Freedom Focused
Classes

Core Values Discovery

This class is intentionally titled "discovery" because your core values, personally and for your business, already exist.  You live them every day, but being super clear on what they are unlocks an amazing untapped resource for creating much greater alignment, engagement, and productivity in your team and for your business.

Class Highlights:

• Why are core values so valuable?  All too often, businesses will go through an exercise of determining their core values because they were told at some point it's a really good idea.  But then the values are relegated to a page in the employee manual, buried at the bottom of the "about" page on the company website, or hung on the wall in a nice picture frame as a "reminder" that no one really notices. We begin this class by making it extremely clear why core values must be front and center of your daily business operations in order to truly benefit from all they have to offer.
• Core values discovery.  You will learn a thoughtful yet simple way to tease out the most important core values for your business, making them crystal clear for not only building a more cohesive team, but also improving your relationship with clients and customers!
• Declaring your core values to the world.  Congratulations on the "discovery" of your business' core values.  In the final lesson, we'll show you the best way to share them with your team, customers and clients in order to make the most of your great achievement.

                                                                
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Clarifying Your Vision

If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there.  With this reality in mind, this class will help you to create a crystal clear vision for your business so you can not only plot a proper course to get where you want to go, but also have another powerful tool for creating greater alignment, engagement, and productivity in your team and for your business.

Class Highlights:

• Why is knowing your vision so valuable?  Establishing a "vision" for your business is often an exercise undertaken as part of a strategic planning meeting or retreat every two or three years.  All too often, as with core values, creation of a vision is treated as a box to be checked off but never truly used as the powerful tool it can be and is. We will make it clear why vision is so important and set the stage for the following lessons of "clarifying" and implementation.
• Clarifying your vision. Most small business owner already have a vision of the future for their business, and I'm sure you do too.  In this class you will learn a process for systematically laying out that vision, moving it from locked up in your head, to revealed to the world so it can be fully taken advantage of to move your business forward on a deliberate path towards where you want to be.
• Not just a feel good statement. With your vision for the future of your business now crystal clear, we will show you how to use the vision to not only create your "dream team" of employees, but motivate them to strive for a greater outcome that benefits them, the business, and those you serve.

                                                                  
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Getting to Know You

The most important ingredient to a business' success is it's people!  But not just any people, the "right" people.  So how do you find the "right" people for your team?

We continue the process of building your "dream team" in this class by gathering data, moving your hiring process from less subjectivity and hope, to much greater objectivity and confidence.

Less guessing means a strong foundation of insight and knowledge about the candidates you are interviewing, and ultimately the people you decide to hire.

Class Highlights:

• Learn what makes a person tick.  Personality tests have been around for almost 100 years, shedding light on how people think and why they behave the way they do.  You'll learn how to use a modern version of a personality test that is based on the latest social science research, arming you with powerful insights about job applicants and the person you decide to hire.
• Gain insight on how job applicants will fit into your team.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if you knew more precisely the type of person you needed to best fill a position, then could use a diagnostic tool to help you find that person?  In this class, you will learn about a simple tool that will give you this exact insight.
• What about those already on your team?  It's important to know more about who you plan to join your team, but before you can do that, you need to "know your team."  In this class, you will learn a process for gathering data about your existing team to better understand their strengths, and areas that need more support.
• So what do I do with all this data?  The power of having data is knowing how to use it, and in the final lesson in this class, you will learn a systematic and straight forward way to organize and look at the data to maximize your insights into all the people in your business... including yourself!

                                                              
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A Simple But Effective Hiring Process

Data, core values, and a great vision are often stand alone aspects of a business, but we use them collectively in a carefully choreographed hiring process to ensure you are truly building the "dream team" you've always hoped for.

Class Highlights:

• Making a great first impression. Don't stub your toe on the very first opportunity to make a good impression with job applicants.  You also don't want to miss the first opportunity to filter out those who are not a good fit for your business.  In this class we will show you how to craft a job ad that attracts the kinds of applicants you want most, and sets you up for a higher quality interview process that will follow.
• Sorting the wheat from the chaff.  With a carefully crafted job ad revealing the most desirable applicants for your position, this class will next show you how to sort through the list and find not just the most skilled applicants, but those who may be your "diamonds in the rough", able to seamlessly integrate into your team, hit the ground running on day one, and stick around for the long term as you reach for and fulfill your vision for the future.
• Interviewing like a pro recruiter.  When your interview day and time is finally scheduled, we want you to say hello with confidence, knowing more about the job applicant than they may even know about themselves!  Not kidding.  It has happened for me.
  
  In this class you will learn how to use all the data you've collected, the core values you've discovered, and the vision you've made crystal clear, to make a powerful impression on all those seeking to join your team, and allow you to really dig deep to make certain they are who they say they are.... and the best fit for your "dream team."

                                                              
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Reviews You and Your Team Will Look Forward To

Employee reviews are considered a hassle by most employers, to be done as a necessity, if at all.  Employees may appreciate the attention a review provides, but dread the criticism and judging that is inevitably included.

What if both you and the members of your team actually looked forward to the review process, knowing that it was more likely to be a positive rather than negative experience?  In this class, you will learn a process for employee reviews that will do just that. 

As an added bonus, our process will greatly strengthen the buy-in, alignment, and engagement of your best employees, while subtly weeding out those employees who are not really "on your team."

Class Highlights:

• Keeping it simple.  Many employee reviews are made overly complex.  In this class you will be learning the first step of a simple review process that begins with employee self assessment using a handful of questions that focus on only the most important information you, and the employee, really care about.
• Fish or cut bait.  In previous classes, we talk about the importance of core values for ensuring alignment first at the point of hiring a new member of your team, then as an ongoing effort during regular meetings.  However, the very best opportunity to either strengthen alignment with core values or make misalignment glaringly obvious, is an employee review.  This class will show you how the review process can strengthen the commitment of your best employees, and prepare the exit for those least aligned with your core values and vision for the future.
• We're in this together.  Few things demonstrate appreciation and caring like a genuine interest in the personal success and well being of your employees.  In this class you will learn how to create action plans as a key element of the review process that will significantly enhance the buy-in, alignment and loyalty of every member of your team.

                                                        
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