"We’ve been doing the 28-Day Professional Paradise Challenge at our HR Central Leadership meetings. Every week, we take 15-20 minutes to think and talk about courage, connection, mindset, presence, respect or renewal. It’s our time to take a break from our to do lists and our business agenda items and focus on ourselves. We learn about each other in the process and it helps us to be a better team. The JH HR Team is still talking about your keynote at the 2014 JH HR Conference. I’ll often hear folks talking about turning POWs to WOWs. That concept really resonated with the team. And every once in a while, I see dancing at work."
-Pamela Paulk, Senior Vice President, Human Resources Johns Hopkins Health System and Johns Hopkins Medicine

"We invited Vicki Hess to present a full day workshop for our nursing leaders and were totally pleased with the results. Vicki did extensive work before she came, including reviewing our internal data, conducting phone interviews, sending out a survey, coming in early to meet with a core group of nursing executives, and going on a hospital tour. As a result, the content was tailored to our audience, our challenges and our culture. The feedback from the nurse leaders has been great with several of them sharing that “this was the best presentation we’ve ever had.” We are using the follow up tools and expect to see positive results moving forward. We will look for ways to utilize Vicki’s services again in the future."
-Deborah Wesley, MSN, RN – Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer – Children’s of Alabama

"The Ohio Organization of Nurse Executives (OONE) asked Vicki to present a workshop at our Fall Conference and the feedback was fantastic! Vicki and her team are very well organized. She got our insights and desired outcomes in advance. Prior to the conference, our members completed a survey for Vicki, so she could gain insight into what we as nurse leaders are facing, which hasn’t been done in the past. The session was excellent! I had many people pull me aside in the halls to comment on what a great speaker she is. We’ve started getting the follow up emails from her tool box already and they are helpful as well. We will definitely reach out to her to present again to in the future."
-Kathy Fisher, RN, BSN Ohio Organization of Nurse Executives (OONE) Planning Committee Member, Van Wert Hospital

"Vicki Hess & her team were the most on-top-of-it team that I’ve worked with in a long time. From beginning to end, the experience was seamless. When Vicki presented the Professional Paradise keynote at our users conference, it was rated as “the best session” by many. Audience members loved how Vicki combined humor with real-life take-away tools and was very engaging with the audience. 93% of participants who used our mobile app for feedback rated her presentation as “Awesome” with the other 7% rating her as “Good.” We look forward to working with Vicki again in the future and highly recommend her as a presenter."
<-b>-Andrea Chadis Marketing Specialist, Events and Client Programs HealthcareSource

"Vicki Hess delivered a full day workshop on employee engagement at the IONE 2014 Fall Conference. Our members loved her high energy and the many take home tools she shared. When we asked our 200+ participants to rate Vicki’s knowledge, clarity & delivery, 100% of responses were “excellent” or “very good.” Here are a few of the comments from the evaluations in response to the question “What were the most effective portions of the program?” “Presentation was very relevant information, tools we can put to work;” “Relationship of what she talked about to reality;””Fun approach to serious issues, feel like you took something away that you could use.” Our chapter highly recommends Vicki as a resource for working with healthcare leaders who want to improve employee engagement."
-Jeffrey Lawrence- Program Chair Indiana Organization of Nurse Executives, Director of Surgical Services, Women & Children Services, Floyd Memorial Hospital

"Vicki Hess was a great choice for our Med Surg Directors dinner keynote. She took the time to contact our Advisory Board members before the talk to customize it for our audience and that came through in her presentation. It went great! Vicki focused specifically on our directors and they left with tangible ideas for being more engaged themselves. We were also pleased with the customized copies of Vicki’s book, SHIFT to Professional Paradise. Having our logo on the cover and the “Foreword” by our System Chief Nursing Officer made the book even more meaningful to the directors. We look forward to working with Vicki again."
-Sammie S Mosier RN, BSN, MA, NE-BC, CMSRN, BC; AVP, Nursing Practice Clinical Services Group – HCA Management Services

Vicki Hess worked with our physician practice administrative and provider leaders at a recent Engagement Summit. She and her team were extremely organized and thorough in getting to know us. We can now better coach other vendors on preparation for working with us. Vicki delivered a dynamic presentation that was high energy and engaged our leaders. We appreciated having the ability to customize the copies of her book which we provided for everyone. Having our logo on the cover and the special Foreword on the inside make it more relevant. The best news is that the conversations about associate engagement have continued after the conference and her books can be seen on desks throughout the office. We are talking with Vicki about additional support she can offer and we look forward to working with her again in the future.
Dianne Wassall - Manager, Talent Development - Centura Health

We had our bi-annual leadership event at TGH yesterday and we had a fabulous speaker. Vicki Hess has written several books about Employee Engagement (6 Shortcuts to Employee Engagement was one). My favorite part of her presentation was that she started out by saying “Your employees do NOT CARE about employee engagement” and ended by having folks really work through and challenge some of their negative beliefs that keep us from getting better. She was fun, engaging, and high energy (she was on stage right after lunch!). She would be a great speaker for physicians, as well.
Kari Saddler - Tampa General Hospital

We engaged Vicki Hess to work with our leaders and staff to boost employee engagement. We were very pleased with her work. She is down to earth and relatable to all. Her tools were helpful and her stories were a wonderful way to reinforce the main points. She is a true professional. Following the sessions, the buzz has been fantastic. People are still talking about what they learned and how to implement it. We are planning to hold a study group using the concepts from her book about engagement. We found working with Vicki to be a great value for our money and highly recommend her services. Also, during the silence following a particularly rousing comment, a large lizard attached Vicki. Vicki deftly dispatched the angry reptile with a throat punch. The lizard (we found out later that his name was Frank) stayed for the rest of the session and vowed to employ all six strategies. He also promised to never again attack a motivational speaker.
Dustin Ho-Gland, Manager - Nursing Professional Practice and Development - Northwest Texas Healthcare System

Vicki Hess spoke at our Nashville HR Workshop and we were blown away by how well our attendee’s perceived her presentation. Vicki received all “very satisfied” reviews which we haven’t experienced at a Workshop in a long time. Because of this we knew we had to sign a multiple Workshop deal with Vicki where she agreed to come to several other events throughout the country for US.
Jody Piper - Event Logistics Coordinator - Ultimate Software

Vicki Hess offers teams and organizations successful tools, tips and ideas to improve and sustain engagement levels. In her engaging and relatable presentation, she delivers real-world solutions to both leadership and staff.

Leadership

Engagement, Every Step of the Way: Successfully Leading Change in a “Do More With Less” World

Imagine a workforce full of empowered employees and motivated managers who deliver outstanding service to internal and external customers and provide exceptional quality and safety. Does that sound too good to be true? Hess says audiences looking for evidence-based strategies for moving a team or organization toward full engagement will benefit from this program. At the end, audiences will be able to:

· Role model a state of high engagement with several specific ideas for re-energizing themselves.

· Spread the engagement message to their team with exercises to take back to staff.

· Create a lasting culture of engagement with an exercise that builds a broader view of organization-wide beliefs and mindsets.

Why Your Employee Engagement Scores Aren’t Improving and What You Can Do About It

A healthcare leader’s goal is to lead an organization that delivers the highest quality, safest outcomes and greatest patient- and family-centered care. Hess says the reality is that it can’t be done without highly engaged leaders and staff. During this interactive, thought-provoking program, Hess shares proven ideas for overcoming obstacles to engagement. At the end of the program, leaders attendees will be able to:

· Identify unproductive beliefs and mindsets about engagement which are holding the organization back.

· Create shared responsibility for engagement across all levels of staff.

· Outline strategies to weave engagement into the culture of the organization.

Employee Engagement for the New Care Model: Straight Talk for Uncertain Times

As a leader, you know the benefits and see the downside when engagement falls short. Unfortunately, many employees feel like employee engagement is management code for trying to get more work out of them. Hess says to add to that the issue that healthcare leaders are being asked to do more with less and can’t succeed without fully engaged employees. It’s showing up in lower employee engagement, patient satisfaction scores and other quality measurements. Hess shares what leaders can do to create shared ownership and commitment around engagement, and at the end of the session, leaders will be able to:

· Demystify employee engagement and talk about it in terms that everyone relates to.

· Describe the three critical components necessary for engagement to succeed.

· Understand the key drivers for engagement in healthcare and how to positively influence them.

· Share proven strategies to weave the engagement “thread” throughout current projects.

Staff

Thriving in a “Do More With Less” World: 5 Steps to Less Stress, More Energy & Remarkable Results at Work

Hess’s focus in this talk is the challenge of having to do “more with less.” She recognizes this is the way of the world, but to help leaders survive, she provides five steps to help organizations manage change and gracefully do more with less. In this program, Vicki shares stories, anecdotes and proven ideas for being resilient at work—especially in the face of change. At the end of the program, front-line employees will be able to:

· Role model a state of high engagement – with several specific ideas for re-energizing themselves.

· Identify beliefs and minds that are holding them back from full engagement.

· Demonstrate a proven 5-step process for transforming workplace challenges into positive outcomes.

Professional Paradise Road Trip: 4 Steps to Go From Jammed Up to Joy Riding

Using stories, humor and easy-to-remember techniques, Hess provides attendees with direction for taking a road trip to engagement (AKA: professional paradise). She works with the audience on strategies to connect them with other navigators and recalculate the route when things go off track. At the end of the program, frontline employees will be able to:

· Execute helpful techniques to develop and sustain strategies for managing change.

· Implement ideas for creating positive relationships throughout your organization to smoothly reach your destination.

· Utilize best practices for helping to enjoy the trip and the destination.

HR Professionals

Why Your Employee Engagement Scores Aren’t Improving and What You Can Do About It

An HR professional’s goal is to help shape an organization that delivers high quality, efficient and customer-centered service. The reality is that can’t be done without highly engaged leaders and staff. Hess says that while many organizations try to improve engagement; few are successful. During this interactive, thought-provoking program, Vicki shares proven ideas for overcoming these employee engagement obstacles. She helps audiences look at engagement in a counterintuitive way to create powerful new opportunities for making long-term change. At the end of the program, the attendees will be able to

· Identify unproductive beliefs and mindsets about engagement which are holding the organization back.

· Create shared responsibility for engagement across all levels of staff.

· Outline strategies to weave engagement into the culture of the organization.

Slather on the “Secret Sauce”: Real-World HR Strategies for Creating a Culture of Employee Engagement

In many organizations, HR is charged with positively impacting employee engagement without the strategic focus to back up the efforts. Hess says regardless whether someone is an HR leader, business partner, compensation and benefits expert, generalist, learning and development professional, recruiter or something else, everyone can play a role in building a culture of engagement. During this interactive, informative and inspiring program, Hess provides real-world strategies for creating a culture of employee engagement from the HR suite. Sharing proven ideas from her books, Hess reveals high impact, easy to implement strategies for impacting engagement at every level.

Engagement, Every Step of the Way: Successfully Leading Change in a Do-More-with-Less World

Imagine a workforce full of empowered employees and motivated managers who deliver outstanding service to internal and external customers and provide exceptional quality and safety. Does that sound too good to be true? Hess says audiences looking for evidence-based strategies for moving a team or organization toward full engagement will benefit from this program. At the end, audiences will be able to:

· Role model a state of high engagement with several specific ideas for re-energizing themselves.

· Spread the engagement message to their team with exercises to take back to staff.

· Create a lasting culture of engagement with an exercise that builds a broader view of organization-wide beliefs and mindsets.