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What is Blue Skies USA?
We are career development specialists, who work with professionals in two ways:
- Organizationally: Companies often retain Blue Skies USA for talent development services that include executive retreats, leadership workshops, seminars on leading a diverse workforce, team building events, succession planning, disaster avoidance and recovery, and talent location and placement.
- Individually: Professionals of all experience levels retain Blue Skies USA for one-on-one coaching services offered in an affordable monthly rate. We also offer a Career Development Package to professionals seeking to increase their marketability in the workforce.
- All services are offered in-person or virtually
What Services Do You Offer to Small Businesses?
Our services are temporary, as we will teach you to perform vital tasks that help you develop, retain, and recruit your workforce. Broadly, we teach you how to:
- Develop current and emerging leaders
- Recruit, interview, hire, and onboard
- Build a real talent pool
- Capture positional knowledge
How Do You Develop Current and Emerging Leaders?
A combination of one-on-one coaching, group presentations, and skills assessment allows us to work with individual team members in a way that is most impactful to them. We also conduct a positional assessment to ensure the right people are in the correct positions within the organization.
Are You Recruiters?
No, not by choice. We do have a vast network of professionals and do provide talent placement services (albeit at a cost more affordable than a typical recruiter).
I Need a Position Filled Now. Can You help?
Yes. If you have an open position that needs to be filled as quickly as possible (assuming the right person can be found), Blue Skies USA can fill your open position(s).
We do, however, ask for the opportunity to conduct our processes of capturing tribal knowledge, helping you build a real talent pool, and further develop your workforce.
Recruiting and Placement rates are typically about 10% of non-executive salary, and 15% of executive salary. Again though, our goal is to teach you how to recruit so you do not need to pay for the services in the future.
What is “Tribal Knowledge” and How Do You Capture It?
“Tribal Knowledge” is information that is unique to individual positions and is often learned by team members working in those positions. Think of all the things you know about your position that are not reflected in your job description; that is Tribal Knowledge and it needs to be captured for all positions to reduce the negative impacts of employee turnover.
What’s With the Guide Dog?
After being asked countless times at an airliner’s boarding gate, “How the hell did you get here without help?” we learned we could teach people how living as a blind executive in a world that assumes sight can help them excel in their own personal and career environments.
The tools blind executives use in tandem with their guide dogs to find airport gates, navigate crowded city streets, and cross multi-lane intersections are the same tools that can develop your workforce.
The guide dog is an analogy and an example of a perfectly functioning team. We use the relationship to illustrate leadership and management concepts, discuss how to properly build a talent pool, prepare for the unknown, and intuitively capture environmental knowledge.
How Much Does All This Cost?
We want to help you, not drain your budget. Most often, we can work within your budget by balancing scope of work with funds available.
That said, a very loose estimate would be 10% of the position’s median salary to capture tribal and positional knowledge, develop of positional tree for future employees, and build an organizational talent pool.
We will put you in a position that does not require you to hire recruiters or workforce development consultants again!
OK, So What Does a Guide Dog Have To Do With Talent Development?
We always say, you can offer a road map to Eldorado, but if no one is listening, it will always remain hidden.
Too often, people see professional development appear on their calendar and mumble under their breath, “I hate this stuff.”
What if they had genuine interest in the program? As a blind executive teamed with a guide dog, Blue Skies USA developed a program called “Find The Door,” which is the most common phrase spoken as the two are traveling their community and the rest of the world.
We teach people how an executive who is blind was able to work his way up the corporate ladder and travel the globe, all with his guide dog in hand. In doing that, we show how the lessons learned along the way can and will work for you as you look for your own doors to career success.
What is “Find the Door?”
“Find the Door” is our mantra and the name of our presentations. The command, “Find the Door,” is the most used directive of virtually every guide dog handler.
Blue Skies USA uses the command as a teaching tool, where we will help you find your own doors to success and provide you with the courage to walk through.
“Doors” can often be closed, leaving the initiatives behind them out of sight. Whether DEI efforts, productivity challenges, hiring & recruiting difficulties, or any of the infinite number of business applications, Blue Skies USA will teach you how a guide dog works and in turn will help you find your own door to success.
Who Would Benefit Most From “Find the Door?”
Everyone needs a coach. Many of our clients are emerging leaders wishing to make the most of their education and experience. Others are already in senior leadership positions and desire an objective advisor who can consult from outside their organization. Others are new to the corporate world and want help jumpstarting their careers.
We’ll say it again, EVERYONE NEEDS A COACH!
But I Don’t Have Any Direct Reports… Do I Need A Coach?
Let’s check in with Bill Gates: “Everyone needs a coach. We all need feedback… That’s how we improve.”
Others have made similar comments on the need for a personal coach:
“Every famous athlete, every famous performer, has someone to coach them. Someone to watch what they’re doing and say, ‘Is that what you really meant? Did you really do that thing?’ Give them perspective. The one thing people are never really good at is seeing themselves as others see them. A coach really really helps.”
Eric Schmidt, CEO/Chairman of Google from 2001 to 2020
In short, we all need a coach. We need a non-biased guide we can rely on for help, expertise, and advice. Too often, professionals tackle their entire career with nothing more than the support of a spouse and the prayer they have a quality boss. You spent too much on your education and work too hard to leave so much of your life up to chance.
I Have Already Reached CEO Level, Why Would I Need A Coach?
Same as the reasons above! In short, it doesn’t matter to what professional level you have climbed. If you want to experience perpetual personal growth, you need a coach to help you along.
The Website Says You “Locate Leadership Talent.” What is That?
An important component of organizational development is training and coaching. So also is making sure you have the right people in the correct positions in the first place. We get to know our Clients on a very personal level via our one-on-one coaching program, and can often recommend them for positions at companies we are working with who are in need of the skills and abilities our Clients possess.
We also get to know the companies with which we work on an organizational level, and can often recommend professionals for their needed positions based on our intimate knowledge of their work environment, culture, demands, and expectations.
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We can also set you up for a couple of coaching calls with our blind executive (it doesn’t cost anything)… Everyone needs a coach! Maybe he can help you maximize your natural abilities!