What Great Managers Do Differently An advanced 2-day leadership training seminar for coaching, inspiring, hiring, retaining, evaluating and holding employees accountable.

Day 1 Agenda

Execute Without Excuses

• Why only 29% of employees know whether their performance is where it should be
• How to use Word Pictures™--behavioral descriptions that set explicit behavioral expectations, distinguish between high and low performers and hardwire accountability.
• How to use 4 Conversations to overcome Denial, Blame, Excuses and Anxiety
• The 8-question “Accountability Test” that will help you diagnose the levels of entitlement vs. accountability in your team & organization

Do More Coaching And Less Managing

• 6-question test to assess if you have the “coaching mindset”
• How coaching changes when you’re focused on performance issues vs. goals
• Understand the difference between coaching vs. managing vs. mentoring
• 3 sentences you should say at the beginning of your coaching sessions
• How to stop using feedback (which focuses on rehashing past history) and instead use Constructive Dialogue

Deliver Corrective Feedback Without Making People Angry

• How to use Fact-Based Communication to “delayer” your conversations (Facts, Interpretations, Reactions, Ends)
• Use the I.D.E.A.L.S. script for delivering tough messages without making the recipient defensive or angry
• How to avoid the “trigger words” that instantly make people defensive
• Why Cognitive Dissonance and the Dunning-Kruger Effect prevent employees from hearing tough feedback and how you can work around them
• How to compartmentalize and manage any emotional baggage that causes self-destructive conversations
• How to “Restart” and “Redial” conversations that aren’t working and how to get them back on the right track

How To Build Support For Your Change Efforts

• 2x2 grid that shows you exactly how much support you will have for your change effort
• How to reframe all your communications so that change sounds like an opportunity rather than a threat
• 3 biggest points that MUST be included in every memo announcing a change initiative
• How to stop and debunk any negative rumors about your change effort
• 4 question test that will predict the success (or failure) of your change efforts

Hiring For Attitude

• The 5-part interview question that reveals if people are “coachable” (and that famously asks candidates to spell the last name of their previous boss)
• 2 quick tests to discover the attitudinal characteristics that your organization MUST include in interviews
• 6 words that ruin behavioral interview questions when you’re trying to hire for attitude
• Why you should never ask “tell me about yourself” or “what are your strengths/weaknesses”
• Get a structured form for assessing and evaluating all of your candidates

Day 2 Agenda

Managing Narcissists, Blamers, Drama Queens and More

• How to turn Negative employees positive by debunking the irrational thoughts that drive their negativity
• A specific script for reducing the emotional commotion of Drama Queens and Kings while turning them into a more rational and responsible adult
• How to use Narcissists’ insecurities to tone-down their ego
• How “redirection” and the “control conversation” stop Blamers from pointing fingers at others

How to Inspire and Retain Your High Performers

• An effective "retention" conversation script and the best time and place to hold that conversation (using our famous Shoves & Tugs model)
• The 3 psychological drivers that high performers have (that middle and low performers often lack)
• How to build trust and get candid feedback from your high performers
• How to set "HARD Goals" for high performers with maximum psychological impact
• How to tell if one of your high performers is contemplating leaving

The Science of Managing Millennials

• How to break the Parent-Child management cycle that causes us so many problems when we manage people the same age as our kids
• The #1 driver of Millennial engagement (hint: it's not money or praise)
• How to give Millennials the 'learning opportunities' they so desperately want
• The 6 Psychological Events that made Millennials the people they are today (and how to use that insight to attract and motivate them)
• How companies like Google are able to give Millennials a deep sense of purpose while still getting insane productivity from them

How Leaders Can Deliver Killer Presentations

• Why leaders need more advanced presentation skills to sell their ideas and build buy-in
• How CEOs of Apple, Google and Starbucks deliver killer presentations in just one sentence
• How a new presentation format called "Assertion-Evidence" makes your slides significantly more memorable
• Key questions to ask your audience that keep them awake, feeling like your message was designed for them, and too engaged to start checking their email
• 2 new web-based presentation technologies that are way slicker than PowerPoint (and will have your audience amazed)
• How to give every graphic in your slides a "Holy Mackerel!" point

Finding Time To Be A Leader

• How to distinguish between Green Light, Yellow Light, Orange Light and Red Light Work (and a Grid to plot your major activities)
• Which of your Yellow, Orange and Red Light activities should be delegated and which should be eliminated
• Identify and eliminate the Top 10 timewasters that consume leaders’ time
• Checklist for teaching employees how to clarify and complete work assignments so that you don’t have to waste time constantly checking-up on them after you delegate
• Eliminate some of your misused time with a 3-part Meeting Achievement Checklist that makes every meeting 17 minutes shorter