June's Free Webinar: Build Bench Strength | Develop Your Emerging Leaders

It's easy to get so caught up in the "every day" that you forget about tomorrow. To keep ahead of changing demographics, you need to focus on leadership development now. 

Who is an emerging leader?

An emerging leader may be:

• Individuals new to a leadership role 
• Employees identified as having leadership potential 
• Experienced leaders looking to improve their skills 

Our free webinar, Build Bench Strength: Develop Your Emerging Leaders will help you develop a program to support emerging leaders in your organization.

You'll get insight on key questions like:

• What trends are driving the urgency for leadership development?
• How do we identify "emerging leaders" in our organization?
• What do employees want from leaders?
• What are key attributes of leaders? 
• How can leadership best practices increase emerging leaders' effectiveness? 

Join us next Thursday, June 25th to learn how Everything DiSC "Work of Leaders" can help you develop your emerging leaders! 

Recorded Webinar: Sharpen Your Leadership Skills

Free Webinar Recording Now Available:
The Time is Now for Leadership

Our webinar, Sharpen Your Leadership Skills & Put Your Best Foot Forward, was a huge hit!

In this leadership webinar, we covered:

• Research-based leadership best practices
• Common leadership pitfalls
• Implementing an effective leadership development program 
• Virtual tour of the Everything DiSC Work of Leaders

We have helped thousands of professionals get results in leadership improvement using the Everything DiSC Work of Leaders assessment. Start 2015 with new leadership skills. Improve your effectiveness, avoid leadership pitfalls, and discover the three fundamentals of leadership effectiveness. 

Want to attend the next free webinar? 

Don't forget to sign up to receive our email blasts. We're holding these webinars once a month on topics like teamwork, management, communication, leadership, and much more! 

"Everything DiSC", "Everything DiSC Workplace", "Everything DiSC Work of Leaders", and "Everything DiSC 363" are registered trademarks of Inscape Publishing, Inc.

Corexcel is proud to be an Authorized Partner of The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team. This program is based on the best-selling book "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni.

TODAY's WEBINAR: Developing Next Gen Leaders

What's keeping you up at night?

  A recent Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) study showed
HR Executives are all stressing over the same 3 problems...

To help you get some sleep this year, we've developed three webinars to help you solve your problems.

Mark your calendar now and plan to join us:

1. Retain and Reward the Best Employees
2. Develop the Next Generation of Leaders
3. Create a Culture that Attracts the Best Employees

Learn how you can develop your next generation of leaders!

Need help before the webinar? Call us for a complimentary consultation. 

Next Gen Leaders: 5 Ways to Attract, Retain & Develop 20-Somethings

20-Somethings: Your Next Gen Leaders

Our next free webinar will focus on how you can develop your next generation of leaders. But, first, you need to attract those future leaders and keep them engaged.

As a 20-Something full-time working professional, I’m clearly familiar with what type of environment I thrive in; however, I also turned to Facebook for other opinions. I wasn't surprised to read that many of my friends had a lot to say on the topic: some happy and some not-so-happy with their current work arrangements. More importantly, we were all on the same page.

We’re pretty simple creatures. We’re old enough to have responsibilities at home but young enough that we thumb wrestle our spouse to get out of them. We work hard, and we want to feel valued and that we are going somewhere with our career. We’re your best weapon. We’re your next generation of leaders. We have the computer knowledge that younger generations have, but we've also got a few years of working experience under our belts. We’re mature but still young enough to be molded into what you’re looking for.

In order to develop next gen leaders you need to understand them. What do they look for in a company? What keeps them engaged? What do they need to develop? Read on to find out the answers.

First, you need to attract the most talented 20-Somethings and make them stay put!

Benefits. If you want to retain your 20-Somethings, you need to make sure your benefits are satisfying their needs. While compensation is important, 20-Somethings are also looking for health insurance, sick time, retirement options, tuition reimbursement and maternity/paternity plan options. I know several 20-Somethings who have turned down jobs because the organizations’ benefits fell short of their expectations, and I know many others who don’t want to leave their employers because of how great the benefits are. Remember: the mid to late 20’s are prime time for individuals to start planning and/or raising families. We’re assessing living situations and deciding where we want to settle down. Company benefits will help us accept the right offer, stay put, and more importantly, feel valued. 

“When I was looking for a job last year, I was asking companies about sick time and paternity leave. It was sometimes uncomfortable to bring up, but I’m glad I did. When two companies are offering the same type of job and compensation, it’s the extras that really help you make the right decision.”

Flexibility. Similar to benefits, 20-Somethings are attracted to a company culture that not only accepts the need for a work/life balance, but promotes it; that not only wants their employees to grow but sees that it actually happens. Why offer your employees the opportunity to go back to school if you’re not flexible with their schedule so they can make it to class on time? It can even be as simple as allowing employees to work from home if the weather is bad or their child is sick. This type of flexibility and trust in your employees will improve your company culture tremendously. Having a flexible work culture will help you attract the best employees and improve employee retention, especially for the 20-Somethings who value flexibility.

“I think flexible work hours/work arrangements rank very highly just in terms of enabling individuals (women, in particular) the mindset that being a career-oriented individual AND a family-oriented individual is feasible.”

Now that you’re attracting 20-Somethings, how do you keep them engaged and growing?


Opportunity for Growth. Chances are your 20-Somethings have been in the same position for a few years. It can become, well, boring. 20-Somethings can become anxious working in the same position without any opportunity for growth or advancement. If there isn't a promotion available, find other opportunities for them. Offer them lateral moves and/or the opportunity to take on new projects.

When we say opportunity for growth, we don’t necessarily mean advancement. We need the opportunity to develop our skills and build our resume. Opportunity can be taking on a new client or project, becoming a chairperson on a company committee or encouraging employees to go back to school or take CEU courses.

20-Somethings want to get noticed and build their résumé. If you want your 20-Somethings to be ready for leadership roles in the future, you have to start preparing them now with opportunities for growth and development. The opportunities I mentioned above will 1. Give your employees experience and 2. Keep them motivated to stay with your company.

“I think we all want to feel like we're "going somewhere." Whether it's being groomed for management, or even making a lateral move into a new area of expertise, we don't want to get bored and stagnant in the same old job. I love being volunteered for new projects by my manager because, at the very least, it's a résumé builder that I can take with me anywhere!”

“I’m looking for opportunities for professional development. Continuing Ed, higher degrees, etc.; not necessarily funding it but even providing flexibility for it to happen.”

A Mentor. 20-Somethings heard a lot about the importance of mentorship during college, and that idea has stuck with us. My professors recommended having a mentor in our field that we could turn to for advice, motivation or feedback. Some colleges even went as far as to pair students up with a mentor in their field. If your organization can develop a mentorship program for younger employees, I bet it would be very popular and would make your company stand out from your competitors. 

“Having a mentor in my industry has been really beneficial to me, but it would be nice if my company helped set those types of relationships up for us. I would take advantage of that.”

Communication. Employees of any generation can agree that communication is key, especially if promotions aren't readily available or new projects don’t always present themselves. 20-Somethings thrive when employers communicate with and care about them.

Not sure what your 20-Somethings (or other employees) want? Ask them! You’ll never know what will or won’t work for your company without assessing your employees’ needs. Start a conversation on the employees' goals and values and work together to achieve goals.

Let’s have a conversation on how we can continue to grow into *gulp* 30-Somethings within your company.

And for more tips on developing your next gen leaders, contact Corexcel.

20-Somethings, we want to hear from you! What do you value in an employer? What do you need in order to continue to develop?

What's Keeping You Up at Night? Free Webinars

What's keeping you up at night?

  A recent Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) study showed
HR Executives are all stressing over the same 3 problems...

To help you get some sleep this year, we've developed three webinars to help you solve your problems.

Mark your calendar now and plan to join us:

1. Retain and Reward the Best Employees
2. Develop the Next Generation of Leaders
3. Create a Culture that Attracts the Best Employees

Learn how you can retain and reward the best employees.

Need help before the webinar? Call us for a complimentary consultation. 

Throwback Thursday TBT - Management and Leadership

What's the Difference Between Management and Leadership?

This Throwback Thursday, we're going back to the basics of leadership and management. What's the difference between the two? And why does it matter? 

As Managers, we lead. As leaders, we must manage. But sometimes we may get caught up in one or the other. In our blog, we discuss leadership and management and how you can use the Everything DiSC Work of Leaders profile to increase your abilities in both! 

***

Leadership is one of the most researched and published topics over the past 20 years.  Right now, you can walk into almost any book store and find 25-100 books on leadership best practices, tips, tricks, do’s and don’ts.  But how is this different than the topic of management?  Isn't a manager a leader and vice versa?  

Some still think so, but we beg to differ. 

Management and Leadership Differences

You might be thinking, "Wait, is this one of those 'a manager can be a leader, but a leader can’t be a manager' things?"  Not really. Management, in its basic form is progressing throughout the workday with little to no incident.  Most managers work to make sure things stay the same and their employees do their job.  Their primary focus is to oversee the day to day activities of their staff and make sure things run smoothly.  

Continue reading the blog post.

Management and Leadership: What's the Difference?

What's the Difference Between Management and Leadership?

By: Jason Willey 

Leadership is one of the most researched and published topics over the past 20 years.  Right now, you can walk into almost any book store and find 25-100 books on leadership best practices, tips, tricks, do’s and don’ts.  But how is this different than the topic of management?  Isn't a manager a leader and vice versa?  

Some still think so, but we beg to differ.

Management and Leadership Differences

You might be thinking, "Wait, is this one of those 'a manager can be a leader, but a leader can’t be a manager' things?"  Not really. Management, in its basic form is progressing throughout the workday with little to no incident.  Most managers work to make sure things stay the same and their employees do their job.  Their primary focus is to oversee the day to day activities of their staff and make sure things run smoothly.  

Leadership takes it a step further. Leadership is having a “strategic mindset” versus a “day to day mindset.” Leaders develop a vision; they rally the troops and make big things happen.  Leaders push the boundaries, break through barriers and forge new paths!  Leaders find ways to not only meet the goal, but surpass it.  

Effective leaders also have people willingly following them. John Maxwell once said, “If you think you are a leader, but no one is following you, you’re just taking a walk.”   

An easy way to think of the difference between the two is: management is working in a “one to one” relationship, versus leadership, which is a “one to many” relationship.  

Using Work of Leaders to Help Define Management and Leadership

One of our customers, a human resource director from a major quality of life corporation, is currently running an eight month Management Leadership Training (MLT) course with her high level employees.  She is using the Everything DiSC Work of Leaders assessment to help her people understand that leadership is about seeing the big picture and understanding how to effectively move yourself, and your people, to a better place. Telling your employees, "You may be a manager now, but we want you to be a leader tomorrow" has to have a positive effect on their outlook, don't you think?

She says, “The first class in the MLT discusses the difference between Management and Leadership.  You can really see the participants start to grasp the concept of leadership!” The Work of Leaders assessment helps with this and focuses on leadership in three areas: Crafting a Vision, Building Alignment and Champion Execution.  Based on your answers to the assessment, you may have strengths or weaknesses in these areas. Learning this information helps to build self-awareness and most importantly, awareness of the difference between management and leadership.

Learn more about the Everything DiSC Work of Leaders assessment.

Don’t just manage the status quo, strive to be a leader.  Your world needs more leaders!

Celebrating Leadership ALL MONTH LONG

Leadership is one of the most challenging positions to fulfill. How do you know you're doing a good job? Are your employees happy; productive? Are YOU happy? How do you measure effective leadership?

Effective leadership is continuously learned and can be extremely powerful. As leaders, it's vital to continue growing and investing in yourself (and your team).

To honor the importance of leadership (and make it a little easier for leaders to offer training opportunities to their staff), we're offering:

• Discounts on our most popular courses
• Giveaways of some of our favorite leadership products
• Helpful leadership & team building tips
• Inspirational leadership quotes and more! 

If you're looking to develop you or your team's skills, now is the time!

Make sure you're connected with all of our social media pages to ensure you're seeing all of our great leadership deals and giveaways.

Join our email list!

Corexcel's Top 5 Blog Posts of 2011!

In case you missed it, here are our top 5 blog posts of 2011!

Check out our blog: www.trainingprofiles.com to catch up on ALL of our previous blog posts.

Here's to another year of professional training, employee assessments & continuing education! 

Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Boss?
Have you ever heard of the saying, "You don't quit your job; you quit your boss"? It's certainly true. Bad management can cause employees to feel under-appreciated, frustrated and stressed out, leaving them uninterested in their work and looking for a way out. Our 2-part blog series provides tips on improving your management skills & how to deal with a bad manager! Continue Reading...

***

DiSC Profiles Minimize Conflict & Maximize Productivity
This blog series paints the picture of a dysfunctional group and a frustrated manager who is at his wits-end. Each of our blog posts highlights the DiSC styles in order to help you relate more effectively to the D, i, S and C's in your group. Continue Reading...

***

The Training Matchmaker
When planning training for a group, take the time to define what you want your learners to know or to do when they have completed the training, keeping your budget in mind. This will help you choose the most effective type of training for your learners and for the organization as a whole. This post will help get you started on choosing the right type of training for you, your staff and your budget! Continue Reading...

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"Be honest with me!" - The Importance of Evaluation & Feedback
We're constantly faced with the question, "How did I do?" Many poor managers are often afraid to address employees' weaknesses and provide false praise while others can be overly critical and fail to recognize the positive aspects of an employee's performance. Learn more about the consequences of providing inaccurate or no feedback and how to provide effective performance reviews. Continue Reading...

***

STOP! Ask Yourself These 6 Questions Before Choosing an Assessment
Before you select an assessment for your upcoming training program, make sure you assess the needs of your organization, your employees and your budget. Answering these questions will give you more direction so you can choose the best assessment for your group, AND get the most out of your budget! Continue Reading...

Get the first look at our NEW DiSC 360 Report!

Our next Product Showcase highlighting the Everything DiSC® 363™ for Leaders profile will be held on Tuesday, July 12th!

Product Showcases

Online, virtual showcases allow you to view select products from the comfort of your own office. You’ll hear from the creators of the assessments about best practices, features, benefits and tips. Never heard of DiSC? Familiar with DiSC, but not the newer products? Attend the webinar!

Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders Product Showcase
This showcase will cover the newest addition to the DiSC system. 363 for Leaders is a 360 assessment that combines the popularity of a 360 report with the simplicity of DiSC. Organizations have switched from expensive, hard to read 360′s to the 363 because it’s less expensive and easy to use.

Who should attend this webinar?
Human Resources Managers, Training and Development teams, Work/Life Coordinators, Independent Consultants, Life Coaches, Business Coaches.

Unfortunately this complimentary webinar has already taken place. Visit corexcel.com to learn more about Everything DiSC Profiles.

“DiSC” and “Everything DiSC” are registered trademarks of Inscape Publishing, Inc.

DiSC 360 Reports - Online 360 Feedback

In a previous post entitled Who’s afraid of the big, bad boss?, I touched a little bit on the Everything DiSC® 363 for Leaders profile as a great way to prevent bad management from plaguing your organization. Since then, I’ve received quite a few questions about this 360 instrument, and I thought a quick blog post was a great place to provide you with answers!

Graph - Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders Report

What are the benefits of using a 360 report?

Many of our clients use 360 reports to provide feedback on their leaders from all different angles. Your leader’s staff, supervisors, co-workers and even clients can all assess the leader’s skills, thus providing 360 degrees of personalized feedback. This type of feedback is vital for any leader to better understand their leadership style and make improvements. Like I had mentioned in that Bad Management blog post, bad management is preventable. Providing a leader with constructive feedback from the people they work with allows them to see how they are received by other people.

What makes 363 for Leaders different?

Many of the 360 reports out there are costly, time consuming and extremely complicated to interpret. Some 360’s are so in depth that you need to be certified to use them. Often the feedback is so detailed, that your leader can’t figure out what to do with the information. What’s exciting about the Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders profile is that the leader gets great feedback without the costs or the complication of other 360 surveys. Plus, you don’t need to be certified to administer it. Everything DiSC 363 is a DiSC-based report that uses narrative and graphics to give the leader the information they need to improve.

Why is it called 363 for Leaders if it’s a 360 survey?

The Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders gets its name because of its unique take on a traditional 360 report. Not only do leaders receive detailed feedback from raters, but they also receive “Three Strategies for Development” personalized just for them. The result is a clear road map for success specifically designed for your leader. Thus, the 363 gets its name.

Has it been tested?

Yes. Similar to other DiSC profiles, DiSC 363 has been research-validated by a team of experts. It was tested and developed for more than 3 years, and field tested with over 400 leaders and 3,000 raters. You can read more about the research by viewing our Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders Research Validation Report.



Graph - Coaching Supplement

How does it work?

First, you will identify who will be the leader. When you know who will be receiving the 360 profile, identify the raters. These can be co-workers, supervisors, employees, personal friends, neighbors, etc.

The rater categories include:

• Supervisor
• Direct Reports
• Peers
• Other 

Any neat features?

Quite a few!

• "CommentSmart" feedback system allows raters to choose from a pre-selected list of comments. This saves time and avoids unpleasant remarks.
• Unlimited, anonymous raters make it easy to include as many raters as you would like and allows them to feel comfortable responding.
• "Three Strategies for Development" help your leader actively improve their leadership skills.
• Complimentary 363 Coaching Supplement. Each assessment comes with a 5-page coaching supplement to help you understand and review the leader's results along with them.
• Comprehensive report includes personalized narrative, detailed feedback by type of rater, big picture feedback and valuable suggestions for improvement.
• 363 for Leaders reports can be branded with your company name, logo and contact information by using our EPIC Online Administrative Account.

The Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders profile is a great way to bring DiSC into your leadership training. Although the report is extremely detailed, its narrative and visual components make it easy to understand and remember. Check out our Free Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders Sample Report and Coaching Supplement Report and see for yourself.

Free Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders Sample Report

Free Everything DiSC 363 Coaching Supplement Report

Want to know more?

Register today to attend our upcoming Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders online Product Showcase! Email Corexcel learn@corexcel.com for more information.



One Company Gets DiSC®

This is the final article in a four-part series covering the concepts, applications and history behind DiSC®. It's one thing to take the profile and learn about behavioral styles but it's surely another to understand how to put DiSC to work for your organization. This series of articles will help you understand the theory behind the DiSC model while also providing insight into the sales, management and workplace applications. 

One Company Gets DiSC 
By 1978, Marston’s book had been on the marketplace for 50 years but there was no easy way to make his words on paper work as a tool to change businesses. Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was a household name, being tossed around board rooms and conference rooms as “must have” training, but implementing MBTI practically requires a degree. By this time, different industrial psychologists had worked with both concepts and tried to build different kinds of tools using Marston’s theory and Jung’s archetypes without much success. John Geier, PhD was the first to successfully operationalize the DiSC model in the form commercialized by Inscape Publishing. Inscape Publishing offers the original DiSC© instrument, says Barry Davis. “Marston didn’t propose measuring it; he just proposed that the world consisted of these four psychological types and that we could make meaning of them and understand people better if we understand these generalized notions about how people function.” “Our original tool was called just the DiSC Personal Profile System. Then we created the DiSC Personal Profile Software, which was an electronic way to do DiSC. Recently, Inscape Publishing changed the way it packaged its DiSC systems, literally. “We used to sell assessments. Four years ago, Inscape Publishing took everything it had learned about DiSC and organized it into a system called DiSC Facilitation System,” explains Barry Davis, Vice President of Product Development and Marketing at Inscape Publishing. Introduced in early 2008, this product and approach mark yet another step forward in helping Training and Human Resource Managers successfully use DiSC in their companies. “We have really moved from just selling assessments, to selling all of the tools that are useful in applying DiSC to a specific organization or training need. That is really a big change,” says Davis. “We still have PhDs on our staff, psychologists, who develop the assessment and measuring part and the reports but we also have instructional designers, writers, video creatives, editors, web developers and marketing researchers. We have all of the functions under this roof.”  
Read Full Article  

Full Series of Articles
The Concept Behind DiSC: You do the Math  
Digging into DiSC History  
Putting DiSC Management to Work  
One Company Gets DiSC