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Submitted by kima on
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Just got back from the London conference and it was the most intense, value-packed training I have ever experienced. Every minute of this conference was packed with the practical, action-oriented approach you get from the podcasts -- and more. Times and budgets are tough for all of us. If you're considering a future conference, but on the fence, it was worth the investment!

Thanks again, Mark, Mike, and Wendy!

Kim

RobRedmond's picture

That's been my experience at conferences. They are awesome! If you haven't gone to one, you are missing out!

US101's picture
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KIMA,

What did you practice? What kind of scenarios did you get to try out?

kima's picture
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US101,

Here is a rather long winded response that I hope answers your question.

Where to begin? First, let me say that mere words on a message board cannot begin to capture the intensity of the MT conference experience so I apologize up front if I don’t do it justice. Second – this is not just for beginners. I have twelve years of management experience and still learned a LOT. Also, I attended all three days including the Effective Communications conference.

Begin by thinking of the conference as a very personal experience. As you know from the podcasts, MT is all about your relationships with people. MT is personal – and so is the conference. Even in a room full of managers from all walks of life, the MT team somehow makes it feel like the conference is all about you, making you personally a better manager, and therefore improving your relationship with the people around you, including your team. (Mark and Mike must be exhausted when these are over.)

We each manifest ourselves through our behavior. I don’t know about you, but as a manager, I’ve been pretty thoroughly indoctrinated in the results results results school of management hard knocks. Somewhere along the line, it’s easy to lose touch with HOW we get results. One of the key threads through the entire conference is getting you in touch with behavior – recognizing and eliciting various behaviors in yourself, in others. Not manipulating people, but using behavior to relate to people. (And in the end, results come from, what else – behaviors!)

During the Effective Manager days, you start with practice having one-on-ones. Now, maybe you’ve already had many one-on-ones, and aren’t sure this is a good use of your time. However, you’ll practice one-on-one scenarios focused on behavior and listening – really listening and getting to know your directs as people. Trust me, you’ll learn some things you’ve probably never thought of. Then you move on to feedback. Picture around 8 feedback scenarios, including some rather tricky ones. And because you’re in small groups, you get to learn how other managers would approach a similar situation. After feedback you practice a similar number of coaching scenarios. And the entire time you have the MT team and all those other managers giving you feedback, coaching and encouragement. So, you’re really getting the personal attention of every manager there, not just the MT team.

On the Effective Communication day we had LOTS of practice interacting people in various DISC model types. Again, a number of scenarios and lots of feedback, coaching, and encouragement from the MT team and all the other manager attendees. The scenarios put in you some very real, tough, think fast situations designed to stretch you beyond your comfort level.

And at breakfast, lunch and dinner, Mark is there, with open q and a about pretty much anything. (Does Mark ever eat?) So, you get what amounts to several hours of “consulting” on other topics. And through it all, Mike is there to answer questions and support you as well as Wendii. Unless you are rich or a very high level executive, I can’t imagine having such access to so much high-caliber coaching.

Hope that helps!

Kim