Joanne McCree has joined the Board of Managers. In more than 20 years with IBM, she led in a corporation undergoing transformational change — cultural, strategic, product and business model. After creating her own executive coaching business in 2004, she joined AvoLead as a Senior Consultant last year. Learn more about Joanne here.

Chris Musselwhite also has joined the AvoLead Board of Managers. Involved in organizational and leadership development since 1972, Chris shares his wealth of experience in program development and delivery, in the creation of numerous learning simulations and assessment tools and as founder, president and CEO of Discovery Learning. Read more on Chris here.

Timothy Stephens has joined AvoLead as a Senior Consultant. Committed to developing high performance teams in the public health, science innovation and other arenas, Tim coaches leaders and teams to better understand their roles and shared goals. As part of the AvoLead LHCS Program, Tim works with first responders and other key medical and governmental personnel on leading in high consequence situations. Meet Tim here.

We proudly welcome these distinguished professionals. Their leadership talents and skills will be called upon regularly as AvoLead continues to help leaders and their organizations navigate the waters of transition and change.

AvoLead® consultants and Friends of AvoLead were some of the fortunate participants. Read some of their comments here:

I volunteered for the supervisor role thinking that would be a great perch to watch the action unfold end to end. And it was! The simulation was masterful at so many things: seeing a system in action, watching people transform from responsibility to self and station to responsibility to the process and end product, the power of course correcting, the power of debriefing, and seeing in action how different types process change. I can’t wait to use the simulation with a client. — Tomi Bryan

I truly enjoyed an outstanding training but the people involved were the real value add. I am very excited about working with the AvoLead team! — Joe Carella

I had some very valuable personal and professional insights as a result of the Paper Planes simulation. My most important insight was that I should try to look at management with the more broad nuanced sense I expect of myself in analytical tasks. — Tim Stephens

The Paper Planes simulation was so much more than I expected. I knew we were going to fold planes and make them fly, but I didn’t realize the extent to which we would unfold our team processes and help our team soar. It was also a great opportunity to meet other professionals in the field and, especially, to work with the AvoLead team. — Suzanne Tofalo

The PPI experience was great! While I was not actively involved in making planes, my role as inventory clerk allowed me to view the roles involved in the process. It was interesting to watch the group dynamics in action. Most were out of their comfort zone in their respective roles. Of course, while we are not aware of our behavior, there were glimpses of behavior patterns that we all fall into when dealing with the unknown. PPI has endless applications and can be used with any group from young people to senior citizens, in all walks of life. While I didn’t get the opportunity to chat with Chris Musselwhite, his incredible vision to build such a dynamic simulation tool speaks to his leadership capabilities. And, the AvoLead participants were absolutely outstanding. I am ready to soar. — Judy Johnson

Joseph D. Carella is a senior consultant with AvoLead. His focus is to improve the performance of organizations, teams and individual leaders. Meet Joe here.

Senior consultant, Anne E. Doster serves AvoLead clients as an organizational effectiveness consultant, facilitator and executive coach. Learn more about Anne here.

A senior consultant with AvoLead, Anna Pool shares her passion for individual and organizational effectiveness through a powerful range of coaching skills and expertise. Read more about Anna here.

Experienced in working with leaders of all levels, Frank H. (Josh) Stroup serves AvoLead clients as a consultant and leadership coach. Learn more about Josh here.

Suzanne Tofalo serves AvoLead clients as an instructional designer and consultant. She has spent more than 20 years in the design, development and delivery of leadership training and development courses in a wide variety of curricula. Meet Suzanne here.

AvoLead is proud to welcome each of these outstanding professionals. We look forward to utilizing their talents to the fullest as AvoLead continues to help leaders and their organizations navigate the waters of transition and change.

Get certified now to use this powerful business simulation. Certification for product use will be required in 2012. Benefits of certification include: listing on DLI website, access to experienced simulation user group, receiving DLI referrals.

February 16, 2012
431 Spring Garden St, Greensboro, NC 27401

Register Now

Register online, by calling 336-272-9530, or by emailing smetzger@discoverylearning.com.

Cost

$350 pr $300 if registered before January 6

Agenda

• 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM – Breakfast
• 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM – Abbreviated Simulation Run
• 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM – Working Lunch
• 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM – Classroom Facilitation

On the serious side, however, the message of this movie cuts to the heart of one of our basic fears…Change. Intellectually, we know that lots of change is good, but emotionally, there is always some angst, some discomfort, some worry. Yes, even some fear! This movie was made for organization teams, so it addresses many of the situations AvoLead clients face. Its powerful and inspiring messages, however,  can be applied not only to organizational change, but also to life change of any kind.

Is there change going on in your life or work that you find unsettling? How are you dealing with it?

Do any of this movie’s messages help you see change from a different perspective?

Do you have any words of wisdom for others who are going through change in their organizations that is causing them fear or anxiety…or even functional paralysis?

The movie content is also available in book form, and these books make great gifts or tools for a team-building event at your company, church, or nonprofit. Each book includes a free DVD of the movie.

Enjoy!

Guest post by Elizabeth H. Cottrell, RiverwoodWriter and Heartspoken.com. It was adapted from a post which originally appeared on her blog.

It’s a fascinating recognition of male and female stereotypes reflected in the language of leadership and a call for the adoption of new ways of evaluating and talking about leadership. “These new business realities usher in the need for a new leadership model, one that replaces command and control with transparency and inclusion. This will increasingly highlight the value of a more feminine approach. Where in the past communal behaviors naturally favored by women may have been obstacles to leadership success, in a collaborative future they may well become an edge.” The author mentions several research findings showing specific traits typically associated with females that are often lacking in males. These include their participatory style, their reaction to stress in the form of increased empathy rather than decreased in males, their tendency to be interactive, and their sensitivity to body language.

This is the author’s compelling conclusion:

The most successful leaders of the future will take the time and effort necessary to make people feel safe and valued. They’ll emphasize team cohesiveness while encouraging candid and constructive conflict, they’ll set clear expectations while recognizing what each team member contributes, they’ll share the credit and the rewards. And, most of all, they’ll foster true networked collaboration through a leadership style that projects openness, inclusiveness and respect.

Any leader can do that. Female leaders just already do it more naturally.

Note: The author of this article, Carol Kinsey Goman, is an executive coach and the author of The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help or Hurt How You Lead.

McGonigal directs games R&D at the Institute for the Future and is devoting her life’s work to harnessing the enormous time,  energy and skills now devoted to gaming (which at its core is problem-solving) and applying them to solving real-world problems. As I clicked one link after another to learn more about this, I found her website, Gameful, and her definition of the word gameful: “It means to have the spirit, or mindset, of a gamer: someone who is optimistic, curious, motivated, and always up for a tough challenge. It’s like the word “playful” — but gamier! Gameful games are games that have a positive impact on our real lives, or on the real world.”

Then I was astounded to find the following video of her compelling presentation to the prestigious TED audience (an organization devoted to spreading good ideas). We’ve included it below because it’s so thought provoking. Here is McGonigal’s goal in her own words: “Instead of providing gamers with better and more immersive alternatives to reality, I want all of us to be become responsible for providing the world with a better and more immersive reality.”

AvoLead professionals are trained to bring transformational change to organizations of all sizes, domestic and global. Call us to discuss ways that we might bring the power principles of gaming into your organization, so the world can be made better by what you offer.

Do you think this is crazy…fascinating…pie in the sky? We’d love to know.

As one commenter to the article suggested, the conclusions boil down to two things our grandparents taught us:

• Lead by example
• Don’t tell me, show me

Besides confirming these common sense conclusions, Dr. Simmons feels that the analysis offers this take-away: “Because the evidence shows that behaviors are the strongest predictors of leader effectiveness, we can and should train folks to be more effective leaders. Hire the most conscientious people you can find, but when you get ready to promote people into positions of leadership, make sure they have a proven record of mastering tasks, relating well with others, and responding to mandates for change.”

Do you find this holds true in your organization? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

April 21 • 1:00-2:30pm • Live Webinar

additional dial-in information will be distributed 1 week prior to webinar

REGISTER NOW

by calling 336.272.9530 or email smetzger@discoverylearning.com

Discovery Learning, Inc. announces the introduction of a new assessment tool, the Influence Style Indicator™. Designed by Chris Musselwhite, president and CEO of Discovery Learning, Inc. and Tammie Plouffe, managing partner of Innovative Pathways, the Influence Style Indicator measures an individual’s dominant, secondary and underutilized influence styles.

Get certified now to use this new innovative assessment by attending the April 21st online certification workshop.

*Certification or qualification is required for product use. Benefits of certification include: listing on DLI website, access to experienced survey user group, receiving DLI referrals.

Invite a fellow consultant and discover a new tool for your kit at Discovery Learning®

Additional Training in Toronto June 21 — check Discovery Learning website for updates

Also find Discovery Learning, Inc. on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube

Perry Buffet’s very interesting article “Using Influence to Get Things Done” in the February 22, 2011 issue of strategy + business highlights a dilemma often faced by senior management: the need to advocate tough-sell positions in typically collegial small groups such as councils, boards, or committees, where critical decisions are often made informally. Decisions made at this level, even when they have to be passed up the line for approval, can be critical to an organization’s success. “Thus,” concludes Buffet,  “an executive’s ability to influence peers and superiors as they undertake a broad range of crucial decisions involving such issues as strategy, budgets, brand positioning and pricing, and capital investments is a valuable skill — a skill that could be called influential competence.”

Recognizing the critical value of influence competence to the ability of their executive clients to achieve maximum effectiveness, AvoLead professionals trained recently at Discovery Learning, Inc. in Greensboro, NC, to become Influence Style Indicator™ Assessment Consultants by learning to administer and analyze the exciting new Influence Style Indicator™ assessment tool.

The assessment tool helps the client understand the three primary influence orientations and the five main influencing styles, and it identifies his or her own predominant style. Even more important, it offers specific and implementable techniques and suggestions for interacting effectively with others whose predominant influence styles might be different.

Could you benefit from learning how to engage more effectively with your peers to get things done and add more value to your group or organization? Besides individual assessment, the Influence Style Indicator tool can be administered within a group or team to help members understand themselves and how they can work more strategically with their co-workers to accomplish established goals. Call AvoLead for more information.

When has influence competence been important to your career? Leave comments below.