“THE ROAD FROM LED TO LEAD”

Fifty years ago, the management of most organizations operated on the belief that the company’s success demanded that their employees be owned and controlled. Management needed to dictate assignments, work, and career development opportunities. In exchange, the employee would be taken care of, assured of job security, reasonable pay and advancement opportunities, and a good retirement. Paternalistic? Yes and it worked.

How times have changed. With today’s organizations constantly concerned about their product or service competitiveness and staying power, few guarantees remain; especially the promise of lifetime employment. More importantly, in the face of mergers, layoffs, and the latest salary and benefits crunch, employees can no longer afford passivity. The social and economic evolution that is changing the world of work, has cast us all upon the road to a new future -- a new definition of what constitutes a career and a new set of responsibilities and relationships for managers and non-managers alike.

In short, we all must now become LEADERS in helping to shape our personal career futures and full participants in the endeavors necessary to insure that our organization succeeds and survives. Whether delivered as a keynote or in an interactive workshop setting, Terry offers his audience an action plan and a set of tools for becoming such leaders and for thriving – not just surviving – at work. In essence, he challenges us to focus on the pieces we control and take personal responsibility for achieving the goals, changes, and outcomes we seek in our personal, professional, and organizational lives.

 

“THE WHY AND HOW OF CHANGE”

Significant organizational change whether the by product of mergers and acquisitions, outside remedial pressure, or internal forces related to budget, competitive decline, service relevance, or HR dysfunctions have been commonplace for the past two decades. A significant number of these change initiatives fail. Why?
Some fail because they were ill conceived from the start or lacked a motivation powerful enough to sustain the organization through the painful process of significant cultural change. Others fail because the organization’s leadership lack the understanding that change must be LED not managed. But more often than not, these efforts falter because change leaders lack the breadth of understanding, patience, stamina, courage, and staying power needed for the years -- not months -- significant change efforts usually require.

No matter how the change initiative is conceptualized, articulated, and hyped at the start -- no matter the promise of a better tomorrow -- in the end an organization’s employees will have to change some of what they do and how they do it, sometimes in quite significant ways. Few human endeavors are as challenging and difficult to accomplish on a mass scale.

In a dynamic seminar forum, Terry explores the complex dynamics of the organizational change process. He underlines the critical motivating force necessary to sustain a successful effort over time. Terry also provides an in-depth look at the time-tested, experience-based, non-negotiable actions of inspired leadership necessary to increase the odds of success.

“EFFECTIVE, HIGH-CONSEQUENCE DECISION MAKING”

You are on the Line.  You must decide.  There are big unknowns and your deadline for decision is unreasonably close.  Much rides on your decision and people – peers, subordinates, and superiors – will be watching.  With no obvious course of action, what to do?  Shoot from the hip and get it over with?  Procrastinate?  Pray for divine intervention?

Welcome to the world of work and responsibility.  And welcome to STRESS.  We all frequently face these decision making dilemmas and the fact that there is rarely a right answer; only a range of imperfect options from which we must choose and fast.  Can the process of making these important, consequential, high velocity decisions be mastered?  No!  But like any performing art, it can be practiced, improved upon, and refined.  While there are no guarantees that none of our decisions will prove flawed, we can learn to increase the odds of making better decisions more often.
 
Whether delivered as a keynote address or in a dynamic seminar setting, Terry offers a simple, job-relevant, experience-tested, approach to decision making specifically designed to improve the quality of our decisions. He calls his approach "an exercise routine for our mind and emotions". It encompasses the right preparation for making a decision, tactics for informing our choices, and the keys to effective execution.  Above all, according to Terry, to act fast under stress and tight deadlines, we must learn to slow ourselves down.  This approach to decision making is equally appropriate for busy executives, front-line supervisors, harried women and men on the firing line, and each of us in our hectic daily lives.

“EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE PERFORMANCE: A TRAIL GUIDE”

Short of blind dumb luck, successfully traversing the obstacle course within any business or organization that leads to significant management and leadership responsibility is very hard work. The hours are insane, the price to one’s family generally unreasonable, the court politics treacherous, and you always may be one dumb move or colossal piece of bad luck from derailment. Performing effectively as an executive is an uncertain, risk and reward filled JOURNEY on which there are few certainties; perfect performance is impossible and failure is certainly an option often due to forces beyond your control.

Whether delivered as a keynote or in a dynamic seminar setting, Terry provides executives with a practitioners Trail Guide consisting of reality-tested insights and practical tips to enhance executive performance. His insights – based on over 30 years of personal experience and observation of executive behavior in both the public and private sectors – provide compelling evidence that one’s ability to perform effectively at the executive level can be greatly enhanced by: (1) maintaining the right perspective on executing executive-level responsibilities; (2) cultivating a set of daily behaviors designed to unleash and motivate the talent at one’s disposal; and (3) knowing when it is time to manage and when it is time to lead. While not a blueprint for guaranteed success, Terry's practical advice represents the attitudes and behaviors that work on the job and invariably produce positive business and personal results.