Diane Flynn

This session shares highlights from our book  The Upside about the latest research on diversity–how it’s defined and why it matters, along with the impact it has on employee engagement, retention, innovation and bottom-line performance. We present five proven levers that companies can adopt to support women. Our workshop option addresses key questions for understanding the roles each individual can play. An interactive discussion around best practices identifies unique opportunities for building strong, diverse teams, and a supportive culture for women. Copies of book available for all attendees.

Diane’s Inclusive Leadership training addresses the importance of diversity, with the goal of identifying and addressing unconscious bias in hiring and advancement. We help you develop a Diversity Dashboard, capturing key metrics to track, and also conduct a Policy Audit to ensure you’ve considered the many programs, policies, and practices that have been proven to support diverse workplaces. In the half-day Workshop, we share key terminology, ways to be an ally, and a personal unconscious bias audit. The outcome is to understand positive cultural aspects while identifying opportunities to further create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace.

Do you always play it safe? Worry about failing? Cringe when receiving constructive feedback? Would you prefer to take your life and career to the next level, expand your possibilities, increase your comfort taking risks, and elevate your performance at work? Find out how shifting your mindset to one of growth can reap huge rewards, both in work and in life. A growth mindset is the belief that you can constantly learn, grow, and improve. Discover six roadblocks that may be keeping you from having a growth mindset, along with proven strategies to overcome these. By becoming comfortable taking risks, receiving feedback, learning from experience, and reframing “failure,” you’re on your way to a growth mindset and a happier, more fulfilling life.

Have you realized your presence potential? A powerful presence helps one to get noticed, facilitates one’s ability to build trusting relationships and is essential for inspiring others.  Learn about the role intentionality plays in developing your personal presence and using presence to your advantage in specific situations, like meetings with senior leaders or one-on-ones with a goal of improving an employee’s performance. Find out how your actions can either enhance or undermine your personal presence. Learn strategies and tools for countering negative talk and the problems of perfectionism, and develop the trusting relationships necessary for you to motivate, influence, and inspire others.

There is power in language and far too often tentative language patterns compromise how women communicate and are perceived by others. This session highlights the power of “positive language” and offers 15 ways to ‘up one’s language game’ to increase impact and confidence. Words such as “just,” “does this make sense?” and excessive apologizing can diminish one’s effectiveness in the workplace. We share strategies for identifying speech patterns worth changing, along with tips for success.

Do you bristle when you hear the word “networking?” Does networking fall to the bottom of your priority list? Networking is critical for professional success and advancement, yet many don’t enjoy it. This session will cover the importance of networking and give participants strategies to develop a networking style within the office and beyond that is productive and authentic. Participants will develop and practice a 30-second story that can flex and be used with confidence in a variety of social venues.

Design thinking is a methodology used by today’s forward-thinking companies. Its principles can be applied to most challenges one faces.  At its core, design thinking is a problem-solving approach that is solution-focused rather than problem-focused which puts humans at the center of the design process. This session will share the five pillars of Design Thinking and provide participants with an understanding of how to apply design thinking to most any workplace problem they face.

With all the information surrounding us today, focusing on what’s important can be a continual workplace challenge. We will provide insights to save time and maximize impact, along with tips for managing email, using time blocking to get “deep work” done, and dealing with “infobesity.”  The session explores habits for goal-setting and ‘best practice’ strategies for prioritizing work, so employees can focus on the important and not just the urgent. We discuss KPI’s, OKR’s, and 90-day plans as goal-setting strategies to consider.

Having a strong presence on LinkedIn is a ‘must have’, not a ‘nice to have’ in today’s working world. Being a part of the largest professional social network is vital regardless of one’s career stage. This session offers expert guidance on how to develop a LinkedIn profile and engagement strategy to present one’s best self to meet individual career goals, whether it’s client relations, speaking engagements, or professional advancement.

Diane coaches individuals one-on-one or in groups to help them reach their maximum potential, enhance their impact as leaders and role models, find joy and fulfillment in their work, and get the right work done. With a focus on leadership, executive presence, and results, we help high-potential employees gain self-awareness and unlock their potential.