PROFILE
With over 20-years experience, Colin James has facilitated and led leadership team off-sites and development programs for the IT, financial services, petrochemical, government and health industries to name but a few. He has facilitated sessions globally, in 34 countries, on 4 continents. The majority of his work has been in the Asia Pacific Japan region, including working in China since 1995.
Facilitation is a complex and sophisticated skill and Colin is internationally recognised for his ability to manage groups through often challenging and difficult processes such as strategic planning, organisational restructures, product launches, conflict management, executive leadership meetings and the like.
He is a master of navigating complexity, conflict and politically tricky situations and facilitating outcomes that have lasting and measurable value. Colin excels at delivering world-class training in both face-to-face and virtual settings. He thrives on building capability and is passionate about strengthening organisations through quality communication skills. As a testament to Colin’s life-long passion for education and training, in 2008 he was awarded Educator Of The Year in Australia by the Professional Speakers Association. This was followed up with the Australian Keynote Speaker Of the Year, 2019.
Having worked closely for many years with some of the world’s leading Exco teams, Colin’s guidance and coaching methods have been imprinted across generations of leaders in corporations such as BP, SAP, ExxonMobil, Stryker, and CBA. Simply put, Colin’s training is always revered and remembered in very high regard long after it ends.
More recently, he has facilitated key events virtually to assist with major organisational transitions. In June 2020 he delivered over 24-hours (total) of facilitation in a virtual setting with Citrix Partner Channels & Ecosystem Global Team, similarly, in May 2020 over 12-hours (total) of virtual facilitation was provided by Colin for the Global Leadership Team for SAP Services.
SPEAKING TOPICS
LIZARD MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES (LMS)
The number one cause of workplace disruption, conflict, disengagement and low productivity is stress and anxiety. The ability to manage stress and handle anxiety is a skill. Now here is the fact that confronts many: the workplace does not cause stress and anxiety. How can we say this? Because, in any workplace, not everyone is stressed or anxious. Different people in the same context respond differently and, to keep it simple, respond either productively or negatively. What’s the difference?
Productive people who manage challenging environments well, who have what looks like natural confidence, who flourish in perceived adversity have well developed Lizard Management Strategies.
This is a deeply powerful idea that Colin James has been developing for 20 years. It leaves everyone who hears this keynote or completes this workshop able to handle stress and anxiety immediately in their lives – professionally and personally. This can be a catalyst for both a cultural shift and for personal effectiveness to skyrocket. LMS is a game changer.
Knowing what the lizard is, and how it can managed, lives long in the minds of everyone hearing this powerful and life changing method. This session can be a keynote, a workshop or a combination.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
- HOW TO ELIMINATE INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP ANXIETY
- HOW TO GAIN NATURAL, EFFORTLESS CONFIDENCE IN ALL CONTEXTS
- HOW TO NEVER SABOTAGE YOURSELF AGAIN
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! MAKING THE 'IMPOSSIBLE' POSSIBLE
“I can’t do that!” “I have never been able to [fill in the blank]”
“I wish I had the talent to [fill in the blank]”
This session is a deeply powerful demonstration of the reality that what holds people back in their lives are limiting beliefs. Colin James shows participants how to draw a fully rendered, artist quality portrait in ONE HOUR. A life long belief such as “I can’t draw to save my life” is turned on its head in ONE HOUR. This is a startling experience that is a life changer for many.
This session gives participants a tangible and real-life experience for challenging and redefining their belief system. The whole session is 90-minutes of extraordinary learning.
The ultimate lesson from this session is this “If a life long limiting belief can be changed in one hour what else do I (and we) need to question that could bring the changes I (and we) want in our lives (and organisations)?” This session can be a keynote, a workshop or a combination.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
- HOW TO RELEASE THE GRIP OF LIMITING BELIEFS
- HOW TO ACCESS YOUR NATURAL INNER TALENTS – EVEN THE ONES YOU THOUGHT YOU NEVER HAD
- WHAT POSSIBILITIES IN YOUR LIFE YOU MAY HAVE NEVER CONSIDERED BEFORE
- HOW BADLY WE HAVE BEEN PROGRAMMED AND HOW TO CHANGE IT.
MANAGING THE CHANGE GAME
“We are going through a lot of change right now” “The restructure is being announced” “We are going to roll out the new strategy and there are a lot of changes”… you have heard these sort of words a thousand times.
Change for many invokes fear, anxiety and the like. Why? How can we make change an easier and less complicated palaver? A session by Colin James in high demand is Managing the Change Game Brilliantly.
You would think that with ALL the change everyone has been experiencing in their lives of late we would simply get better at managing change better. So why aren’t we? Structural and organisational change often fails to understand and appreciate the psychology of change. Most adults hate change. Period.
In this session Colin James unpacks the psychological change cycle and, once understood, lets people and teams manage the whole process far more effectively.
This session can be a keynote, a workshop or a combination and has helped 1,000’s understand the secret to making change easier.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
- HOW TO MAKE CHANGE WITH STYLE AND GRACE
- HOW TO SUPPORT AND MANAGE A TEAM THROUGH A CHANGE PROCESS SUPERBLY
- WHAT HAS STOPPED YOU ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS IN THE PAST AND HOW TO ENSURE THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN AGAIN
FOLLOWERSHIP
Good leaders create good followers and good followers create good leaders. Sounds kind of obvious right? Leadership is theoretically easy. That’s why there are tens of thousands of books on the subject. Of course it’s more complex than reading a book or article.
What constitutes excellent leadership? Does the answer lie in focusing on “Followership”? Followership challenges both leaders in organisations (how to be a better leader) and employees (how to be a better ‘follower’).
Colin James has been studying, exploring and researching the nature of leadership and followership for 3 decades. He draws upon a host of stories, references, humour and his unique graphic presentation ability to hold audiences fully engaged and enthralled. Above all it is practical.
This session can be a keynote, a workshop or a combination.
THE ENGAGEMENT MYTH
Improving employee engagement
Why it’s not easy… but eminently possible
We often hear clients saying:
“My bonus is linked to the engagement score of my teams… so how do I hit the number?”
“For some reason our engagement score dropped… even though we are doing well?”
“We can’t figure it out… they get paid well, it’s interesting work, great environment and we have hardly improved our engagement. Why?”
“I now have people reporting to me. Damn.”
Millions of words have been written and uttered about employee engagement. What’s the secret sauce? What’s the best environment? Is it really the head honcho that makes or breaks? Does the fish rot from the head?
Colin James has been researching and analysing the ‘engagement thing’ his whole career. As a communicator he has to ‘engage’ his audiences and has extrapolated ways of building engagement regardless of how negative, hostile or shut down people might be.
The session is a little confronting, deeply insightful, humorous and eminently practical.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
- HOW TO FACILITATE ENGAGEMENT FROM WHERE PEOPLE ARE – NOT WHERE YOU THINK THEY ARE…
- HOW TO IDENTIFY AND MANAGE THE ENGAGEMENT BLACK HOLES AND SWAMPLAND…
- HOW TO COMMUNICATE IN A WAY THAT ENLIVENS, ENGAGES & MOTIVATES (AND NOT THE ‘RAH DEE RAH’ HYPE)
- INSTANTLY APPLICABLE TECHNIQUES THAT SHIFTS THE ENERGY TOWARDS THE POSITIVE
