In this episode, we delve into how you can make this meeting engaging, clear, and respectful, ensuring it has a positive ripple effect. With the evolving work environment and the rise of hybrid setups, the performance review holds even greater weight.

How the review is conducted determines the effectiveness. This is the opportunity for a manager to put on their coaching hat and see this review as an opportunity to build for the future of the employee, the team, and the organization.

Join our host, Joel Silverstone, as he equips you with the necessary tools to conduct a motivating and actionable review that benefits both sides. Learn the strategies, dos, and don'ts, and have the confidence to deliver a performance review that leaves a lasting, positive impression in this episode: "Performance Reviews Can Be Great…Seriously".

Do you have a question or comment about the podcast? We’d love to hear from you and appreciate your thoughts - email us at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

Thank you for supporting the podcast. Please leave a rating or review and subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes.

Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars and tools. Also, check out our list of over 25 instructor-led Professional Skills Courses at The Great Canadian Training and Consulting Company.

You’re not alone. That’s why we created this episode, the combination of technical and soft skills to guide you in bringing out the best in your organization’s teams.

We’re thrilled to have as our Guest Host Jon Neuhold, Co-Owner of Great Canadian Training, interviewing Senior Software Instructor Christine Irons and Senior Professional Skills Facilitator Joel Silverstone.

There is a gap in using technical capabilities of Microsoft Teams – but technical skills on their own aren’t enough. You need team building skills to match them.

This episode is part of our podcast series on Teams, helping you to be engaged and respectful in collaborating and working together towards a common purpose and goals.

We discuss:

• The elements to successful teams.
• The tools and activities teams need to be using.
• The qualities that make teams great.
• The best ways to use Microsoft Teams.

Our Guest Christine Irons is Great Canadian Training’s lead software instructor and courseware designer. Christine worked in Human Resources at York University in Toronto for over 20 years as an instructional designer, trainer, and learning specialist. As a certified master Microsoft instructor, Christine brings an extensive knowledge of Adult Learning Theory to her work, whether it’s designing and delivering live classes or creating e-learning that truly teaches. ​

Our Guest Joel Silverstone is the regular host of the Great Canadian Leadership Podcast. When not hosting, Joel is the Senior Professional Skills Trainer & Coach at Great Canadian Training. For over 20 years, he has helped leaders and their teams feel more confident and impactful with their communication and leadership skills in live and virtual sessions, from small businesses and government agencies to Fortune 500 companies in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Joel is also a speaker at HR, Learning, Leadership and Professional Services Conferences across North America. 

Great teams are not easy, but they can get better. It’s a combination of mindset, intention, and the tools to get from good to great.

Speaking of Teams… At Great Canadian Training we are offering our unique GREAT Series: “Become a Great Team with MS Teams and Team Building Skills”.

In one day, you will learn powerful skills and tools to connect and engage your teams by developing and mastering MS Teams and Team Building skills.

Email info@greatcanadiantraining.ca and mention ‘GREAT’ to get more information about our GREAT Series and how you can become a Great Team with Microsoft Teams and Team Building Skills.

This episode is “Three Ways to Improve Team Communication”. Our host, Joel Silverstone, shares with you the strategies and activities to better understand yours and others’ communication styles and needs.  

How does improved communication impact teams?  

• 86% of employees and executives cite the lack of effective collaboration and communication as the main causes for workplace failures.
• When employees are offered better communication skills, productivity can increase by up to 30%

Listen in, take notes, share the activities with your team (such as designing your own user manual), build your ability to connect quickly with others, and start implementing the three ways to improve team communication.

This is episode 1 of our series on the skills teams need for 2023. The next episode is: What Makes Great Teams? Best Ways to Use Microsoft Teams AND Team Building Skills.

Do you have a question or comment about the podcast? We’d love to hear from you and appreciate your thoughts - email us at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

Thank you for supporting the podcast. Please leave a rating or review and subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes.

Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars and tools. Also, check out our list of over 25 instructor-led Professional Skills Courses at The Great Canadian Training and Consulting Company.

In this episode, we have a great discussion with our guest Jennifer Lennox, a highly experienced HR leader on why soft skills are crucial in organizations and what leaders can do about it. Jennifer also shares how she found her voice to communicate and influence others and how her leadership career took off from there.

One of the major challenges for leaders is that they often find themselves multitasking and handling different priorities, but what's essential now more than ever is for them to put people first and adopt a whole new leadership style that is people-driven.

Finally, as a leader, your presence lingers, and your behaviour is often a topic of discussion at the dinner table. Therefore, it's crucial to be fully present and aware of how your people feel when they are in your presence.

Our guest: Jennifer Lennox is an experienced HR professional and the Vice President of People, Culture and Learning at AutoCanada a senior leadership position where she collaborates with the Senior Executive team, HR Team, and AutoCanada General Managers to create a world-class company culture. With over 20 years of experience in people development, talent acquisition, training, executive leadership and HR strategy, Jenn is a certified HR Executive (CHRE) and has worked for organizations of different sizes, including small business tech startups, large corporations, and the private sector such as CIBC, Home Depot, Alcumus and four years as the Head of People and Culture with the Humberview Group.

As with every episode, our guest Jennifer Lennox shares her ‘Failure... Ta-Da’ moment, and at the end we share the three stars and the next step you can put into practice from this episode.

Do you have a question or comment about the podcast? We’d love to hear from you and appreciate your thoughts - email us at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

Thank you for supporting the podcast. Please leave a rating or review and subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• Our series on Teams - Collaboration and Technology
• Performance Reviews 

Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars and tools. Also, check out our list of over 25 instructor-led Professional Skills Courses at The Great Canadian Training and Consulting Company.

This episode could have also been called, “We need to be able to take a chance on people”, as we explore the topic of finding and nurturing talent both as a leader and as an individual. Our guest, Nupur Khandelwal, draws on her extensive experience as a leader and as someone who has had advocates for her growth within an organization.

We discuss topics such as complacency, mentorship, progress, and perfection. Additionally, we delve into the importance of candor and commitment and explore the mechanisms one can use to be an advocate for others.

And find out Nupur’s ‘Ta-da’ moment on the significance of a CN Tower climb in reframing your thoughts.

Our Guest: Nupur Khandelwal is helping people and organizations deliver human-centric programs and was nominated for Canada’s Top 40 under 40 Awards. At the LCBO, Nupur is the Director of Talent Management, where she leads enterprise-wide initiatives. Nupur is the co-founder of SheRocks! and contributes as a Board of Director member with the HR Professional Association’s Toronto Chapter.

Nupur presents to diverse groups at conferences, seminars and workshops and is seen as a recognized learning leader in organizational development, people management, training, and development, as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives to enhance the employee experience.  

As with every episode, our guest shares their ‘Failure Ta-Da’ moment, and at the end we share the three stars and the next step you can put into practice from this episode.

Do you have a question or comment about the podcast? We’d love to hear from you and appreciate your thoughts - email us at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

Thank you for supporting the podcast. Please leave a rating or review and subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes.

Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars and tools. Also, check out our list of over 25 instructor-led Professional Skills Courses at The Great Canadian Training and Consulting Company.

This episode, we’re talking with Dr. Adrienne Shnier on how to showcase your value. Whether it’s a performance review, or you’re seeking a promotion, job or school interview, how can you share your story and be the advocate - for you?

You are so busy in your role that if someone asks you what makes you valuable, an asset, you might just ramble off tasks but not your value.

Your experiences, how you deal with challenges, your growth - nobody knows this better than you. Listen in as we share how you can communicate this and why that matters.

Our guest, Dr. Adrienne Shnier, is the CEO and founder at Apply Yourself: The Advancement Spot Inc., teaching students and professionals to level up their game by showcasing themselves and developing compelling, authentic, academic and professional applications based on her years of experience as a Member on Admissions Committees, Job Search Committees, and Tenure & Promotion Committees. She is a lawyer and founder of Shnier Mackenzie Law & Policy Consulting, PC. She is also a Toronto-based Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Faculty of Health at York University, and Health Law Faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School. 

As with every episode, our guest Dr. Adrienne Shnier bravely shares her ‘Failure Ta-Da’ moment, and at the end we share the three stars and the next step you can put into practice from this episode.

Do you have a question or comment about the podcast? We’d love to hear from you and appreciate your thoughts - email us at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

Thank you for supporting the podcast. Please leave a rating or review and subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• Our series on Teams - Collaboration and Technology
• Our series on Coaching and Mentoring

Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars and tools. Also, check out our list of over 25 instructor-led Professional Skills Courses at The Great Canadian Training and Consulting Company.

Those first impressions that we unconsciously hold onto are called imprinting beliefs, meaning that first impressions stick.

In this episode, we discuss with Amy Davies on why first impressions matter and the impact people, leaders and organizations can have on improving employee retention by 82%. We also discuss why 1 in 3 employees will leave their employer within 12 months, typically for reasons that are preventable.

Our guest Amy Davies is the founder and CEO of First30, offering employee onboarding and outplacement services to businesses. She is the author of A Spark in the Dark: Illuminating Your Path to a Brilliant Career in a Reorg World. Her next book, What Employees Want: 5 Proven Strategies to Attract, Retain and Engage Talent, is set for release in September 2023.

As with every episode, our guest Amy Davies bravely shares her ‘Failure Ta-Da’ moment, and at the end we share the three stars and the next step you can put into practice from this episode.

Do you have a question or comment about the podcast? We’d love to hear from you and appreciate your thoughts - email us at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

Thank you for supporting the podcast. Please leave a rating or review and subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• Showcasing Your Value
• Our series on Teams - Collaboration and Technology
• Our series on Coaching and Mentoring

Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars and tools. Also, check out our list of over 25 instructor-led Professional Skills Courses at The Great Canadian Training and Consulting Company.

Short answer… YES! In this episode, you’ll uncover easy ways to persuade, whether you’re writing or speaking. Your emails, communications and interactions motivate others to action.

This episode is “How to Be Persuasive from Writing to Speaking”. Our host, Joel Silverstone, shares with you the strategies and insights to make persuasion simple and respectful. You will find the ideas and tips to balance emotions and logic that connect with the other to be persuasive.

Because persuasion is making it easy for the other person. Join us on how you can do this with your writing and communication skills.

This is part of our 4-part series on the soft skills you need for 2023: Empathy in Business, Leading Complex Projects with Clarity, Change - Turning Resistance into Resilience, and How to Be Persuasive in Your Writing and Communication.

• Do you have a question or comment about the episode? We’d love to hear from you and appreciate your thoughts - email us at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• Great First Impressions - Why They Matter to Employee Retention
• Showcasing Your Value
• And our series on Teams - Collaboration and Technology

Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars and tools and our list of over 25 instructor-led Professional Skills Courses at The Great Canadian Training and Consulting Company.

Empathy is a crucial business skill because it enables collaboration, motivation, and feeling respected. You create a ripple effect where people’s perspectives and emotions are acknowledged - it doesn’t mean you have to agree with them, but they feel heard and understood.

In fact, 67% of people with highly empathic managers report often or always being engaged, compared to only 24% of people with less empathic managers.

In this episode, you’ll find some ideas that can help with building your awareness of empathy and how to make this soft skill a business behaviour.

This episode is called “Empathy in Business”. Our host, Joel Silverstone, shares with you the strategies and insights to make empathy your opportunity to engage and collaborate in your professional (and personal) settings.

This is part of our 4-part series on the soft skills you need for 2023 – Change - Turning Resistance into Resilience, Persuasion in Your Writing and Communication Skills, and Leading Complex Projects with Clarity.

Do you have a question or comment about the episode? We’d love to hear from you and appreciate your thoughts - email us at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

• Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars, blogs, and tools

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• Our series on soft skills - Change, Empathy and Persuasion
• Showcasing Your Value
• Great First Impressions - Why They Matter to Employee Retention
• Our series on Teams - Collaboration and Technology

In this episode, Leading Complex Projects with Clarity, we discuss the importance of the human factor, the people that are going to make this successful. According to our guest, Nada Darwiche, projects are not linear lines and where we get stuck is the ‘on time, on budget’ result. A successful project focuses on the people – making sure they understand the message being delivered and why it matters to them, their team and the organization.

This is part of our 4-part series on the soft skills you need for 2023. Our other three parts are: Change - Turning Resistance into Resilience, Empathy in Business, and Persuasion in Your Writing and Communication Skills.

Our guest, Nada Darwiche, is a Principal at NDC Group and a Sr. Lead Consultant with Optimus SBR. She has more than 20 years of business experience consulting for Fortune 1000 companies in the areas of change management, strategy, project management/implementation, process improvement and pitch development. She has led many client engagements focusing on key strategic initiatives, delivering sustained, bottom-line benefits as well as enhanced key partner relationships.

Listen in as Nada shares her experience as Project Leader #3, how she had to switch hats from project management to change management, and how she dealt with the resistance of teams to get the project back to ‘on time and on budget’!

Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars, blogs, and tools from The Great Canadian Training and Consulting Company.

Do you have a question or comment about the episode? Send us an email at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• Our series on soft skills - Change, Empathy and Persuasion
• Great First Impressions - Why They Matter to Employee Retention
• Showcasing Your Value
• Our series on Teams - Collaboration and Technology

In this episode, you’ll find some ideas that can help with change and relate to the examples of not just dealing with change, but how to build resilience from it.

This episode is called “Change - Turning Resistance into Resilience”. Our host, Joel Silverstone, shares with you the strategies and insights to make change an opportunity to move forward and not backtrack or get stuck.

This is part of our 4-part series on the soft skills you need for 2023 - empathy in business, persuasion in your writing and communication skills, and leading complex projects with clarity.

Do you have a question or comment about the episode? We’d love to hear from you and appreciate your thoughts - email us at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

• Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars, blogs, and tools

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• Leading Complex Projects with Clarity
• Our series on soft skills - Change, Empathy and Persuasion
• Defining Your Brand
• Our series on Teams - Collaboration and Technology

This episode we’re discussing how to win the retention game through the idea of renewal. How do we make people more resilient against burnout? The importance of quality short breaks moves us to a better flow and quality to our work. We have been moving between hybrid, remote, and the office…we start to run out of mental energy, stop making rational decisions and feel stressed. For 2023, it’s important to prioritize renewal. How do you lead that? What does that look and sound like?

We discuss with Kerry O’Brien, Sr. Talent Development PM at Axonify, about how to put renewal into our work and why it impacts the retention and productivity of the people in your organization.

Our guest, Kerry O’Brien, is a 14-year veteran of Talent Development, primarily growing and scaling teams in the tech sector. This experience, combined with his master’s degree in leadership, has led to a leadership practice that centers on self-care, curiosity, and goal achievement. You can hear him on podcasts and keynotes talking about everything from learning frameworks to story crafting to energy management and being a better listener, usually with parenting stories thrown in for good measure.

Burnout is real for an increasing number of people in the workplace. A 2022 study by the McKinsey Health Institute highlighted how the impact of the pandemic has seen burnout levels reach an all-time high, with one in four employees experiencing symptoms of burnout. Microsoft’s Chief People Officer, Kathleen Hogan, encapsulates the challenge as a Human Energy Crisis.

Do you have a question or comment about the episode?  Send us an email at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

• Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars, blogs, and tools

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• Leading Complex Projects with Clarity
• Our series on soft skills - Change, Empathy and Persuasion
• Our series on Teams - Collaboration and Technology

In this episode, we reflect on the 'Greatest Hits' from our guests and our own experts on leadership and professional skills. These are the themes you can take away from this episode:

• How we think and deal with change
• How we can lead; the skills to develop
• How the future of training may look 
• How we can connect to inspire, persuade, and motivate
• How we can be better presenters and have better presentations
• How we can adapt when we may not have all the answers

Thank you to our guests, amazing leaders and experts who brought their insights, shared their ‘failure ta-da’ moments and inspired passion for leadership and communication styles. 

1. Diane Crawford: “How to Use Neuroscience to Feel More Confident”
2. Rance Greene: “Getting Started with Business Storytelling”
3. David Kelly: “The 9 Behaviours of Leadership Part 1 & Part 2”
4. Betty Dannewitz: “Soft Skills and Virtual Reality”
5. Rhonda Scharf: “What Makes a Great Presenter?”
6. Christine Irons & Jon Neuhold: “What Makes a Great Presentation?”
7. Caroline Cohen: “You Don’t Have to Know it All”

You can’t have an extravaganza without a special guest: Joy Neuhold, Co-Owner of The Great Canadian Training & Consulting Company. Joy Neuhold knew she wanted to be a consultant and start her own business from a young age. After working for a small IT business and then moving up the career path for an insurance company within a year and a half, Joy took a travel break. She came back in 2002 to start what is now The Great Canadian Training & Consulting Company, offering a range of software and soft skills training across North America.

• Do you have a question or comment?  Send us an email at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca
• Check out more free resources on software and soft skills with webinars, blogs, and tools

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• Winning the Retention Game through Renewal
• Leading Complex Teams with Clarity
• And our series on Teams - Collaboration and Technology

It starts with ‘You don’t have to know it all’. In this episode we discuss with our guest Caroline Cohen how to adapt, build trust and delegate - without having all the answers! Caroline went from a learning and development leader to the NEW Head of People & Culture at a new company, industry, and role. Not to mention, this is happening during Covid lockdowns, work from home to hybrid.

• Getting the most from your teams and networks
• Delegating effectively
• Building the right setting for trust
• Communicating a vision

Our Guest Caroline Cohen is the Director of People and Culture at Medisca, a distribution company specializing in pharmaceutical compounding products and services.

Caroline began her career in the area of training development and performance improvement for the airline industry before moving on to a transportation, logistics and supply chain company for which she headed a training department. Caroline has extensive experience at leading teams, managing multiple concurrent projects, implementing processes and, most importantly, approaches her work with the attitude of "anything is possible".

Speaking of Leadership skills… At Great Canadian Training we are offering our unique Leadership Packages. You can choose from:

1. LEAD with Trust
2. LEAD Strong Teams
3. LEAD with Executive Presence
4. LEAD Effective Presentations
5. LEAD Your Own Path

Email info@greatcanadiantraining.ca and mention ‘Leadership Packages’ to get more information about these packages and how you can build, develop and stretch your leadership skills.

This is the final episode of our significant 4 podcasts series on Presentation Skills.

Our host Joel Silverstone will be sharing his experiences as a speaker and presenter to varied audiences globally, from boardrooms to conferences, to the virtual world, as well as coaching hundreds of leaders on their presentation skills.

Joel is the Sr. Professional Skills Facilitator & Coach at The Great Canadian Training and Consulting Company. For over 20 years, Joel has helped leaders and their teams globally feel more confident and impactful with their communication and leadership skills. A former professional actor and improviser, Joel applies those acting skills to being a better presenter.

This episode can help with tips and strategies to make you feel great delivering your next presentation.

Take a few minutes to listen in as our host Joel Silverstone shares ten simple techniques you can use immediately.

Speaking of presentation skills… At Great Canadian Training we are offering our unique GREAT Series:

“Become a Great Presenter with MS PowerPoint and Presentation Skills”.

• In one day, you will learn powerful skills and tools to connect and engage your audiences by developing and mastering your MS PowerPoint and presentation skills.
• Email info@greatcanadiantraining.ca and mention ‘great’ to get more information about our GREAT Series and how you can become a Great Presenter with MS PowerPoint and Presentation Skills.

This is episode 3, as part of our significant 4 podcasts series on Presentation Skills.

Where do the nerves come from? Or, as our guest Melina Nacos asks, “What makes you tick?”. What behaviours or beliefs have kept you stuck with your doubts about speaking in public?

We certainly didn’t learn presentation skills at school. We were graded but did we get the tips on being better at it? Not really…  

We discuss:

• Nerves are deep rooted; how do you break that habit?
• Making the uncomfortable feel more natural
• What are the beliefs holding you back?
• How to change your script
• How to be more confident networking in person
• How are you preparing and why does it matter?

Our Guest Melina Nacos is the founder of Melina Nacos Coaching Inc. working with dedicated, thoughtful people, providing support, inspiration, and the direction you need to become the person you've always wanted to be and develop a legacy of positive change. 

For 20 years, Melina has worked with her clients to hone their skills and confidence and empower them to be in service of others for their own success. With a degree from York University and Adult Certification from George Brown College, Melina takes the time to learn each of her clients’ personal traits and build off of them, customizing her service to affect positive changes in defined areas of need.

• Speaking of presentation skills… At Great Canadian Training we are offering our unique GREAT Series: “Become a Great Presenter with MS PowerPoint and Presentation Skills”.
• In one day, you will learn powerful skills and tools to connect and engage your audiences by developing and mastering your MS PowerPoint and Presentation skills.
• Email info@greatcanadiantraining.ca and mention ‘great’ to get more information about our GREAT Series and how you can become a Great Presenter with MS PowerPoint and Presentation Skills.

You’re not alone. That’s why we created this episode, the combination of technical and soft skills to guide you in bringing out the best in your presentations.

We’re thrilled to have as our Guest Host Jon Neuhold, Co-Owner of Great Canadian Training, interviewing Senior Software Instructor Christine Irons and Senior Professional Skills Facilitator Joel Silverstone.

There is a gap in people’s technical skills – but technical skills on their own aren’t enough. Each of us also needs the professional skills to match them. In the case of presenting in front of an audience, that means designing a slide presentation that effectively captures and holds the attention of others and knowing how to talk about the slides to match the content.

This is episode 2, as part of our significant 4 podcasts series on feeling more confident, engaging, and prepared with your presentation skills.

We discuss:

• The How and Why in designing your presentation
• Key principles in delivering your presentation
• Debunking fear of public speaking
• The best ways to use PowerPoint to be impactful
• How to start strong and why that matters to your audience (and you)

Our Guest Christine Irons is Great Canadian Training’s lead software instructor and courseware designer. Christine worked in Human Resources at York University in Toronto for over 20 years as an instructional designer, trainer, and learning specialist. As a certified master Microsoft instructor, Christine brings an extensive knowledge of Adult Learning Theory to her work, whether it’s designing and delivering live classes or creating e-leaning that truly teaches. ​

Our Guest Joel Silverstone is the regular host of the Great Canadian Leadership Podcast. When not hosting, Joel is the Senior Professional Skills Trainer & Coach at Great Canadian Training. For over 20 years, he has helped leaders and their teams feel more confident and impactful with their communication and leadership skills in live and virtual sessions, from small businesses and government agencies to Fortune 500 companies in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Joel is also a speaker at HR, Learning, Leadership and Professional Services Conferences across North America. 

Presentation skills are not easy, but you can get better. It’s a combination of mindset, intention, and the tools to get from good to great, whether you are presenting at a meeting or to hundreds.

• Speaking of presentation skills… At Great Canadian Training we are offering our unique GREAT Series: “Become a Great Presenter with MS PowerPoint and Presentation Skills”.
• In one day, you will learn powerful skills and tools to connect and engage your audiences by developing and mastering your MS PowerPoint and presentation skills.

Email info@greatcanadiantraining.ca and mention ‘GREAT’ to get more information about our GREAT Series and how you can become a Great Presenter with MS PowerPoint and Presentation Skills.

This is episode #1, as part of our significant 4 podcasts series on feeling more confident, engaging, and prepared with your Presentation Skills.

This episode, we’re thrilled to have Rhonda Scharf share how someone from a small town - outside a small town - became an in-demand speaker.

We discuss:

• How do you prepare to present?
• Where do you start?
• What to do when you forget
• Being you…but not too much you
• It’s not about memorization, the secret is…
• What is your intention? And why that matters to your audience
• How do you engage them to action?

Our Guest Rhonda Scharf is an author, speaker, trainer, training partner with The Great Canadian Training & Consulting Company and earned her Certified Speaking Professional. Rhonda is a member of the Canadian Speaking Hall of Fame and is one of only 35 speakers worldwide who have earned their Global Speaking Fellow (meaning she truly has an international business) and been awarded the Spirit of CAPS award. She was the first speaker in the entire world to earn all four awards. Her peers consider Rhonda a leader in the speaking industry! Rhonda’s professional speaking career began at age two… when her mother would offer her 25 cents to be quiet for five minutes!

• Speaking of presentation skills… At Great Canadian Training we are offering our unique GREAT Series: “Become a Great Presenter with MS PowerPoint and Presentation Skills.”
• In one day, you will learn powerful skills and tools to connect and engage your audiences by developing and mastering your MS PowerPoint and Presentation skills.
• Email info@greatcanadiantraining.ca and mention ‘podcast’ to get more information about our GREAT Series and how you can become a Great Presenter with MS PowerPoint and Presentation Skills.

In this episode, we are curious how virtual reality (VR) can connect to our soft skills and be used in training. We discuss the thoughts and skills that we can take from these VR scenarios and put them into real world practice in how we interact with each other in business, and maybe in life.

We talk communication, empathy, giving feedback and …Presentation Skills! Virtual reality has an interesting perspective here, especially with your number of ‘um’s’.

Our Guest Betty Dannewitz is an Immersive Experience Designer with 18+ years in corporate learning and development. She is also a Speaker, Podcaster, and High-Performance Coach. Betty’s passion is to help people become better humans and she advocates that innovative technology, like augmented reality, has a huge role in making that happen. 

Listen in as we explore a possible future and how you can start using some of these communication and leadership abilities in your present world.

Do you have a question or comment for The Great Canadian Leadership Podcast? Send us an email at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episode series:

• Our Special 4-part series on Presentation Skills to build your confidence, clarity and engagement in person or virtually.

This is part 2 of the 9 behaviours of leadership – these are traits, sometimes clichés – that we can make into clear skills you can develop. In this episode, we explore the soft skills of leadership, specifically how listening and empathy are core traits to continue developing.

Developing leaders can change. Existing leaders can get better.

David Kelly is the CEO of The Learning Guild. David has been a learning and performance consultant and training director for over 20 years. He is a leading voice exploring how technology can be used to enhance training, education, learning, and organizational performance. David is an active member of the learning community and can frequently be found speaking at industry events. He has previously contributed to organizations including ATD, eLearn Magazine, LINGOs, and more. For more on David, follow him on Twitter.

Listen in as we share how to make leadership behaviours into tangible and intentional skills and why it matters for your communication and leadership abilities.

• Do you have a question or comment for The Great Canadian Leadership Podcast? Send us an email at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• Virtual Reality meets Soft Skills
• And our upcoming 4-part series on Presentation Skills

What if we looked at other behaviours of leadership and made them into skills you could develop and practice?

There is a wealth of information here – so much that we made this into a 2-part episode. In both parts, we explore the 9 behaviours of leadership – these are traits, sometimes clichés - and make them clear skills you can develop.

Developing leaders can change. Existing leaders can get better.

Our guest, David Kelly, guides us to a better understanding of words like ‘innovation’ and how to apply them and even measure their success.

David Kelly is the CEO of The Learning Guild. David has been a learning and performance consultant and training director for over 20 years. He is a leading voice exploring how technology can be used to enhance training, education, learning, and organizational performance. David is an active member of the learning community and can frequently be found speaking at industry events. He has previously contributed to organizations including ATD, eLearn Magazine, LINGOs, and more. For more on David, follow him on Twitter.

Listen in as we share how to make leadership behaviours into tangible and intentional skills and why it matters for your communication and leadership abilities.

Do you have a question or comment for The Great Canadian Leadership Podcast? Send us an email at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca.

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• The 9 Behaviours of Leadership-Part 2
• Soft Skills and Virtual Reality
• And our upcoming series on Presentation Skills

This episode can help! Rance Greene gives us a masterclass on how we can create and design relevant stories to connect, inspire, guide or persuade others with a clear call to action.

Our guest Rance Greene is a Story Designer, Author, Speaker, and owner of Needastory.com and the School Of Story Design. Rance formed these companies for those who struggle with storytelling at work. His methodology—Story Design—gives leaders and talent development professionals a systematic and creative way for discovering who their audience is and how to persuade them to take action on new ideas.

Rance shares his diverse journey from Actor, Playwright, Choreographer, working with Inner City Youth to working with leaders in health insurance compliance and how stories created a common language that connected them all. Stories bring the emotional content, making facts relatable, more concrete, and fun, and persuade people to action.

Listen in as we share how to get started with business storytelling and why it matters to your leadership and audiences.

• Do you have a question or comment for The Great Canadian Leadership Podcast?
• Send us an email at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca 

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes:

• Behaviors of Leadership
• Soft Skills and Virtual Reality
• And our 4-part series on Presentation Skills

In this episode, learn ways to have more control over your thoughts, and not vice versa!

How does this help us to be more confident? It starts with learning how training your brain to grow and to be challenged is pivotal to building your new levels of confidence.

Are you challenging your brain? When you create new experiences, you are getting out of your comfort zone and on your way to growth and being better equipped to deal with FEAR (false evidence appearing real)

Our Guest, Diane Crawford, is the Chief Operating Officer at The Voyage Inc. Prior to starting her company, Diane held several senior leadership positions in the financial services industry. From managing her own start-up to directing a team of over 400 professional staff, she has honed her coaching and people development skills. Diane has been a regular presenter at the Human Capital Institute (HCI) conferences in the U.S. and is currently leading an E.U. sponsored program for African Women Leaders.

Join us in this episode as Diane shares the ways we can use our brains and the circle of confidence to feel more prepared for that next challenge.

Do you have a question or comment for the podcast? 

Send us an email at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca 

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes

• Getting Started with Business Storytelling
• Behaviours of Leadership
• Soft Skills and Virtual Reality
• And our 4-part series on Presentation Skills

In this episode, we reflect on the 'Greatest Hits' from our guests and answer your questions on effective communication styles, giving feedback, time management, thought leadership and tough conversations.

It’s the Shared Experience Extravaganza - Summer Edition.

You can’t have an extravaganza without special guests: Joy Neuhold, Co-Owner of The Great Canadian Training & Consulting Company, and our superb producer Erica Baillie. 

Thank you to our guests, amazing leaders and experts who brought their insights, shared their failure ta-da moments and inspiring passion for leadership and communication styles. 

• Nicola Van Dam
• Nancy Shapiro
• Shayna Beeksma
• Jay Guilford
• John Horn
• Kira Callahan
• Arminda Gonzalez-Dumpierrez
• Michael Varga

Our panelists:

Joy Neuhold knew that she wanted to be a consultant and start her own business from a young age. After working for a small IT business and then moving up the career path for an insurance company within a year and a half, Joy took a travel break. She came back in 2002 to start what is now The Great Canadian Training & Consulting Company. In 2015, Joy purchased CompuEase to add to the offerings and range of software and soft skills training across North America.

Erica Baillie is the producer on The Great Canadian Leadership Podcast and Acting Training Manager at The Great Canadian Training & Consulting Company. Erica brings her experience in marketing and customer service and her passion for creating amazing customer service experiences for clients and guests of the podcast.

• Do you have a question or comment? 
• Send us an email at podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca

And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes

• The Neuroscience of Confidence
• Getting Started with Business Storytelling
• Behaviours of Leadership
• And our 4-part series on Presentation Skills

This episode can help as we talk with Michael Varga on how he handled the pressure of being in the spotlight, the importance of vulnerability and why not trying to please everyone was key.  

We also discuss how he deals with recently being promoted into a leadership role and the transition from being a part of the team to now leading it. Where it used to be, “Hey Mike…” to now, “Lieutenant, can I do this?” 

Our guest Michael Varga is a MasterChef Canada finalist, Chopped Canada Winner, and Vancouver Fire & Rescue Lieutenant. Michael competed on the reality television show Chopped Canada, taking home the title of Champion and earning high praise from Iron Chef Susur Lee. On MasterChef Canada, Michael went on to become a finalist, and the opportunity to work with several talented chefs elevated his skills and pushed his limits in the kitchen. A seasoned Vancouver firefighter, he also heads the Fire in Your Kitchen program for the Vancouver firefighter’s charitable society, cooking private dinners that are auctioned off for charity. For more on Michael and recipe ideas, check out his Instagram site Varga Cooks.   

This episode is about dealing with the spotlight moment and why being genuine is important to connecting with your audience, whether it be 1 person or 1 million. 

Our next episode, we are answering your questions on communication and leadership.  Do you have a question or comment? 

Send us an email podcast@greatcanadiantraining.ca 

In this episode, our guest Arminda Gonzalez Dumpierrez is here to deconstruct the abstract, to make it real and tangible. She clearly shows us the ways you can inspire and share your vision, and how important this is as the next step in leadership and communication.

Arminda Gonzalez Dumpierrez has been guiding business leaders for over 20 years. She is currently the head of talent transformation for one of the largest employers in Canada, Walmart Canada. Her international business education spans 3 continents, including teaching global business courses at the post-graduate level. Over the span of her career, Arminda has had the opportunity to run her own start up as well as manage the strategy operations of a multinational corporation. She combines the visionary and practical in moving people and teams toward success www.linkedin.com/in/armindadumpierrez

There are many advantages, from a business perspective, of the ROI of being able to communicate clearly, ask good questions, and speaking a common language, that make people feel involved and motivated towards a common goal (or what’s in it for them).

Fair enough, we’ve all had salespeople and leaders overwhelm us with facts and features, yet not even take a breath, let alone ask us a question. If you are a leader or anyone trying sell a new behaviour, idea or product, finding the best way to connect and influence can feel daunting. In this episode, our guest is Kira Callahan, an expert in sales conversations, who will guide you with different perspectives, confidence and skills to be more authentic and connect with your customer or whoever your audience happens to be.

Kira Callahan is the founder of Conversation Gym. She has had the pleasure of coaching more than 6,000 financial professionals to master their sales conversations and build a thriving practice they love. Kira is an expert in coaching high achieving executives, managers and salespeople to connect with and persuade their audiences. In the past twenty years, Kira has facilitated workshops and personally coached professionals from front-line to VP and was a regular business blogger for the Huffington Post.

For more on Kira and Conversation Gym

We discuss:

-How to focus on your intention vs your objective (MUST SELL!)

-How to be persuasive by earning the trust and connecting

-How to sell your value first, not the product or idea.

And the importance of preparation and safety in your interactions.

• Want to learn more skills to communicate with confidence and clarity? Sign up for our next public sessions on June 8th, August 25th, October 31st or November 24thhttps://courses.greatcanadiantraining.ca/understanding-and-developing-effective-communication-strategy-skills/

Do you want to book a private session for your team or organization? Contact us at info@greatcanadiantraining.ca for more information

“When giving feedback, it’s not what you say; people get defensive because of why they think you’re saying it”. 

We share the strategies you need to deliver feedback that is motivational, not confrontational! And isn’t it more fun when giving feedback that is helpful, focused on recognition and growth of the other person?

As always, we have our 3 stars at the end AND we’re also sharing:

• TOP 6 reasons why feedback is not fun
• TOP 6 ways to make your feedback effective

Listen in as our host Joel Silverstone shares some simple techniques you can use immediately to give feedback like a leader, not a critic.

• Do you want more on giving effective feedback? Join us and register for our free webinar: “Give Feedback Like a Leader, Not a Critic” on October 19th, 2022 
• Do you want to build your feedback skills and confidence? Sign up for our next public sessions: "Great Leadership Conversations Means Feedback"  on July 15th, August 8th, or September 1st: 
• Do you want to book a private session for your team or organization? Contact us at info@greatcanadiantraining.ca for more information.

This episode can help with some tips and techniques to communicate your thoughts in front of an audience from 1 to millions. Our guest is John Horn, who shares 20+ years of sports broadcasting experience on what it takes to be prepared, ask the right questions and share your story in a way that engages an audience.

John Horn  is a veteran in the sports broadcasting and sports production industries working in Canada, the United States and around the world. You may have seen or heard John on ESPN, CBC, TSN, WTA, FIBA, MLB Network, Global TV, DAZN, GBE, Tennis Channel and others. John has interviewed athletes and celebrities throughout North America, including LeBron James, Sidney Crosby, Larry King, Dan Marino, Wayne Gretzky, Pete Rose and Michael J. Fox.

We discuss:

-How does John interview athletes that are guarded and scripted?

-How can you balance your audience’s needs when some are very knowledgeable, and others are new to the ‘game’?

-How to own your content and why it matters?

• Want to learn more skills to inspire and deliver great presentations? Sign up for our next public sessions on July 13th or August 26th courses.greatcanadiantraining.ca/inspire-and-deliver-great-presentations/
• Do you want to book a private session for your team or organization? Contact us at info@greatcanadiantraining.ca for more information.

This episode can help with tips and strategies to manage your time and the stress that comes with it.  

When you fail to manage your time, there is a feeling of loss of control which causes stress. If you want to break this cycle, the answer lies in great time management skills and the behaviours to get there. Because being busy is not the same as being effective. 

Take a few minutes to listen in as our host Joel Silverstone shares some simple techniques you can use immediately. 

Are these time management challenges the same ones you were struggling with last year? Last month? Last week? 

Let’s break that cycle! 

• If you want more on time management, register for our free webinar: “Effective Time Management – Take the Stress Out” on April 12th https://www.greatcanadiantraining.ca/webinars#upcoming 
• Learn more skills and how to feel in control of your time. Sign up for our next public sessions on May 10th or August 12th:  https://courses.greatcanadiantraining.ca/take-the-stress-out-with-great-time-management 

• Do you want to book a private session for your team or organization? Contact us at info@greatcanadiatrianing.ca for more information. 

You might be asking yourself: “What does the circus have to do with leadership?”

How about if that circus was called Cirque du Soleil? At one time one of the largest live entertainment shows, having played to over 100 million spectators, and its staff comprised of over 50 nationalities, speaking 25 different languages…. Now that is a leadership and communication conversation! 

We are talking with Jay Guilford, sharing his insights from creating and running Cirque’s leadership training program to now as the founder of CoWorks Leadership Strategists. 

• How do we get leaders to feel more confident with their soft skills gap? And how is this like an Olympic gymnast who has a fear of heights becoming an aerialist at the circus? 
• Speaking of aerialists, when the stakes are high why can direct communication and feedback mean performing at another level? 
• What is missing from your virtual communication? 
• And ‘Cool Mom’ complex 

Jay Guilford once worked with a bunch of clowns. Literally. A few years ago, Jay ran away with Cirque du Soleil. There, Jay created Cirque’s leadership training program. Jay has designed leadership sessions for top-performing companies and is currently the Founder and Managing Partner of CoWorks Leadership Strategists. He also hosts an interactive workshop on creativity and innovation, inspired by his work at Cirque du Soleil. Jay wants to “Robinhood” the knowledge he has gained from Cirque du Soleil and from his work with leaders in Fortune 500 companies to help improve the way managers lead and team members interact. His mission is to build a world where work is not just a means to an end, but a source of inspiration, transformation, and interpersonal growth.   

For more on Jay Guilford

This is a compelling episode on leadership, soft skills and the communication styles needed to build trust and collaboration in your organization. 

Are you getting ready to have a difficult conversation? Dreading it?

Nobody enjoys it!

90% of the time, you have normal, routine conversations; however, around 10% of the time is that moment when you or the other person says or does something irrational or is triggered…and we’re in a difficult conversation.

In this episode, Joel Silverstone, our host and the senior professional skills facilitator & coach at The Great Canadian Training & Consulting Company, shares tips and tools to help you feel more comfortable with challenging conversations.

We try something different with this episode - the examples come to life with reenactments of those pivotal moments. A big Thank You to Melanie Ziltener, Jim Irons and Max Silverstone for bringing the scenarios to life with your talented voices.

When you listen to the scenes, you’ll also gain a better understanding of the missed opportunities to use a difficult conversation to create more trust, deepen a relationship or build collaboration.

How to get more comfortable with the uncomfortable by building your awareness for these subtle moments and where you can shift the conversation.

• We’d like to thank you, our Great Canadian Leadership Podcast listeners. As part of this significant series of navigating difficult conversations, we are offering you a special package to develop your confidence and communication skills with difficult conversations. Please click here for more information on this package: greatcanadiantraining.ca/promo

This episode is part of our significant four podcasts series on navigating difficult conversations (see below for more on this series).

If you think about a difficult conversation you just had or are about to have, the emotions and the stakes are probably high. Then add to that those differences of opinion.

• How do you separate personal from business?
• How important is empathy?
• When is the right time to transition to facts or hard truths?
• What does the other person really want?

We are talking with Shayna Beeksma, who deals with the trifecta of emotionally charged conversations: Estate Law! 

1. Emotions are deep and triggered
2. There are all kinds of unaddressed family issues
3. Money or emotional possessions are at stake

In this episode, you will learn how Shayna prepares and manages family members at this emotional moment - and remember, this is the first time Shayna is meeting them!

Shayna Beeksma is an estates, real estate and business law lawyer who owns Beeksma Law. Shayna’s career journey in law has taken her from one of the largest law firms in Canada to one of the smallest law firms in the country, before starting her own firm in 2018. With her estate litigation clients dealing with highly emotional circumstances, Shayna carefully and expertly remains focused on her role as their lawyer while remaining compassionate, empathetic, and kind to her clients.

We also discover that Shayna is the ‘emotional detective’, as she explores what lies behind the words, the clues, and the cues as they relate to the client’s motivation, to get to the root cause.

• We’d like to thank you, our Great Canadian Leadership Podcast listeners. As part of this significant series of navigating difficult conversations, we are offering you a special package to develop your confidence and communication skills with difficult conversations. Please click here for more information on this package: www.greatcanadiantraining.ca/promo 

This episode is part of our significant four podcasts series on navigating difficult conversations (see below for more on this series).

For many of us, giving feedback weighs on us and we anticipate a difficult conversation. In fact, a survey published in The Harvard Business Review found that 1 out of every 2 managers hates giving feedback!

Our guest, Nancy Shapiro, shares her insights, as a leader and as someone who works in employment law, on why feedback matters (growth, success, self-actualization…) and how we can feel more comfortable and confident when giving it. We discuss the reasons why feedback can so often fail and lead to difficult conversations. Many people feel side-swiped by feedback that is unclear, untimely, and is sugar-coated or abrasive.

We also discuss leadership essentials, such as gaining trust by being kind, polite and respectful. These qualities make it a lot easier to give difficult feedback.

Nancy Shapiro is a partner at Koskie Minsky LLP  and sits on the firm’s Executive Committee. Nancy is ranked one of the top 500 lawyers in Canada by the Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and is ranked in Best Lawyers and by Chambers. She is also recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as a leading practitioner in employment law (both for employer and employee side work). Nancy is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences and an author of many employment-related articles.

• We’d like to thank you, our Great Canadian Leadership Podcast listeners. As part of this significant series on navigating difficult conversations, we are offering you a special package to develop your confidence and communication skills with difficult conversations. Please click here for more information on this package: www.greatcanadiantraining.ca/promo 

This episode is part of our significant four podcasts series on navigating difficult conversations. One of the elements of a difficult conversation is that emotions are triggered, and often it's based on assumptions and not objectivity.  

Our guest Nicola Van Dam shares some great insights, anecdotes, and tips, such as the questions you should never ask and the go-to questions you should. This episode builds your awareness as to when you can be objective and why it matters to have meaningful and not difficult conversations. 

Nicola Van Dam is a learning officer in leadership training at Ontario Power Generation (everything that Nicola is sharing in this episode is based on her journey of learning and observations and is in no way affiliated with Ontario Power Generation). 

Nicola’s career journey has taken her to industries such as publishing, healthcare, and nuclear power, allowing her to connect with different leaders and leadership styles. This has led to her belief that authenticity is one of the top traits that enable a leader to be successful. Authentic leaders who show their “human side” are seen as relatable and are more likely to build trust with those around them through opening up about their own successes and lessons learned.   

• We’d like to thank you, our Great Canadian Leadership Podcast listeners. As part of this significant series on navigating difficult conversations, we are offering you a special package to develop your confidence and communication skills with difficult conversations. Please click here for more information on this package: www.greatcanadiantraining.ca/promo 

Episode #15 is ENCOURAGING! It’s a shared experience extravaganza.

We reflect on the 'Greatest Hits' from our guests, and answer your questions on effective communication styles, influencing skills, thought leadership and tough conversations

You can’t have an extravaganza without special guests: Joy Neuhold, Co-Owner of The Great Canadian Leadership Training & Consulting Company and our superb producer Erica Baillie. 

Thank you to our guests, these amazing leaders and experts who brought their insights, shared their failure ta-da moments and inspiring passion for leadership and communication styles. 

• Dr. Robin Yap
• Hannah Tough
• Alexa Nick
• Tamara Lovi
• Nancey Watson
• Kaitlin Sandor-Kerr
• Dhimant Patel
• Jennifer McClure
• Noah Maislin & Marko Lindhe,
• Allison Dell
• Nupur Khandelwal
• Melanie Ziltener
• Joy Neuhold
• Catherine Hayos. 

• Are you aware as a leader that you are in that spotlight? 
• What you say, how you say it, your body language, your actions tell your teams if this is going to be a collaborative, inspiring and safe environment or not. 

 In this episode, our guest Catherine Hayos shares her own leadership experiences. She’ll also share her enlightening story of two different leaders whose teams precisely emulated their tone and style. 

Catherine Hayos is a Senior Leader of Learning and Enablement at Optimus SBR, the largest midsized independent consulting firm in Canada. As a former professional actor, Catherine has been fortunate to be able to translate the actor’s technique to serve her corporate clients for over 20 years as director of learning in a number of boutique training and consulting companies.  She is a trainer and coach on Leadership Presence and has supported organizations and trained their leaders to reach their full potential. Catherine believes deeply in the power of experiential learning and practices giving her clients the opportunity to develop and fine-tune their skills on the road to confidence and mastery.  

 This is a powerful episode on leadership, trust and the communication skills needed to create growth in your organization. 

Our guest Joy Neuhold discusses how she found her style (hint: a garbage can was involved) and how leaders and all of us can find ours.  

Joy Neuhold has been the Co-Owner and Senior Training & Consulting Manager at The Great Canadian Training & Consulting Company since 2002 and at CompuEase since 2013. She started her professional path by working in small to large businesses. Joy was quickly promoted and started doing internal projects and training. She decided to take a two-month leave to backpack through Europe and when she came back, she knew she wanted to start her own business and surround herself with an amazing, hard-working, and passionate team. 

Finding your communication style is key to communicating effectively. This episode helps you have clarity on the mindset, the steps you can take, and the communication skills needed to build trust and collaboration with others.  

 “How Do You Manage Upwards?”  

How do you give feedback or change a behaviour - when that person is in authority? Whether you're an employee, a leader who reports above or a leader who wants to create a culture where your people can give you feedback, this episode is for you. 

Our guest Melanie Ziltener shares her insightful example of when change was desperately needed within her department and her manager wasn't open to suggestions. How did Melanie figure out how to communicate in a way that made her manager feel involved and reassured about making the changes?  

Melanie Ziltener is the owner of Tripod Business Services, a boutique virtual assistance agency that specializes in content writing and creation. Mel has over 15 years of experience assisting professionals from small companies to government agencies and formed Tripod in 2017 to provide that same high level of service and excellence. Mel believes in being a Tripod to her clients so that the big picture is clear and well-supported.  

Managing up can be intimidating! This episode helps you have clarity on the mindset, the steps you can take and the communication skills needed to build trust and collaboration in your organization. 

How do you define integrity and inclusion? They are abstract concepts, so how do we know we are leading with them?

We also talk about how leaders keep the connection with their teams in a remote environment.

In this episode, Nupur shares her insights on the communication skills and intentions needed to make everyone feel included. We discuss the importance of building our awareness of diversity and unconscious biases that we may be holding onto. We talk about not being so quick to have the answers but taking a beat to reflect. Nupur also shares a great set of questions we can be asking that builds human connection in a virtual environment.

Nupur Khandelwal is the Senior Manager Learning and Talent Development at LCBO. Nupur presents to diverse groups at conferences, event seminars and workshops and is seen as a recognized learning leader in organizational development, people management, training and development, as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives to enhance the employee experience. Nupur Khandelwal LinkedIn

Nupur is the co-founder of SheRocks! – a social enterprise committed to empowering women through confidence-building programs.

Congratulations Nupur as the 2021 Women of Inspiration Award Finalist!!!

Quote from this episode: “A culture that supports diversity means you need inclusion, and inclusion doesn’t stick without integrity.”– Nupur Khandelwal

This is one of our top leadership episodes on integrity, leadership, connection and the communication skills needed to create an inclusive culture in your organization.

This was a shift for our guest Allison Dell, newly appointed Head of HR at Cineplex, about learning to meet her people where they were at, and not be the hero that saves them.   

In this episode, Allison shares her insights on the importance of our words and intentions. Words do matter but, as we find out in this discussion, words are not always enough to carry your intention and don’t always have the desired effect. Listen in and understand how to meet people where they are at and help them tap into their own solutions and resilience. 

Allison Dell is the Head of Human Resources at Cineplex. With over 20 years’ experience, she has led high performing teams, spearheaded award-winning global programs, and implemented organizational and cultural support systems across a wide variety of business verticals. 

She and her team have been recognized with an array of prestigious awards, including the Waterstone Most Admired Corporate Culture award, the Charles Jennings Award for Excellence in Social Learning +, Brandon Hall silver awards for Blended Learning and Best Strategy for a Corporate Learning University. Allison is passionate about creating an inclusive environment that inspires people to bring their best selves to work and finding new ways to live by the motto: leave it better than you found it.  

Quote from this episode:

“Your words are far less important than the words of the people around you.”  Allison Dell 

This is one of our top leadership episodes on being an HR leader, mindset and the communication skills needed to build trust and resilience in your organization. 

How do you make that work and what communication skills do you need to be effective and maintain respect?

In this episode, our guests Noah Maislin and Marko Lindhe have figured out a way to operationalize their communication styles with each other, their clients, and their roster of 130+ remote contract workers. Being involved with over 20,000 meetings, they share the key factors to successful meetings and those that just lead to yet another meeting. Long-time friends Noah Maislin and Marko Lindhe co-founded in 2014 Minutes Solutions. Minutes Solutions specializes in professional minute-taking and transcription for meetings and improved communications across a variety of industries.

Noah Maislin was born with entrepreneurship in his blood. His father, grandfathers, and even great-grandfather were all entrepreneurs. Noah grew up going to school and summer camp and always came home with money in his pocket from some sort of business he ran at those locations.  Marko Lindhe has a background in med-tech and logistics. Marko was always looking for ways to improve efficiencies within his respective companies and found that the entrepreneurial life was better suited for him. The only thing he loves more than growing a business is traveling and eating (often simultaneously).

Quote from this episode:

“Without solid communication, you don’t have much of a business” – Noah and Marko

This is an insightful episode on leadership, meetings, business partnerships, and the communication skills needed to be successful.

How do you do it?  

 In this episode, Jennifer McClure shares her 30+ years of experience in leadership and HR with great insights and examples of what it takes to communicate in a way that inspires others to be better. Jennifer McClure, CEO of Unbridled Talent LLC & DisruptHR LLC, is frequently recognized as a global influencer and expert on the future of work, strategic leadership and innovative people strategies. Jennifer has decades of in-the-trenches leadership and executive experience working in and with start-ups, privately held companies, and Fortune 500 organizations in a variety of industries. http://jennifermcclure.net 

Jennifer is also the Chief Excitement Officer of DisruptHR, http://disrupthr.co, a global community designed to move the collective thinking forward when it comes to talent in the workplace, and hosts a weekly podcast – Impact Makers with Jennifer McClure. 

“If you ask someone: Who’s had the most influence and impact in your life? Your name should come up.” -Jennifer McClure 

This is an insightful episode on leadership, HR and the communication skills needed to be caring and impactful.  

In this episode, Dhimant Patel, a global business leader, shares his insights and experiences in communicating with people from different countries and cultures. Learning the nuances of language for international business can start with a simple question such as: “What’s the price?” – this question must have varying tones to maintain mutual respect.

Dhimant also shares the assumptions and unconscious biases he’s had to deal with. His constant path to managing those emotions has led to some great discoveries about doing business globally.

Dhimant Patel is President and co-owner of Pantry Shelf Food Corp, a family owned and operated business in Toronto, Canada. Previously, he was Chief Operating Officer at Northern International, and led strategic and financial roles at Weston Foods and Rohm & Haas. Dhimant has lived and worked in Europe, India, USA & Canada and works extensively with partners globally.

This is an enlightening episode on adapting, assumptions and the communication skills needed to build relationships in business.

How do you do it?  

In this episode, Kaitlin Sandor-Kerr discusses how and why sharing your story has a ripple effect on people and the company and creates a sense of purpose and values.

As a leader, do your people know your story?  

Kaitlin Sandor-Kerr is the Founder of Support Panda, People & Development (HR) Consultancy. After over a decade of experience within corporate HR, she found her passion for people was renewed while consulting for small business owners looking to be excellent employers and offer a fantastic employment experience to their staff.   

This is an insightful episode on authenticity, leadership, and the communication skills needed to get your people feeling connected to you and the organization. 

In this episode, Nancey Watson shares some great principles of presentation skills and communicating that start with asking yourself, “Do I know who is in the audience and why this should matter to them?” 

You want to be a better presenter and communicator. But it’s not about you, it’s about what is relevant to them. Focusing on that creates trust and has your audience leaning into what and how you’re showing up and presenting. 

Nancey L. Watson is president of NL Watson Consulting Inc . She has helped professional services firms win over $3 billion in competitive bids. Since 2012 Nancey has worked almost exclusively with law firms and in-house legal departments globally.  Nancey is an internationally recognized speaker and the author of The Silver Bullet: How RFPs Are Won, Ark Group and creator of the workshop Strategic Proposal Management. 

 This is an insightful episode on adapting, leadership and the communication skills needed to get your audience engaged. 

This podcast is sponsored by The Great  Canadian Training & Consulting Company.

In this episode, Tamara Lovi shares some great principles of influencing and communicating that inspire, motivate, and create collaboration. You want to be an influential leader, but, as Tamara says, “We’re not born with these skills”. It takes failures, coaching and learning to adapt and understand communication styles.

Tamara Lovi is a seasoned health & beauty commercial leader and is the Executive Director for the Digital Commercial Operations group at Merck Canada.

Tamara’s drive to deliver outstanding results and her passion for building purpose-driven businesses and brands that make a difference in peoples’ lives have led to a significant positive impact on all the global leading organizations she has been involved with in the past 20 years.

Committed to empowering women to succeed and reach their full potential, Tamara co-founded Women Leaders in Pharma, a Canadian association that is gaining worldwide attention.

This is an insightful episode on attentive listening, leadership and the communication skills needed to build trust.

This podcast is sponsored by The Great Canadian Training & Consulting Company.

Learn more about them at https://www.greatcanadiantraining.ca

In this episode, Alexa Nick guides us on the foundations to create trust, the effect listening intently has on others and why balancing logic with storytelling matters. 

Alexa Nick began her career as a management consultant. She then pursued her goals of entrepreneurship by founding and launching myPractice, a virtual learning platform supporting global organizations. Alexa is now a Consulting Partner at Deloitte and is the Strategy & Transformation Lead in the Toronto office.   

Alexa is involved with the Morrisette Institute for Entrepreneurship, which enables entrepreneurship as the future growth engine of Canada. She also supports the efforts of the Ivey Alumni Association, Ivey’s Women in Leadership, and the LEADER Project.   

This is an insightful episode on empathy, authenticity and the communication skills needed to build trust. 

Episode #2 is INSPIRING. What holds you back from writing, from communicating your ideas? Is it fear of judgment? For most of us, that’s a definite yes!

In this episode, our guest Hannah Tough guides us on how to communicate more effectively (hint: drop your ego) and how to listen to the stories that want to be heard. 

Hannah Tough is the Internal Marketing and Communication Lead at Havas Canada, a contributor to the online publication Thrive Global, and founded the non-profit organization Activate T.O. Hannah has always been a passionate writer. She knew she wanted to work with words ever since she was able to read Robert Munsch's books. For more on Hannah, visit www.hannahtough.com.   

This is an insightful episode on our vulnerabilities, human connection, and the importance of curiosity. 

Episode #1 is FASCINATING- Robots and AI in the workplace and how we interact with them. 

We discuss the different communication styles, and if the robots are being programmed to bring out the best of our humanity? Then as leaders and for all of us we need to re-program our communication and collaboration abilities. 

 Dr. Robin Yap brings his studies, energy, insights, and some of his robot friends to the podcast. Dr. Yap has deep expertise in performance and talent management, social data analytics, AI robot ethics, and the convergences of technology like AI-enabled robots  

For more on Dr. Yap www.robinyap.ca  

The future is now, an absorbing episode on our behaviours, human connection, and the novelty effect.