If you’re interested in gaining powerful tips for achieving process excellence, or adding LEAN methodologies to your strategy, be sure to view this webinar!

Headway Group, an executive search and recruitment research firm, is to support its clients with Above + Beyond’s state-of-the-art Leadership DNA™ methodology in a new strategic alliance.

Implementing the citizen science methodology to your open innovation strategy is an excellent way to tap into the wisdom of the crowds. By spearheading projects that will allow regular people to get in touch with their inner-scientist and contribute data about the things that most matter to them, you can drive results and discover new ways to overcome strategic challenges.

In the current disruptive business landscape, where innovation is more important than ever, organizations need to look to alternative sources to gather ideas and solutions in order to remain successful. As such, businesses are beginning to recognize the potential citizen science has for supporting open innovation initiatives. After all, citizen science and open innovation methodologies share numerous similarities. Both have the potential to gather powerful insights and break the insular corporate mindset that often stifles growth.

Check out our interview with Andrew Levison, who shared with us some of the latest trends in Talent and Talent Analytics.

Great leaders can and do behave differently. It’s not that they’re the best strategists or come up with the best answers. It’s really about people following them and the reasons why they follow.

Choose to be a leader who helps people find the “nobility” in the work they do. It’s a worthy risk with a likely worthwhile return.

Leaders who help employees grow simply do a better job of retaining good people. People will follow leaders who provide them with the opportunity to grow and to become all they can be while learning how to make a difference in the world— not because they have to, but because they want to!

Written by our partners at the Canadian Management Centre (CMC), here are three common ideas about professional learning that we believe miss the mark.

Hopefully, you will never have to make life-and-death decisions like those in charge of Apollo 13, but stop for a second and reflect on your own life and leadership style. How do you react under the pressure of an unexpected problem that needs a successful ending? When such a problem hits your desk, do you never, sometimes, or often respond by being surprised, panicking and immediately looking for someone to blame? Or do you calmly choose a wiser course of action?

The true nature of leadership is to help other people find their inner potential and then to help set them free of limitations that are holding them back.

What’s the benefit of engaging people to do more than just their jobs? It’s huge. Unless you’re living in a cave, you know change is happening at speeds never seen before. Old rules have to be replaced by new rules, new answers, and new solutions. All people are unique with talents that are often overlooked and undervalued. There is no greater waste than that of human potential.

The reality is if something’s worth doing, it is worth doing wrong, at least the first time. We’re in a new world of constant change requiring new thinking and new solutions. The new mantra is, “Fail fast, learn fast and grow fast”.

Change must start with the leadership. Leaders must move from a fear-based command-and-control philosophy to trust-based developmental philosophy. Leaders will have to be the fastest learners and expect the others to follow their lead. Leaders will have to deeply understand that leadership is about someone following someone else because they want to, not because they have to. In short, leaders will have to lead.

Using this model, you can quickly identify what stage of growth your company is in and where it’s headed. The model can apply to any change – in life or nature. By studying the predictable processes, a leader or a leadership team can begin to develop strategies to be ready for it.

Leaders need to be great communicators to grab and keep the attention of their followers. It is not an easy task since the natural result of communication is misunderstanding. Odds are you misunderstood what I just said, so, again: “The natural result of communication is misunderstanding.”

Leaders must make a mindset change from commanding people to ‘do what they’re told’ to asking people to ‘do what is right.’ The old control and command, fear-based system of leadership must be replaced by a new, trust-based “Developmental Leader” system, whereby leaders believe that people are the organization’s greatest competitive advantage— and ultimate differentiator.

In today’s global economy, we need all of what people have to offer, not just their time and effort. We need their hearts, passion, commitment, and best creative thinking in order to find and keep loyal customers.

We began our journey as pioneers in the Experiential Learning Industry, and today, we find ourselves in the world of Talent Analytics, Ideation, and Problem Solving.  Although it may seem far from our origins, the one thing that has remained constant is our purpose:  Bringing Out The Best In People. I’d like elaborate on how this came to be.

We know that teams are most productive when they achieve high levels of collaboration, cooperation, and participation. But how can we ensure that all team members apply the necessary emotional awareness in group settings?  Is it possible to create emotionally intelligent teams?

Traditional approaches for performance reviews are notorious for wasting time and money. In fact, most of us openly admit they’re ineffective, unreliable and in many cases, demotivating. While the workplace has evolved and technology has advanced, most organizations have remained stagnant in their approach to managing performance.

Talent was a critical driver in making the organization’s new strategy a reality, with a need to enhance types of talent in both leadership and business development positions to engage employees in fresh ways.

EQ encompasses the the ability to perceive, control and evaluate the emotions that influence how people engage with their day-to-day lives. It is a measurable component of who we are, just like IQ. Basically, if IQ measures how smart you are, then EQ determines how effectively you can use your smarts.

We are thrilled to now provide our Project WOW clients with Qmarkets’ wide suite of collective intelligence and idea sharing tools.

In today’s competitive world, talent is your most valuable asset. It’s also probably your biggest expense – so why not be more strategic about it?

At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter how well thought-out your strategy is, or how strong your team is. You’ve all heard it before, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. If people’s behaviours are not aligned with your strategy and what you value, then you’re not going to maximize the potential of your business.

Speed and agility have never been more critical in today’s digital world, where globalization and technology have increased competition tenfold. At the heart of it all is innovation, a way of doing things differently to achieve a company’s vision while staying ahead of the competition. While it’s clear that innovation is the lifeblood of any business, what remains unclear is how leaders are supposed to achieve it.

In this podcast, Andrew Levison, Founder and President of Above + Beyond, joins Tania Cervoni from the Canadian Management Centre (CMC) to discuss using data analytics to make better talent management decisions.