Paul Krismer

Record-breaking volumes of resignations are happening in every industry. More than 40% of the workforce is actively contemplating leaving their employment within the next 12 months! The crisis in recruiting and retaining talented employees is only going to get worse — far worse — unless your business becomes the exception.

Every business has assets, including buildings, equipment, product inventory, and historic customer relationships. Companies also have a workplace culture that either contributes positively or is a substantial barrier to productivity and profitability. Generally, companies pay little attention to the quality of culture, YET it is either an asset or a liability to the business’ success.

Employers must recognize that a new class of workers has emerged from the pandemic, with a drastic shift in the workplace-worker dynamic. Therefore, it is critical to invest in psychological capital to enrich the employee experience.

Workplace culture can be positively expanded to be one of your most significant assets. Using tools of positive psychology, and founded in excellent research, this talk draws upon years of practical application. As a result, your company can be a leader, where talented applicants line up to get a chance to work for you, your own employees are your greatest champions, and everyone gives their hearts and minds to the work, not just selling their labor.

Learn to ride the wave of the Great Resignation, without wiping out!

Content highlights 

• What is psychological capital?
• Tackling culture one climate at a time
• Adversity as a strengthening benefit
• The five paths to building culture: meeting psychological needs

Many leaders come to their roles as a function of their expertise in a specific subject matter, but leadership requires more than job-specific skills. Leadership is a way of being. This talk de-emphasizes what we individually know and instead asks us who we are.

Traditional employee engagement programs often buy the loyalty of employees’ bodies (workers show up) but do not win their hearts and minds. In this talk, learn direct interventions that change the way
employees FEEL about their work and their workmates. Leverage positive psychology to bring creativity, productivity, and joy into your workplace!

Management members who influence the behavior of staff can learn a mindset that shifts them from overseers of business processes to genuine leaders—seeing the big picture, articulating the direction, and embracing their team in a collaborative and committed mission.

Transformative organizational change occurs when bosses are coaches who lead with emotional intelligence and profound personal integrity.

Content highlights

• Role modeling is a reality even when leaders are unaware
• Contrasting true leadership from tasks found in a management job description
• Engaging Hollywood video content that drives points home and inspires discussion
• Emotional Intelligence as a tool to fuel worker commitment

The speed and pace of the emerging economy is breathtaking. Yet, for most of us, most of the time, it goes unnoticed. Constant technological change, new markets, changing strategic relationships, and increasingly complex stakeholder management is the new normal.

Old leadership styles are inadequate. We know that traditional “command and control” is antiquated and ineffective. But what takes its place? How do we capably meet the challenge of the new economy and bring our teams alongside us in an energized, committed way?

This uplifting, funny presentation gets right at the heart of these issues while insightfully demonstrating that the path forward is practical and consists of learnable skills.  Paul shows how new leadership requires more access to whole-brained management: emotional intelligence, very high standards, and consistently drawing the best out of employee’s own intrinsic motivations.

Observing the real opportunities of 21st century industrial innovation, this conversation is about personal and corporate momentum. Organizations that anticipate the skillsets of the new economy can also navigate the path to massive success.

Content highlights 

• Emerging, most sought-after skills are associated with right-brain characteristics
• Combatting the social conditioning that limits leaders
• The World Economic Forum’s analysis of future leadership qualities

Why the heck is everyone talking about mindfulness these days? Mindfulness is the most researched of all positive psychology interventions. And the evidence is overwhelming clear: mindfulness is as foundational to good mental health as nutrition and exercise are to physical health.

This presentation takes the mystery out of mindfulness and calls on participants to take their mental and emotional well-being seriously. Participants learn how the mind physically changes as a result of regular mindfulness practice. Theory is grounded in practical application during the workshop.

With a foundation in science, taught with energy and humor, and served as a practical invitation, this workshop reveals what all the excitement is about. With over 25 years of personal experience in mindfulness practices, your facilitator has a rich understanding of how impactful this training can be.

Benefits of mindfulness

• Improved emotional regulation
• Increased resilience to stress
• Faster mental processing
• Improved interpersonal relationships
• Greater focus
• More cognitive flexibility
• Boosted immune system
• Reduced heart rate and lower blood pressure

Your company probably has a solid, well-established written safety program. Your people know what they’re supposed to do. But are they doing it?

Breakdowns in safety often occur because of sometimes hidden emphasis on productivity over safety, and employee indifference to safe job procedures. These persistent problems can be resolved! It requires simple, consistent actions as part of a long-term commitment to positive safety cultures. 

In this inspirational introduction to the science of positive psychology, learn about the research results that prove happiness leads to greater safety success. Come away with applicable skills that will fuel your personal engagement and create positive contagion amongst the people you influence.  

The field of positive psychology research has massively expanded our understanding of human potential. We now know that happiness is key to successful outcomes in all aspects of life. And anyone can increase their level of happiness by implementing skills uncovered by scientific research. In addition,
organizations that commit to positive culture change can reap the proven benefit of reduced injury rates and less disability, both of which contribute to a better bottom line.

If your company knows “what to do” but too often finds staff and management fail to do it, you will come away with new insights about how to powerfully engage employees and create impactful, effective corporate culture.  

Participants will learn 21st Century Leadership qualities:  

• How to win hearts and minds
• Alignment of vision and action 
• Leading by example 
• Drive attention to what matters 
• Practical tools to put into action right away

Safety really can be “Job One!”

Many senior leaders, front-line supervisors, safety officers and union representatives come to their roles because they are experts in their subject matter, but safety leadership requires much more than job-specific skills. This talk de-emphasizes the job skills leaders individually know and instead asks participants who they are.

Trust is an essential component to effective organization cultures. There is no single mechanism to create trust other than to behave with integrity. Words, slogans, images, and procedures can never take the place of action.

Pairing his information with fun clips from blockbuster Hollywood films, Paul shows how people naturally adjust their actions and cooperate with others in high integrity cultures.

In this presentation, those who influence the behavior of staff will learn a mindset that shifts them from overseers of business processes to genuine role models—seeing the big picture, articulating the direction, and embracing their team in a collaborative and committed mission. Transformative organizational change occurs when everyone walks the talk, operating with emotional intelligence and profound personal integrity.

Paul’s inspirational speech on integrity creates a lump in the throat as people question how they show up at work. People are confronted with the powerful question, “Am I bringing my best self?”

How do we talk about gender discrimination without the conversation being “heavy”, “awkward“, and “depressing”? How do we address issues of misogyny and violence against women without men reacting defensively?

This uplifting, funny presentation gets right at the heart of these issues while insightfully demonstrating that the path forward lifts everyone—men and women. Paul shows how gender stereotypes that limit women also limit men. Observing the real opportunities of 21st-century industrial innovation, this conversation is about personal and corporate momentum. Organizations that can anticipate the new economy can also navigate the era of #MeToo.

Content highlights

• The most sought-after skills are now ones most associated with feminine characteristics
• How to combat the sociological conditioning that limits men’s expression
• The World Economic Forum’s prognosis of future leadership qualities

Can you think of examples of companies with excellent programs on paper and persistently disastrous safety outcomes? This talk powerfully changes perspective on what a good program looks like. Having a check mark of approval from your local workers’ compensation body looks good, but it doesn’t reflect real safety culture.

Drawing on his personal experience, Paul provides a case study on how to turn around safety culture. Paul shows how leaders can translate their written program into truly safe workplaces. This real-world example powerfully moves safety culture from scientific theory to an attainable goal for any company and industry.

Genuine cultural transformation is available. See the potential in your own workplace. Imagine a future in which each staff member volunteers their heart and mind, and not just the labor of their bodies.

Culture is found in the conversation—the basic human relationships that form the context in which work is done. This talk shows exactly how companies can move from good in theory to good in practice. Based on real-life work, see how culture can be practically changed. Learn, step-by-step, a complete approach to changing the human-to-human dynamic in a workplace setting.  

Funny, dramatic, and, at the same time, doable! Walk away with a whole new concept of what constitutes a culture of safety!

The best safety systems have little application if workers are distracted and unfocused as they do their work. And we are all distracted these days. We are busier than ever, constantly considering our to-do lists, relationships, future worries, and past challenges. Combine this constant mental chatter with the perils of routine, repetitive work tasks and you have a recipe for disaster.

The secret weapon against distractions is mindfulness. Mindfulness is as important for your brain as exercise and nutrition are for your body. To be mindful is to be fully present with what is actually happening in the moment. Everyone can learn shortcuts to being focused on task, and holding distracting thoughts and emotions at a distance. 

Based on real mindfulness programs taught to the hardest, toughest industrial workers—logging crews on the wild west coast of British Columbia—this talk explains how mindfulness can be made a part of every safety program. 

This presentation explains what mindfulness is, why it’s important for everyone, and how to implement it. It will leave your team motivated to make a life-saving change.