2022 Archives - Training Unleashed

New realities of post-Covid training with Hilmon Sorey

Hilmon Sorey is an author, keynote speaker and . . . incredibly . . . a man who has trained more than 15,000 people and 5,000 senior executives around the world. He is also Co-Founder of ClozeLoop, a consulting firm based in New York, Houston, Silicon Valley, and Johannesburg.

Hilmon has written eight top-selling books, including 46 Reasons Why Your Cold Calls Fail. . . and How to Fix Them Fast.

You will want to listen to this empowering discussion between Hilmon and Evan Hackel, the host of Training Unleashed. But before you do, please read these excerpts from their conversation . . .

Hilmon on What Is New in Training

In only five years, Hilmon’s training company ClozeLoop has gone from being a startup to one of the most watched training development companies in the world. So what is new in the world of training? Hilmon is in a position to know.

“There is so little being done right now in the area of advancing training,” Hilmon told Evan. One of the obstacles is that many people are still working remotely from home, which has made it difficult for companies to deliver uniformly high-level, high-quality training to large groups of employees.

“So the bottom-line thing here is technology,” he summarizes. “Technology has become the force that catalyzes training in the broad respect, because you need technology to train people who are distributed across the organization.”

Hire the Right People Before You Train Them

“A lot of folks begin to construct the training they need only after they have hired the person who needs to be trained,” Hilmon told Evan. “Instead, they need to step back ahead of time and use what we call a competency matrix to hire the right people. That might mean saying, `I understand I have three roles to fill that might be critical: for the distribution of my product; the sale of my product; and the ongoing development of my product going forward.’”

And then you hire the right people because you have defined the competencies you need them to have.

“Then I can actually imbue these people with information that results in significant performance gains,” Hilmon notes, “but a lot of people don’t take this step before they hire.”

Overcoming Resistance to Cold Calling

Hilmon pointed out many salespeople hate to make cold calls, for many reasons. Some of them feel that cold calling is “beneath them.” Others say they will do it but make it a very low priority and avoid it.

Remember, Hilton wrote the book 46 Reasons Why Your Cold Calls Fail. . . and How to Fix Them Fast, and you will want to hear what he has to say about cold calling in this Training Unleashed podcast.

A Special Offer

Hilmon is offering a free trial version of his coaching/training platform COACH/CRM to members of the Training Unleashed Podcast community. As part of your free trial, you will also receive a complimentary free session with a member of the COACH/CRM staff. Sign up here.

About Our Guest

Hilmon Sorey is Co-Founder of CoachCRM sales coaching software for managers. He has coached and consulted high performing teams in companies that range from early-stage startups to Salesforce, Box, SurveyMonkey, Bill.com, and some of the fastest-growing companies in the world totaling over $600B in valuation and market cap.

He is also Co-Founder of ClozeLoop, a management consulting firm based in New York, Houston, Silicon Valley, and Johannesburg. He is Partner in 2.12 Angels, a seed-stage venture capital firm.

Hilmon has written eight top-selling books on sales, sales management, and coaching.

Janet Brideaux2023-02-27T10:48:42-05:00February 27, 2023|

Celebrating every day moments with Joel Zeff

People use the expression “Ta-Da!” when they have done or discovered something wonderful.

Joel Zeff, a keynote speaker, improvisational actor, and humorist, believes that there is nothing trivial about “Ta-Da!” and celebrating every day moments. In a recent Training Unleashed podcast, Joel told our host Evan Hackel that its use is rooted in the time when kids are little, when everything they do is a celebration.

“They celebrate even the most routine events, like eating a cheese sandwich, in a big way,” Joel said. “They take a bite of that sandwich, they like it, and they exclaim, `Ta-Da!’ And then the parent joins in the celebration by saying `Ta-Da!’ back to them. And whatever activity they are doing, they are then going to do more of it.

“But as we grow older,” Joel added, “we don’t have enough of those moments of celebration.”

The Importance of Enjoying the Journey

Evan pointed out to Joel that too often, people fail to enjoy every moment of their life journey. Instead, they think, “When I get that promotion or make that sale, I will be happy.”

But both Evan and Joel agreed that it is more motivating to celebrate every day by having moments of joy and elation. The point is to be happy in the process.

Making Those Moments Part of Every Day

Joel also pointed out the importance of supporting other people at work. When you give everyone you encounter through the day – your colleagues, customers, clients – that extra level of positive excitement and support, you are much more effective, and you encourage them to join you on the journey to success.

Joel adds, “You can do this by telling people, `Thank you for listening to me . . . thank you for supporting me . . . thank you for being a customer.’ Those words are gifts, and they don’t cost you any money or take much time. Those words fuel other people, so they will bring positive support back to you . . . It’s all about creating a culture of positivity and support.”

Joel’s Tip for Members of the Training Unleashed Audience

“The best message that I learned from doing improv,” Joel says, “is stay in the game. And that is the message I tell my kids. Improv teaches us that we can’t quit. We have to stay in the game and find success.”

A Special Offer

Joel would like to send you an outline of his approach to bringing more celebration to every day. If you contact him through his website, he will be delighted to send you a copy.

About Our Guest

Joel Zeff is a dynamic speaker, improvisational humorist and author. His interactive performances invite members of the audience to participate in hilarious improvisational exercises that illustrate Joel’s central message: That organizations and individuals should CELEBRATE every day successes to increase collaboration, productivity, passion and innovation.

In 1973, Joel began to work in improv comedy, which led him to discover joy in everyday life.

Visit Joel at JoelZeff.com

Janet Brideaux2023-01-20T07:34:04-05:00January 19, 2023|

Future of AI in Training with DeMario and Dawn McIlwain

DeMario and Dawn Nicole McIlwain are the co-founders of Skilldora, the first all-A.I. online learning company that employs A.I. in every aspect of their business and platform. To see one of their amazing A.I.-instructors “live,” be sure to visit myskilldora.com. In a recent Training Unleashed podcast, DeMario and Dawn spoke with host Evan Hackel about the future of A.I. in training.

“A.I. is being currently used most extensively now in the medical space,” Dawn told Evan, “where it is being used mostly to train future doctors.” Yet both DeMario and Dawn foresee many more applications for A.I. in training.

At the moment, many of their efforts focus on creating digital humans that trainees can interact with in training courses. Skilldora is already using these digital humans, which are dramatically more realistic than the “talking heads” in other training courses. But still more big changes are about to happen.

DeMario and Dawn told Evan that in the future, their digital humans will become much more than merely realistic. They will become increasingly interactive, going beyond the simple ability to deliver information or demonstrate skills. This will make training programs increasingly interactive and engaging.

“And by the way,” Dawn adds, “this trend will not put training professionals out of work. If anything, it will create many more opportunities for programmers.”

Another trend to watch for is the application of A.I. to create and adapt culturally sensitive training programs for companies in other countries, where trainees speak languages other than English.

A Special Offer

DeMario and Dawn would like to offer our viewers a free Skilldora course, How to Use Emotional Intelligence to Gain More Success. To access your complimentary course, CLICK HERE, register as a member and claim your free course.

About Our Guests

DeMario and Dawn Nicole McIlwain are co-founders of Skilldora, developers of a training platform that combines powerful AI eLearning with tried-and-true tactics like peer-to-peer learning and networking. To learn more about their company and what it does, visit MySkilldora.com

Janet Brideaux2022-12-13T10:12:28-05:00December 13, 2022|

Coaching to achieve success with Lisa Baker

Lisa Baker is the Founder of Ascentim LLC, a coaching practice that guides its clients to live more meaningful and abundant lives, and she is the guest on this episode of the Training Unleashed podcast. Lisa spoke with our host Evan Hackel about her unique approach to achieving success.

Why Lisa Left the World of Fortune 500 Businesses to Start Her Own Firm

She chose to leave corporate life so she could pursue her calling to help others reach their peak levels of success. “Outside that corporate world,” she told Evan, “people have more freedom to say and do things.”

Lisa explains, “I’ve merged my executive leadership experience with my greatest passions – faith, family, and financial freedom – to create my coaching practice, Ascentim. At Ascentim, we guide our clients to live more meaningful and abundant lives through an awakening that uncovers who they really are, what they value, and their purpose – using it all to create the career and life of their dreams.”

Lisa Explains Her G.R.O.W. Approach to Coaching

G.R.O.W. is a process and a methodology Lisa created to help people move from where they are to where they want to be.

The four steps of G.R.O.W. are:

• Gain Insight – This means gathering the information that you need to move ahead toward success. “Many times a person in an organization is struggling to add a new skill or overcome some obstacle, but is blocked and doesn’t know what the blockage is,” Lisa told Evan. “So that person has to strive to understand what is really taking place. What skills do they need? What connections?”

• Realize New Possibilities – Once you have gained insight, you can start to consider what you can do with the information you have gathered. “Where do you want to go?” Lisa asks, “what is now possible for you?”

• Overcome Obstacles – This phase is all about planning. “Life always brings obstacles our way,” Lisa says. “We didn’t expect some of them, but there are other obstacles we can anticipate and plan for. “

• Win – This means winning at life. It’s bigger than just winning in your career. It has to do with your life and your legacy. “Winning is all about defining what success looks like to you,” Lisa says, “and for each of us, that is something different.”

Evan Hackel observed, “Part of the problem is that when people don’t define success, they never feel successful.” Lisa agreed.

Lisa on Helping Younger Employees Grow

“Younger people value the idea of having a pathway for their careers. However, many of them think that path should be very fast, and straight up. So part of managing those people is to expand their understanding of how careers grow.

“It’s not always linear. Sometimes you take some side steps. You might even see it as a step backward . . . and that’s all good.”

How Training Departments Can Support Individual Growth

Lisa says that training departments can incorporate the G.R.O.W. process in their training. “And they can also bring a more holistic approach to training that addresses a broader base of considerations than just their career,” she adds. “One of them is finance.”

A Special Offer

Lisa would like to offer listeners a copy of her new eBook Financial Therapy: Change Your Beliefs and Change Your Life. To get your copy, CLICK HERE and enter the promotional code FREE BOOK at checkout.

About Our Guest

Lisa Baker is the Founder of Ascentim LLC, a coaching practice that guides its clients to live more meaningful and abundant lives. Her greatest passions are faith, family and financial freedom.

Lisa L. Baker has more than two decades of financial experience in Fortune 500 companies and is a Ramsey Certified Master Financial Coach. No stranger to financial hardship, she bounced back from extreme debt and bankruptcy to retire at the age of 54 – DEBT FREE! She shares her wisdom with others who are ready to go from financial bondage to financial freedom.

Lisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Saint Louis University. She is a certified Personal and Executive Coach (The CaPP Institute) and a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF). She also holds a certificate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace from the University of South Florida Muma College of Business.

Janet Brideaux2022-11-28T11:37:51-05:00November 28, 2022|

Scaling your business with Crista Grasso

Our Training Unleashed podcast host Evan Hackel sat down with Crista Grasso, the creator of the Lean Out Method, a simple way to grow a business to scale in the right way, by minimizing waste and maximizing efficiencies, and a known authority on helping global businesses simplify and scale. The two discussed the importance of growing your business to the right scale.

What Do You Need to Focus on As You Scale?

Crista says there are four factors to consider: Strategy, Planning, Systems and Team

One common problem is that when things are not working well, many companies assume they need to add more people. Yet the real problem could be something else: they don’t have the right systems in place.

And if they pause and simplify, many companies find they can stretch their people a bit further and align them with roles that will get more from the business.

Where to Focus as You Scale

If you can focus on your most important goals as a company – where you really want to be and what you really want to achieve – that will help you pinpoint activities where you can reduce your energy and your resources.

Unless you have clarity of vision, everything will seem like an amazing opportunity and you can invest your people, time and effort in the wrong areas. So the first step is to clarify your vision, so you engage in activities that are directionally correct.

On a Bigger Vision of Training

Training plays a critically important role in helping a company grow to scale provided the company asks not only “what are we doing?” but, “why are we doing it?”

Crista’s One Biggest Tip for Members of the Training Unleashed Community

“Have that clarity of vision,” Crista says. “If you know what is directionally correct for your organization, it will help you make the right decisions and help you grow to scale.”

A Special Offer

Crista has written a guide that outlines the top ten ways that people waste time and waste money in their businesses. She invites you to download your free copy HERE.

About Our Guest

Crista Grasso is the go-to strategic planning and systems expert for online businesses when they want to scale. Known as the “Business Optimizer,” Crista has the ability to quickly cut through noise and provide clarity on the core things that will make the biggest impact to scale a business simply and sustainably. She is the founder of the Lean Out Method, creator of the Lean Business Scaling System, and host of the Lean Out Your Business Podcast.

Janet Brideaux2022-11-11T10:43:52-05:00November 11, 2022|

Using sales training to improve results with Jeremy Miner

When you improve sales training, you improve your bottom line. But what kind of changes should you make, and what results can you expect? Host Evan Hackel sits down with Jeremy Miner, sales training expert and CEO of 7th Level, to explore these questions and more in this episode of the Training Unleashed podcast.

Continuous Training

Jeremy asks, “Is training something that you did, or is it something that you do?”

Please take a moment to think about that question. Jeremy is telling us that if you want to sell more, you need to do sales training continually. Top athletes and sports teams don’t only train when they’re young or just starting out. They train every day. And if you want your organization to succeed, you need to do that too.

One Big Hidden Impediment to Selling More Today

Post-pandemic, your customers are more cautious and skeptical about making the wrong buying decisions. Your salespeople need to address that fear.

There is More Clutter to Cut Through than Ever Before

Checking email, for many people, is the first thing they do in the morning—even before they get out of bed or walk down the hall. When they drive to work, they hear ads on the radio and drive past billboards. And at the end of the day before they go to bed, they look at Facebook and other social platforms.

If you can’t find a way to cut through all that clutter and deliver your sales message, you are simply not going to sell more.

Sales Training Needs to Be Virtual

Jeremy points out that kids do not learn to ride bicycles by attending seminars. They learn to ride bikes by riding bikes! In a similar way, if sales professionals are selling virtually, then sales training needs to be virtual and based on real-world experiences of selling to people.

Jeremy told Evan, “If you want to continually hone your skills and actually learn how to apply them, you want to continually hone those skills in virtual sales training every single day.”

Why the First Few Seconds of a Sales Call Are Critically Important

Jeremy says that if a salesperson is only fixated on making a commission, that salesperson develops what he calls “salesperson’s breath,” which can be smelled 100 feet away. And when prospects are confronted with a salesperson who has entered that state, they immediately go into a fight or flight state and cannot be sold to.

Curiously, this can happen when salespeople become too excited about their products. Today, are we learning that if you don’t want to scare your prospects away, you need a calmer approach in which you come across as calmer and more unbiased.

Jeremy’s Tip to the Training Unleashed Audience

At the end of every episode of Training Unleashed, Evan asks his guest to offer one tip to members of the audience. Jeremy’s tip for us:

“Every time you are selling something, you are selling change. And you do that not by telling people anything, but by asking questions that allow them to tell themselves what that change will be. You need to show them that making that change is safer than staying in the status quo. If they stay in the status quo the problems stay the same.”

About Our Guest

Jeremy Miner is the Chairman of 7th Level, a Global Sales Training company that was ranked #1,232 of the fastest growing companies in the United States by INC magazine’s list of the top 5000 companies in 2021. He is also a contributor for INC magazine and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur magazine, and a host of other publications.

“The single most effective way to sell anything to anyone in 2021, is to be a problem finder and a problem solver… NOT a product pusher.”

For Jeremy Miner, the embodiment of this philosophy has made him one of the

wealthiest sales professionals on the planet. During his 17 year sales career, Jeremy was recognized by the Direct Selling Association as the 45th highest earning producer, out of more than 100 million salespeople – selling anything, worldwide! His earnings as a commission-only salesperson were in the multiple 7-figures, EVERY year.

Jeremy’s unique brand of sales training pioneers the use of behavioral science and human psychology, reflective of his deep studies in the subject from Utah Valley University.

Jeremy is the host of the podcast, Closers are Losers, and his new book, The New Model of Selling: Selling to an Unsellable Generation – co-authored by Jerry Acuff – CEO of Delta Point, is being published Fall of 2022.

Janet Brideaux2022-11-04T13:50:10-04:00November 4, 2022|

Building connections with Dr. Michelle Johnston

In this instalment of the Training Unleashed podcast, host Evan Hackel sat down with Dr. Michelle K. Johnston to discuss the shift in leadership style from a “command and control” style to one based on building connections with yourself, your style of communication and your organization.

What Is the shift in Leadership that Michelle Has Identified?

Michelle noticed this change in leadership style when she realized that executives who were still using a “command and control” style were getting pushed out of organizations and were no longer valued.

The New Leadership Is About Connection, Connection, Connection

Michelle’s research found that leaders who were getting pushed out had failed to establish a deep connection with the people on their teams. Their teams didn’t trust them. Their teams thought they were inauthentic, sometimes fake. They wondered, who is this person?

They couldn’t tell because their leader was putting on a professional act by trying to look like what a leader should be. And she saw that today’s most effective leaders are all about connection.

Michelle’s Deeper Levels of Connection

Connect with Yourself

Michelle describes this step as “giving yourself permission to be who you really are.” She stresses that to become connected to yourself, you need to engage in a lot of self-reflection. Spend a lot of time owning your story. Who are you? Where are you from? What is a significant life event that made you who you are today? What did you learn from that? How did it shape you? Also ask, what are your superpowers? What are your strengths? Do you really understand yourself?

When you are comfortable in your own skin, you can bring your “whole self” to your work and your teams. Only then can you really connect with others.

Connect to Your Communication Style

Michelle has developed a self-assessment tool about identifying and owning your communication style. She includes it in her new book The Seismic Shift in Leadership: How to Thrive In A New Era Of Connection.

Owning your communication style means asking questions like . . .

Who am I?
How do I “show up” as a communicator?
What are my defaults?

As she went through this assessment, Michelle determined that her greatest strengths lay in being a nurturing coach and a facilitator. But she had been suppressing those natural skills because she believed that if she wasn’t a “command and control” leader, people wouldn’t take her seriously. It took courage, but over time she was able to develop a leadership style that allowed everyone to connect to her and to grow and learn from each other.

“And so I had to take that huge risk to go in and do things differently that were more me and felt authentic,” Michelle told Evan. “And once I did that, then I was connecting with those around me. So that’s that second level of connection with your team.”

Connect to Your Organization

Michelle interviewed 18 business leaders from around the world and helped them deconstruct and understand their connection to their organizations. She had them talk about their successes and their failures, for example. And she has them explore questions like these:

• How do I most successfully connect to our organization?

• Am I able to align people with the organization’s goals?

• How does my calendar help me align and support your organization’s goals?

• How do you create an environment of psychological safety and trust in each other?

About Our Guest

Dr. Michelle K. Johnston is a management professor, executive coach, and leadership expert helping leaders achieve results through meaningful connection. She is an award-winning professor studying leadership and business communication, and her research has shown a clear link between a team’s effective communication and its positive financial performance. Michelle is a celebrated keynote speaker presenting at conferences and events nationwide. She received her PhD in communication from Louisiana State University and was named to the prestigious 100 Coaches group, which consists of the top executive coaches around the world. Michelle serves as the Gaston Chair of Business at Loyola University New Orleans where she teaches in the graduate and undergraduate programs in the College of Business. She lives in her beloved city of New Orleans, Louisiana, with her daughter, Elizabeth.

Janet Brideaux2022-10-26T10:03:39-04:00October 26, 2022|

Inspiring an organization with Tony Martignetti

In this Training Unleashed podcast, host Evan Hackel interviewed Tony Martignetti, Chief Inspiration Officer at Inspired Purpose Coaching, trusted advisor and leadership coach. They discussed the critical role that inspiration plays in helping companies succeed.

Why We Need to Be Not Just Motivated, But Inspired

Inspiration is the tool that keeps leaders motivated. It is the fuel that helps us center on what Tony calls “Our soul’s purpose.”

How do we identify that fuel? Tony says it is as simple as identifying what “lights us up” in our lives and our companies.

How to Inspire Everyone in Our Organizations

Tony says one key is to identify what is inspiring the people we lead.

The clues to where that organization lies can often be found in the stories that people tell about achievements that make them proud. Those stories have a plotline that contains what Tony calls “flashpoints” – those moments that taught them lessons that they then brought back into the real world and used to create change.

The challenge, he states is to find meaning in those flashpoints and to use that meaning to inspire and move forward.

Why Everyone in an Organization Should be Inspired

It is important for the leader to be inspired. But that is not enough. Real change and growth will only occur when everyone in the organization becomes inspired. Getting that to happen is the leader’s greatest challenge.

“It starts by really connecting with people and understanding what’s driving them,” Tony explained to Evan. Getting that to happen begins when you consider what brought those people to your company.

“Everyone has their own things that they’re driven by,” Tony states. “But you have to start by painting them a picture and giving them a scene that shows why you are all there.”

A Special Offer

Tony encourages you to contact him at Inspired Purpose Coaching and to schedule a complimentary 30-minute session with him. There is no obligation. “From there, we can see if we are a good fit,” he explains.

About Our Guest

Tony Martignetti is a trusted advisor, coach, experience creator, author, podcast host, and speaker. He brings together over 25 years of business and management experience, formal training, and extreme curiosity to elevate leaders and equip them with the tools to navigate through change and unlock their true potential.

He loves guiding people to find clarity in their lives so they are energized, fully present, and unstoppable. When leaders unlock their potential and lead from a place of inspired purpose, they impact and inspire everyone around them. He has dedicated himself to helping people live inspired lives.

Learn more at Inspired Purpose Coaching.

Janet Brideaux2022-10-14T10:48:55-04:00October 14, 2022|

Building an empowered workforce with Lee Caraher

Lee Caraher is the founder and CEO of Double Forte, a national public relations and digital media agency, best-selling author of The Boomerang Principle: Inspire Lifetime Loyalty from Your Employees, and recent guest on the Training Unleashed podcast where Lee shared her proven strategies for building an empowered workforce with host Evan Hackel. Lee is an expert on managing the media, leading people, building an empowered workforce, and a communication ninja.

We know you will profit from every big idea Lee and Evan discussed.

One of the big ideas: there is a disconnect when training executives and their teams separately

The training that many companies give their senior managers doesn’t work. Why? Lee explains the flaw in training senior managers and their teams as two-fold.

One issue, according to Lee, is that many companies send their leaders to off-site training programs, where experts give the leaders big ideas. But when those executives return to their companies and start to explain all those new ideas, their teams respond with, “What are you talking about? What is this new language you are using?”

That is the first disconnect.

Another disconnect occurs when top executives never take the training that is being delivered to their employees. They think they’re too busy. Or perhaps that the training is beneath them. And when nothing changes, the executives think the people in their organizations are resisting.

One solution Lee proposes is for executives and their teams to attend training together. In that way, everyone can determine how they can move forward together. And cooperation becomes the focus.

A Special Offer

This is the best offer EVER!

Lee explains, “One of our goals at Double Forte is to help women and people of color become more noted as experts in their fields . . . not to make them experts, but to take people who are already experts in their field and have them get noted for it.”

Double Forte is on a mission to train 5000 accomplished women managers to be spokespeople for themselves and their companies… they are halfway to reaching their goal.

The offer: Lee explains, “We can’t go in and do an eight-hour session with everybody who wants to do this. But we can do a two-hour training session or two and a half hours, with you and your team for free if you are a nonprofit. If you are a business, it’s not free. But we will show you exactly what to do to get quoted by the media, because when that happens your star rises, your income rises, your gravitas rises, and you have many more options in your career.”

To take advantage of the offer: connect with Lee at [email protected] for more information about the offer and to make sure you and your team are a right fit for their mission.

About Our Guest

Lee Caraher is a CEO, best-selling author, and sought-after speaker. Founder and CEO of Double Forte a national PR & Communications firm in San Francisco, New York, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Lee is an acclaimed communication strategist known for her practical solutions to big problems. Her company works with companies big and small that are making a difference in their categories.

Lee’s the author of Millennials & Management based on her experience with failing and then succeeding at retaining Millennials. Her second book, The Boomerang Principle helps companies create high producing, positive work cultures that employees want to return to – a critical factor in sustainable businesses.

Lee has a reputation for building cohesive, high producing teams who have fun together at the same time. She is a straight talker who doesn’t hold too many punches, although she does her best to be pleasant about it. Her big laugh and sense of humor have gotten her out of a lot of trouble.

Lee is active in the community and currently serves on two nonprofit boards. A graduate of Carleton College, Lee is currently running her company from home whilst we all wait to see how the pandemic shakes out (and is happy that she finally has something relevant to share from her Medieval History degree).

Janet Brideaux2022-09-29T10:39:29-04:00September 29, 2022|

Identifying leadership opportunities with Kimberly Gerber

In this Training Unleashed Podcast, our host Evan Hackel interviewed Kimberly Gerber, CEO of Excelerate and executive coach. We know you will benefit from Kimberly’s no-holds-barred insights into what many leaders do both right and wrong as they strive to build successful organizations. Here are some of the leadership opportunities that came to the surface in the interview.

Leadership Opportunity: Hire and Promote the Right People

Often, leaders hire the wrong people for the wrong jobs. But Kimberly points out that just as often, companies hire the right people and place them in the wrong jobs.

Why do company leaders make this mistake? One reason is that executives who are interviewing tend to over-prioritize the personal connection they feel with candidates.

Kimberly also observes that hiring executives are prone to evaluate internal candidates by looking at the jobs they have performed in the company and overlook the fact that internal candidates could have a “whole other background” of skills that they could bring to the new role.

Leadership Opportunity: Retain the Right People

Kimberly told Evan that in the wake of Covid-19, many companies are simply not doing enough proactively to retain their talent. Companies need to get their most important employees on employee incentive and reward programs, so they will not want to leave.

Leadership Opportunity: Connect Personally with Employees

According to Kimberly, another reason people leave is that the leaders fail to invest in them on a personal level. “People want to know that a leader has your back . . . is investing in you from a mentoring perspective . . . is taking the time to craft a career plan for you and providing opportunities for you to grow your skillset. Those are the leaders that people will hang around for.”

Leadership Opportunity: Build Trust

Loyalty results when people trust that a leader will give them the opportunities to keep growing and simply to feel good about collaborating with him or her. Kimberly stated, “When people feel that way, they think, `I’ll stay with this company, even though I might be leaving money on the table.’” Evan agreed and noted that while people like money, it is usually not the most important motivator to follow a leader and give their utmost to an employer.

Leadership Opportunity: Invest in Great Training

Kimberly observed that leaders should take the lead in having their organizations provide inspiring training to their people. Doing so does more than teach people skills, it demonstrates that a company is making a committed, long-term investment in every member of the team.

A Special Offer

Kimberly Gerber invites all members of the Training Unleashed community to take the Promotability Assessment that you will find on the Excelerate website.

About Our Guest

Kimberly Gerber is the founder of Excelerate, an innovative executive development firm specializing in helping leaders prepare for and succeed in C-level roles. For 30+ years, she has helped transform the impact of 1500+ leaders across 100 companies.

The creator of several innovative leadership development programs, Kimberly helps senior leaders create strategic vision, build strong cultures, elevate leadership presence, and finesse communication to strengthen their impact on teams and organizations.

Kimberly and her team at Excelerate have provided more than 38,000 hours of coaching, training and strategy work, helping her executive clients master the five elements of successful executive-level leadership—boosting a 94% client promotion rate and a 100% client re-hire rate. Her focus of candor and kindness is designed to help her clients become the best version of themselves.

Janet Brideaux2022-09-22T15:29:41-04:00September 22, 2022|