The Humphrey Group was founded in 1988 to teach leaders the skills they need to engage and inspire. More than three decades later, the company has stayed true to this mandate while broadening the skills they build. Today the firm has programs that show clients how to build their self-awareness so they can inspire with authenticity and integrity, programs that help clients connect and bring others together, and programs that enable them to persuade on every stage. Collectively these programs show clients the power of bringing their ideas to life in every interaction.

In conversation with Manage HR, Bart Egnal, CEO of The Humphrey Group, shares insights into how the company is helping people communicate their ideas in a way that inspires and energizes their team members. Here are excerpts from their conversation:

Differentiating Factor of The Humphrey Group

“At The Humphrey Group, we believe that impactful communication is a skill that is taught and developed. We help clients understand the mindset, skills and tools they need to capitalize on the opportunity communication presents. We want everyone we work with to be authentically inspiring.”

“Three things make our training stand out: a practical methodology participants can use beyond the program, a great instructor to bring it to life, and a learning experience that engages and leads to applied learning. It’s our ability to combine these three that leads to lasting change.”

“Another thing that differentiates us is the work we do helping organizations develop leaders who can create more diverse and inclusive workplaces. From our longstanding Taking The Stage® program for women to our newly-launched Inclusive Leadership™ offering, we blend DEI and leadership communication training in a really unique way.”

Challenges or Pain Points Prevailing in the Market

“Communication skills have always been important for leaders, but in recent years clients have told us they need new skills, they need to apply them to new interactions, AND they want to learn in new ways. This has been a lot of change! We’ve leaned into this as an opportunity to evolve our programs and approach.”

“The pandemic rapidly accelerated the shift to remote work and the embrace of new technologies to connect. It used to be clients needed to prepare for formal presentations or meetings, but now they need to be ready for twenty zoom meetings in a week, plus constant Slack conversations and informal conversations.
The cadence of leadership communication has increased rapidly. And adding to that, employees and organizations are demanding that leaders model inclusive behaviors to help all employees be heard. So if you sum this all up, we have in three short years rapidly increased the demands on our leaders to communicate, and to do so more authentically and inclusively. That’s a lot of pressure on our clients!”

Solutions Offered by the Company

“Our clients turn to us for our programs to help them develop leadership communication skills at all levels.”

“We offer private coaching for executives, small group programs for teams and groups of leaders and, for organizations that want enterprise solutions, train-thetrainer offerings with licensed content.”

“It all starts with a conversation, where we listen carefully to understand who needs training and what the client wants to achieve. From there we recommend the solution that will best serve them.
“The programs we deliver fit in three broad areas: programs around ‘reflection,’ or self-awareness (like our Authentic Leadership™ program), ‘Connection,’ to bring people together (like our Leading in a Virtual World™ program), and ‘Persuasion,’ which means persuading others (like our Speaking as a Leader® program). We also have DEI offerings that often combine content from these streams.

“Underpinning every program is a methodology and tools that participants can use to apply what they learn. For example, in Speaking as a Leader® participants get the Leader’s Script, a model for organizing their thinking. Participants still tell us ‘wow I’m using this 10 years on from that course!”

Case Study:

“When I think of the impact we make, one story that stands out is when we partnered with Goldcorp (now Newmont), a global publicly traded mining company with operations in North, Central, and South America. Mining is male dominated and Goldcorp knew women in its operations had untapped potential to contribute to the company – but would have to be supported in speaking up and being heard. Working closely with the Goldcorp leaders we adapted our Taking the Stage® program for their unique culture, resulting in a program called Creating Choices. This program was offered to women in all their mines, and was ultimately delivered by women at Goldcorp whom we certified. The program was the first of its kind in mining and made a lasting impact on thousands of women in the organization. The program led to a successor program, Growing Choices, and the positive results truly made Goldcorp a more diverse and inclusive company. Designing and implementing this program, then hearing the stories of the women who embraced it remains one of my post cherished memories at The Humphrey Group.”