I was interviewed by The Buffalo News about resolutions that companies and individuals can make for a prosperous new year.

Sound Advice

• Local business experts offer resolutions that companies and individuals can make for a prosperous new year

Below is what I said.

• * Pare down priorities. Create no more than six goals for 2012, said Michael Cardus, founder and CEO of Create-Learning, a local leadership development company.
• The goals should take from three to 12 months to accomplish and have definite deadlines. You should have a system in place for measuring the success of each.
• "[They] must have the ‘what’ — what the outcome will be — and the ‘by when’ — when the outcome will be achieved," Cardus said. "The ‘by-when’ drives the prioritization."
• When prioritizing, it’s just as important to decide what needs to be changed as it is to decide what needs to stay the same.
• Business owners should decide what is already going well within their company, and then leave it alone or build on it.
• "Do more of what’s working to bring in revenue," Cardus said.
• When it comes to what’s not working, Cardus suggests business leaders "judiciously eliminate." Look at what is not serving the company well, then make thoughtful decisions about getting rid of it.
• "Bad is stronger than good. It is more important to eliminate the negative than to accentuate the positive," Cardus said.

To read the entire article click…

Michael Cardus is Create-Learning

___________________________________________________________________

To register

High Performance Team Development: Quality Tools for Quality Teams

I presented a similar workshop last year. This one is going to be similar yet different. Some major differences are going to be more time spent on Clarification of Role Responsibilities (who does what when; who is accountable to whom; authority of assigning and taking away existing work and project tasks.)

Who should attend and why?

If are a Project Sponsor / Champion, Team Leader, Team member of a Quality Team and want to enhance your skill sets in Team Development, Facilitative Leadership, Project Management and people skills then this is where you should be. The material and learning simulations in this workshop are designed to make you a better leader and team member, plus we will have fun!   

This will be accomplished through;

• Interactive delivery of content.
• Experiential application and practice of the content
• Followed by processing and steps for integration into your team and organization.

The material is able to be used and understood by people, who have a working knowledge of Quality Teams (6 Sigma, Lean, Process Improvement, etc…) Whether you lead teams or are a team member the material covered and techniques shared will be useful for you to harness the hard skills, interpersonal skills and political skills (Soft Skills) needed to complete successful Quality Projects.

Outcomes:

You will walk away from this workshop with;

• How to develop high performance Quality teams; With a prescriptive model that can be applied and utilized. 
• Facilitative leadership of teams.
• Effective Prevention and intervention methods of maladaptive team member behaviors.
• Steps to create “buy in” for the Quality projects from people who are outside the team.
• A community of professionals that will share resources, best practices, and serve as solution finders to Quality Teams within their organizations.

If that is enough for you – Register Now

If you need more information look below.

High Performance Team Development: Quality Tools for Quality Teams – Agenda

• it is lofty and subject to change depending upon who is in the room and time constraints.

Roles and Responsibilities of Quality Teams

• Pitfalls common to all teams
• High Performance Teams Model and its application
• Define Roles & Responsibilities of; Project Sponsor / Champion; Team Leader; Team members; stakeholders
• * Task Initiated Role Responsibilities (TIRR) – are cross-functional relationships in which A is authorized to initiate B’s doing something but where it is B’s manager and not A who is held accountable for whether or not B does it and for B’s output. TIRR define who can do what to whom. These are generally lateral or horizontal relationships. (Jaques 1998)

Team Leader

• Facilitative leadership
• Exploration of content vs. method and ways of providing evaluations and feedback on both
• Establishment of team ground rules
• Agendas for agreement
• Decision Making Methods
• Dealing with project de-railing behaviors of team members
• Team prevention and intervention strategies
• Pressure Paradigm activity

Managing Quality Team Projects

• Getting buy-in from people outside of project team
• Defining and showing relevance to project stakeholders
• Influence Strategies
• Communication with people outside the team who’s help is needed
• Pitfalls of emails to Quality projects and how to avoid them
• What to do when you are not getting cooperation

If that is enough for you – Register Now

• Questions? Contact Mike

michael cardus is create-learning

image by GollyGforce trying to catch up on commenting

I had the honor of giving a speech to Nardin Academy sharing some insight and lessons on Innovation and how it is or is not connected to 21st century learning.

Here were some of the benefits from the talk;

• Determining where the organization currently is (Current Applied Capacity).
• Setting action and ideas into what could be better.
• Talking about the necessity of core pedagogy, while creating separate methods for innovative practices within the Organization, Classroom and personal levels.
• Identifying blocks to innovation.
• Learning a method to overcome the innovation blocks and grow the school to reach its potential.

This talk is valuable to corporate as well as school groups taking the time to determine what 21st century learning is, and how to drive innovation into your existing culture is a necessity for survival.

Quality is skilled knowledge of our practices; Quality is just what we do and what is expected from us.

Innovation is about identifying outliers from our quality work to continually improve and strive towards potential. For 21st Century Learners innovation MUST align with our quality – Being what we do, and what is expected from us.

Interested in Mike being a speaker at your next meeting, event or conference? Contact us and make your team and leadership better.

michael cardus is create-learning

Plus I LOVE the title “Young and Skeptical”

Click on the article to see a larger readable version.

michael cardus is create-learning

The CERT team provides emergency preparedness training to citizens and encourage their participation in opportunities that enhance regional emergency readiness. The project also offers opportunities for trained volunteers to participate in activities designed to enhance regional emergency preparedness. BCS works with numerous emergency service partners to plan and participate in training exercises and drills on various preparedness levels. Border Community SERVICE volunteers also gain enhanced skills to be assistive in emergency operations such as PODs (Points of Distribution) and Disaster Shelter Management…to learn more click here…

Here are some photos from out time together, the workshop took place at Delaware Park in Buffalo NY;

I2U2ME2WE to get the group started and develop some early orientation to skills and expected outcomes.

Following our opening processing talk,  I framed what we are doing and some objectives for our time (see below)…Then we moved into Planning and Communication. Attempting to re-create an emergency simulation.

To have the team explore a process of Planning under Stress – ZOOM was used. ZOOM is useful in exploring individual information and how it is shared with the team, additionally exploring how the team plans under a stressful time constraint.

The CERT team made progress and continually checked and re-checked their planning. For processing I utilized a concurrent method of PDCA (plan do check act) which taught the team members to provide feedback and re-evaluate their progress.

A CERT Team photo at the end of our time. It was a great group of talented people.

Below is the overview sheet that I supplied to the team about what we were going to do.

What are we going to do?

• Learn from each other in a relaxed and fun environment.
• Have facilitated discussions about the CERT program, the future of the group, membership engagement + retention.
• Enhance our already excellent team skills and techniques to make our group more effective.
• Define and determine other team members specialized skills and share what each person needs in order to do more great work.

What’s in it for me?

• A voice in the team and knowledge that you have taken an active role in making the CERT program stronger.
• Fun.
• The opportunity to learn more about other people in the group.
• The opportunity to show off how smart and talented you are.
• Enhanced skills in team development, and performance.

michael cardus is create-learning

• to see more photos of the High Ropes Course click here…

High Ropes-Courses, I have a continual struggle with using them for Team-Building.

I was really against it then Christine (my wife) went away for a Leadership Training with her work. She called me and shared the wonderful experience she had on a High Ropes Course…and that shook my thinking.

High Ropes Courses are most effective for individual vs. element issues (i.e., identifying what’s holding you back from moving forward, getting over fears, and moving forward); it helps leaders create new pathways for thinking and behavior. Ropes Courses are also beneficial for creating a strong bond within a group. When properly sequenced they help teammates better trust one another.

Create-Learning Ropes Course Outcomes:

• Enhanced trust, support and encouragement between team members.
• Appreciation for the unique strengths and contributions that each person has.
• Confidence and courage to try new processes and ideas.
• Enhanced feeling of culture and team connection.
• Amazing shared memories that will last.

I know the above statements to be true…

Please share your ideas on the value of High Ropes Courses for Corporate Development; Youth Development; and other applications that you are familiar with. I am curious to hear what you think?

michael cardus is create-learning