How Can I Best Serve? Introducing My Signature Masterclass

For those who have been clients of mine over the years, there is a thing you’re very familiar with… My passion for sharing information to improve all aspects of life. It’s common to hear me say at the beginning of just about every training or presentation, “I just love this topic, it’s one of my favorites (or it’s one of THE most important…)”

No matter which one, they all share one common thread. They’re all human behavior related - how to become aware of it and how to improve it. Whether it’s emotional intelligence or creative and innovative thinking, all professional development… In fact everything in business and in life is about behavior and the elements of the human experience that generate it. The variety of professional development topics on the market just address it through a specific lens.

Consider these simple examples of business activities through the simple view of behavior:

• people management (or human capital management) is really human behavior management
• building great teams is really about cultivating the behaviors that create the results of a great team.
• creating an innovative culture is really about foster the thinking and behaviors that lead to effective ideation & collaboration
• dealing with difficult employees is really about their counterproductive behaviors and what they’re producing
• performance management is behavior management
• when hiring - you’re looking for skills - a skill is a mastered behavior
• when interviewing - you’re assessing the interviewee’s behaviors and your perception of what those behaviors represent and are communicating to you.

So, as I was contemplating how to best serve my clients in the new year, it occurred to me that I’d never formally created a class around that one common thread - though I’ve written 2 executive briefing books addressing it, Show Me The Money & The Human Quotient. They are usually offered as compliments to the variety of topics in my portfolio, but not on their own. (Those books can also be found on Amazon or Barnes & Noble).

Then it occurred to me that one common thread is actually the underlying foundation to all other topics… and that, in fact, offering all the topics I do without it is like putting the cart before the horse and even filling up the cart… with still no horse.

Additionally, I’m coming upon my 25th year in business, and as I’ve worked with thousands of folks around the globe - both in-person and virtually, the same recurring issue presents itself that I can just no longer ignore.  

What’s the issue?

It happens to be the common thread… Leaders/decision-makers fundamentally do not know how to effectively work with human behavior. It’s a huge knowledge gap that continually causes issues, lost money, time, and opportunities.

What do I mean by “can't work with human behavior?” It comprises 3 lost abilities:

1. Notice behavior - and pay attention to it
2. Measure behavior to understand its broad impact (what I call the "ripple effect”)
3. And here’s the biggy… Calculate the value or cost of it.

Because most leaders are not skilled at all three, here's what typically happens:

• ​​They see people, not behavior
• They don't take negative behavior seriously - it's overlooked or highly tolerated
• They don't know what to do when they see it
• They don't see/understand the human, team, organization, client or customer impact and cost
• They don't know how to financially calculate that impact/cost
• And because of everything above, they don't have a timely response
• Also, it causes talent to be undervalued, unappreciated and undercompensation. So what do they do?...they leave…”great resignation” anyone? I’ve even seen very talented people let go or perpetually not promoted not because they weren’t contributing value, but because of personal, unexplainable bias.

So, it became clear to me that the best way for me to serve is to finally offer a distinct masterclass that teaches people how to read behavior, measure that behavior, and perhaps most importantly, calculate its value and cost.

One thing, of which I am firmly convinced - is that the key reason destructive behavior in the workplace is left unaddressed and tolerated is because decision-makers (*HR included!*) are not aware of the financial cost because they don’t know how to calculate it - or even wrap their head around the fact that behavior has such a significant role on the company's bottom line. The one exception is turnover, but by then it’s too late, and the short-term and perhaps even long-term damage has already been done.

So, I’m excited to announce that I am adding to my offerings a signature masterclass (which also serves as a perfect compliment to my LinkedIn Learning Courses).

My new masterclass's content is an essential foundation to any other training and development endeavor and therefore is a key component in every professional portfolio. It will especially be essential for those at any level of leadership, management and human resources.

Masterclass Overview

• Learn to empower leaders/managers at all levels as business partners
• Learn to create an impact map that shows the big picture ripple effect of an employee’s performance (this is pretty eye-opening) - whether it’s charting the value contributed or the cost. This alone can greatly reduce traditional performance management bias and can be a helpful add to any DEI initiative by moving to value-based performance management.
• This can also be used for a pre-promotion assessment or when considering termination.
• Learn to financially calculate the contribution or the cost. This part really shocks folks. When they see situations translated into concrete $ it’s mind-blowing. I have some great cases studies.
• The masterclass is designed to construct a relevant case-study - you can use yourself or another situation.

So, let me close with two questions:

As a manager, can you calculate the big picture impact of an underperforming, or dysfunctional team member?

As a leader of other leaders/managers, can you, right now, map the big picture impact (the ripple effect) and calculate the financial cost of an under-performing or dysfunctional manager?