Heath Slawner

Trusted Relationships, Remarkable Performance
Trust and Purpose: Why Our Very Survival Depends On It

Today’s workplaces can be full of cynicism and self-interest. With change and disruption as constants, it’s easy to forget that trust-based relationships are the foundation for achievement. Winning together means not wasting energy or effort: the best teams and organizations are the ones in which the people work together to confront the external threats. That way we get more done, with less stress, and actually have fun doing it.

The most successful leaders and organizations, regardless of industry, are able to foster cooperation with a clearly-articulated purpose. The idea is that when we’re clear about who we serve, where we’re going, and how we’re getting there, the natural response is to trust, collaborate and bring bold visions to reality.

Through stories, research and basic science, Heath Slawner explains the three major shifts that will help foster a culture and create conditions for teams to be successful – where everyone can be at their natural best and where more and more people are inspired by the work they do.

As you’ll hear, our very survival depends on it.

How to Think, Act, and Communicate Like the World's Best Trusted Advisors

Heath Slawner explains that when people think, act, and communicate as a Trusted Advisor, they dramatically increase productivity, improve business results, and at the same time reduce stress. Whether working internally as a business partner, or externally with customers, clients and stakeholders, the impact is the same: at the end of the day, they can get more done, with less friction, and more satisfaction. Simply put, high-trust individuals and teams outperform low-trust organizations in every key business metric: profitability, revenue growth, employee engagement, customer service, retention, just to name a few.

Interacting with Influence: Skills, Tactics & Behaviours to Build Trust, Deepen Relationships & Gain Commitment

Our ability to influence wisely and effectively – to get people to listen, to trust, and act on what we say – is arguably the most important skill for reaching our greatest potential. We influence others every day of our lives, whether it is intentional or not; every conversation, every interaction is another opportunity to move people in our direction and inspire action. Though we face these challenging interpersonal situations every single day, rarely do we have the opportunity to sharpen these skills and learn the difference between what works and what doesn’t.

Interacting with Influence is an evidence-based approach for building powerful working relationships and gaining commitment to achieve the best outcomes for all stakeholders. Building on the idea that you cannot influence without trust, Heath challenges the audience to think more strategically about the levers to increase trustworthiness, such as intimacy and selflessness, and to apply the scientifically-proven influence techniques that yield optimal results.

**For programs longer than a keynote: as an experienced workshop designer and facilitator, Heath will work with you to combine a variety of interactive elements and techniques, including simulations, body polls, jolts, reflection pieces, group exercises, experiential activities and personal action planning, in order to equip participants with the tools and tactics that they can immediately use to build powerful trust-based relationships and influence more effectively.

Leading with Influence

Simply put, influence is a core of everything we need to do when interacting with other people, and our ability to influence effectively is arguably the most important skill for reaching our greatest potential as a leader.

Highly informed by the principles of servant leadership, Leading with Influence starts with the core fundamental basis of influence: that you cannot effectively move people in your direction without high levels of trust. This trustworthiness – based on intimacy and a low level of self-orientation – transforms ordinary leaders into “learners” and “multipliers,” seeking to serve their followers and stakeholders, not the other way around, and yielding the kind of engagement, commitment and performance that greatly accelerates prosperity in the workplace.

Incorporating recent neuroscientific research on how individuals perceive and react to “cognitive threats” in the workplace Heath shows how leaders can develop a culture of trust that creates conditions for teams to be successful while enabling them to build and leverage coalitions across the organization.

**For programs longer than a keynote: as an experienced workshop designer and facilitator, Heath will work with you to combine a variety of interactive elements and techniques, including simulations, jolts, reflection pieces, small and large group exercises, experiential activities and personal action planning, in order to equip participants with tools and tactics that they can immediately use to build powerful trust-based relationships and influence more effectively.

Start With Why

Heath Slawner shares a powerfully simply idea called the Golden Circle (discovered by Simon Sinek) and builds upon it with examples and stories that bring it to life. Heath has partnered with Simon Sinek and his team since 2015 and, like Simon, envisions a world in which a majority of people go home at the end of the day fulfilled by the work they do. The Golden Circle plays a vital role in the realization of that world.

This simple idea explains how great leaders inspire through the way they think, act and communicate. It’s not about changing who we are, it’s about understanding who we are.

Highlights from Heath’s talk:

• What you do becomes more powerful when you know Why you do it.
• How to use the Why as a filter, giving you an alternative perspective on your organization and even your career.
• The importance of human connection through trust and authenticity and how it is vital to an organization success.
• Why some organizations are more innovative, more profitable, command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike and are able to repeat their success over and over (and how you can, too).

How to Lead and Stay Ahead in the Infinite Game

So many organizations and individuals are obsessed with winning. But how do you win a game that never really ends? There is no such thing, for example, as “winning” business, life, or marriage.

Games like baseball and chess are finite, with firm rules and clear endpoints. But business is infinite — there’s ultimately no such thing as “winning” because there’s always a new set of challenges to face. Those who thrive in the long run — the ones who build resilient workplace cultures, run circles around their competition, and contribute more to society and the bottom line — are the ones who play by infinite rules. They do the things that enable them to out-manoeuvre, out-innovate, and outlast their rivals.

In partnership with Simon Sinek and his team since 2015, Heath Slawner continues to envision a world in which people are fulfilled by what they do. Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last helped millions see the hidden rules that govern our behaviour. The Infinite Game challenges us to rethink our perspective with a deceptively simple question: How do you stay ahead in a game with no end?

Reimagine Customer Engagement in a Virtual World

The pandemic has turned the world upside down. We’re experiencing 10 to 15 years’ worth of acceleration in the realms of commerce, remote work, and digitalization. No industry is being left untouched. So much of what used to be in person has shifted to the virtual space, and let’s face it, many of these changes are here to stay. No matter your role – sales, customer service, operations, marketing, HR, even finance – we are all being forced to adapt and find new ways to engage with customers, colleagues and external partners.

The struggle is clear. Zoom fatigue from endless meetings and calls; difficulty building relationships and trust through screens; the challenge of new roles and responsibilities; and the hardest part of all – an inability to rely on traditional best practices.

Now’s the time to approach our work with innovative ideas and embrace the enormous opportunity of reimagining customer engagement in a virtual world. In this highly-customized interactive presentation, Heath Slawner unpacks the key strategic shifts and tactical best practices for how you can connect with purpose in our new virtual world. Together, we can create the next normal.

Session Takeaways Include:

• Gain new, valuable, and actionable insights about virtual communications. These tips going beyond basic camera and lighting tips—with more advanced ways to improve the quality of your virtual communications.
• Learn how to adopt a beginner’s mindset, inspiring new motivation and ideas on how to tap into your innate sense of creativity.
• Uncover the three stages of how we can all (more) enjoyably manage through periods of change.