Workshops Sessions

& Virtual Training

To better serve our clients we have installed a state-of-the-art live streaming system so that we can deliver all of John’s workshops, trainings, keynotes, and executive coaching virtually.

High Impact Learning
We once had the pleasure of working with one of America’s most successful entrepreneurs. He owned 23 companies. Some small, some very large. When we asked him what the secret to his success was, he replied it was very simple. People, people, people. We agree.

If people are your most important asset, it makes sense to invest in them accordingly.
We will help your team become more capable and effective by giving them the knowledge and tools to reach their full potential. Working closely with you we will map out programs to address your unique needs. Our training sessions are information intensive, highly interactive, and designed to deliver results that stick. 

Here are examples of a few of our most requested programs. These are not set in stone. We can mix elements from various sessions to create something that precisely targets the learning outcomes you want to achieve. They can be delivered in half-day, full-day, or multi-day events and can be adapted to a keynote presentation.

The Formula for Business Excellence

In our work helping thousands of organizations worldwide, we have discovered four fundamental areas that all great companies focus on to achieve success. We have distilled that information down to the following formula:

(Talent + Culture + Extreme Customer Focus) x Discipline Execution = Business Excellence

To be sure, these are not the only four elements that demand your focus. You must have a quality product, strong financial controls, and effective processes and procedures. Yet, nothing else matters if you are not superb at acquiring top talent, creating an engaging culture, fostering strong customer relationships, and executing with discipline.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand how your organization can attract, grow, and retain top talent
  • Learn how to build high-performance teams
  • Look at why culture is vital to your organization
  • Examine the essential elements for developing a winning culture
  • Learn how to deeply understand why your customers do business with you
  • Understand how you can create a high accountability culture
  • Determine specific action steps you will take to apply the lessons from this course

Outcome

A solid understanding of the fundamental building blocks of organizational success and a specific set of tools that will ensure that you effectively execute them.

*We have created a proprietary "Organizational Effectiveness Audit" that can be deployed to support a full-day program on this topic.

Building Unstoppable AQ

Business, as usual, no longer exists. As US General Eric Shinseki once said, "If you dislike change, you're going to dislike irrelevance even more." Constant disruption, at an ever-increasing pace, creates a great deal of anxiety and stress. To survive and even thrive in this pressure-filled environment, individuals and organizations must increase their AQ (Adaptability Quotient.)
From a business standpoint, AQ is the ability of your organization to be agile and adjust course in response to unexpected shifts in the marketplace. On a personal level, AQ measures your ability to react quickly and effectively to change.

Learning Objectives

  • Examine how change impacts individuals and organizations
  • Understand and manage the change process
  • Learn how to increase your AQ substantially
  • Realize the importance of learning and unlearning
  • Develop the skills for you to recover from setbacks and keep going in the face of adversity
  • Explore and apply the idea of realistic optimism
  • Learn how to make your business flexible, fast, and focused on developing a competitive advantage
  • Identify several action steps you can take to apply the lessons in this session

Outcome

The ability to better manage change and the skills and tools to be more adaptable and resilient.

Culture Matters

The culture of your organization determines its long-term success. A positive workplace culture attracts top talent, drives engagement, fosters teamwork, and increases retention. Culture is what makes strategy happen. Culture also plays a significant role in how your customers view you. Better business results start with a more robust organizational culture.

However, a great culture does not happen by chance. It must be carefully designed and continuously nurtured. Although every organization will have unique aspects of culture, a handful of fundamental ideas are essential to creating a vibrant culture. We have helped hundreds of clients improve and strengthen their culture by mastering these core competencies.

Learning Objectives

  • Explore the financial impact of both positive and negative culture on your business
  • Learn the nine essential elements of a winning culture
  • See how to build a culture of accountability
  • Develop the ability to create a culture of candor and trust
  • Improve leadership skills to create effective teams, work relationships, and consistent performance outcomes.
  • Understand what you must do to build high-performance teams
  • Assess the current health of your organization's culture
  • Determine the necessary steps to improve your culture significantly

Outcome

A broader understanding of organizational culture and the skills to shape and improve it.

The Future of Leadership

Some fundamentals of leadership will never change. Honesty, integrity, courage, fairness, vision, and a handful of other elements are essential to being a successful leader. However, as the speed of change accelerates, it demands that leadership evolves to keep pace.

To successfully navigate tomorrow's business challenges, it is critical that you increase the leadership and management capabilities of your existing leaders and ensure the readiness of your top talent to move to their next role.

Learning Objectives

  • Identify the timeless elements of leadership
  • Explore the skills and behaviors necessary to be an effective leader in the future
  • Study and discuss various leadership models
  • Develop your personal leadership philosophy
  • Determine the characteristics of an "ideal leader" in your organization
  • Learn a proven process to improve your leadership skills consistently
  • Create a set of action steps you will take to be a better leader

Outcome

A much deeper understanding of what it means to be a leader and the tools to improve those skills consistently.

How to be a More Strategic Thinker

Your strategic plan is essentially a decision-making tool. How will you allocate your scarce resources? What markets will you serve? What customers will you target? What products and projects are priorities? Every critical decision you make is tested for alignment with the plan. This is why organizations take the strategic planning process so seriously, and they should.

There is a computer programming term: GI=GO. Garbage In; GO= Garbage Out. It is much the same with strategic planning. If the thinking that goes into the planning process is flawed, your plan will be too. Therefore, the leaders in your organization must be superior strategic thinkers.

Learning Objectives

  • Examine the five levels of strategic thinking
  • Understand the importance of pattern recognition
  • Study the core elements of the strategy
  • Learn and apply the formula for creating a successful strategy
  • Ensure you can effectively execute your strategy
  • Discuss ways to improve your strategic planning process
  • Develop action steps to implement what you have learned

Outcome

A more robust understanding of how to create an effective strategy and the tools to execute it successfully.

The Future of Business

According to the World Economic Forum, we live in what is referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The speed of current breakthroughs has no historical precedent. Compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace. It is disrupting every industry in every country and will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another.

However, where there is change, there is also opportunity. To thrive in this environment, your leaders must be aware of disruptive innovations and how they will impact your business and customers. They must think creatively and be proactive. Myopic organizations will be caught flatfooted and left behind.

Learning Objectives

  • Explore the unimaginable increases in computer speed and the effect it will have on your organization
  • Recognize how highly advanced robotics will impact multiple industries.
  • Look at how artificial intelligence and augmented reality are changing consumer behavior
  • Participate in a thought experiment about autonomous vehicles
  • Consider how breathtaking advancements in medical technologies will alter the human experience
  • Discuss and debate how these various changes will directly impact your organization
  • Determine action steps you will take to keep your company ahead of the curve

Outcome

A new perspective on the scope and speed of change and how it will impact your business

Strategies for Life Success

When individuals understand how to get the best out of themselves, they can draw out the best in their team members and peers. Regrettably, most people fail to invest time to be self-reflective and create meaningful goals and then hold themselves accountable for progress towards those goals. Using our time-tested and proven framework, we will guide you through a process that will allow you to unleash your full potential and achieve higher levels of success in your career and life.

Learning Objectives

  • Identify your most deeply held personal core values
  • Develop your unique definition of success
  • Know your purpose and connect it with key business goals
  • Understand and apply skills that reduce your stress and anxiety
  • Increase your self-awareness and emotional intelligence
  • Build confidence in your ability to navigate change
  • Create a road map for how you will improve both personally and professionally

Outcome

A clearer picture of what you want to achieve in your life combined with the motivation and tools to accomplish it.

Building High-Performance Teams

Teamwork can make or break your company. High-performance teams execute more quickly, make better decisions, and deliver superior results. The team is aligned with and committed to shared values and vision and works towards a common objective. Team members are engaged, collaborative and accountable. Dysfunctional teams are plagued with infighting, finger-pointing, missed deadlines, and poor results. How do the teams in your company currently perform?

Building a high-performance team is challenging, but the process of getting there is not complex. There are a handful of fundamental elements that drive team performance. Once the team understands and applies these principles, there will be a dramatic impact on the team's effectiveness and success.

Learning Objectives

  • Examine what causes a team to fail
  • Learn how to build a higher level of trust within the team
  • Understand how to increase communication and collaboration
  • Discover what it takes to create personal and mutual accountability on the team
  • Create a set of ground rules to govern team behaviors
  • Look at the importance of appreciation and celebration in creating team culture

Outcome

Give the group the tools and skills to build and maintain a high level of teamwork and performance.

Roles and Responsibilities of an Effective Board of Directors

A high-performing board can guide your organization to new levels of achievement. A dysfunctional board can wreak havoc. This is why it’s crucial that board members understand their responsibilities and how to fulfill them effectively.

Whether they have years of board experience or it’s their first board director position, all board members benefit from governance training. It helps them understand their role, creates alignment on the Board, and improves their relationship with the CEO and staff.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the fiduciary responsibility of Board members
  • Examine the topic of CEO management
  • Explore the relationship between the Board of Directors and staff
  • Develop the skills to be more effective strategic thinkers
  • Learn how the Board assists in change management
  • Review the critical elements of Board governance
  • Discuss the characteristics needed to be a better leader of the organization
  • Learn how to create stronger relationships with key constituencies
  • When appropriate, look at the Board’s responsibility for giving and raising funds

Outcome

A more engaged, qualified, and effective Board of Directors

testimonials

Check what our clients say about us

Our team at the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas has collaborated with John Spence for over a decade, always seeking new ways to work with him. John's ability to distill complex concepts into simple, actionable advice and tools, combined with his commitment to helping people and businesses improve and grow, make him an invaluable education partner. Our members have benefited greatly from our work with John, and our leadership team frequently seeks his insight and expertise. We're fortunate to have him as a friend and partner in education.

Liz Walz

I first saw John deliver a keynote on "the Future of Business" and its impact on business, and his foresight has helped many of us in the Entrepreneurs Organization plan for changes ahead. His concepts and best practices are highly impactful, proactive, actionable, and easily implemented, reflecting a lifetime of true thought leadership. John's coaching has had a profound impact on me personally, especially in creating a life plan and understanding that the greatest rewards come from who you become on your path, not just the journey or destination.

Len Oppenheimer

Owner and General Manager
The Golden Box, Inc.

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