Key Project Types

Over the past 25 years I have been involved with a lot of different types of organizations and people but on reflection I would categorize the contributions I have been asked to make as falling into one of the following four types:

• Skill Training Sessions: This is where my consulting and training career began, i.e. as a trainer. Throughout my career I've presented lectures, seminars and workshops in 1 to 3 day packages, throughout Canada and the USA.



• Trainer and Motivator of Leaders: This work has included in-class training as outlined above, but has extended beyond the classroom so that I became involved in the filed in coaching and mentoring to ensure the skills being trained were applied in the workplace.



• Organizational Transformation: Longer term and more holistic projects have focused on transforming businesses and organizations from traditionally run hierarchies to more effective, humane, customer and employee centered collaborative work environments. My book, Body & Soul: Unleashing the Power of Your Team documents the approaches used.



• 1:1 Coaching: More recently, coaching has become a highly attractive development option for executives who have achieved a high level of excellence but who are being actively challenged to step into ever more complex and challenging roles and responsibilities.

Noteworthy Transformational Projects

• A 3-year initiative funded by the Trillium Foundation to help the Ontario Division of the Heart and Stroke Foundation reorganize, empower and retrain it's Field Services Division.



• A 7-year project with Honda Canada, reinventing the customer service programs in auto, motorcycles and power equipment. This led to a further project with the Acura Division. We developed a very extensive training program and created a knowledge-based culture.



• A 5-year project with TransCanada PipeLines in which I worked with an internal team of engineers to create and teach a TCPL-based project management system to be employed by all engineers in planning and managing their field projects.



• A 7-year project with Unicorn PLC (Universal Super Abrasives), focusing on introducing highly participative work teams into a traditional manufacturing environment. We began with a small manufacturing plant in Detroit (60 people). This became the 'center of excellence' for the Unicorn organization world-wide and the systems we installed were adopted and adapted for use in other facilities including plants in Chicago, New Jersey, Philadelphia and . Brockville, Ontario. At the end of the 90's, Universal was purchased by the French conglomerate Saint Gobain and my work has continued with this much larger organization through projects in their sales, management and research and development divisions.

Coaching/Organizational Change Projects

• I have been serving as mentor to the Center Director of Saint Gobain's largest research center and through him we are making an impact internationally. The Worthboro R&D Center is situated in Northboro and Worcester, Massachusetts, 30 miles west of Boston.



• I am beginning the second year as the mentor to the President of a medium-sized (300 people) sales and distribution organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and serving the mid-west US.



• In Sparta, Georgia, I am mentoring the Plant Manager of a 250 plus person manufacturing facility. In the past 2 years, has double in size. I had previously introduced a highly successful form of team management in a sister plant in Covington, Georgia (60 miles away) so this is, in a sense, a continuation of a project begun more than 7 years ago in Covington.

Publication

In addition to continuing with teaching, coaching and consulting, I have taken up the challenge of capturing what I am learning and teaching. I am using book and CD formats to make it as easy as possible for those who are interested to access the information. My hope is that in this way I will be able to share more broadly, what we (the teams of people I'm working with) have found that works. So far I have published Body & Soul: Unleashing the Power of Your Team, which documents the tools, skills and techniques for creating a highly participative, synergistic and creative workforce whether in business or industry. Inside Sales: The Correspondence Course, is a 12 module self-study program that covers the fundamentals for new and experienced Inside Sales and Customer Service Professionals. The Sales Skills Workshop CD is a 'live' sales seminar and introduces a 'systems approach' to the development and management of a professional sales practice.