"It's been tremendous for our group and the divisions affected by it." - Shawn Quinlan
Attention General Managers and Wastewater Leaders:
I show you how to create a Treatment Plant Culture that attracts the best industry talent and keeps them loyal to your agency...
…by turning your front line supervisors into culture leaders in 90 Days:
Book a free strategy call and see how my Invite Attract & Cultivate culture coaching system prevents permit violations and saves districts like yours millions.
Operations leaders report a 70% increase in job satisfaction.
Client Testimonial Reel
Interview With Bob
The Impacts of Undertrained Supervisors
Many agencies and districts struggle with the following workforce issues:
Turnover Hurdles
You may be seeing turnover because your newly-promoted front line supervisors take an average of 3-5 years to become decent leaders.During this slow ramp phase, inexperienced leaders may alienate promising front line workers, who often leave if they think things will be smoother at the treatment plant down the road.
High Training Costs
They say in wastewater if you make it through that first 9 months to one year, then you’re probably gonna stay for awhile.But the very beginning period is tricky for almost everyone you hire, and the cost of replacing even trained junior hires is very expensive.
Permit Violations
We all know how costly permit violations can be, and being in violation places extra stress, scrutiny and financial burdens on your plant.If you’re dealing with culture challenges that are keeping your agency in a “high-stress zone”, violations will only amplify your problem and burn morale.
Find out why we can guarantee you 50% better retention in 12-months.
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How we’re different from cookie cutter leadership training.
Our Invite Attract & Cultivate coaching system turns your treatment plant culture into a powerhouse of collaboration. A place where people feel motivated and energized to come to work.The spectrum of non-enhanced cultures (low performing) and enhanced cultures (industry leaders) in the flow chart below shows the amazing potential of collaboration.
In non-enhanced cultures, people feel bad at work, shift work is stifled and turnover is higher than it should be. In enhanced cultures people feel satisfied and loyal, and efficiency multiplies. The Lost Art of Collaboration helps you build a fully enhanced treatment plant culture.
More on how we're different
90% of leadership training fails to make lasting changes
Our training system provides you with lasting results because we customize it to your work culture, we provide ongoing coaching support to your team and we use accountability mechanisms that drive permanent positive shifts.
My training is custom fit to your Treatment Plant culture
Your supervisors forget most leadership training within a week or two because the training doesn’t translate to their daily tasks. Our coaching tailors to your business so they learn practical things they can use out on the floor today.
Your supervisors get coaching that meets them where they are
Our group coaching features in-depth leadership discussions with your supervisors. The coaching space promotes active listening and continuous reflection. We also do 1-on-1 remedial support for any supervisors who need it.
I provide a no cost Culture Bottleneck Analysis
We do a free Culture Bottleneck Analysis to uncover anything that can interfere with training success. Before we begin any training we identify the hidden roadblocks and bottlenecks. It's about peaking under the hood to find insights and diagnose potential challenges.
Root out the hidden fears sabotaging your productivity
Even great cultures have hidden fears and communication problems. Small issues with hidden fears can cause anxiety in your work culture. This then lowers trust and disrupts collaboration for everyone in the culture.Rooting out these fears boosts your performance and builds more trust—leading to better retention.
Collaborative leaders drive productivity & reduce your turnover
Our system uses a model of collaboration that drives productivity, engagement and job satisfaction. It reduces delays, saves wasted hours and lowers turnover. The people running production or executing a task need to know what doing a good job means. We show your supervisors how.
Find out why we can guarantee you 50% better retention in 12-months.
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How We Transform Your Business
How we put your frontline supervisors on the path to becoming industry-class leaders, driving improved workforce outcomes in just 90 days.
STEP 1 - We survey and interview members of your team to understand your culture. With this process we look for hidden potential and roadblocks in the culture. We also look at efficiency and cost-saving opportunities. Once the survey's complete we provide you with an in-depth analysis.Based on this analysis we build your custom 90-day training roadmap. With the training mapped out, we bring your front line supervisors on board.
STEP 2 - We coach your front line supervisors weekly. They get on the job learning opportunities that speed up your workflows. Your supervisors also get step-by-step leadership training in high performance, effective relationships and high-quality communication.Supervisor progress is monitored and reports are delivered every two weeks. We install accountability systems to drive permanent performance shifts.
STEP 3 - We come up with success KPIs based on your goals, and use these to track success. Supervisors are assigned internal mentors who help lock-in what they learn.After 90 days, your employee retention, job satisfaction and engagement begin to improve. Efficiency and innovation trend upward. These effects accumulate over time, for as long as you use the accountability tools.
Process Overview On Exactly What You Get
Diagram of our process. Scroll down to see an overview of our service.
Sample Deliverables
We Provide a Free Culture Bottleneck Survey & Analysis Report
Before we even begin any training we get to know your culture and identify potential hidden bottlenecks.We collaborate with your team to provide this no-friction survey to your workforce and interview key members of your team to peek under the hood, find key insights and diagnose challenges and opportunities for growth.The final report presents a complete blueprint for training.
Customized Coaching & Deliverables to Support Your Desired Success KPIs
My group coaching gives your supervisors opportunities for in-depth leadership discussions and supportive conversations in an environment that promotes active communication and continuous reflection.I provide 1-on-1 remedial support to supervisors who have critical gaps in their leadership skill sets.(Example of custom deliverables on the left.)
(Abridged) Supervisor Training Outcomes
Core Knowledge
1. Enhanced Culture
Your leaders now understand / can describe the advantages and results of an Enhanced Culture.2. What Leaders Shouldn’t Do
Your leaders can describe the negative traits of leaders who fail to improve their relationship with their supervisor and/or the performance of their team.3. Situations When They Should Write Things Down
Your leaders will now be observed writing down information during critical note-taking and fact gathering situations.4. Inclusion, Control and Openness
Your leaders understand and can describe the importance of inclusion, control, and openness.They understand that ICO is responsible for fear reduction, and lead with this in mind.5. Quadrant Thinking
Your leaders can describe the technical and collaborative skills-based quadrant system. They know its purpose and apply it.6. House Rules
Your leaders can describe the reason why House Rules are important. They understand behaviors that disrupt the house rules are destructive. They prevent and mitigate these behaviors.
Supporting Their Boss.
7. Recipe for Success
Your leader will be able to show an up to date version of their Recipe for Success upon request. Your leader develops the recipe and shares it during meetings with their supervisor.8. Basic Rules for Their Supervisor Relationship
Leaders now proactively manage their relationship with their supervisor. They seek out their supervisor with issues beyond their authority. They use the chain of command and take responsibility for poor outcomes.9. Mentoring Relationship
Your leaders now deploy high levels of communication with their direct boss. They meet their boss’s performance expectations and complete tasks as assigned.10. Supporting Their Supervisor
Your leaders align their goals, priorities and problem list with the goals, priorities and problems of their boss(es).
Supporting Their Team
11. Emulate Dignity & Respect
Your leaders consistently and predictably treat their coworkers with dignity and respect. They don’t use negative behaviors inconsistent with this approach.12. Timely Decisions and Problem-solving
Your leaders remove and mitigate directive or institutional roadblocks that inhibit the productivity of their work team. They proactively solve problems using systematic problem-solving and train their people to do so as well.13. Train Train Train
Your leader is developing a personal training program for each direct report. They train each direct report on their weakest skill set first, making them experts.14. Repeating Good Behavior via Recognition
Your leaders are following the recognition process as described, and held accountable if they do not.15. Mission, Values, Directives and Performance Expectations
Your leaders are following the Mission and Values directives training process. They promote that every team member is important. They hold regular meetings with direct reports to appropriately prioritize work.16. Maximizing Productivity
Your leaders follow guidelines when issuing directives to their direct reports. They actively streamline or eliminate tasks to increase productivity.17. Innovation
Your leaders have a running log of innovative ideas collected from their direct reports. The leader’s log should demonstrate all current improvement ideas.18. Helping With Recovery from Low Performance and Errors
Your leaders address low performance issues or errors on the part of any direct report with the final outcome of improving performance to a minimum level of standard performance.19. Protects and Promotes the Culture
Your leaders are observed mitigating inappropriate comments or behaviors in public forums. They actively investigate situations where inappropriate comments or behaviors in public forums may have occurred.20. Implement All Performance Expectations
Your leaders are actively and assertively implementing all action items associated with these performance expectations.
Find out why we can guarantee you 50% better retention in 12-months.
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About Me
I’m a leadership development expert with 40 years of turning managers into “out in front” leaders.My journey began as an operations manager at a wastewater treatment plant in the 80s. The place had just been through a rough labor strike. The culture was in crisis and bad blood was flowing.I tried to help clean things up and was met with a mountain of resistance. My car was keyed in the company parking lot. My tires were slashed too. It was nuts.Then I befriended the general manager and he gave me the mandate to turn things around.In a few short years we went from a permit-violating industry joke to an award-winning leader. We mastered innovation and continuous improvement.Now I’m working with leaders in California Wastewater. I help treatment plants in crisis and turn them around. I help agencies “just getting by” restart their innovation. And I help solid organizations to maximize their potential and attract and keep the best talent.Book a call with me, and we’ll see if I can help you do the same.
Hear From Clients Who've Seen Culture Change & Saved Millions
We ensure the success of our clients with our tight accountability system and our dedication to customer service. Our clients have seen massive results using The Lost Art of Collaboration.
From "Boss" To Leader
"I was just a boss, now I’m a leader. Work’s no longer a 4 letter word here. It’s teamwork, it’s collaboration. It gave them a direction, it’s no longer just a job. We got motivation, we got a sense of urgency."
- Shawn Quinlan
Organizational Turnaround
"Bob implemented this element of leadership throughout all the shifts. It brought organization, it brought order and it brought a team aspect that wasn’t there before."
- David Hall
Culture Assessment
"Bob does this very collaborative assessment of the human asset without a threatening manner. He increases the trust in the environment and he improves that by doing this very sensitive assessment."
- Gerald Fejarang
Better Communication
"Bob was the first one to open channels of communication with them [between departments in conflict]. And all of a sudden production just started taking off."
- Karl Royer
Better Performance
"Bob’s training helped my managers and supervisors to be more realistic, be more understanding. It really helped to increase the performance of those divisions."
- Jeff Carson
$100+ Million Upgrades
"When people are empowered to make decisions, they lean in more and do a better job and invest themselves more which has contributed to a very successful program that Bob managed."
- John Mahoney
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Book A Call
Book a free front line supervisor audit here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you know it will work for my business?We have developed a training system based on the brain science of human behavior. It’s a deep study (I wrote a book on my entire system).Everybody needs psychological safety and security to perform at their best. Example: imagine you’re working on a complex math problem in the middle of a bar fight.Hard to get any work done.Now imagine you’re in a quiet office with nice lighting. See what I mean?Collaboration dials down any chaos in your culture. When chaos is reduced, fear and uncertainty are reduced. So things become predictable.When things are predictable and smooth, everything is 10x easier.How can you guarantee 50% better retention in 12-months.We put front line supervisors on the path to becoming high performing in 90 days. While the retention outcomes take a little longer, you’ll notice a big difference in your people in just weeks.The retention metrics are an estimate of the training impacts after 6-12 months of use. The estimate comes from average turnover we’ve seen at 50+ MGD/day treatment plants.We’ll tell you exactly what we can guarantee you once we speak to you and learn about your situation.How much does this cost?This is going to depend on a number of factors. How many supervisors and managers need training? How many may need 1-on-1 focused training? Or remedial training for critical skill gaps? And similar things unique to you.We can give you different options depending on where you are and what you’re looking for. We may also be able to provide opportunities for free structured coaching sessions, if you qualify.Where did this concept of enhanced cultures come from?I came up with The Lost Art of Collaboration on my own while training leaders in wastewater treatment.I knew I was onto something because the approach didn’t just make better leaders faster. It also created an ownership culture in the wider workforce. What I mean is, people who hadn’t even done the training started to pick it up and use it just from being around it.Over a decade later I came across the work of John Kotter and James Heskett. These two researchers tracked blue-chip companies in several industries over an 11-year period.They measured cultural values, behavioral patterns and shared attitudes. From there they classified the companies as either having enhanced or non-enhanced cultures.The differences they found between the enhanced groups and the non-enhanced groups were striking:
How did you learn to do all of this? What’s your education background?I have done a deep study of leadership training for over 4 decades. The rest I learned in the school of hard knocks, training hundreds of supervisors and hundreds more employees over 40 years. And saving multiple organizations millions.How will your training impact my turnover issue?Turnover is a complex issue. We’ll need to look at the factors unique to your business. 50% of American workers leave their jobs due to dissatisfaction with their boss. So front line supervisor training is a critical aspect of it. We'll make your workers love their bosses. That's what we do.What if it doesn’t work—what then?As long as you implement the system and follow our guidelines for the entire process, you get a full refund if it doesn’t work.
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