Todd Wangsgard
Enterprising, results-driven, and grounded are words that describe Todd Wangsgard. He brings 24 years of leadership and organizational development experience to his clients.
Clients value his ability to create clarity out of the business fog that prevents most companies from enabling greatness and developing the capabilities of their associates.
Todd has excellent professional experience. He was Senior Manager of Training, Talent Management, and Communications for ATK Lake City, a government-owned, company-operated manufacturing center in Independence, Missouri. He organized the training department, developed and implemented all levels of leadership curriculum, and oversaw the operation’s succession planning and teambuilding strategies.
As the Manager of Professional Development for ATK, a $4 billion aerospace and defense company, Todd led the creation of employee and leadership assessment and development initiatives for operations in 23 states.
Todd worked for Intermountain Healthcare, Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah, the intermountain west’s largest physician, clinic and hospital network. He founded IHC University and managed the implementation of curriculum as well as the administrative team of IHCU.
An industry cross section of Todd’s clients represent higher education, health care, insurance, manufacturing, aerospace, and defense.
Todd holds a PhD from Walden University in Leadership and Organizational Change. He has also earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix and a B.A. from Weber State University (Ogden, Utah) in communications.
Todd is affiliated with a number of professional organizations and holds certifications to teach a number of programs. He is a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), a Master Facilitator for Achieve Global, and a Certified Professional Behavior Analyst (DISC).
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FranklinCovey Consultant Blogs | Todd Wangsgard | Franklincovey
Leadership is Culture: Developing your leaders as teachers
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Heirarchy is not leadership. Position is not leadership. Title is not leadership.
Leadership is compelling behavior.
In my 20+ years of leadership development experience, I have not witnessed a method of leader improvement more effective than to equip existing management with the tools to teach and then to personally model the concepts that are expected of their learners. This “leader-as-teacher” way of life has transformed the cultures of many organizations, including such giants as Becton Dickinson (BD).
While leading the professional development function at mid-cap aerospace and defense darling Alliant Techsystems (ATK) during the first half of this decade, I certified over 100 facilitators in one of our key leadership development programs – over half of these newly trained trainers were in management. I have great respect for my fellow Human Resource and Talent Management professionals who are often called upon to be classroom instructors. However I can attest to the fact that leaders who prepare, teach, and then model leadership in the workplace have a profoundly more positive impact on shaping culture.
Why?
Most associates see their leaders every day. People then witness their behavior and can hold leader-teachers accountable for “walking the talk.” Leader-teachers become vested in the material and much more aware of how they can become effective models of the content. They tend to discuss, clarify, and sometimes debate the alignment of course content with the organization’s strategy and execution. And on and on and on…
For most organizations, there is a profound source of competitive advantage right under their noses – their management. Yet most companies can’t afford to send their leaders off to a train-the-trainer on the many topics they may want addressed in the workplace. FranklinCovey has an answer. I’m excited to announce to my readers the newest platform of content delivery, specifically designed for leaders to take 10 to 15 minutes to teach and discuss targeted subjects, all the while relying on the research and award-winning videos that have made FranklinCovey your trusted partner over the years.
FranklinCovey InSights contains online materials that can be presented to a group in the same conference room or to a dispersed team across the country. It prompts the leader to ask specific, thought-provoking questions, provides brief video segments featuring speakers such as Dr. Stephen R. Covey, and allows teams and individuals to document real-time the goals they set in order to improve in that area. The InSights program also gives users the option of receiving a daily, weekly or monthly reminder to help them complete their goals.
Take a minute to watch the preview at the following address: http://www.franklincovey.com/tc/events/insights
Book Summary: “Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times,” Covey, Whitman, England
Have you noticed that during crises, many short-term-minded leaders give in to fear rather than focus? Even the CEOs who divulged their thoughts and feelings in response to both 2008 surveys from The Conference Board allowed the financial turmoil of the times to take their eye off of some very important, long-term success factors, such as leadership development and succession.
In “Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times,” communications maven Dr. Breck England, in partnership with Dr. Stephen R. Covey and FranklinCovey CEO Bob Whitman, outlines in the simplest of terms how organizations must respond today in order to stay at the top of their game. Likening business behavior to the annual Tour de France cycling contest, Mr. England recognizes that we are currently “in the mountain stages” of the race. He points out that, “the Tour is actually a team effort, and losing teams lack the disciplined execution of the winners.”
The book centers on four pressing hazards in the current marketplace and their solutions:
- Failure to execute
- Crisis of trust
- Loss of focus
- Pervasive fear
If you or your organization suffers from any one or more of these conditions, chances are the answer lies in the research and solutions offered in this timely work.
Each chapter is followed by some extremely provocative questions about the reader’s current state. They include:
- What generally makes the difference between the first and second place teams in any competitive situation?
- Why is complete transparency so important to building trust? What is the opposite of transparency?
- In uncertain times, everyone is challenged to do more with less. You say you’re doing more with less – but more of what?
- What are the costs to people and organizations of a “psychological recession?”
As a perennial reader of the Harvard Business Review, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the glowing endorsement offered by Clayton M. Christensen, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard, who said, “This book gave me more insight about how to get the right things done in an organization than any other management book I have ever read.”
My only critique is that the book is quite lean (making for an easy, refreshing read, of course) and leaves the reader wanting – no, needing more details in order to truly follow through on the authors’ advice. However, I understand several more books like this one from FranklinCovey Publishing are on the docket. Plus, there are e-tools and videos for each chapter of this book available online at no charge!
I’ll be embarking on yet another 100-mile bicycle ride next Saturday with a team of friends and family. With this book fresh in mind, you can be sure we’ll be clear about the goal, our need for trust and focus, and the debilitating effects of fear. I predict we’ll finish strong!
Action vs. Inaction
Last week I coined a new phrase. At least, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard it before. It goes like this:
“Perfect inaction is a miserable substitute for imperfect action.”
Too often, for example, we see 4 Disciplines of Execution clients spend way too much time getting ready to get ready. They want their WIGs (wildly important goals), lead measures, scoreboards, and WIG meetings to be perfect, before taking any action at all. However, during those 4 to 8 weeks of preparation, they miss out on the fruit of action – even if that action isn’t perfected yet. Err on the side of action. My good friend and fellow FranklinCovey consultant, Patrick Leddin, puts it this way, “Everything worth doing is worth doing poorly- at least at first.”
In Gilbert & Sullivan’s famous operetta, “The Pirates of Penzance,” art imitates life. The constable and his deputies, tasked with confronting the dubious and dastardly pirates, sing ernestly about their intentions to engage in certain conflict. Over and over again they sing, “We go! Yes, forward on we go. Yes, forward on we go.” All the while, they are marching in circles – NOT going. Finally, the hopeful – and increasingly more concerned – citizen onlookers chime in on the chorus and follow each “Forward on we go,” with their own, “Yes, but you DON”T go!”
Perhaps Nike’s ad slogan says it best. “Just Do It!”