I’m a huge fan of Amazon and you can often hear me saying ‘Amazon is taking over the world.’  This week they held their annual sale, Amazon Prime, which has quickly established itself as one of the most popular shopping events of the year.  Amazon impresses me for many reasons but I must say I’m really impressed by the fact that the company has really shaken up many industries and there doesn’t seem to be an area or line of business they don’t play in. I recently discovered Prime Read, a private library for Prime members that lets you read for free. I have now added this to the list of Amazon things I use in addition to Amazon Prime, Prime Video and Amazon Music. I’m aware of the impact that Amazon has on things I love like the library and small businesses, and yet I can’t stop myself from using what they offer. I’m also fascinated by the company’s origins. What first started as an online marketplace for books has since expanded to include just about everything even space exploration! In today’s world the competition is fierce. Companies are no longer competing with others in their industries, instead disrupters are often new entrants or businesses that do other things like e-commerce, really well. Amazon is one of the biggest disrupters and there are countless factors that can be attributed to this, but their ability to be adaptable is one that I believe is propelling them to take over the world. Here’s why. They dream big and they move quickly. They have adapted time and time again to meet increasing customer demands and do not restrict themselves from entering new markets and launching new products. They have literally touched almost all industries and are significantly impacting how businesses operate today. A great example of this is Amazon Prime which started as an annual sale for Amazon Prime customers, but has turned into an event that competes with the likes of Black Friday and Boxing Day. It now also includes sales from many of its competitors like Walmart and Canadian Tire. They have truly leveraged AI to support their business growth and operations. They use AI to predict what customers want and how frequently they need it. In fact, I’ve heard that there will be a day where we will no longer need to choose what to buy, but that these sorts of decisions will be made for us. That’s crazy to think! What’s more is they leverage all of this data as a key driver to their strategy and business development. Instead of being good at one thing, they are good at many things and are continuously learning how to do new things. A great example is Blue Origin, Amazon’s aerospace manufacturer. Even in this niche market that includes many unknowns and new ventures, they are committed to achieving their mission to build a road to space so our children can build a future. How will they do this? We’ll have to wait and see. Change is at the heart of what they do and they’re embracing it. They look at strategy from a different lens and don’t limit themselves to taking a defensive approach. Most importantly, they are always looking to lead and aren’t afraid to fail. A recent article from Business Insider even quotes Jeff Bezo’s saying that Amazon has had failures worth billions of dollars. If you read through the whole article, Bezo’s perspective on failure is very clear. You aren’t successful unless you are also failing. This is particularly interesting to me because there are still many organizations and managers that do not look at failure in this way and this must change. “What really matters is, companies that don’t continue to experiment, companies that don’t embrace failure, they eventually get in a desperate position where the only thing they can do is a Hail Mary bet at the very end of their corporate existence,” Bezos told Business Insider’s Henry Blodget in a 2014 interview. 5. Adaptability is part of their DNA. As noted above, culturally they embrace failure from the top. They also encourage risk taking, innovation, flexibility and continuous learning. Finally, they recognize that customers are in the driving seat and have developed a customer centric business model that is woven within everything that they do. With the pace of change occurring like we have never seen before, what can everyone learn from Amazon? That adaptability is the key to long-term success and sustainability. To thrive and be successful for the long-term, businesses must get used to change and need to begin thinking about what they need to do to become adaptable. It’s not going to be easy, but the road to success never is. Author Siri Maldonado Director of Marketing & Communications Toronto Email | LinkedIn #ThoughtLeadership #changemanagement #arti #ecommerce #adaptability

It’s no secret that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is threatening to take over many jobs as it continues to grow. Accounting and finance are no exception. The addition of AI increases the ease and automation of many trivial accounting duties (i.e. journal entries, banking, etc.). AI’s largest contribution is its ability to collect and manipulate data at a large volume and rapid speed. Yes, this may seem like entry level roles in many industries are in jeopardy, however, in the big picture AI has been around for decades and helped with the growth of many businesses. AI is a popular topic today for two reasons, one, access to information has become easier, therefore, its improvements are more noticeable; and two, the advancements have been accelerating recently causing a fear of job loss. I think AI is actually going to help businesses focus on larger and more important projects that help grow the business. At the cost of some lower level job positions the efficiency of the business should increase which will result in company growth. For larger organizations this can be a really good thing. Company growth means better performance and expansion in the long run; in the end, creating more jobs. With my accounting and finance background I like to look at everything with a cost versus benefit mindset, and the benefits of growing your business and providing a better service or product to your consumers certainly outweigh the potential loss of transactional level job roles. A lot has been said about how AI will help grow large organizations through improving overall efficiency and creating a greater product or experience for the end user. This doesn’t mean the impact on smaller companies won’t be as positive. It‘s harder to see this end result for a company that may not have the resources to grow, so it may seem like these smaller company’s will be able to survive with less employees and eliminate many jobs and opportunities for young professionals to grow and enter their field of work. But, in reality, roughly half of small businesses fail, and if AI can improve this, there will be many more accounting professions which can have a great impact on the local economy. But how can AI really make accounting easier? There are several ways AI creates a new standard of efficiency; but the main ones are human error, manipulating and collecting data, and decision making/problem solving. Limiting Human Error In theory, the perfect AI system should remove all human error associated with the tasks performed. However, I believe we are very far from the perfect AI system, we still rely on humans to monitor and adjust these systems when needed. Nonetheless, by having AI perform transactional level tasks this really limits the human error when done by an associate. The simplicity and redundancy of the tasks mean employees with great strengths and talents should not be wasting their valuable time on these tasks, and AI allows them to have an impact in a more valuable area of business. A machine can also remove any bias in the decisions it suggests that a human may have such as availability, and confirmation biases. AI will consistently make rational decisions that humans can use to aid them in their decision-making process. Manipulation of Data As mentioned earlier, AI has the ability to manipulate large amounts of data. This advantage can save an associate hours, weeks, or even months of analysis allowing them to spend their valuable time on tasks that have a greater impact. The increased standard of efficiency comes from this collection and manipulation of data. Machines gather the data with little to no bias or human error, allowing the user to rely on the consistency of the patterns derived from the AI. Adding to how AI enhances the decision-making process. Problem Solving At this point I should start sounding like a broken record, AI collects data and analyses it with little to no errors, resulting in an efficient problem solving and decision-making process. But that’s really all it is. AI is an aid to accounting and finance in coming to conclusions and making decisions. AI gives the user possibilities, but there will always be the human need to make the final decision and consider the extraneous variables the machine cannot. Final Thoughts All in all, by automating accounting tasks such as tax, payroll, and banking employees can put their strengths and critical thinking towards higher level work, resulting in a more efficient use of employee’s time. And even though some lower level job roles may be eliminated, the need for humans to monitor and assess the effectiveness of the AI will always be there. This can create new roles in the IT departments, and create new tasks surrounding monitoring and evaluating the results of the AI and seeking room for improvement. Author Adam Rifai Accounting & Business Analyst / Associate Consultant Toronto Email | LinkedIn #artificialintelligence #foresight

Over the years Change Management has become a standard phrase within organizations. Most leaders recognize that they need it and some are even willing to invest substantially in it. But like all things that become trendy or mainstream, it is time to reassess what Change Management is and how it is serving the needs of organizations and the individuals in those organizations. Essentially, Change Management is dead – yes, you read that right. Change Management is dead, or at least in the traditional sense. There are many methodologies that prescribe the activities you are to initiate or the actions you are to perform. Many of these methodologies are good. Tried and true. But they no longer work, or at least not in the way they were designed to. People have actually changed. The average person at an organization going through change is already equipped in many ways to cope with and navigate change. The current approaches or methodologies tell us change must come from the top down; that without senior or executive leadership the change will fail. Well, that change management is dead – long live the new change management. The methodologies need to keep up. Why have the various methodologies not stayed in pace with the times? Where is the training and learning components in these methods? Can we truly change behaviours if we do not teach people how? Why do so many change management professionals say they don’t do training? Really? Or why do many of these methodologies focus on the sponsors and leaders yet, don’t provide real instruction on how to support these stakeholders by building their communication skills. So, what should change about how we manage, lead, support or architect change? Our demographics have changed. Top down driven change is important, but what is more important is building a change community. 1. Change should be supported from the top but driven and led from the middle. Gallup research says that Millennials are currently the largest segment of employees in the workplace. In fact, many of them are approaching 40 years old! We all know the jokes and the negative comments about millennials, but seriously, we need to pay attention to them. We need to service them better and need to provide enriching and engaging opportunities. These are our future c-suite, our future government leaders, our future policy makers. Millennials are generally social. They like to work collaboratively, and they have really good ideas and problem-solving capabilities. They also like community. So why are we not leveraging these innate capabilities to help support, lead and drive change? Because some antiquated methodology tells us we should be investing all our effort on the executives and senior leaders. I am not suggesting that executives and senior leaders are not important, but they are busy and frankly set in their ways and sometimes, simply don’t have the desire to change. It’s time to evolve change management into something more practical. Let’s give the responsibility for leading change to others within the organization who want to do it. 2. Enough with the paper assessment forms and excel spreadsheets. As a Gen-X, I admit, I like word documents, and pads of paper and pencils… but I also see that the world has changed and is continuing to change at a rapid pace. Why are we still using paper based or word document check-lists to assess the need for change? Why do we use Excel to manage a stakeholder list which needs to be manually updated by collecting a data dump from some antiquated Human Resources database? Why are we still tracking training attendance manually or lord help me, mass-printing materials for classroom training? We live in an exciting time. The opportunity to use and leverage chat bots, machine learning and other digital, automated or AI platforms. Let’s create better tools. Let’s have an open mind and cheque book to invest in these tools. Let’s help people do more work with people instead of manipulating and analyzing data collected in a spreadsheet. Let’s have technology do that part of the heavy lifting. 3. Learning should be instant, on demand and dynamic. There will probably always be a time and a place for person-to-person, or instructor-led classroom training. Some people simply prefer this way of learning. But a vast majority of people are happier to watch a short video that teaches how to complete a task. Let’s encourage more User Generated Content (UGC). Let peer learning take hold and thrive. People are always going to need support when going through change. But just like many things, change management needs to evolve. Let’s invest less in the 50 -page PowerPoint “strategy” documents and more on enabling change leadership at the middle and individual contributor level. There are a number of staggering statistics about why change management initiatives fail, and all the reasons behind that failure. But the common theme for change success is when people are involved from the beginning and are able to identify with others who are going through the change. The average employee cannot identify with an executive. While having the executive state that the change is important may help get the change some attention, it is not what is motivating an individual to move through the stages of change – it is our peers who are the leading factor of why we choose to accept, fight or right out resist a change. 4. Start fresh and let go of your current processes and perceptions. When undergoing any type of change, one of the hardest parts is letting go and starting fresh. This is the mindset you need to have to drive that change! Remember, change is often happening because your current processes aren’t working or aren’t competitive anymore. The pace of change is happening much faster than before so there’s no time to waste. But what do you do if you can’t let go? Sometimes you need to make tough decisions – switching up the leadership, or bringing in others from different industries who have different perspectives. There are also consultants who are experts in this space that can provide you with guidance and resources to shift that mindset. Finally thinking positive can go a long way. 5. It’s not just about the change management. Let’s increase our focus on the people. Many methodologies are structured and include processes to analyze data and risks. This is critical, however they often forget to focus on the people. Successful companies understand the value in engagement and how it can drive profitable growth. This is the same for change. Accountability and engagement are key - we need to begin putting our focus on people first. This includes treating them as adults and being transparent about the changes, ensuring they understand how the change impacts them, but also taking out that chequebook to invest in upskilling them, and helping them understand that only they are accountable for their own change journey. Change cannot happen without the people. We have a lot of experience supporting businesses through IT transformations and have seen the value that AI can bring. We also know that it can only be done with people managing it. Examples like this highlight the important role people play during change. Gone are the days of changing and forcing people to change. As Harbingers, we are proud of our ability to foresee the future which includes the evolution of Change Management to Change Enablement. We’ve developed our very own Foresight™ change methodology which takes a fresh approach to managing change. It’s an exciting time for change and we can’t wait to tell you more! Author Krista Schaber-Chan Managing Partner Toronto Email | LinkedIn #changeenablement #changemanagement #millenials

gam▪i▪fi▪ca▪tion /ˌɡāmifəˈkāSHən/ noun Noun: gamification The use of game elements and game design techniques in non-gaming environments. A tool that organizations can leverage to reach their goals; especially those related to learning and development. Gamifying Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) training has proven to increase user learning, satisfaction, engagement, and performance levels over traditional training methods. This is the case as “gaming” has become ever more present in our society; video games, mobile games, and we even see games being used in corporations. Have you ever been rewarded a token or prize because of recognition at work? Well that’s gamification at work. Providing instant gratification via a reward is an effective way to motivate and engage adult learners. My experience with gamification and its benefits began in a gamified Spin class, where my exercise metrics were projected on the wall, keeping me accountable and motivating me to be the best one in the class. This experience was eye-opening, as it allowed for me to see first-hand how gamification can motivate and provide benefit. The same gaming principles are just as effective in ERP training. For one of our clients, Harbinger offered prizes to the user’s who practiced the most in their functional area, and what we saw was a significant boost in the amount of time logged by users practicing in the system. Many benefits can be derived from adding gamification elements to learning programs in corporate environments. As video games grow in popularity, it’s imperative that we as training designers replicate the same experiences seen in video games, such as autonomy, relatedness, and competence that have come to be expected in people’s tasks. The main benefits of gamification in training are as follows: Increases learner engagement Makes learning fun and interactive Improves retention Provides the learner with real-world application Enhance the overall learning experience for all types of learner You might be wondering, how can gamified learning provide such material benefits over traditional learning methods and platforms? The biggest contributing factor to gamifications benefits stem from intrinsic motivation, and people’s natural desires. This intrinsic motivation is derived through the two major characteristics of gamification; competition and rewards. These two motivators help the learner focus and retain the content, as well as, provide incentive for them to learn the content well. If gamification is so beneficial, why isn’t it applied in more adult learning and corporate training scenarios? The number one reason is cost. The upfront costs in creating a gamified training are high enough to scare many organizations from investing in cutting edge training programs. Although the long-term ROI can be quite attractive, the immediate costs and time for development can render gamified training programs impractical for timelines and budgets. Gamification is regularly used as a problem-solver for struggling training programs, so learning professionals attempt to “fix” them by applying gamification principles. Often, however, applying gamification principles without a structured approach, can lead to even greater problems such as; Learners might lose sight on the learning objective when it becomes too focused on the rewards Mandatory play detracts from the natural intrinsic motivators Poor content is still poor content, even if it’s gamified When gamified learning is not designed around content, but rather for gamification sake, the training can teach the wrong objective (i.e. gamification should not be reward based for empathy training) Overall, I believe gamification brings more positive than negative benefits to adult learning and corporate training programs. By allowing adults to find their intrinsic motivators through gamified training, it enables them to make their own decisions about how, and what they focus their learning on, leading to greater retention and satisfaction with their training. Although there are many considerations and challenges in putting together a gamified training program, I believe the benefits far outweigh the costs and potential downside and suggest gamification should be considered as one of the tactics for any new training program. Author Colin Carmona-Murphy Sr. Financial Analyst / Consultant Toronto Email | LinkedIn #artificialintelligence #changemanagement #communications #transformation

Training and learning are two words that are often used interchangeably. There are similarities, but there are also some significant differences between the two, including how they are used within companies. Let’s start with the differences. 1. Training = a bum in a seat and is short-term and Learning = a journey and is long-term Companies are constantly providing training to their employees and this is typically done for an immediate need like compliance. For example, if you work in the financial sector you will regularly be asked to complete a course on money laundering. This course will include instructional materials, as well as, some sort of activity to test your knowledge. Employees are required to review the course materials and must also pass a test for the company to be compliant. Learning on the other hand is a bigger endeavour. It’s long-term and is often focused on achieving larger goals related to personal or professional development. What’s more is, learning includes training that will contribute to a specific goal which is not necessarily technical. An example here is career progression. Those looking to advance into a leadership position may enrol to learn more about managing people. This type of learning would be ongoing and can potentially encompass several management methodologies. 2. Training is usually mandated and promoted by a company. Learning is often more personal and led by the individual. Training activities are regularly pushed onto employees by the company. This is common especially during change such as technology or business process implementations. In these cases, employees may require training to teach them a new skillset, or to learn how to use a new software program that is being implemented. Whereas learning is commonly pushed by the individual who may have a personal interest or a direct benefit and is willing to invest the time to learn. Learning doesn’t necessarily have to be related to their role, but can also include completing courses or receiving degrees beyond your current responsibilities. Personally, I have an interest in artificial intelligence and I’m fascinated about the technology and the impact it will have to our world. I feed this interest by taking courses like the one recently at MIT Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy, and by attending conferences and reading articles and books on this topic. 3. Training is often created to meet an immediate need and learning is not. The compliance example above is a great example of how training is created to meet an immediate need. The immediate need here is of course compliance, and most financial organizations must have their employees complete money laundering training on a regular basis. The companies must show that they are compliant to meet regulations and to operate. Learning is created or encouraged to support business goals related to culture. In the change management space, we are seeing more companies invest in developing their people to be change resilient and effective change leaders to lead their people through a business transformation. They are doing this through training and upskilling their people, but also by changing mindsets. 4. Training is typically focused on a specific role or activity that will provide an individual with tools and resources for them to do their jobs. Learning will provide an individual with the knowledge and ability perform in their role. A big part of what we do at Harbinger, is training for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software system and other technology implementations. In this instance there will be individuals within finance who may be trained on one specific finance activity like accounts receivables or a large group of employees who are trained on time or expense entry. As a consultant, I’m constantly learning about multiple ERP systems including enhancements and differences between the systems. It’s critical for me to have this knowledge so that I can provide sound advice and counsel to my clients, and also to my team at Harbinger. As expressed, training will continue to be valuable for businesses, but companies need to also think about incorporating more learning for long-term success and growth. Why? For one the pace of change is happening faster than ever and there are very few roles that are focused on one specific task. Roles are becoming much more fluid and flexible, and the way we approach development needs to change to match this. In my opinion, people are the key to business growth. By embedding a winning mindset or creating an innovative culture, companies have a greater chance to succeed. You can’t beat having multiple people who are motivated to think about the bigger picture but are also skilled to execute on how a company will get there. To reach this goal, it will be important for businesses to tap into learning that is meaningful to their people and up-to-date on trends. Again, at Harbinger both Greg and I are strong advocates of learning and we encourage our people to come to us with their own suggestions on learning and training. Most recently one of our employees completed a project management training program which was initiated by him. Training and learning are a passion of mine and I hope you not only enjoyed this blog, but have a greater understanding of what these are. Author Krista Schaber-Chan Managing Partner Toronto Email | LinkedIn

May was conference month for the Harbinger team and I had the pleasure of attending The Change Leadership Conference, ‘Leading the Change in the 4th Industrial Revolution.’ It was incredibly interesting to hear about how quickly the pace of technology is evolving, and what that will mean for businesses and the future of work. All these topics had my head spinning thinking about not only how my role will change, but more so about the world my son will grow up in and type of work he will do when he’s older. I now have more than ten years of experience in communications, and the field has changed so much in that amount of time. Communications in my earlier days was predominantly focused on us crafting the content, and driving the communications activities. While this hasn’t gone away, we have now also become partners to the business and leaders, providing communications guidance and counsel. I’ve also noticed a shift in how the communications function is viewed within the business – we’ve gone from having to fight our way to the table, to being invited and asked to contribute. In fact, you will rarely see a business transformation take place without a lead communications partner or team to support them through this. External communications including public relations (PR) continues to be a key component of developing brand awareness, and we are now seeing greater value in leveraging PR for this purpose. Communications professionals will always be strong spokespeople, but using the business subject matter experts (at all levels of the organization) is something that resonates well with the public and is definitely here to stay. We are also seeing the lines blur even further between marketing and communications, especially within the social media space. Another significant shift in communications has been the increased focus on employee engagement. I truly believe that engaged employees significantly contribute to growth and profitability, and that employees that are not engaged can greatly impact business results. Employee engagement is something I am personally passionate about and I love working with companies to drive this forward. In terms of what’s to come in this field, the conference spoke a lot about artificial intelligence (AI), privacy and the value of emotional intelligence. AI is here and is already touching the communications world in many ways. Let’s talk about voice recognition or speech to text. Alexa and Google Home is everywhere, and as communications professionals we will really need to begin thinking about how this technology can be used to share messages and engage with people. How will we use these new behaviours to communicate more effectively? For example, I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but my son literally tells me to ask Google if we need an answer…it makes me wonder how he will use these devices in the future and whether or not he will consider them to be invasive. There’s obviously a huge the privacy factor of having these devices in your home but that’s for another blog. Finally, with the increase in sophistication of speech to text, how will this impact writing and grammar in the future? Writing is something I adore and as you can expect, and it’s a skill I hope my son will be able to develop as he gets older. Communications professionals also LOVE data. Automation and AI will enable us to have comprehensive data and information to develop content and plan campaigns that will have be more effective and influential. We’re already seeing this with internal communications tools like Poppulo that are able to drill down into specifics to find out what titles, images, subject lines and text prompt employees to read and engage with content. This information is then used to guide us in determining what the communications will look like and how it will be delivered. Things get interesting once we look beyond communications. There were many speakers that resonated with me during the conference, but the session ‘Future of Work’ delivered by Armughan Ahmad, President, Digital at KPMG, struck a cord. Education is important and we are seeing an insurgence of individuals complete their Masters of Business Administration (MBA) or receiving other accreditation’s like the Certified Public Accountant (CPA). In fact, many roles today won’t even consider you if you don’t have these credentials and having them has become as common as an undergraduate degree. What was fascinating is how many companies are now considering fit and emotional intelligence to be of more importance than these credentials. Ahmad had mentioned that the large consulting firms themselves are also changing their approach in what they are looking for. Ahmad also spoke about the gig economy where many have left the organized corporate life for leisure jobs or contract roles where people can work at their own time and be their own boss like Uber. Ride hailing companies and task-oriented service platforms are leading the way, but the gig economy also includes creative occupations like communications. He predicted that by 2026, 50 per cent of workers will be within the gig economy which is just crazy to me! If this is going to change so much in just six years, what is this going to look like in 15 or 20 when my son will be in the work force? What type of roles will there be and what will he be studying in school? Will he even go to post-secondary school? Additionally, how is this going to impact the economy and the way businesses operate today? Businesses are transforming what they do all the time, and you are seeing vertical markets disappear. I mean Amazon has a music streaming service, Prime, is dabbling in space exploration and has taken over e-commerce. There’s also Apple who reinvigorated watches, and will soon be entering the banking space with a new credit card. One important takeaway from the conference was that the pace of change will only quicken, and the types of change businesses are going to experience are only going to continue to grow. This both excites and scares me. As a communications professional I look forward to working with companies as they navigate through these massive changes, but as mom, I’m completely petrified of what the future will look like for my son. I’d love to hear what your thoughts are on the future of work.  If you want to discuss this further, I’d love to hear from you. Author Siri Maldonado Director of Marketing & Communications Toronto Email | LinkedIn

I want to start by thanking the two partners at Harbinger, Greg and Krista, for giving me the opportunity to be apart of the Association for Talent Development (ATD) International Conference & Exposition, in Washington, DC. It was an incredible experience, and I certainly learned more than I expected. The overall atmosphere of the event was bustling, yet well-coordinated and disciplined. About ATD For those of you that don’t know, the ATD conference “is the largest, most comprehensive event for talent development professionals worldwide. It will provide you with the knowledge, strategies, and solutions you need to effectively train and develop talent.” In addition to the hundreds of speakers and sessions, ATD also offered pre-conference courses which a couple of team members and I participated in. Keynote Speakers The conference offered three keynote speakers; Oprah Winfrey, Seth Godin, and Eric Whitacre. I had the opportunity to listen to Oprah and Seth. Both were dynamic in their own way. Oprah did an excellent job storytelling. From her authentic reflections stemming from her 25-year-old show to her learning experiences from opening a school in South Africa, Oprah shared some very insightful advice. She insisted the audience to live out the truest expression of ourselves and to always trust our gut feeling. After speaking with a fellow team member, Colin, he told me that what stood out the most to him from Oprah, was when she talked about always having a specific purpose or intention in your actions. To always ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing and who does it benefit? If you can’t come up with a good enough answer, then is it really worth your time and effort? My favourite part of her speech was when she talked about learning that development starts with the instructors and leaders, rather than the students or trainees. She started her school by finding the most talented and gifted girls in South Africa without much thought in the teachers and administration that were going to lead them. This led to major issues and she learned that a tremendous amount of value needs to be placed on these instructors. As a basketball fan, I always try to relate what I learn in basketball terms. So, I can see how much sense this makes considering how some NBA teams with less talented and experienced players can outperform their expectations because the coaching staff and player development systems are well structured and full of excellent leaders. On the other hand, Seth Godin was excellent in capturing the audience’s attention and keeping us engaged. His theme was “are you ready to level up?” In other words, are you ready to take accountability, responsibility and leadership in your own development? I really admired his focus on ourselves as individuals being the most important factor in our development. Like Oprah, he discussed the differences between a manager and a leader. He emphasized that you need to be a leader and the one who decides how change happens. His main messages were to take responsibility, rather than wait for authority; training happens instantly, whereas development is throughout; and, education is mandatory, but learning is something we choose to do. Pre-Conference The pre-conference course that I enrolled in was to earn my E-Learning Instructional Design Certificate. The two-day course offered excellent insight and depth towards being an Instructional Designer. It was amazing because it was my first taste of the Learning & Development industry. I got to witness some brilliant minds in the course that have been on the design and development side of training for decades. To have the opportunity to share a classroom with so much experience, I believe it will elevate my creativity and passion to improve in Instructional Design. I had a chance to see where this role can take me and hearing the remarkable ways my classmates have applied the ATD model and framework in their workplace showed me a good start on how to get there. The Conference In my opinion the other sessions and speakers were either a hit or miss. I ended up at some that weren’t relevant to me due to misleading titles. But the ones that were good, were actually really entertaining and informative. I had the opportunity, not only to learn about some advanced tips on E-Learning, but also great future outlooks on training, and AI, and technology’s involvement in the industry. Particularly the concept of chatbots and how they can aid employee’s motivation and help them reach their goals by getting them to self-reflect. I found this extremely interesting, considering I had never thought of chatbots as a motivational tool rather than an informational tool. The engagement levels that were tracked were much greater than I would have expected (over 90% engagement). It really got me thinking of how Harbinger could use chatbots, and who knows, maybe we will someday. All in all, the conference was an amazing experience, the weather in DC was fantastic, it finally felt like summer, and I am certainly looking forward to attending next year, if I’m given the opportunity. Author Adam Rifai Accounting & Business Analyst / Associate Consultant Toronto Email | LinkedIn

Colin Carmona-Murphy, Senior Financial Analyst & Associate Consultant recently sat down with Siriphone (Siri) Maldonado, the Director of Marketing and Communications to learn more about her interests and responsibilities. Siri is focused on strengthening the Harbinger brand, and is also our lead communications specialist supporting numerous clients with executive communications and change management communications. What does your role at Harbinger entail? I’m currently working on strengthening Harbinger’s brand with compelling social media campaigns, content development and have also been working closely with the team to develop their own online brand presence. I’ve been homing in on the natural talents and expertise of the team – there’s so much here (not surprising since we are a team comprised of unicorns)! I also really enjoy being creative and thinking outside of the box. Being able to put on my marketing hat has enabled me to flex these creative muscles and I’m loving it. What are the values that drive you? Authenticity, accountability and teamwork. All have contributed to where I am today. Being authentic has allowed others to really get to know who I am and what I stand for. I also learned very early on in my career how important it is to take accountability, learn from your mistakes and to do better next time. Teamwork is also important and nothing beats a great brainstorm session. I’ve much seen success through this and would hate to miss the opportunity to leverage the skillsets, knowledge and expertise from peers. What is your favourite part about change management? As a communications professional, change management is an exciting stream due to the fact that there are so many variables that need to be considered including culture, types of change the business has gone through, personalities of the project team, leaders and executives, type of change etc. when developing the communications strategies. I enjoy the challenge of breaking through these barriers to get the business and its people excited and ready for the change. Significant business transformations also tend to take several years so it’s great to be able to really dig deep and work through the different ebbs and flows for such a long period. You don’t always get to do this with many other types of communications work. What was the best concert you ever attended? I had the opportunity to see Prince and I was absolutelyblown away by his musicality and voice. He was so engaging and talented. He played several instruments and just sang so effortlessly. I almost forgot how many hits he had. What is the most rewarding part about working with different clients and in consulting? I joined Harbinger after working within an internal communications team in a multinational company for a decade and was admittedly a bit nervous to be on the other side. I’m still working on everyone else’s schedule (the joys of being a support function) but the work has continued to be challenging. What’s more is I still get to work with senior leaders which is one of the things I enjoy the most about being a communicator. The most rewarding part about working with clients is when I see the impact of the work I am doing. I enjoy seeing a shift in how the project is perceived, being a part of key milestones and wins, and of course the increase in readership and other metrics like online engagement on Yammer. What problems do you consistently solve for your clients? While Harbinger supports business through all types of change, we are experts in leading companies through ERP implementations. I would say the most important task personally has been to simplify the technical language into simple, concise and easy to understand messages that can be consumed by all audiences. What is your favourite meal? My favourite meal is spicy papaya salad (som tum). It’s usually made with lime, green papaya, thai chilis, sugar and fish sauce. The hotter the better! I enjoy eating this with pork rinds, vermicelli or rice. What impact do think AI will have on the consulting industry and how is Harbinger in a place to facilitate change for our clients? AI is going to have a significant impact on all companies. Agencies like Harbinger will be more important than ever as they will be working in partnership with businesses to determine how this will be leveraged, what it will be for and how it will impact their people. I think for many AI is frightening and is correlated to job loss. While I totally get where these concerns come from, I think it’s also important to highlight how AI will result in the creation of new roles, the ability to increase customer service and efficiencies within the business. I think we also cannot forget that the world is moving in this direction and it’s more harmful than not to investigate how AI can be used to be successful for the long-term. The Harbinger team is always focused on learning and we make sure that we are on top of trends including AI. We are also experienced in managing change for significant business transformation and are also navigating AI ourselves. It’s important that to note that everyone experiences change, even us! What is your biggest professional accomplishment? With my last employer one of my responsibilities included managing external communications including media relations and reputational management. Working in partnership with a public relations agency, we came up with an idea to launch a national media relations campaign focused on road safety. The campaign resulted in coverage across almost all of the top-tier media outlets in the city and recently won an IABC Gold Quill Award, as well as, an ACE Award. I am incredibly proud of this campaign and invite you to check it out here. What is your guilty pleasure? Reality TV is my guilty pleasure. I can’t seem to take my eyes off of what’s unfolding in front of me! My favourites include The Bachelor series, 90 Day Fiancé and Big Brother. If you’re a reality television fan like me, let’s connect! Author Siri Maldonado Director of Marketing & Communications Toronto Email | LinkedIn Colin Carmona-Murphy Sr. Financial Analyst / Consultant Toronto Email | LinkedIn #artificialintelligence #changemanagement #communications #transformation

Harbinger Leader Insights is a new blog series discussing various decision-making subjects that can result in a failure or success of a transformation or change project. Krista Schaber-Chan, Managing Partner, kicks off the new series with a blog that discusses the value in taking the best and brightest ‘unicorn’ employees from valued roles and onto new projects. We’ve said this before, but change is hard for everyone including leaders. Leaders are instrumental in ensuring a change is successful, and the decisions they make in the beginning and throughout the change can be the difference in success or failure. Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to work on several transformation and change projects and one of the key attributes of a great leader is the ability to identify unicorns and leverage their unique skill sets to take the business to the next level. Unicorns are all the rage now and I was inspired reading a LinkedIn article ‘5 signs You’re a “Unicorn” Employee’ by Ryan Holmes, CEO at Hootsuite. For those of you who don’t know, “unicorn” employees are rare and they are individuals known for getting stuff done, being able to look at the big picture, as well as, the smaller details. Most importantly possess stellar personalities that can work with just about anybody. The most natural thing for organizations to do with their unicorn employees is keep them at the status quo where they feel most comfortable. Usually this means that they are performing the same tasks and doing the same role they are in today because well, they’re really good at it. While this works, it’s not sustainable. In fact, this approach almost never works for the long-term and increases the risk of losing unicorns to other projects or organizations. Why is that? It’s because they sparkle when they are enabled to do their best through continuous development and by performing duties that may be outside of their role. This is especially important during the change. The unicorn traits of getting stuff done, having the ability to wear many hats, and being able to connect the dots is exactly what is needed for a company to successfully transform and manage change. Leaders must take this opportunity to shake things up by taking these unicorns into the project and using them as subject matter experts (SMEs). Many of our clients are implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and as you can expect, this is not an easy feat. It requires a significant amount of skill and expertise to get this over the line. In my experience, leaders who are able to not only identify unicorns, but also pull them into roles within a project that require that je ne sais quoi, haven’t been disappointed. An example of this is with a past client where we were getting a construction site ready for go-live and were in the process of delivering training to everyone at that location. One of the site administrators joined us early on to help shape the curriculum and we instantly noticed that she not only possessed the business expertise, but was also able to navigate the system easily and pick up on processes very quickly. Greg and I relayed this to one of the senior leaders and we transitioned her from a site administrator to a super user and change champion. Thanks to her, we were able to leverage her enthusiasm to drive engagement amongst peers. What’s more is we were able to identify and resolve process issues in a timely manner. She was a true unicorn and played an integral role in the success of the project. We literally couldn’t have done it without her. Another great example comes from one of our current clients who is the process of implementing an ERP system to thousands of users.   As you can expect, the journey has had many ebbs and flows and there was a period where there was not any communications support.  One of the consultants came in without any communications experience and filled that gap successfully to get the project to the next phase.  He has excelled in many other areas since and is now a full-time employee within the business.  Once again, the leadership team was able to identify a unicorn, leveraged him as an SME, and has continued to challenge him with an exciting new role. Unicorns are great especially during change and I completely agree with Ryan on the fact that it’s ‘worthwhile for leaders to put in that extra time and effort into chasing unicorns.’ When put in the right circumstances and within the right mix of individuals the results can be enchanting. At Harbinger, we are not only comprised of unicorns, we are great at identifying them. We enjoy working alongside leaders to determine how we can create an environment where unicorn employees can flourish and succeed. If you want to learn more about the unicorns we have at Harbinger, check out our profiles here or find us on LinkedIn. Author Krista Schaber-Chan Managing Partner Toronto Email | LinkedIn

What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you think about adult learning? Who do you think would enjoy learning from video versus in class instruction? Who is more inclined to use newer technologies to learn? In this week’s MythBuster, Krista Schaber-Chan breaks down the misconception of generational differences in learning. It’s funny how quickly people can jump to conclusions, especially when looking at demographics such as age. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say or have read articles that state baby boomers do no like learning online, or that millennials love technology, which isn’t the case at all.  Take a look at Colin for example.  One would assume he would be excited about artificial intelligence, while on the contrary, he’s anything but!  And yet “the idea that millennials are far quicker to welcome new technology than their older colleagues is so familiar by now that it’s become one of those stereotypes that just won’t go away.” Learning has always been a passion of mine. I am an avid reader (I read at least five books a month) and am constantly taking courses to develop and grow. In fact, there was a day where the team was joking about how they all have at least one development book I have given them. When I’m not persuading the team to read, I do think about the intricacies of learning and how these stereotypes affect the way we approach learning. Personally, I have been pigeon-holed into a generational group that is predominantly independent and prefers structured learning environments (e.g. in-class instruction) and small groups.   While I would agree that all of these are valid descriptions of how I enjoy learning, I’m also a fan of online learning and video. Online education is a growing trend and here’s why. It’s accessible, making it possible for more people than ever to learn in a flexible environment. There are also many courses available in varying formats to fit individual preferences like Sarah and Lynda. Finally, more Ivy league or world-renowned schools are offering unique courses attracting global audiences like never before. I’ve taken several online courses and it’s been interesting to see how they are using different approaches to engage students. The one that has stood out to me the most would be the artificial intelligence (AI) course I completed with MIT earlier this year. I decided to take the course because of my strong interest in AI but was pleasantly surprised to find how engaging it was. They had three different levels of human engagement which included: Online chat that you could connect with and ask questions at anytime; A virtual teacher’s assistant (TA) located in Santiago, Chile. He reviewed all our assignments and could easily be contacted through the online portal or via email; and A digital platform like Yammer which was used by the students to collaborate and connect. It was a requirement to spend a specific amount of time on here and to also complete a group exercise where you had to get feedback on your theories from your peers within this platform in order to complete the course. These options were great as they allowed me to learn from others with their own unique experiences and expertise. What’s more is I had a lot of fun doing the course and meeting new people! Unfortunately, I’ve also had the opposite experience with another online course provided by one of North America’s top schools. This particular course did not have the same interactive pieces and most of the communication was completed via email. Unsurprisingly I did not complete the course. Video is another trend and when done right, it is incredibly engaging for all demographics. The key here is not only content but length. It’s important for videos to be used to complement the other learning activities taking place such as in-class instruction and they should not exceed 15 minutes. Ted Talks are a great example of how video learning can be done right. Podcasts are also taking the world by storm and in fact, more than one hundred million Americans listen to them on a monthly basis. The reasons for the strong increase in popularity and using it to learn again relates back to flexibility but also because many people enjoy learning through sound versus screens or reading. As you can see, there are many different channels and mediums to use for learning today making it more important than ever for companies to take note by letting go of the stereotypes related to generational learning and by providing a variety of learning tools so that their people can grow. Not only are most of these tools affordable, but they require minimal management and you can just about find any topic you need. Author Krista Schaber-Chan Managing Partner Toronto Email | LinkedIn

Last week Greg discussed the addiction adults have with their mobile phones in his blog about video training and one of the main drivers contributing to this is social media. The statistics speak for themselves. According to the Canadian Internet Registration Company, 74 per cent of Canadians spend an average of three to four hours online per day with social media being the top activity. Facebook continues to lead the charge with a staggering 80% of Canadians on the platform. LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest round out the top five. With these numbers in mind, it’s of no surprise to find many companies leveraging these habits and social media for change management communications. Change management communications is one of the most critical components of the change management process. Communications is essential in all phases of the change management process including awareness, engagement and reinforcement. To be effective, it’s been important for me to stay attuned with communications trends and to ensure that I am taking advantage of how people absorb their news and information – much of which is done through social media and mobile phones today. While many companies are not using Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for their communications needs, they are using many of the techniques and tools that have made these platforms so strong. A prime example is Yammer or Workplace, Facebook like platforms for enterprises. In my experience, Yammer has proven to be a very effective tool due to: Accessibility.  Employees can access these platforms at anytime and on any device making it easier than ever to share updates. Provides an opportunity for two-way engagement between leaders and employees. Ability for employees to provide real time updates and to post dynamic content like video. Promotes collaboration with intuitive tools where employees can share ideas, update documents in real-time and connect with external vendors and consultants. The metrics! Having this data is crucial in understanding what content is working and what’s not.  This is helpful when developing the communications plan. Leveraging such tools like Yammer and Facebook for change management communications is always a part of my change communications plan. I have found that employees enjoy being on these platforms to get news, not only from leaders, but from colleagues whom they trust very much. What’s more is these tools are very intuitive and operate almost identically to Facebook. Another trend I am seeing and loving is gamification. Gamification works because it taps into one of our key motivators for employees, competition. At Harbinger, we are taking advantage of this motivation tool and the appetite employees have, to have fun and be rewarded through our training and employee contests. Most recently we challenged employees to test their knowledge about a change initiative through an online quiz and we also held a contest on training where they had a chance to win Apple ear pods. Both activities resulted in increased engagement and understanding of the change. In fact hundreds of hours of training were logged! As a communicator, I am also a fan of the shift from communications professionals crafting messages to employee driven content. Social media provides employees and leaders with the ability to build their own brand presence. Having a strong brand presence enables people to strengthen relationships and connect with peers on interests and topics beyond work. I have worked with many leaders who have used social media to connect with employees in ways they have not been able to before – they can now share their feedback and engage in online discussions without being sent a meeting invite, or even being a part of that business or project. It’s also a great way for them to share a bit of their personality and allow employees to get to know who they are beyond their title. Social media is also a great tool to use for recognition which is important, especially during change. Employees and leaders alike can recognize achievements or highlight key milestones in seconds. Better yet, this is shared across the entire network and invitesothers to join in on the recognitions. This is a great tool and an easy way to use to further drive engagement about the change. I’m sure you will agree that there is so much chatter and information out there (I mean how many emails do you receive daily?!), making it more important than ever to ensure that the communications you are developing are impactful and grab attention within seconds. Having this in mind has really pushed me to become more concise, direct and transparent. It’s also encouraged me to test new mediums and be more playful with the tone and messaging. Change is here to stay and if there’s anything I’ve learned since joining Harbinger, it’s that you must make sure you are ready to adapt and work with how employees are used to getting and retaining information through newer methods like social media. It’s certainly exciting times for this industry and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next. Author Siri Maldonado Director of Marketing & Communications Toronto Email | LinkedIn

Video has become the hot item on the training and learning circuit. In fact, over the last few years I haven’t had a client that hasn’t asked for it. This isn’t surprising considering how connected people are to their mobile phones and screens. Canadian adults aged 18 to 35 are said to spend at least two hours a day on their phones, while Americans spend 11 hours each day watching, reading, or interacting with media. These statistics are incredible right? It’s no wonder that learning and training solutions have evolved to match these new habits. Full stop, I do see the value in using video for training. I also remember the pendulum swinging in the early 2000’s to a belief that 100% of classroom-based learning could be converted to CBT (there are three letters that show my age) #epicfail. Twenty years later, I feel similar influences kicking in. Here’s the key. I’m an advocate for emerging technologies and next generation solutions, if they are learner centric in their purpose. That means 100 per cent of anything is destined to perform poorly. We need a blend! So, when you’re thinking about that blend and how to make the most of video, here are a few considerations: What it’s good for Video is very engaging when done right and there are several benefits from training this way including: It provides you with the flexibility to watch it at your own leisure. You’re not tied to a specific time or location—or even device. It provides data which gives trainers important details like specific challenges or areas of concern that should be addressed with additional training. It gives people the opportunity to learn at their own pace. For example, video allows users to pause, rewind or even fast forward. Things to consider Video is a phenomenal learning tool when used right. But it’s important to note that: Content is king—like any other mode of learning. The information and the way you show this must be interactive and engaging or you will lose people’s attention. Length is important. Uptake on video learning is generally higher across all demographics when it is short and concise. Leverage the tools right in your hands. With minimal investment, you can turn your mobile phone or laptop camera into a high quality recording solution (e.g. iOgrapher). Access can be an issue. Even though we live in a virtual world, there are still some that do not have access to a computer, mobile phone or internet. Even for those that do have the equipment, they may not be working in an environment where they are fully technology enabled. Open working spaces are common. Do all your learners have headphones? People get distracted easily and are often skimming or multi-tasking while they are watching videos. Accessibility requirements need to be considered. Ensure you are not introducing barriers for persons with disabilities. It is independent based learning which isn’t always the right fit for everyone. Remember Heraclitus the Greek philosopher? He was quoted as saying “change is the only constant in life.” Produce your video with change in mind. How will the content be maintained? Will you have access to the voice talent you used if future edits are required? So, what is a trainer to do and how do we leverage video for training purposes? In my opinion, it’s critical to provide a flexible training program that leverages engaging video, face-to-face instruction, along with other digital learning vehicles to accommodate different learning preferences. I admit, I will always be a strong proponent of synchronous learning events (i.e. instructor led training). There is nothing else that can provide opportunities for candid discussions, and learning from their peers. There have been many instances where I have learned from participants in the course. It’s such a great way to bring a variety of experiences and perspectives to the table. What’s more, learning this way allows people to address challenges in real-time and provides trainers with valuable insights and data. Body language and tone of voice tell you a lot and you cannot get this information from video training. With that said, video training does have great potential. It has evolved significantly and this approach to training will lead the future—let’s just find the right blend. Author Greg Roth Managing Partner Toronto Email | LinkedIn #Videolearning