Gregory P. Smith

Biography

Recognized as a leading authority on talent management, leadership development, employee engagement and retention. Smith teaches businesses how to create exceptional workplaces that attract, retain and motivate their people.

"The backbone of any organization is the people on the front line. No matter what industry you are in, success depends on engaging their creative abilities and accelerating the performance of the entire workforce, from the bottom to the top."

As an international speaker and author, Smith has addressed organizations in over 26 countries. He has spoken to hundreds of associations, human resource associations, healthcare organizations and businesses.

Smith`s presentations are inspirational, informative and entertaining with a highly interactive style that connects with audiences. He combines story and strategy to teach audiences how to create high-performance organizations that facilitate change, growth and innovation.

As the founder and Lead Navigator of Chart Your Course International Inc., Smith helps executives and business owners accelerate individual and organizational performance and navigate through increasing rates of change. He helps design strategies and processes to grow organizations and implements business initiatives creating clearer direction, increased profitability, stronger executive teams, improved communication and happier and more productive employees.

Clients include Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winners and Fortune magazine`s "Top 100 Best Places to Work." Smith has also designed professional development programs for national and international organizations including Yamaha, Ace Hardware, AFLAC, Hallmark Cards, Sony, Deloitte, Bobcat, Kaiser Permanente, AT&T, Turner Broadcasting, Delta Airlines and Honda.

Smith built his career on the front line as a U.S. Army Officer. He worked for the Army Surgeon General as a senior consultant responsible for quality management and strategic planning for the U.S. Army Medical Department. In addition, he served on the Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation`s highest honor for business excellence presented by the President of the United States.

Smith has written and published over 350 articles and 9 books including his latest, Fired Up! Leading Your Organization to Achieve Exceptional Results. He has been featured in hundreds of magazines and trade journals and appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including Bloomberg Business News and PBS television.

Publications

Fired Up!
Leading Your Organization to Achieve Exceptional Results

Studies show the personal actions of the leader are the most important factor in motivating and retaining employees as well as contributing to the financial success of the organization. Fired Up! is a leadership book full of tips and strategies that show people how to manage, lead and motivate people at work. Learn to improve your leadership skills, deliver exceptional customer service, build effective teams, improve communication, hire the right people and retain them as long as possible, make more money and grow your business.

Based on proven concepts, you will be able to develop a plan that will generate measurable, bottom-line performance improvement results. You will be able to adapt to changing trends and manage shifts in markets, competition and customer preferences in today`s changing work environment.

Titles

Fired Up! Leading Your Organization to Achieve Exceptional Results
Every organization has the capability of achieving higher levels of performance. No matter what industry you are in, success depends on engaging the creative abilities and accelerating the performance of the entire workforce from the bottom to the top. Based on proven concepts, you will learn how to achieve measurable performance improvement results in a short period of time. You will learn how to design employee involvement and engagement programs that harness the creative abilities, accelerate performance and generate bottom-line results.

The Power of a Positive Attitude
Have you ever been around a person with a negative attitude? People can choose to be negative or positive -- it is their choice. Unfortunately, those that choose to be negative will poison the attitudes of others, cause conflict, complain and resist change. They suffer from what Greg calls, "mental constipation." You will learn what causes negativity, how to minimize its effects and how to change it. In his practical and motivational style, Greg unfolds a blueprint that has helped thousands of people empower themselves, transform others and drive a positive "can do" attitude throughout the organization. This session is designed to help human resource professionals and business owners become change agents to improve performance and deliver powerful results.

Innovation Meets Bureaucracy: How to Make Hippos Fly!
Every organization faces two major challenges -- innovation and bureaucracy. Innovation is the driving force behind growth, new jobs and new industries. Every person strives to be innovative, to be all they can be. On the other hand, bureaucracy drains the energy and creative ability and robs people the pride of a good job well done. The current economic situation along with its new directions, regulations and ongoing uncertainty has affected businesses and people in different ways. In this interactive and motivational presentation, Greg provides a transformation process that will quickly enhance performance creating a foundation of employee engagement, change and innovation. He provides practical ideas along with personal antidotes on what it takes to enhance creativity, capture new ideas and help people find passion and pride in what they are doing. This session is based on Greg`s book, The New Leader: Bringing Creativity and Innovation to the Workplace.

Gladiator Leadership: Transformational Leadership for a Changing World
Studies show the personal actions of the leader is the most important factor in driving profits and retaining employees as well as contributing to the financial success of the organization. This session will provide attendees with the five key strategies that drive performance and inspire and motivate people to go above and beyond. You will learn how to reward, motivate, engage, make accountable and coach people toward higher performance. By building confidence in your abilities you will be able to handle leadership challenges and guide your people to sustained high performance. You will gain a comprehensive range of very practical and highly effective leadership tools and approaches that can be implemented immediately.

The High Performance Organization: Leading and Growing Your Business to Achieve Exceptional Results
Whether you are a small company or a large corporation, success depends on your ability to eliminate status quo, improve financial results and exceed customer expectations. The goal of this workshop is to get every person performing at a higher level -- achieving peak performance. The High Performance Organization manages change effectively and embraces shifts in markets, competition and customer preferences. The organization is enabled to make meaningful change to improve programs, services, products and processes and to create new value for the organization`s stakeholders.

Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Proven Ways to Engage, Retain and Motivate Your Top Talent
The key to success for any organization is the ability to attract and retain skilled and talented people. Good organizations make employee retention a core element of their talent management and organizational development strategy. Those that fail to make it a priority risk losing their top talented people to the competition. This session shows you how to design an effective employee retention strategy that provides a comprehensive road map for not only attracting and keeping talented employees, but for motivating and engaging them to achieve a higher level of performance--saving an enormous amount of money. This session is jam packed with tips, practical ideas, and easy-to-implement advice for creating a motivating, high-retention culture.

Employee Engagement Strategies to Boost Performance
Successful organizations realize employee engagement is critical in sustaining their leadership and growth in the marketplace. Employee engagement is the person`s connection to their work, the organization, their customers, the leaders and the relationships they have with their co-workers. Engaged employees stay with their employers, have higher levels of job satisfaction and make significant contributions. During this fast-paced workshop you will learn dozens of strategies and employee involvement techniques such as Roast, Toast and Boast, Vampire Extermination Expedition sessions and Quest programs to boost motivation and teamwork. Enhance employee engagement by using Idea Campaigns, Shining Stars and Idea Olympics. Learn how these programs can improve retention, cut costs, reduce employee turnover and have a major impact on job satisfaction.

Fast, Focused and Friendly: The Essentials of Great Customer Service
Learn to create a powerful culture of exceptional customer service that permeates and drives the actions of the entire organization. This program will help you create a five-step service quality process that develops the right attitudes, behaviors and emotionally connects with your customers. Discover how to hire, manage and reward your employees so they act quickly, take responsibility and deliver a high level of service. Learn how to train your employees to become your ambassadors that will keep your customers pleased and coming back. This session provides dozens of tips and strategies that can be implemented immediately.

Dynamic Teambuilding: How to Enhance Communication and Build Effective Teams
Individual behavior styles and preferences have a direct impact on our interpersonal relationships in the workplace. Team members differ from each other in fundamental ways including their values, behaviors, talents, temperaments, wants and beliefs. This workshop helps people understand each other better and appreciate the differences each person brings to the workplace. As a result, you will become a more successful leader and make interactions with others more rewarding and effective. The workshop incorporates a behavior assessment to give a more complete understanding of yourself and others. This program will unlock some of the mysteries in dealing with people on and off the job.

Using Assessments to Identify, Hire and Develop Top Talent
Each person brings their own unique skills, talents, beliefs, and personality to the job. These differences affect how we behave with each other, communicate, and perform. Assessments provide an unemotional evaluation of an individual`s behavior, attitudes, values and talent -- qualities difficult to judge in an interview alone. Learn how to use assessments and behavioral reports to hire the right person and match them with the right job for long term success.

Hire the Best, Forget the Rest! How to Hire Top Performers Each and Every Time
The key to business success is the ability to attract, hire and retain skilled and talented people who fit your culture. Learn the skills, processes and the knowledge you need to identify and hire top performers each and every time -- those that will perform in the top 20%. When you add the money spent on recruiting, hiring, orientation, training and employee turnover costs, it equals to 2.5 times the person`s annual salary. This workshop shows you how to design a comprehensive strategy for not only attracting and hiring skilled employees, but for motivating and engaging them to achieve a higher level of performance. As a result, you will generate greater customer loyalty, decreased employee turnover and higher financial returns for your business.

Managing the Family-Owned Business Without Losing Your Shorts or Sanity
The family-owned business faces a unique set of challenges and issues. Less than one-third survive through the second generation and less than 10 percent make it through the third. Learn from a family business consultant who has guided hundreds of businesses in succession planning, reducing conflict and improved customer service. He will provide you with strategies, systems and processes to help you create a roadmap of success by addressing leadership transitions, succession planning and intergenerational issues, making your family business part of the solution--not the problem.