Bob Nelson, Ph.D.

Bob Nelson's Key Accomplishments Include . . .
Known as the "Guru of Thank You" few people have had the influence on the field of management and motivation as Dr. Bob Nelson. He is president of a management training and consulting company that specializes in helping organizations improve their management practices, programs and systems. Bob Nelson is a co-founder of the National Association for Employee Recognition and previously worked closely with Dr. Ken Blanchard (The One Minute Manager) as the principal writer, co-author, chief of staff and vice president of The Ken Blanchard Companies for ten years.

Only a few professional speakers can claim to have sold as many books as Dr. Bob Nelson: some 3 million books on management and motivation, translated into over 25 languages, including 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, The 1001 Rewards & Recognition Fieldbook, 1001 Ways to Energize Employees, 1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work, Managing For Dummies and The Management Bible.

Bob Nelson appears frequently in the national media including recently on CBS' 60 Minutes, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Money magazine, NPR and BusinessWeek. He has also appeared numerous times on CNN, MSNBC, and PBS and has been featured in The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Fortune and INC. magazines and numerous other publications to discuss how to best motivate today's employees.

More About Bob Nelson . . .
Bob Nelson has been speaking for more than 20 years and has spoken thousands of times to over 800 companies (many on a yearly basis). He has also performed hundreds of public seminars with American City Business Journals, Lumacore, Get Motivated Seminars and Wyncom's Lessons in Leadership to live audiences in excess of 80,000 people. Bob Nelson has worked with, or consulted for, almost two-thirds of the companies on the Fortune 500 list.

• Ubuntu: An Inspiring Story About an African Tradition of Teamwork and Collaboration

  – Inspire a Greater Sense of Purpose, Connectedness and Unity Among Your Team Members
  (1-2 hours)

  Multi-million copy best-selling author Dr. Bob Nelson (1001 Ways to Reward Employees) shares his expertise and energy to show managers and organizations how to obtain new levels of focus, excitement and results in any work environment through the principles of Ubuntu as based on the parable he co-authored with Dr. Stephen Lundin (co-author of the mega-million copy best-selling Fish! series). Dr. Nelson delivers a passionate, high-energy multi-media program that intertwines fun & creativity, learning & application, and numerous examples and best practices from business, sports, politics & music in applying this traditional African principle of connectedness and unity to the world of work today. He draws upon his own research and doctoral work as well as experience in working with hundreds of organizations on the topic of employee motivation and high-performing teams to show how any organization or work group can incorporate the principles of Ubuntu. 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 teamwork, motivation and engagement in their workplace. Learning objectives include:

  • The Core Principles & Philosophy of Ubuntu
  • Creating a Shared Vision and Sense of Purpose
  • Ways to Keep a Positive Focus in Challenging Times
  • Inspiring Others to Greatness at Work
  • Creating Greater Rapport from Shared Experiences at Work
  • Harnessing Individual Strengths to Create Stronger Teams

  Ask about our programming options with Drum Cafe—the leaders in energizing organizational spirit!

• Here Come the Millennials! How the Latest Generation will Reshape Work for Us All

   – Understanding and Getting High Performance from the Newest Generation (1-2 hours)

  As recently featured in a CBS 60-Minutes interview with Morley Safer—Dr. Bob Nelson, shares his insights on the latest generation to enter the workforce, the Millennials, and how members of that generation differ in their outlook, values and expectations from previous generations in the workplace today. The Millennial Generation, those individuals born between 1980 and 2000 will soon dominate the world of work in both number and attitude. These 90 million individuals are unique from any previous generation in both their technical abilities, attitudes, outlook and expectations of work and, as such, companies will need to realign their strategic priorities to reshape the work environment 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 they already will be experiencing a shortfall of qualified candidates needed to replace the 70 million retiring Baby Boomers in the decade ahead. Success in adapting to this new breed of worker will allow 2

  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 in the marketplace.

  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 this generation. The subsequent changes will affect all workers -- even those not a part of this generation -- as work rules about how work gets done (eg, telecommuting/ working hours, group processes/collaboration, enhanced efficiencies via technology, world perspectives and social issues, etc) are permanently redefined. In this session, Dr. Nelson will lay out the impact of this 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 & What Makes Them Tick?
  • Key Personal & Cultural Influences
  • Events That Shaped the Millennial Perspective
  • Millennials vs. GenXers: How Do They Differ?
  • Millennial Work Attributes & How to Maximize Each
  • Management Techniques for Motivating & Retaining Millennials
• Five Trends Shaping the Future of Human Resources

   – An Overview of the Leading Labor Trends that will Affect all Organizations in the Upcoming Years (1-2 hours)

  Much has been said about the need for HR to play an integral role in the strategic leadership of their organization with the executive team. This need is no longer an option in any organization. The emerging Human Resources trends will now 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 the emerging workforce trends of:

  1. The Pending Shortage of Skilled Workers
  2. The Rise of the Millennial Generation
  3. The Expansion of Contingent Workers
  4. The Evolving Role of Virtual Employees
  5. The Globalization of the Labor Market

  Dr. Nelson will present current research and data about the above trends and specifically address what HR professionals need to do to help create a sense of urgency in leading their executive team to proactively address these issues before they become problems for the organization and its ability to compete. Attendees will leave with a broader perspective on the leading labor trends impacting human resources and practical strategies for addressing those trends in their workplace.

• The Road to Recovery: HR Strategies for an Engaged Workforce

  – How to Increase Employee Engagement in Challenging Recessionary Times (1-2 hours)

  Most employees today feel overworked and underappreciated and the Great Recession has added to this burden. During times of change when we are asking them to do more with less, they report feeling less valued and more stressed for their efforts than ever before. Based on his recent book, Keeping Up in a Down Economy: What the Best Companies do to Get Results in Tough Times, Bob Nelson, Ph.D., will expand your thinking of how best to leverage the potential of your staff -- even 3 with little time, resources or budget. This session will focus on core researched-based elements found in strong cultures of engagement that inspire employees to new levels of performance and help to create an exciting, positive work environment and competitive people advantage for the organization even in tough, challenging and recessionary times. Based on recent research, six dimensions are presented with examples that any manager/organization can implement to create a more motivating work environment for their employees today:

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

  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 engagement in their workplace.

• Creating a Culture of Recognition

  - Build Recognition into the Strategies and Behaviors of the Organization, Transform Your Workplace into an Employer of Choice (1-3 hours)

  Recognition for performance represents the single most validated principle for driving desired behavior and performance in today's work environments and a key aspect of employee engagement. 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 primary thought leader on this topic and an international best-selling author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees (now in its 57th printing). Dr. Nelson will show you how to create a culture of recognition, regardless of the size or type of business you are in. Compared to the average company, employees in a recognition-focused company are 5 times more likely to feel valued, 7 times more likely to stay, and 11 times more likely to feel completely committed to their jobs and mission of the organization. This presentation will expand your thinking of what recognition really means and what you can do to build it into your culture. 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. Attendees will learn:

  • Recent research about what most motivates today's workers in tight, recessionary times
  • What recognition really means to your employees and how you can do more of those things
  • How to maximize the effectiveness of recognition – even with little time or resources
  • How to get managers on board in supporting and doing more recognition
  • How to harness the power of best practices from other companies as well as your own
  • How to build and sustain progress, keeping your recognition efforts fresh and relevant
  • The seven core elements found in strong cultures of recognition 4
• Taking Initiative: Inspiring Exceptional Performance

   – Tap into the Energy and Ideas of Every Employee, Spark Employee Initiative and Innovation, Make Everyone's Job More Fulfilling (1-3 hours)

  Do you want to inspire exceptional performance? In this presentation, Dr. Nelson will share his research and strategies for getting all employees to take initiative and be more innovative in the workplace today as based on two of his books: Please Don't Just Do What I Tell You to Do—Do What Needs to Be Done! and 1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work. He will show you how to overcome obstacles that employees are likely to encounter when pursuing new ideas and persevere with those ideas they most believe in. He will focus on the small things that can be done to start to make a BIG difference in your workplace as well as strategies employees can use for "keeping commitment to their commitment." Attendees will leave this session with a practical plan and techniques for immediate implementation back on the job. Dr. Nelson shows how organizations today can create a competitive advantage through its employees by tapping into the energy, ideas and creativity of every member of the organization. In this session you'll learn:

  • The Benefits of Increased Initiative to Employees and the Organization
  • The Ultimate Expectation: Getting Employees to Focus on What Needs to Be Done
  • The 4 Ps of Initiative: Positive Accountability, Preparation, Presentation & Persistence
  • Overcoming Obstacles to Taking Initiative at Work
  • I-Power: A Proven System for Harnessing the Power of Employee Suggestions
  • Creating an Action Plan to Make a Difference Back at Work