Michael Stanleigh, CMC, CSP, CSM

Personal Details

Bio

Michael Stanleigh has a reputation for helping organizations define their strategic direction, manage change, become more innovative, improve the performance of their leadership and successfully execute their projects. He has been fortunate to consult and advise some of the most admired organizations in the world. As a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and CEO of Business Improvement Architects, Michael shares his consulting wisdom and secrets for operational success with organizations to help them succeed.

Michael’s broad experience and expertise in operational effectiveness has helped his clients achieve their goals. Michael increases leadership performance through strategic planning, creates cultures and customized processes that drive innovation, improves key business processes through business process management and re-engineering and manages the impact of these organizational changes.

As a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) Michael loves to share his business secrets for operational success with business audiences around the world. Michael involves audiences in understanding and managing change and business leaders in getting to the root cause of their business problems and generating effective solutions. He has a tremendous way, during corporate events, of engaging leaders and employees in a creative process of idea generation for the front-end of innovation. His content rich presentations are delivered with the same passion, spark, energy and creativity that he gives to his business clients.

As a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) Michael provides consulting, coaching and customized training for Project Management Offices, Project Leaders and Project Teams on managing projects, creating project plans, conducting project audits and undertaking project risk assessments. As a Scrum Master he uses his expertise in Hybrid/Agile processes to create unique approaches to continued project success.

Today, Michael consults, trains, coaches and mentors public and private sector organizations throughout the world. Michael has been featured and published in over 500 different magazines and industry publications around the world. He is a faculty member for the Gardiner Institute at Memorial University, CPA Ontario, Institute of Internal Auditors and Leadership USA™. Michael is a member of the Canadian Association of Management Consultants (CMC Canada), the Scrum Alliance, the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) and the Global Speakers Federation.

Current position (1)

CEO

Business Improvement Architects

Degrees (1)

Bachelor of Administrative Studies

Pacific Western University

1997 to 1999

Presentations

Presentations (7)

The 6 Things You Need to Know to Effectively Manage Change

In our personal lives, we make our own choices. We move, get married, start families, face challenges, change jobs, learn new technologies, develop new skills and so on. Not all of these changes are smooth but most of the time we seek those changes and make them successful.

Yet in organizations we often feel coerced; so we use the only power we have to regain control – resistance. In our organizations we strive to manage changes with our colleagues and our employees but aren’t always successful.

It is true that never in a time, in our own history, have we ever experienced change to the extent that we have had to do today. They force people to think in a new way. Today we have to ask ourselves – what are we going to do to cope with the present and better manage our future?

We can help our departments improve performance, save money, increase employee morale and satisfy customers.

Lead, Engage, Innovate

Be inspired and completed involved as you learn how to lead, guide and direct your organization to be more engaged and how to use creativity to increase employee engagement and generate more innovations. We’ll overview what is innovation and why innovation. You’ll experience how to use creative techniques to re-think and re-focus your experiences and engage your employees to create innovations that will improve your customer’s experiences and improve the effectiveness of your business processes. You’ll leave with many new ideas that can be implemented immediately and the tools, processes and techniques required to continue the innovation journey.

The room will be set-up so that all delegates can work in teams. They’ll identify the issues, concerns and challenges driving the need to be more creative and innovative and then the opportunities that can realized through increased employee engagement and collaboration.

Reduce Project Stress through Project Quality and Audit Reviews

Corporations throughout the world are losing millions in wasted project spending and this waste is being carefully hidden from management and investors. The cost of the problem is staggering. We'll never know about the many projects in crisis in the companies in which you or I may hold shares. The reality is that examples can be found from just about every type of organization. We're left wondering what it would take to get these organizations to realize that a tiny fraction of their losses is all they would have to invest in order to save millions. Unfortunately, many firms seem willing to pay out millions needlessly on bad project management.

In this presentation we'll explore these challenges. You'll gain knowledge about the project quality and audit processes through the many stories I'll share. There is an art to project quality and audit reviews that differs from generally accepted Project Management Office functions.

The Lion’s Den: Engaging Employees in the Front-End of Innovation

If you are looking for an engaging and fun way to spark innovation among employees you will like this idea that I call; “Lion’s Den.” The premise of “Lion’s Den” (loosely based on the Shark’s Tank and Dragon’s Den) is to encourage employees to pitch their innovative new ideas and concepts for the business to the leadership team (the Lion’s Den) with the hope that the leadership will recognize the value of their ideas and implement them. The payback they receive, if they successfully “sell” their innovations, is to continue following an innovation for a successful launch.

It is applied during an employee retreat to spark innovation among all employees, regardless of their role or position within an organization. The premise is that everyone, in all departments: accounting, sales, marketing, manufacturing, engineering, human resources, operations, distribution, and so on; have great ideas. Given the right forum for exposure, these ideas can take shape and receive leadership.

Organizational Change that Sticks

People freely choose to make major life changes every day. We move, get married, start families, face challenges, change jobs, learn new technologies, develop new skills and so on. Not all of these changes are smooth but most of the time we seek those changes and make them successful.

People don’t resist change – they resist being changed

In our personal lives we usually make our own choices. Yet in organizations we often feel coerced; so we use the only power we have to regain control – resistance.

It is true that never in a time, in our own history, have we ever experienced change to the extent that we have had to do today. They force people to think in a new way. Today we have to ask ourselves and our organizations – what are we going to do to cope with the present and better manage our future?

The greatest challenge we have in continuing to build a culture in our organizations where the consistent management of change becomes “just part of what everyone does”.

Creating a Strategic Quality Plan

Despite all the emphasis on the benefits of quality management most organizations don’t always manage quality effectively. Management attend sessions to get acquainted with the latest quality strategies. They hear about Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, Process Management, Quality Awards, and so on. And then they send their front-line staff to training workshops without a plan. Are these the right strategies? Will these strategies improve quality? Do we even know what the quality problem is that we need to fix?

Creating an effective quality management system begins with the Strategic Quality Planning process. It starts with benchmark information that helps you compare your quality efforts against other organizations. This is followed by the creation of a vision for quality and the strategies required to realize this vision. Effective quality processes and tools are created and these are linked to key business performance indicators to measure the impact of your plan.

Creating a Quality and Innovation Centre of Excellence

Economics have changed and evolved over the past decade. Organizations are using quality and innovation to create new approaches and services to retain customers and attract new ones. Innovation springs from the minds of creative individuals working in environments that spawn and encourage innovation. We have to create an environment where quality and innovation will be successful, not just at a grass roots level but organization-wide. This engaging presentation will provide insight about how to encourage, nurture and take action on great ideas and launch innovation. It will help you create a culture where quality becomes just a part of whatever everyone does.

We can influence and even lead our organizations to realize its vision for quality and innovation. Research indicates that although most CEOs understand the critical importance of quality and innovation today and their employees want to contribute to their organization’s quality and innovation mandate.

Past talks (6)

Innovation: From Vision to Reality

American Socity for Quality' World Conference

United States

December 31, 2007

Leading Innovation in Your Organization

HR Summit

Singapore

December 31, 2011

There's More than I in Innovation

Israel Society for Quality International Conference

Israel