think logo with tagline

TH!NK N.O.W. 
[News to Optimize Workplaces]
 
TH!NK NEWS 

 

Warmest mahalo and aloha for all the comments and support regarding our recent appearances in local media! Check out how we balance our busy schedules in HMSA's Island Scene and take the pain out of your child's homework with some helpful strategies in Island Sun Weekly.

 
 

Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii Honors Cindy

The Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii (BGCH) gave special recognition to Cindy by naming her the Corporate Board Volunteer of the Year.

 

Tim Motts, Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii President and CEO said,"The Time, Talent, and Treasure that Cindy provides our Boys and Girls Club is instrumental in our efforts to support our state's most important resource, our Keiki."

 

Cindy received the honor at the BGCH's Annual Meeting in January at The Pacific Club. She has served on the BGCH board of directors since 2013.

 

 

TH!NK Donates Golf Putting Sets to Island Keiki

We were very excited to share some aloha, as we donated nine golf putting green sets to the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii (BGCH), to support BGCH's youth programs. Valued at nearly $2,000, each portable golf set included a putting green, balls and rubber putters. The keiki are already working to perfect their golfing skills! 


TH!NK FUN FACT
The 9-second rule 

 

If you ask a question in class and no one responds. All you need to do is wait 9 seconds. The 9 seconds will give a person time to gather thoughts and respond or it will become so uncomfortable that a person will speak up. Have fun counting!! 

 

professional-adults.jpg  


Quick Links:


contact us button

Visit our Website button

 

 

Greetings everyone!

 

 

We hope that your year has started off on many exhilarating high notes! Many of you have been implementing your 2014 business plans and working closely with your customers to attain positive first quarter results. We've been extremely busy with our popular Growing Leaders 2.0 Series and are very excited about what our clients are saying about it.

 

Including a variety of engaging discussions, interactive social activities and thought-provoking field assignments, the Growing Leaders 2.0 Series helps participating companies to foster more productive work environments, through building higher trust amongst teams and developing meaningful 1-to-1 working relationships.

 

This is ultimately achieved as leaders understand the core of how they approach, manage and communicate with team members in different work situations. As the methods are identified and analyzed, the Growing Leaders 2.0 Series encourages managers to enhance their unique leadership styles by being more effective listeners, observers and communicators.

 

Mahalo to all of you who have made the Growing Leaders 2.0 Series so successful and we look forward to expanding and refining this program with your continued feedback and support. If you want to learn more about this incredible series, you know where to find us! Here's to a fantastic spring season! 

 

 

Much aloha,

Sarah Kalicki-Nakamura & Cindy Sakai, MAOM

Training Resultants and Momprenuers  

www.think-training.com
www.facebook.com/thinktraining
www.twitter.com/think_training
www.linkedin.com/companies/th-nk-llc

  

TH!NK L!NK 
Sharing Favorite Practices 

 

It was recently announced in Gallup Research's Annual Well-Being Report Gallup Research's Annual Well-Being Report that Hawaii is the 8th happiest state. Sounds good, right? Well, not exactly. For the last five years, Hawaii held the top spot, ranked as the 1st happiest state.
 

Gallup's state rankings come from surveys of more than 176,000 Americans, including some from every state. Survey participants answer questions about six measures of well-being: life evaluation; emotional health; work environment; physical health; healthy behaviors; and basic access to food, shelter, clean water and medical care.

 

What caused us to drop 7 slots in the ranking? I was sure it was traffic and my husband thought cost of living, but it was neither of those. We dropped in ranking because of our work environments, specifically our employees who do not feel they have a trusting relationship with their immediate supervisor. Our employees surveyed said that their work environment has worsened because their manager does not create a partnership relationship or a high trust environment. The good news is this is an easy fix.

  

Those of us in leadership need to start having meaningful 1-to-1 conversations to build employee engagement. Patrick Lencioni states in his book, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, that there are three areas that cause job dissatisfaction: Immeasurement, Irrelevance, and Anonymity. Ultimately this means that people need to feel that they are personally important, know the work they do makes a difference, and that someone sees that they are creating results.

  smiling-business-woman.jpg

Managers can eradicate these three signs of job misery by simply having engagement conversations. The following are questions that managers can ask to help build trust and engagement with their team members.

 

5 Questions to Prevent Anonymity:

  • What kinds of hobbies do you like to do when you are not working?
  • What do you enjoy most about your job?
  • Where do you want to be in three years?
  • If you could have any job in this company, what would it be?
  • How could  we better use your talents to the fullest?

5 Questions to Prevent Irrelevance:

  • How do you think your role impacts others in the organization?
  • Who do you think depends on you in our company?
  • I really like how you do ___________. I want you to know how important that is to ________.
  • Do you think we need to make any changes to processes that impact your job?
  • Tell me about any instances where you do not feel a part of the team. 

5 Questions to Prevent Immeasurement:

  • How do you know you have satisfied our customers?
  • How can I help you achieve your goals?
  • What have you done to improve services or processes at our company?
  • What is your monthly goal? How close are you to reaching it?
  • How do you know you are doing a good job?

 

Whether or not you hold a leadership position, we can improve the dynamics of our workplaces if we all simply start asking the right questions and start having more meaningful conversations with our co-workers. Building more trustful teams and engaged employees can lead us to having better work environments and get us on the path to regaining that coveted title of the 1st happiest state. 

 

TH!NK W!NK 
Partnership for Philanthropic Planning Hawaii 
  

Mahalo to the board of directors of the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning Hawaii for allowing TH!NK to lead their recent strategic planning session to explore and define the association's vision and direction.

The Partnership for Philanthropic Planning Hawaii provides professional education and resources for fundraising professionals to facilitate the transfer of financial gifts to non-profit organizations that ultimately benefit the community.

 

 

"We engage with estate planning attorneys, CPAs and financial planners to form collaborative relationships that have a huge impact on island communities," said Janice Knapp, president of the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning Hawaii. "Thanks to the expertise and strategic, interactive exercises by TH!NK's Sarah Kalicki-Nakamura, the board was able to develop a stronger, bolder purpose statement: 'We create opportunities to change Hawaii and the world through charitable giving.'" 


"We have a much clearer vision for the future, and have already taken Sarah's advice by putting our plan into action to ensure we maintain our positive forward momentum. We feel reinvigorated and excited about upcoming programs we have in store for our members."
Thanks for staying connected! 

sarah cindy signature
Sarah Kalicki-Nakamura:  808.224.6694
Cindy Sakai :  808.936.4992
www.think-training.com
www.facebook.com/thinktraining