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Bob, a Collaborative Design Coach and user of Accelerated Learning techniques, is a well‐know learning leader in the Forum. He has promoted the lab methodology now used were we connect, collaborate and learn rather than consume ideas.

Bob Means

In the December Public Manager cover story, "The Science of Engagement," Bob Lavigna address the importance of employee engagement—not just as a feel-good activity but as a means to better performance.

Why Improving Federal Employee Engagement Matters

In addition to his current role at Netsurion as director of sales enablement, Bob is also the CEO of Sales Enablement Sherpas and a founding member of the Sales Enablement Society, serving currently as President of their Dallas Chapter. Bob has been in sales, sales enablement, and L&D for more than 20 years, having sold and led sales teams, worked with sales teams at Dell and NTT DATA, and built a training organization from the ground-up with a defense contractor in New England. Bob approaches corporate learning and development through the lens of an MBA, understanding the dynamics of complex services, manufacturing, and sales environments, while simplifying it all so stakeholders across an organization communicate effectively and move needles. Bob leverages his military (10 years in the U.S. Navy) and corporate experiences to build organizations which focus on cross-functional knowledge management, performance improvement, paradigm alignment, and cultural growth.Bob was born and raised in Boston and now lives in Dallas with his family. He’s a die-hard Red Sox fan, a foodie, is on his second U.S. Passport, and is a sub-par (meaning bad) golfer. One of Bob’s favorite quotes is, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Bob Britton

Do You Take Business Speak for Granted? You Should Not as a Trainer.
Do you find yourself using business speak to make yourself sound smarter or more in the know? When you say a phrase such as “out of pocket” or “thought leader” or “tycoon,” do you know where it comes from? Communicating well is a key part of training and learning and development. Understanding the origin of common words and phrases can help you communicate better, sound more in the know, and become a better presenter. Join Bob Wiltfong and Tim Ito, co-authors of The BS Dictionary: Uncovering the Origins and True Meanings of Business Speak, for a lively discussion about communication in virtual and in-person business settings. You will also have a chance to share your experiences and ask questions of Wiltfong (a presenter and Emmy-winning journalist) and Ito (a digital marketing and content leader and former vice president of content at ATD).
 

ATD Book Talk - Bob Wiltfong and Tim Ito on The BS Dictionary: Uncovering the True Meanings of Business Speak

Making mission statements meaningful

Learning to Recognize Discrimination in Business Language

Research shows that coaching is one of the most effective leadership development programs available. With record high turnover rates this past March, managers must develop coaching and mentoring skills if they hope to build trust and retain their employees. When employees understand what is expected of them, the goals they’re trying to meet, and how they contribute to the team’s success, organizations are better positioned to build customer loyalty, boost productivity, and outshine competitors.
In this upcoming webinar, join training manager and expert LMS administrator Bob Rysavy to learn how he built a successful coaching culture in his organization, NewCold, using e-learning courses in OpenSesame’s library. You will walk away knowing how training managers in the L&D space are achieving their goals, personalizing courses, and paving career paths for their employees.
During this webinar, you will learn how to:

Build team trust.
Provide personalized training and feedback.
Measure and close gaps in employee performance.
Help employees develop leadership qualities.
Leverage coaching to drive performance and development. 


5 Ways Coaching Culture Drives High Performance

Research has shown that improving employee engagement in government will drive higher levels of organizational performance, stimulate innovation, reduce unwanted turnover and yield other important workforce and organizational benefits. In this session, Bob will expand on previous sessions he’s presented on engagement, including:
• What employee engagement is and why it matters, particularly in government;
• Assessing the level of employee engagement;
• Improving engagement;
• Developing managerial competencies on engagement;
• Training and educating managers/supervisors on measuring and improving engagement;
• Building an organizational culture of engagement;
• Why engagement efforts fail; and
• How to get started on the journey to improved engagement.
This session will be based in part on Lavigna’s book, Engaging Government Employees:  Motivate and Inspire Your People to Achieve Superior Performance, published by the American Management Association. Governing magazine featured the book as one of the “6 Books Public Employees and Managers Should Read” in 2014.
 

Building a Culture of Employee Engagement

This is not an easy time to be working in the public sector. Heated budget battles and rhetoric about the size, function, scope, and effectiveness of government have generated criticism not just of government but also of the public servants who deliver government services. Across the country, government agencies and their employees are being denigrated and stigmatized. One proven response to maintaining effectiveness in this difficult environment is to improve the level of employee engagement.
Research has clearly and convincingly shown that improving employee engagement will drive higher levels of organizational performance, reduce turnover, and yield other important workforce benefits. This session will focus on empirically proven approaches to improve employee engagement in government agencies, including:

what employee engagement is and why it matters in government
how to assess the level of employee engagement
why measuring engagement is important, how to measure it, and how to act on the results
the key drivers of employee engagement
what public sector organizations have done to improve and sustain high levels of engagement
the role of HR and training in improving employee engagement.

This session will be based on Bob Lavigna's book, Engaging Government Employees: Motivate and Inspire Your People to Achieve Superior Performance.

 

Capitalize on the Power of Employee Engagement in Government

Tim Ito is the co-founder of three ventures: Marketing Nice Guys, a marketing training company, Clarendon Digital, a marketing consultancy, and Find My Marketer, a jobs and community site. Previous to those roles, he served as a vice president at the Association for Talent Development (ATD), overseeing the content and digital marketing division. His career has also included stints at ASCD, America Online, Netscape, and AltaVista in content, marketing and product strategy lead roles. Tim started his career as a journalist—first as a reporter and writer for U.S. News & World Report magazine and then as a senior producer for washingtonpost.com. He is the co-author of The B.S. Dictionary: Uncovering the Origins and True Meanings of Business Speak (April 2020), with Bob Wiltfong. Since 2015, he has also served as an adjunct professor of a popular digital marketing course at Georgetown University.

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