Today we are announcing a new virtual leadership development program featuring the Lunch and Learn Leadership Development Series(ideal for individuals) and Build Your Own Workshop Series (b-spoke program for teams and companies). Click on the links above to learn more.
If you’re interested in the back story on how and why we’ve created this new offering and it’s ties to Stephen Covey’s Circle of Influence tool please read on. We hope you get value from our experience!
Back Story
There is no question – there is a lot that happens in the world and even in our own lives that we have truly little or no control over. The weather, the past, and things like global pandemics.
In our April 2020 post, Circle of Influence Model. A Proactive Tool for Anxious Times, we broke down the key components of Stephen Covey’s Circle of Influence and Concern model.
The post was designed to help you and your teams use the circle of influence model to stickhandle the uncertainties caused by the pandemic.
And, we used it to help us too! Here’s a brief story we wanted to share and a new offering we’re excited to share.
Control Freakout!
Focusing our energy on things we have no control is sometimes hard to avoid but always results in one of two emotional categories.
1. Frustration or Anger
2. Sadness or Depression
Dr. Stephen Covey said, “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” With only so much energy to spend in a day, we do have a choice in how we direct it. There are many things that we do not have control over, but we do have a choice in how we respond to it.
Before the Pandemic
Pre-pandemic, about 98% of our business was working in person with teams doing leadership development and team building workshops. Like so many other businesses, we lost 100% of our in-person bookings overnight.
For a while, there was hope that perhaps we would be able to gather again in a few weeks, then possibly a few months. We made plans for re-opening, then new plans for how we’d need to adapt.
We focused on how we would adjust when things got back to normal and spent our time looking at things that were previously important, but not urgent. Things like PowerPoint presentations and workbooks – making them look a little spiffier.
A large part of our business had always come through our long-standing property partnerships such as Vintage Hotels, Blue Mountain, The Kingbridge Centre and many other properties. Since groups stopped or delayed booking spaces for conferences, we also lost our biggest source of referrals.
It was a devastating few months and I know many can relate.
Then It Hit
Rather than focusing on all of those things we had no control over we decided to walk our own talk. We applied the circle of influence model to our own situations.
What did we have influence or control over? If the virtual world was going to be the new normal, how could we embrace it?
We took a good look at all of our program options and quickly realized that many of them would be easily converted to an online format.
We got creative and thought of new ideas that were engaging and challenging for the teams we work with. We learned a lot!
Something interesting started to happen – we were getting calls and emails from all over the globe.
It was super interesting to hear how the pandemic had impacted their teams and businesses. We were often in several countries all at once while sitting in our cozy home offices.
None of this could have happened without the global pandemic nor would it have happened had we focused on all of the things we had no control over.
Success Begets Success! New Virtual Leadership Development Series
Our virtual programs have been very well received and we have had a lot of fun doing them. Building on this success, we decided to try something we have never done.
We are just about to launch our first open enrollment for the Lunch and Learn Leadership Development Series.
Response has been better than we expected, and we are very excited to meet everyone. Lunch & Learn is a series of six, 1hr modules over the lunch hour that will provide insights, strategies, and tools to make an immediate difference in your teams.
The Circle of Influence, the model I’ve just illustrated, is the first module of the series which starts on June 9th,.
If you or any other leaders/future leaders could use some tools and insights for leading your teams, we highly recommend registering to add some leadership tools and strategies to your toolbox.
Another new option is our Build Your Own Workshop Series for teams up to 20 people. There is a menu of 9 module options (The Circle of Influence is one of them) and you can choose 3 or more 1 hour modules to be delivered on your timeline.
Short and sweet modules help teams stay engaged and the tools are practical.
We’re Here to Help
By focusing our energy on things we could control or influence, we have ended up with some great virtual options for training workshops, team building programs and motivational keynotes. Contact us to speak to someone from our team about how we can help your team focus their energy where it makes the most positive impacts.
