Jim Clemmer - CSP, Keynote Speaker, Workshop Leader, Team Developer
Jim is a best-selling author and internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, workshop/retreat leader, and management team developer on leadership, change, customer focus, culture, teams, and personal growth. In addition to his many radio and television interviews, Jim has written hundreds of magazine, journal, newsletter, and newspaper articles and columns on these topics. During the last 25 years he has delivered over two thousand customized keynote presentations, workshops, and retreats, as well as consulted to and coached executive teams in hundreds of major companies, the public sector, universities, family businesses, and healthcare organizations.
Biography
Jim Clemmer is a bestselling author and internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, workshop/retreat leader, and management team developer on leadership, change, customer focus, culture, teams, and personal growth. In addition to his many radio and television interviews, Jim has written hundreds of magazine, journal, newsletter, and newspaper articles and columns on these topics. During the last 25 years he has delivered over two thousand customized keynote presentations, workshops, and retreats, as well as consulted to and coached executive teams in hundreds of major companies, the public sector, universities, family businesses, and healthcare organizations.
Jim has holds the prestigious Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation. This is the highest earned designation in Professional Speaking. Based on rigorous criteria and Client ratings, CSP is awarded by the International Federation for Professional Speakers to less than 3% of the estimated 15,000 speakers in the world. His is also a director on the national board of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers.
Jim writes and speaks from plenty of "hands-on" experience. Applying the improvement and effectiveness principles he teaches, Jim co-founded and led The Achieve Group to become Canada's largest training and consulting company. Both were purchased by Times Mirror and merged with Zenger Miller, Learning International, and Kaset, to form AchieveGlobal. Prior to developing Achieve, Jim established a very successful performance record with an international water treatment company. Starting in sales, he quickly became sales manager, trainer, and the company's youngest general manager.
Jim lives in Kitchener, Ontario with his wife, Heather, and their three children, Christopher, Jennifer, Vanessa, and cute little Riley their cavalier spaniel. He and is listed in half a dozen Canadian, American, and international Who's Who directories.
What people are saying...
"The workshop was tremendous. I sincerely believe your presentation was one of - if not the best - I have been to."
–District Manager, Purolator Canada Ltd.
"The energy and enthusiasm you brought to your presentation was greatly appreciated and helped contribute to a very successful event overall. Most noticeable for the audience was the professional care and attention to detail that you put into the front end planning for the presentation and the customization of your slide program to reflect our business focus and needs. I am confident that the insights and techniques you have shared will help us on our continued journey to zero injuries and performance excellence in safety, productivity and quality. Thank you."
–President and Chief Operating Officer, Syncrude Canada Ltd.
"One hundred percent were satisfied or very satisfied with your opening keynote address. A total of 80% were very satisfied (the highest rating possible). Impressive. You were indeed humorous, passionate, and profound all at the same time. Respondents were also asked what they enjoyed the most (about our conference). Your opening keynote was mentioned several times...incorporating comments from the previous evenings awards ceremony was a nice touch... Again, a heartfelt thank you."
–Director of Policy and Communications, Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association
"It was wonderful to work with Jim Clemmer at our recent conference at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.
Almost three out of every four people who took in Jim's presentation on leadership rated it either Excellent or Very Good. That came as no surprise to me, because Jim came prepared to present to our more than 600 delegates.
I was especially impressed that Jim surveyed some of our delegates prior to his presentation, and used several of their quotes during his keynote address. He even did research on our website and used our conference logo in his presentation.
Thanks for suggesting Jim Clemmer for our event, and I highly recommend him to anyone looking to book a speaker who really cares about his customer!"
–Executive Director, Alberta Home Builders' Association
"You exceeded our expectations! I can't remember so much positive feedback from a group following an outside presentation. I am feeling very good about where we are at versus where we have come from. Thanks so much to The CLEMMER Group for helping us along our 'Road to Excellence'."
–Senior Vice President, Canada, Laidlaw Education Services
"Thanks once again for the workshop, the feedback I received was very positive. It was a short time frame and you left everyone with the feeling that they wanted more (which is of course a great compliment to you)."
–Planning Officer, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
"The most advantageous thing about your Leadership @ the Speed of Change workshop is being able to assist others with how to cope with change. Working in manufacturing obviously means things change quite often; layoffs, downsizing, processes, etc. Guiding people through these changes can be challenging but I find using the right tools and motivational tactics can not only assist people through change but also, if need be, accelerate the change. The different examples and situations we heard and covered at your seminar has helped me assess and prepare for specific situations. I will definitely pass on the info you sent to others in my position."
–Manufacturing Team Leader, Honeywell Limited
"Thank you for the workshop you presented recently at Dofasco. Your style lends itself to allow the participants to have an enjoyable time and at the same time leave with some new and simple ideas and insights. Your story telling struck a cord with me because in the work I do in our organization, the need for this is ability is essential. Drawing on simple analogies or your own experiences in life can often times crystallize the abstract for yourself and others."
–Organization Development Specialist, Dofasco
"Thanks for coming to Durham District School Board and delivering your two-day Leadership @ the Speed of Change workshop. Although I found your sessions intense and challenging to me personally, I was rewarded for being there. You confirmed to me that adapting and growing is the only option, even in the 'twilight' years of my career. Resting on my laurels and my past accomplishments is not an option! Keep up the good work — I envy you having the opportunity to help change peoples' lives — especially those of us in the educational field."
–Principal, Lincoln Avenue Public School
"On behalf of the 1999 Provincial Health Conference & Exhibition Program Committee, I would like to thank you for your participation as a speaker at this year's Conference. Your knowledge and insight into our ever 'evolving' health care system were greatly appreciated by the 1000 Conference delegates. Again, we thank you for sharing your time and expertise, which directly contributed to the overall success of the 1999 Provincial Health Conference & Exhibition.
–Program Committee Chairperson, 1999 Provincial Health Conference & Exhibition
Programs
Jim has spent over two decades helping thousands of managers in hundreds of organizations build high service/quality teams and cultures. As co-founder of The Achieve Group, Jim Clemmer worked with California-based Zenger Miller and Tom Peters to help executive teams implement a cultural change process called Toward Excellence. A key element of this process was entitled "Existing For the Customer".
Change, growth, and leadership have been constant themes in Jim's work since he wrote his first bestseller The VIP Strategy: Leadership Skills for Exceptional Performance. These messages were a key focus of his third book, Pathways to Performance: A Guide to Transforming Yourself, Your Team, and Your Organization. In Growing the Distance: Timeless Principles for Personal, Career, and Family Success Jim helped his audiences deal with personal growth, change and leadership. His new companion book The Leader's Digest: Timeless Principles for Team and Organization Success helps anyone leading others to nurture growth and effectively deal with constant change.
Leadership @ the Speed of Change
This large topic area is the broadest application of Jim's five bestselling books and 25 years of experience training, consulting with, speaking to, and facilitating hundreds of management teams. Most of the management teams Jim works with have programs and processes in place for strategic planning, training, Six Sigma, operational reviews, organization development, customer service, process management, IT programs, special initiative project teams, performance management, restructuring, and the like. Their common problems are leading the changes that are needed to coordinate and effectively implement all these piecemeal efforts.
Developing a Customer-Centered Organization
Research clearly shows that high performing organizations are highly customer-centered. Yet research also shows that customer satisfaction levels have been steadily declining. Most attempts to improve customer service are too narrow and superficial. They fail to focus the organization's culture and core processes on serving customers. That's why 50-70% of these programs consistently fail. Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter likens the typical organization improvement effort to "putting lipstick on a bulldog...not only has the bulldog's appearance not been improved, but now it's really angry."
Building a High Performance Culture
Two decades of research shows that an organization's culture is the key factor in its performance. The accelerating pace of change, new technologies, customer demands, e-commerce, workforce demographics, business model challenges, fierce competition, shareholder expectations, shrinking cycle times, shifting work ethics, and the like, are pulling organizations in many directions. Now, more than ever, organizations need the bonding glue of a strong culture to hold everything and everyone together.
High performing organizations bring together the intangible leadership issues that define their unique character and rally people around a deeper sense of purpose. These powerful feelings are made tangible through the strong implementation of management processes and systems that translate ideals into action.
Timeless Leadership Principles
Leadership is widely recognized as a key factor in personal, team, and organization success. As a result, a huge "leadership industry" has developed featuring a multitude of theories and models, as well as a confusing array of grids, charts, formulas, and buzzwords. Drawing on decades of research, extensive experience coaching and developing thousands of managers, and previous bestselling books, Jim distills today's leadership information overload to its core essentials.
Harnessing the Power of Teams
Highly effective leaders are now showing the performance power of strong teams. Where teams have been effectively organized and led, there have been dramatic improvements in productivity, customer service, quality, process management, innovation, cost effectiveness, job satisfaction, morale and financial performance.
However, research over the last two decades has continually shown that 60-70% of those "change management" efforts are failing. A key contributor to the problem is that so many so-called "teams" aren't. They're too often poorly focused, weakly led groups, committees, task forces, or councils.
Keynote Presentations
Jim starts by thoroughly understanding the audience to be addressed, and the key themes of the meeting, as well as the larger aims of that organization's leaders. He then draws from his huge repertoire of research, examples, illustrations, humor, stories, how to points, leadership models, and implementation frameworks to craft a dynamic and energizing keynote presentation tailored to hit the audience's change leadership hot buttons.
Management Team Retreats
Jim has conducted intensive two-day offsite retreats with over 200 management teams during the last two decades. He is uniquely qualified and equipped to lead highly customized management team retreats that are designed to meet the distinctive needs of each management team. He can draw from a vast toolkit of experience, learning methods, observations, examples, planning processes, research, and team/organization development approaches to help each team meet its objectives.
Management Workshops
These sessions are generally for a mixed audience of supervisors, managers, and executives. The focus is usually on individual learning and personal development. In some cases, small groups or teams may share a roundtable or small group for collective assessments, learning, and application planning. Given the wider diversity of workshop audiences and their range of individual learning objectives, the agenda is more structured. Jim will flex or weight particular parts of the workshop as the majority of learning needs become apparent.
