The Ken Blanchard Companies® Wins Bronze in Best in Biz Awards 2013

Nov. 25, 2013 - PRLog -- The Ken Blanchard Companies® has been named a Best in Biz Bronze Winner in the product category for The SLII® Experience—Best New Version of the Year. Best in Biz Awards is the only independent business awards program judged by members of the press and industry analysts.

The third annual Best in Biz Awards program, focusing on companies based or operating in North America, was the most competitive in its history, with the highest number of awards submissions to date and the most distinguished judging panel yet assembled. More than 500 entries were received this year from a wide array of public and private companies of all sizes and from a variety of industries and geographic regions in the U.S. and Canada. In the Best New Version category, three won bronze, four won silver, and one was awarded gold.

Blanchard®, a global leader in workplace leadership development, announced this year the release of The SLII Experience, a new learning design for its popular leadership development program Situational Leadership® II (SLII), the world's most taught leadership model.

“Research has shown that today's workforce wants to be more in control of its learning journey and is driving demand that learning and development be done differently. The SLII Experience immerses people in SLII quickly, deeply, and effectively,” says Pat Zigarmi, coauthor of Situational Leadership® II and cofounder of The Ken Blanchard Companies.

Based on a leadership model that teaches leaders to use the appropriate leadership style in response to the needs of the person and the situation, the new experience provides a fast-paced, results-focused design based on proven content and research.

“Unlike traditional classroom training, participants learn fast and practice slow. In the classroom, learners move through a dynamic flow of activities. Short, rapid learning scenarios and skill building focused on real work issues challenge participants to demonstrate their familiarity with the content,” shared Jay Campbell, Vice President of Product Development at Blanchard.

A faster pace of learning paired with reinforcement over time, The SLII Experience (http://www.thesliiexperience.com/) is focused on greater learning retention and achieving desired behavior outcomes. Some of the key features include

·         An SLII Fitness Test that measures leadership intelligence and results in a "before, after, and back-then" approach

·         Award-winning videos produced in a modern television-program style that depict realistic workplace scenarios in an entertaining way that engages participants with the content

·         A mobile app that helps leaders quickly "diagnose" a situation and practice the right leadership style

·         A self-paced 12-module online game called The SLII Challenge that allows learners to reinforce and deepen their skills while accumulating points

·         An online learning portal with access to all of the videos, worksheets, and reinforcement tools, which learners can use back on the job with their teams

Self-paced elearning tools further internalize the material and provide support in teaching the concepts back to their team. Providing access to a participant’s team members is a partnered approach that gets an entire team speaking the same leadership language.

For a full list of gold, silver, and bronze winners in Best in Biz Awards 2013, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2013-winners.

About The Ken Blanchard Companies
The Ken Blanchard Companies is a global leader in workplace learning, productivity, and leadership effectiveness that is best known for its Situational Leadership® II (http://www.thesliiexperience.com/) program—the most taught leadership model in the world. Because of its ability to help people excel as self-leaders and as leaders of others, SLII is embraced by Fortune 500 companies as well as mid- to small-size businesses, governments, and educational and non-profit organizations. Many Blanchard programs blend the use of elearning with instructor-led training. Self-paced elearning modules are available via Blanchard Online Learning—a cloud-based curriculum that is interactive and easy to use via mobile tablets.

About Best in Biz Awards
Best in Biz Awards recognizes top companies, teams, executives, and products for their business success as judged by established members of the press and industry analysts. Best in Biz Awards honors are conferred in three separate programs annually: North America, EMEA, and International. Entries are currently being accepted in the third annual Best in Biz Awards 2013 EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) program, until the final entry deadline on January 24, 2014. Any organization from any industry operating in EMEA may enter any of the more than 50 company, department or team, executive, and product categories. For more information about the entry process and categories in the EMEA program, please visit: http://emea.bestinbizawards.com.