Bob Nelson Speaking Topics

• Five Trends Shaping the Future of Work

  An Overview of the Leading Labor Trends that will Affect all Organizations in the Upcoming Years (60-90 minutes)

  Several employment trends are coming to dominate the competitive success of every organization. In this session, leading authority and international best-selling author, Dr. Bob Nelson will share his research and insights on these emerging workforce trends as described in his recent book 1501 Ways to Reward Employees.

  The trends that will be presented are:

  • The Increasing Shortage of Skilled Workers
  • The Rise of the Millennial Generation
  • The Expansion of Contingent Workers
  • The Evolving Role of Virtual Employees
  • The Globalization of the Labor Market

  Dr. Nelson will present current research and data about the above trends and discuss what needs to be done to capitalize on these issues and to prevent the trends from becoming problems for an organization and its ability to compete. Attendees will leave with a broader perspective on the leading labor trends impacting their organization resources and practical strategies for addressing those trends in their workplace.

• Strategies for Better Engaging Your Employees

  Give Your Organization a Competitive Edge by Getting Each Employee’s Best (60-90 minutes)

  “Help people do better what they do best.” This advice from Dr. Bob Nelson reminds managers that when workers are engaged, there’s a big advantage: For the organization, the manager AND the employee. The Gallup Organization reports that the percentage of engaged employees nationwide is just 32 percent. The rest? They’re uninvolved, unenthused and uncommitted to their jobs, their managers or the organizations they work for. In this session, Dr. Bob will explore the top drivers of employee engagement based on research from his latest book, 1001 Ways to ENGAGE Employees and how to impact those elements. Find out what successful managers at top organizations are doing to get the best from their employees—and what you can do as well!

  This presentation will cover:

  • What matters most to workers: A look at the research
  • How to effectively build trusting relationships where expectations are clear
  • Ways to recognize employees to better drive performance
  • Having an ongoing focus on career growth and development
  • The role of the manager: Communicating expectations & accountability
  • Best practices, lessons and ideas from the leading organizations today

• Strategies for Recognizing & Engaging Your Workforce

  Research-based Strategies for Increasing Employee Recognition & Engagement in Your Organization (60-90 minutes)

  The Harvard Business Review has cited “recognition given for high performance” as the most impactful driver of employee engagement and The Aberdeen Group has found the number one way Best-in-Class organizations improve employee engagement is through employee-recognition programs. Meanwhile, most employees today feel overworked and underappreciated and are less valued and more stressed for their efforts than ever before. Based on his most recent book, Recognizing & Engaging Employees For Dummies and content from 1501 Ways to Reward Employees (1.7 million copies sold), Bob Nelson, Ph.D., will help you understand the link between employee recognition and engagement and how to make that connection in your organization -- even with limited time, resources or budget. This session will focus on core researched-based elements found in strong cultures of recognition and engagement that inspire employees to new levels of performance and help to create an exciting, positive work environment with a strong competitive people advantage for the organization. Based on recent engagement research, six dimensions will be presented with examples that any manager/organization can implement to create a more motivating work environment for their employees today:

  • VISION: Create a Clear and Compelling Direction
  • RECOGNITION: Recognize and Reward High Performance
  • COMMUNICATION: Direct, Open and Honest Communication
  • INITIATIVE: Involve Employees and Encourage Initiative
  • AUTONOMY: Increase Employee Autonomy, Flexibility and Support
  • DEVELOPMENT: Continued Focus on Career Growth and Development

  Dr. Nelson will show how these elements can be brought to bear through specific techniques and applications, drawing upon his own research and doctoral work as well as experience in working with hundreds of organizations on the topic. He will show how the best companies take a focused and long-term strategic view of their employee resource that systematically integrates the engagement practices into the daily work practices of its managers, identifying and acting on opportunities in timely and specific ways. This session will be filled with specific real-life examples and techniques that can be immediately applied back on the job by attendees to systematically leverage, build and sustain a culture of recognition and engagement in their workplace.

• Beyond the Paycheck: The Rewards of Recognition

  Better Drive Desired Results & Help Employees Feel Valued for Their Performance (60-90 minutes)

  Recognition for performance represents the single most validated principle for driving desired behavior and performance in today’s challenging, fast-paced times. The primary reason why managers don’t use recognition is because they report “they aren’t sure how to do it well,” according to doctoral research by Bob Nelson, the leading authority on this topic and an international best-selling author of the multi-million copy 1501 Ways to Reward Employees (now in its 64th printing) and related books. Far from being a “fuzzy feel-good notion,” Dr. Nelson will show you practical ways as to how you can get your managers to treat employees in a way that maximizes their willingness to use their best efforts on a daily basis to create an exciting, positive work environment that produces more focused, competitive employees that better serve the strategies of the firm and create a competitive advantage for the organization.

  Attendees will learn:

  • Recent research about what most motivates today’s workers in challenging time
  • The principles of effective recognition and how to put those into practice
  • How to utilize employee recognition and engagement tools to drive desired outcomes
  • Managerial techniques you can apply immediately & the motivation to want to do so
  • How to build and sustain progress, keeping your recognition efforts fresh and relevant

• Creating a Culture of Recognition

  Build Recognition into the Strategies and Behaviors of the Organization, Transform Your Workplace into an Employer of Choice (60-90 minutes)

  Employee recognition and engagement is the most important human resource issue in industry today. Employees of different backgrounds spanning four generations have a direct influence on the customers they serve daily. As such, it is important for employers to maximize the full potential of their workforce with proper forms of recognition and engagement. Dr. Nelson will show you how to create a culture of recognition, regardless of the size or type of business you are in. Based on his book The 1001 Rewards & Recognition Fieldbook, this presentation will expand your thinking of what recognition really means and what you can do to build it into your culture. Compared to the average company, employees in a recognition-focused company are 5 times more likely to feel valued, 6 times more likely to recommend the organization, 7 times more likely to stay, and 11 times more likely to feel completely committed to their jobs and mission of the organization. In this presentation, motivation expert and best-selling author Dr. Bob Nelson discusses the current state of employee engagement and recognition including the most recent employee engagement research regarding effectiveness and related case studies. He will share how a customized employee recognition program is needed to improve and maintain a culture of recognition and engagement in any organization, moving from a culture of entitlement to a culture of performance and increased competitive advantage along the way.

  Topics covered in this informative presentation will include:

  • The business case for recognition and its impact on the organization’s bottomline
  • How to leverage the effectiveness of recognition – even with little time or resources
  • How to get managers on board in both supporting and doing more recognition
  • How to harness best practices from other organizations, as well as your own
  • Methods to build and sustain a culture of recognition and engagement over time

• Motivating the Millennials & Gen Z

  Understanding, Attracting, Motivating and Keeping the Younger Generations that Now Make up the Bulk of the Workplace (60-90 minutes)

  The Millennials & Gen Z, the generations of workers born since 1980 now make up the largest percentage (47%) of all employees in the workforce. As featured in a CBS 60-Minutes interview with Morley Safer—best-selling author Dr. Bob Nelson, shares his insights on this latest generation and how members of that generation are reshaping work environments across the country. These 75+ million individuals are unique from any previous generation, especially in their technical abilities, attitudes, outlook and expectations of work and, as such, companies need to adjust to meet the expressed needs of this generation. Failure to do so will significantly limit a company's ability to hire these younger workers at a time when organizations will already be experiencing a shortfall of qualified candidates needed to replace the 70 million retiring Baby Boomers (10,000 per day) in the decade ahead. Success in adapting to this new breed of worker will allow organizations to access and leverage the potential of the younger generation in a way that will create a significant competitive advantage for the company in achieving its mission.

  This generation of workers with the skills and aptitudes that every employer will need are not interested in "paying their dues" and conforming to fit the expectations of them by their employers, but rather will cause companies to reassess and strategically realign all aspects of the employment contract to wrap around the life experiences and expectations unique to these generations. The subsequent changes will affect all workers -- even those not a part of these generations -- as work rules about how work gets done (e.g., telecommuting/flexible working hours, increased autonomy/flexibility, group processes/collaboration, enhanced efficiencies via technology, world perspectives and social issues, etc.) will become permanently redefined. In this session, Dr. Nelson will share positive, practical strategies to accommodate the predominant shift in worker demographics, the assets and liabilities this generation brings to the workplace and show managers and executives (most of whom are Baby Boomers) how to strategically adapt to and align with the needs and expectations of these younger workers.

  Topics covered will include:

  • Profile of the Millennials & Gen Z: What Makes Them Tick?
  • Key Personal & Cultural Influences
  • Events That Shaped the Millennial/Gen Z Perspective
  • Millennial Work Attributes & How to Maximize Each
  • Management Techniques for Motivating & Retaining Millennials

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