger picture” projects.  Why Miami Beach?  I had timeshare points to use and thought it would be a good place to balance “sequestering” myself with easy-access amenities.

It was a great place to achieve my goal.  The beach was right across the street for when I wanted to get some fresh air, stretch my legs and re-connect to nature.  There were tons of restaurants and convenience stores around to meet my every culinary need.  I could even order room service, allowing food to come to me so I could stay focused on my work.  The timeshare unit was fabulous – spacious enough to allow thinking without feeling cramped, nice kitchenette with full refrigerator/freezer, microwave and blender.

The building had a roof-top terrace with a Jacuzzi, so again I could escape and “change my scenery” quite easily to refresh.

So, did I achieve my goals?  Not a chance.  I am my worst enemy.  I was thrilled to have high-speed internet access; then, I spent ridiculous amounts of time responding to emails, checking Facebook, and looking things up online.  While I did accomplish some important work, my productivity was quite low due to my multi-tasking.

This morning I was contemplating this challenge and my need for more self-discipline while I was riding to the airport in a taxi.  I couldn’t help but notice the epidemic (multi-tasking) is everywhere.  In the short 20-minute ride to the airport, my drive was constantly either talking on his cell phone or on the cab’s radio system.  For the brief moments he wasn’t talking, he was searching for phone numbers (or who knows what) on his cell phone.  I couldn’t see the details, but I could see the scrolling. 

Then, of course, there were the times that he was taking notes in a small notebook – propped on the steering wheel, while he was talking on either the phone or the radio.  All while driving up to about 65 mph or so.

I didn’t feel safe in the back seat, but I didn’t know what to do.  I couldn’t help but think how pervasive and second nature multi-tasking and electronic obsession has become in today’s society.  Brain research and short, practical exercises prove that multi-tasking, while possibly improving “efficiency,” seriously decreases accuracy and effectiveness.  Our brains are not wired to multi-task.

If we are doing simple tasks, we can manage it.  It cripples us when doing more complex tasks however.  Hm.  Driving a taxi and writing leadership and workplace learning and performance articles?  I’m thinking those are complex tasks.

How do you keep from giving in to the obsession of multi-tasking?  What tricks can you share?  I’m looking forward to us all increasing our Personal Excellence and Organizational Performance by managing our digital world instead of it managing us!

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What word are you?

Recently we attended my daughter’s high school band’s annual banquet. It is a time for celebrating the accomplishments of the year and honoring the band students. The band instructor has created a tradition of assigning “adjectives” to each child as they come up to receive their pin, letter, or whatever other award they have earned that year. This is a sweet gesture to demonstrate the impressions the kids have made on her.

The challenge is, of course, that some of the adjectives she chooses aren’t always met with warm reception by the teenagers (or their parents).  For example, one child was deemed extraordinary.  He felt pretty good about that one, albeit perhaps a bit embarassed.  His parents were beaming.

Another child, however, was deemed shy.  The year before she had been given naive.  She wasn’t too tickled with those descriptors.  That girl wasn’t at the banquet, so the moment my daughter heard the word she bust out laughing and texted the new adjective to her friend.  I can imagine the rolling of eyes when the girl read it. When her mother received her pin on the girl’s behalf, she clearly stated, “my daughter said she is not shy!”   Another parent commented privately how “at least this year’s word for my son was better than last year’s.”

The teacher meant no harm.  Her intentions were pure.  She sincerely enjoys these kids and wants to build a strong community in the band and with the associated families.  I think perhaps she just doesn’t realize that sometimes her adjectives are interpreted differently by other people.  The words.  The darned words.  People get caught up in the words used to describe them.  The words may be well-intentioned, well-researched, well-spoken, but they sometimes cause angst, confusion, or downright anger or insult.

In my work as a leadership consultant and people development professional, I frequently use the DiSC, MBTI, Birkman Method or other personality profiles.  These personality assessments help clients understand themselves better, including how others perceive them.  All of these start with an assessment where respondents are instructed to choose which adjectives (words) describe them best.

The tools then result in reports that describe the person’s personality, behavioral style, strengths, opportunities for improvement, potential motivators, stressors, etc.  The Everything DiSC reports that I am certified in also go so far as to suggest how others may interpret you based on your style.  More words.

In my experience, by far the majority of people LOVE these assessments and are amazed at how accurate the results are.  I’ll often hear the comment “it’s like you’ve been following me around with a clipboard observing my behavior.”  There are times, however, where people take exception to the front-end assessment or the resulting report.  The words.  They’ll argue that they aren’t really that way.  They’ll be dismayed that they had to choose from words which they felt none described them well.  Or, conversely, they don’t like choosing words when they all describe them well.  Sometimes they are offended that a report might suggest someone might perceive them as “bossy,” “demanding,” “overly analytical,” “overly talkative” …

The main line of reports I distribute and work with are from Inscape Publishing.  I know the team at Inscape, they are competent, smart and compassionate people.  They go to great pains to thoroughly research, analyze and choose the right words for the assessments and the resulting reports.  Collectively, we go to great strides to emphasize that these are strengths-based assessments and that the reports suggest “possible” behavior, “potential” perceptions.  And sometimes the words still sting.

So, what word(s) best describe you?  None of us can be summed up in a single word.  Our behavior is not singular.  It is flexible, adaptable, ranging, and variable moment by moment, situation by situation.  Can sets of words describe you?  Well, yes, typically we all have a pattern of behavior that will evoke a certain set of descriptors, used by ourselves and hopefully, if we are self-aware and manage ourselves well, used by others as well.  There will be positive words, and yes, Virginia, there will be some words with a bit of sting probably too as we all have a opportunities for growth.

The key is not to be offended by the words.  Don’t reject them.  Don’t wholesale “buy” them either.  Think about your words.  Think about what that word means to you.  Consider why someone else may apply that adjective to you.  Then consider, as Dr. Phil says, how’s that working for you?  If you don’t like the word.

Don’t be offended.  Do something to change it.  If you do like the word.  Excellent!  Celebrate that and do more of it!  We can all be whichever words we want.

Maybe the question isn’t “what word are you?”  Maybe, instead it is “what word do you want or need to be, today, tomorrow, in the meeting, with your family, at any given moment.”  My word for right now is “finished.”

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Least Stressful Jobs

In preparation for my Organizational Behavior class I’m teaching at Washington University in St. Louis tonight, I’m doing some research on organizational change and job stress.  Our Robbins Organizational Behavior text pointed me to an article about low stress jobs.  Imagine my surprise when it listed Education/Training Consultant as the number one least stressful jobs!

Some days I believe that is true – I love what I do, I love the flexibility I have, I love helping people learn and grow … Other days, though, I have to be honest.  I’m pretty darn stressed out!  Deadlines to meet, clients to satisfy, preparation, preparation, preparation … making sure I know my stuff, have the timing nailed, look the part, etc.

So what do you think?  Workplace learning and performance professionals – do we have some of the least stressful jobs out there?  Please share your thoughts!  Also, please share your best techniques for managing your stress and taking advantage of the flexibility we have and the wonderful opportunities to make people’s lives better.  Thanks!

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Finding mecca in Gmail Premier, Solve 360, GQueues

I am a student of productivity. I’ve been working for years to determine the besttools, systems, tricks and approaches for enabling me to work effectively and with meaning, and then helping others learn how as well.

I’ve long been a fan of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and his related “First Things First” approach. I love the idea of having all of my work flow from my personal and professional mission statement and relate to my values and key roles in life. The challenge for me has always been translating that to every day – how do I get the long list of ToDo’s done and stay focused on not only my highest priorities, but also dealing with the minutiae of daily life?

I’ve been living the 7 Habits (or at least attempting to) since 1995 and still struggle with conquering Habit 3 from the organization and execution standpoint. Being a certified facilitator of the Covey 7 Habits and other leadership programs helps, as we always learn more when we teach others, but it is still a challenge for me.

Enter David Allen and his Getting Things Done (GTD) approach. I was first introduced to GTD back in 1999. I didn’t realize at the time that it was still a relatively new approach. I had the honor of attending a workshop taught by David himself and then working with an implementation coach to incorporate the approach in to my life.   GTD totally handles the big and little stuff in work and in life overall.

The “Someday Maybe” list was an amazing revelation for me and continues to be ridiculously long as I tend to be very creative and come up with many ideas for “things to do, learn, read, experience …” on an ongoing basis.  Thus the challenge of staying on top of my lists and focused on what REALLY needs to be done NOW vs what would be nice to do someday.
I began to marry the two methods – 7 Habits and GTD – and for the last decade have played with many tools and systems to try to make it all work. While still in Corporate America I was limited to Microsoft Outlook. It was partially there, but better with the FranklinCovey PlanPlus add-on. I began working with those two when I started Wings of Success LLC in 2002.

As my business grew, I was wanting a more robust Client Relationship Manager and Project Management tool to integrate with my ToDo list and Calendar. Outlook wasn’t quite cutting it for me, even though they were beefing up their Business Contacts Manager. At the advice of my IT guy, I switched to TimeMatters by LexisNexis. That made for an interesting several years! While the product was very robust and capable of far more than I’d ever use (it was ACT! on steroids), it was just too much for a small business like mine.

I spent 1000′s of hours and dollars (no exaggeration here – a steep price for an already too busy small business owner) trying to customize the system, streamline it and get my IT infrastructure stable enough to handle it. What a frustrating experience. The whole time I struggled to stay on top of the growing demands on my productivity and to provide the strategic vision and guidance for my business and life.

One valuable lesson I learned in this phase is that I HAVE TO HAVE the “trusted system” David Allen talks about for tracking all of my “open loops” and commitments. TimeMatters wasn’t a trusted system for me, and it continued to stress my productivity and frazzle me.

Finally, in late 2009/early 2010 I cried “uncle.” I had switched my email platform to Gmail (after the IT storm cloud I lived under had caused my other email provider to basically flip such that all spam was going in the inbox and all real email was going in spam). What a blessing!! I immediately saw productivity gains just by leaving Outlook and my other provider behind and using Gmail. I then began heavily researching Google Apps and the emerging Marketplace to find Gmail solutions that could fill my other needs.

I am pleased to say I am finally stabilizing on a solution set that I think will finally be that long sought-after GTD Trusted System, and also enable me to still sprinkle in enough of the Covey 7 Habits approach to make it meaningful. My new happy productivity place is guided by 4 main pieces: Gmail, Google Calendar, Solve360, and GQueues (all built on my Google Apps premier subscription for my business).

How sweet it is to finally feel like my contact list is under control and being updated regularly (Solve360), I know the key projects I am working on, who they involve, what their status’ are and the next steps (Solve360), I have a calendar that plays nicely with my tasks and appointments (Google Calendar), and FINALLY, AT LONG LAST, THE MISSING PIECE – I have a ToDo/Next Action management system that is straight-forward, simple to use, yet robust enough to manage all of my immediate next actions as well as the agendas and someday maybes, big and small, near or future (GQueues).  Oh, I shouldn’t forget one other piece – Solve360 just allowed me to push slightly under 1000 contacts into MailChimp in just a couple minutes to send a Thanksgiving greeting to valuable clients and colleagues!

And, the beautiful thing – all of this is cloud-computing and works seamlessly with my Android Samsung Moment, so wherever I am, in the office, on the run, as long as I am “online,” I’m connected and able to process and stay on top of my life! There are so few times I’m not “connected” that I don’t worry too much about having off-line access, but Google Connector does allow me to sync down to Outlook (it still lurks on my computers) and GQueues has an off-line version coming once HTML5 becomes the new standard.
It feels so good to finally have the system in place again after months (years!) of struggle and anxiety about what I might be forgetting and how my productivity was suffering. Thank you Google, Norada (Solve360) and Cameron (GQueues)! You are making my life immensely better! Stephen Covey and David Allen would be proud!

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Value Of Networking + Informational Interviewing Tips

I recently facilitated the ASTD Training Certificate Program sponsored by the ASTD Ft. Worth, TX chapter.  One of my participants was a gal named Eileen from California.  Eileen is transitioning from Sales Management in the Pharmaceutical industry in to training and development.  Eileen will be fabulous – she has excellent business acumen, in-depth industry experience, a natural energy and zest for learning, and great facilitation skills.  She was a joy to have in our session!

As I mentioned, Eileen is transitioning into the workplace learning and perfromance/training and development profession.  She’s asking the right questions to gather the information and perspective she needs to be successful.

Eileen just wrote me today with a networking update:

“… speaking of networking, I have just learned the valuable lesson of always getting your job search message out complete with your professional objective.

Monday night while sitting around after playing a tennis match, the other members of the team asked about my class that I had taken through ASTD.   I raved on about the class and about you.   One of the players whom I don’t know very well sat listening intently and then asked a few more questions about what type of job I was looking to transition into.   I provided a recap of my past employment, my skills and my goals about breaking into the training and development industry.

She then says to me, “You know, you should speak with my mother-in-law, she OWNS a training and development company” !!!    Amazing, huh?”

So Eileen is on the right track to make her transition successful!  She now has an informational interview set up with the owner of the training company.  Eileen asked me for suggestions on questions that she should not miss asking.

Below are some thoughts I shared.  Read on, and then let me know what powerful questions you recommend for information interviews?

• What do you recommend I do to prepare for a position In your company/department should one become available?”  Take good notes, then if you are really interested in that company/department, start doing what they suggest!
• What concerns would you have about hiring me?”  or some variation … the goal is to ferret out information that may be holding you back without you being aware of it.
• Similarly, ask “if you had a position available, why would you hire me?” or some variation – try to discover what the person you are talking with sees as your strengths that you may not recognize (or to reinforce what you know to be true about yourself and to help them see it as well).
• Be sure to find out about the types of clients they work with, the type of work they do … “Describe a typical day in your job for me.”  They likely won’t have a “typical” day, but you want to get a feel for the variety of activities and responsibilities in their work.  Of course, if you are talking to the owner of a company that has people/trainers working for them, you may want to modify to “a typical day for your trainers” or whichever position you are interested in.
• It is always good to ask about the pleasures and frustrations they experience in their role/company.  This will help you be realistic about future positions you may land in.
• I’d also recommend asking the person you are talking with to describe her perfect client, her company culture … all things to help you get a feel for if you’d want to work there or to help you narrow down the type of work you want to do and the type of environment in which to do it.

I hope these questions help Eileen. As I said, she is well on her way to a successful transition into my beloved profession.

We all need a little help from our friends via networking, informational interviews, and thoughts on how to prepare. What tips do you have for informational interviews?

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