As a motivational safety speaker who speaks about hazardous and non-hazardous work environments, I always get strange looks when I say the factory floor is usually safer than the marketing department. In fact, and most safety speakers won’t tell you this, we’re usually safer working in warehouses, construction sites, mixing huge batches or wiring an office building than we are in our own basements. Statistics Don’t Lie My motivational...
I know it may sound strange, but whenever I deliver a motivational keynote speech on managing change, I easily recall my youth and the days we spent on the beach. Managing change is a great deal like negotiating the ocean. The tides change, in or out, if you’re not careful strong waves can knock you down, and sometimes the best strategy is to negotiate with the ocean; giving in...
It will surprise no one reading this post that negotiation skills training is needed so that you and the other party can ultimately arrive at an equitable solution. Negotiating Skills is something you’ve probably tried since grade school. Remember when you were trading baseball or Pokémon cards in school? It is possible, you may still be mad at yourself for trading a Pikachu or A-Rod card for two or three...
In speaking and teaching on negotiation skills for association executives, I am all too familiar with the pressures on association meeting planners these days. Whether you are a professional meeting planner, work for a professional planner or your boss has thrown a meeting project in your lap, nothing about learning the negotiation skills for an annual meeting, quarterly meeting or regional training sessions is easy. In fact, it’s become...
Don’t Just Build Your Team, Negotiate It In my view, the best way to go about team building is to understand that building great teams is an ongoing negotiation. Team building should never be a random process but an intentional progression where dissimilar staff members are brought together to achieve a common purpose. Team building can be a dream or a nightmare; the difference is negotiation. Stop with the...
Sheldon and Leonard Are Millionaires, So Why Aren’t They Happy? My greatest field of interest as an inspirational keynote speaker on team building and teamwork often leads to me explaining that putting a great team together is alot more than mugs, hats and T-shirts. Team building isn’t clever posters, inspirational quotes or funny GIFS and memes. I was recently reminded of that team building lesson while watching the...
Mike Hourigan, Inspirational Speaker on Negotiation Skills and Team Building Using Negotiation Skills to Eliminate Silo Thinking When I present keynotes and breakout session talks on negotiation skills to eliminate silo thinking, in the Q&A session I am often asked what the relationship is between negotiation skills and team building. The short answer is “Everything!” Negotiation skills are the ultimate team building exercise because developing negotiation skills eliminates the...
You’re a Professional Manufacturer’s Rep, but Who’s Representing You? My negotiation skills keynote speaking for manufacturers’ reps and manufacturers’ reps workshops are based on real-life experience. I started my career as a manufacturer’s rep, then I successfully managed teams of manufacturers’ reps for a major corporation. As a negotiation skills speaker, my background as a manufacturer’s rep was invaluable and also eye-opening. One serious observation I made is...
How Much is Not Enough? In my work as a negotiation skills speaker for independent contractors and co-workers, whenever I deliver a keynote speech at an industry association, I am typically asked: “Why do we always feel we’re never getting enough for our work?” The question is increasing in frequency as the number of independent workers has skyrocketed. In 2018, The Brookings Institute estimated that there are 15.5 million...
Mike Hourigan, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Speaker As a national keynote speaker and breakout speaker helping people with their negotiation and conflict resolution skills, I am well aware of how words such as “negotiation” and “conflict resolution” are interchanged, even misused. When I present to corporate and association audiences on negotiation skills, I talk of two broad classifications. There is “hard negotiation,” for example, when customers walk into a...
Don’t Hire Just Anyone, Hire Someone Special! As a motivational and keynote speaker on hiring great support and administrative staff for healthcare practices, it’s my rewarding task to guide practice managers to not hire “just anyone,” but to hire someone special. How Can I Be Sure? In leading breakout sessions for practice managers and medical professionals on hiring, the most common question I receive is, “Mike, how can I...
Hiring and Motivating Administrative and Support Personnel in Your Practice As an inspirational keynote speaker for the healthcare industry on hiring and motivating administrative and office support personnel for healthcare practices, I know all too well the challenges you face. Heather Farley, M.D. writing for Delaware Business Times (April 5, 2019) stated that “Healthcare facilities tend to be among the highest-stress work environments of any profession—right up there with...
Healthcare Industry Negotiation Speaker Mike Hourigan How to Interview People When You Hate to Interview As a healthcare industry keynote speaker and breakout speaker who talks on hiring, motivating and retaining non-professional staff members, I frequently get feedback from professionals and office managers on the challenge of interviewing for support staff positions. Most healthcare practices find interviewing prospective support candidates difficult. Culture or a Good Match? The conventional wisdom...
Why is being a safety motivational speaker so important to me? Earlier in my career, long before I was an executive and dressed in suits, I worked in production on the factory floor. I saw first-hand what happened to workers who took safety for granted. I am passionate about being a national safety speaker on safety topics and challenging organizations to reduce workplace injuries. More Aware, but Not Enough...
Too Many Signs, Not Enough Communication We should all know that communication skills are vital to safety. In fact, improving safety communications is a frequent topic in my safety keynote addresses and safety breakout sessions given by a breakout speaker. When there is a breakdown in communicating safety, people die or get injured. While employees understand the importance of safety, they often don’t get the message. At the end...
Change Management Speaker is critical when it comes to safety. As I deliver keynote speeches and lead breakout sessions to organizations on navigating safety change, I know the challenges but ultimately the benefits that change can bring. As opposed to many issues that affect companies, as a former production worker myself, I know what happens if safety regulations are ignored. Disregarding safety directly affects lives. Change management might be...
I often stress the importance of Negotiation Skills in my Safety Motivational keynote addresses. Why? Because emphasizing safety to transportation, manufacturing, food processing or refinery personnel is a continuous negotiation. Organizations understand the need for safety training, but to many employees it is just another boring meeting where they have to force themselves to stay awake. They walk into those meetings complacent, and they leave the same way. Why...
As a Dallas Change Keynote Speaker, one topic I am frequently asked to present is the challenge of the “blended office,” the so-called intergenerational office. It’s a mixed blessing of challenges, but also tremendous upside. The Challenge The intergenerational office is more than saying, “We’ve got young guys and old guys.” In fact, there are five groups in the modern office setting, with each group having varying values, work...
Whenever Las Vegas Keynote Speaker delivers a keynote speech in Las Vegas on Millennials in the workplace, he is often met with head-shaking. “Mike, you claim to like Millennials, what exactly do they want?” As a Las Vegas motivational speaker addressing the challenges and opportunities of blended workplaces, where Boomers, Gen-Xers, Gen Y and Gen Z have to get along, most of the older guys expect me to say,...
Every Aspect of Healthcare is a Negotiation Skill Healthcare Negotiation Skills Speaker Mike Hourigan is a nationally recognized Negotiation Skills Keynote Speaker on healthcare negotiation skills, who often talks to groups of healthcare professionals who don’t normally associate negotiation skills with their profession. Negotiation skills in healthcare are not only important to the practice of medicine but lives may depend on it. When I speak on the topic of negotiation...