8 Statements That Will Change Everything About Recruiting and Retention at Your Company June 6, 2019 Lynda McNutt Foster “We came to realize what is perhaps the biggest problem of all with the idea of culture: it doesn’t help us understand what to do more of, less of, or differently. For that, we must take you to where the experience lives: to your team, and network of teams, and their leaders. That’s what matters most,” Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall in 9 Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World. Two decades worth of research about why and how people perform well at work has culminated in this book. I am convinced about the research and the impact it can have on companies that are struggling to recruit and retain the best workers because Marcus Buckingham is not only an expert in this space, the research mirrors what we have been studying for the last 7 years from our goMonti data sets. The main conclusion that the research in 9 Lies About Work demonstrates is good news. It states that “what people care most about at work is within your team leader’s control.” As they state, a team leader can’t always set corporate policies, but what they can do is: Set clear expectations for their team members Position each person to play to his or her strengths every day Praise the team for excellent work Help people grow their careers Build trust with the people on the team that they serve The focus should be on helping grow the abilities of team leaders to: Give their team member’s a sense of universality – all of us together Recognize each team member’s uniqueness In other words, magnify what we all share and to lift up what is special about each of us. How can you measure how your teams are doing within your organization and determine future sustained or increased performance and retention? There are 8 statements that should be asking and gauging responses for regularly (once a month or at least once a quarter) to measure what matters the most to measure the aspects that drive performance, voluntary turnover, lost work days, accidents on the job, and customer satisfaction. The 8 statements are grouped into two themes. The first is the team member’s communal or “we” share experience at work or rather the “Best of We,” and they are: I am really enthusiastic about the mission of my company. In my team, I am surrounded by people who share my values. My teammates have my back. I have great confidence in my company’s future. The second set of statements are themed as the individual’s experience at work or rather, “Best of Me”. They cover a team member’s internal questions like, “What is unique about me? What is valuable about me? Do I feel challenged to grow? And they are: 5. At work, I clearly understand what is expected of me. 6. I have the chance to use my strengths every day at work. 7. I know I will be recognized for excellent work. 8. In my work, I am always challenged to grow. From Chapter One of 9 Lies at Work, the first lie at work is that people come to work for companies. The research is sound on this, and that statement is not true for most people. What is true is that people care which team they’re on and which company they join. Need help executing these concepts? Find out how your team members would score on the 8 statements. Wondering how your team members would score on these 8 statements? goMonti is currently conducting local research and can issue this employee engagement and team performance survey at no charge for current clients. If you are an existing client, contact us for more information at info@cortexleadership.com . If you are not a current Cortex client, one or more of your teams may qualify to have us issue the survey at no charge. To receive information about our new Employee Engagement Surveys and how they can transform your teams, contact info@cortexleadership.com . Watch this short video from Coffee with a Coach, A Cup of Confidence, about the 8 statements and how team leaders can use them to gain powerful insights.

Meet Your Coach Allen Foster Allen Foster is Vice President and co-founder of Cortex Leadership Consulting, a leading firm dedicated to executive coaching, talent acquisition, and organizational training. Allen’s extensive experience includes customized 1-on-1 coaching, strategic consulting, talent acquisition specializing in benchmark and search, and the facilitation of over 1,000 leadership training/facilitation sessions. As Cortex’s lead trainer and facilitator, Allen is a Certified Trainer in DISC (CPBA), Driving Forces (CPDFA), and The Empowerment Dynamic, 3 Vital Questions. His expertise further extends into customized workshops focused on DISC, Team Alignment, Conflict Resolution, Team Values Creation, Team Building, Time Mastery, and Problem-Solving strategies. Before co-founding Cortex, Allen launched his professional career in retail management, quickly distinguishing himself by leading successful multimillion-dollar store openings and renovations, eventually becoming one of the youngest store managers at a major national big-box retailer. Driven by a passion for marketing, Allen later joined his wife, Lynda, in her advertising agency. Over 15 years, he guided numerous businesses on their marketing and advertising strategies, eventually leading the agency to significant growth. He continues to support select long-standing clients in their advertising efforts today. Allen holds a Bachelor's degree in Marketing from Virginia Tech. He is married to Cortex CEO and co-founder, Lynda McNutt Foster, and is the proud father of Melody Kappler. A passionate Virginia Tech football and wrestling fan, Allen is also an avid reader with particular interests in history and science. In his leisure time, Allen enjoys hiking and can regularly be found exploring the Roanoke Greenway or Mill Mountain trails with Lynda. Allen’s wealth of hands-on experience, combined with his deep knowledge of behavioral assessments and training methodologies, makes him a trusted resource for organizations looking to enhance leadership capabilities, optimize team performance, and drive sustainable growth. Contact Let's connect.

Pre-Session Preparation YOUR OWN DETAILS: First name Last name Email Checking in with you: How did you do on your goals last month? Poor Fair Good Very good Excellent What would you like to focus on during your upcoming session? Submit

Cortex Culture Kit Cortex Culture Kit Cortex Culture Kit Cortex Culture Kit Mastering Healthy Conflict for Stronger Working Relationships Part 1 Effective teams require the ability to navigate conflict with confidence and clarity. Your upcoming Culture Kit Session will provide you with the path to stronger working relationships by utilizing the 10 Techniques of Healthy Conflict . Step 1: Take the Cortex Conflict Mastery Assessment Assessment Step 2: Review the Cortex Conflict Mastery Scorecard Scorecard Step 3: Review, print, and bring the handout with you to your upcoming Culture Kit Session Phase 1 Handout Phase 2 Handout Step 4: Listen to the Cortex Mastering Healthy Conflict - The 10 Techniques of Healthy Conflict Corcast Episode

EPIC Library - Technical Orientation and Lunch with a Leader Recordings EPIC Library - Technical Orientation and Lunch with a Leader Recordings EPIC Library - Technical Orientation and Lunch with a Leader Recordings EPIC Library - Technical Orientation and Lunch with a Leader Recordings Technical Orientation Program Overview What to Expect Calendar Invites Who to Contact Structure and Format Lunch with Ryan Hollister Vice President Construction Services The Haskell Company July 30, 2025 Lunch with Denise Muth Senior Project Director The Haskell Company August 27, 2025 Lunch with Mandy Brawley VP of Economic Development The Haskell Company September 24, 2025 Lunch with Shannon Koeninger VP of Civil Infrastructure Design The Haskell Company October 22, 2025 Lunch with David Reaves VP of Construction & Manufacturing The Haskell Company November 19, 2025 Graduation EPIC Haskell Cohort 10 Graduation The Haskell Company Cortex Leadership Consulting December 10, 2025

EPIC Library - Ask the Expert Corcast Episodes EPIC Library - Ask the Expert Corcast Episodes EPIC Library - Ask the Expert Corcast Episodes EPIC Library - Ask the Expert Corcast Episodes Month 1 Communicating with Intention - DISC and Driving Forces Intentional Communication with DISC Kicking off the EPIC journey, DISC centers on building self-awareness through the DISC and Driving Forces assessment—a powerful tool for understanding personal communication styles and how they interact with others. You will learn how to recognize and adapt to different DISC styles, reduce friction, and strengthen trust. By applying these insights to real-world conversations, they’ll begin to turn everyday interactions into opportunities for clarity, collaboration, and connection. Listen to the DISC Corcast Episode: Refer back to this DISC Clue Sheet throughout the EPIC Program DISC Clue Sheet Month 2 Transitioning from a Problem to a Solutions Mindset Shifting from Problem to Solution We all know that great leadership isn't about reacting - it's about responding with clarity and confidence. But how often do you find yourself caught in stress, frustration, or self-doubt? Reactivity to Resilience will help you recognize when you're triggered, understand your DISC-driven stress responses, and apply proven techniques to shift from reactive to resilient. Listen to the Reactive to Resilient Corcast Episode: Read through the Many Faces of Victim, Persecutor, and Rescuer: Victim - Many Faces Persecutor - Many Faces Rescuer - Many Faces Month 3 Thinking with Intention - VIPE A Leader's Guide to Getting More, Fresh, High Qualitry Ideas from Their Teams Thinking with Intention challenges participants to elevate their strategic thinking by understanding how their natural strengths—and blind spots—impact team innovation. Using the VIPE model (Vision, Inclusion, Process, and Execution), they’ll assess their preferred thinking roles and how those influence decision-making and collaboration. Paired with insights from A Leader’s Guide to Getting More, Fresh, High Quality Ideas , participants will discover practical ways to foster creativity, avoid common thinking traps, and unlock better outcomes through intentional thought leadership. Listen to the Corcast Episode: Read the executive summary of A Leader's Guide to Getting More, Fresh, High Quality Ideas : Executive Summary Month 4 - Managing Priorities with Intention Time Mastery 2.0 Time Mastery 2.0 Managing Priorities with Intention - you'll take a deep dive into how you use your time—versus how you intend to use it. Grounded in the Time Mastery: 7 Simple Steps for Richer Outcomes framework, and Time Mastery 2.0, you’ll explore how to align daily actions with higher-level priorities. Through reflection and practical tools, this session helps you identify time wasters, clarify outcomes over tasks, and design a rhythm of work that drives meaningful progress—without burning out. Listen to the Time Mastery 2.0 Corcast Episode: Read Time Mastery 2.0 : Time Mastery 2.0 Month 5 Building Trust with Intention - Conversational Intelligence Conversational Intelligence In Month 5 of the EPIC Leadership Program- we'll explore how trust is built—or broken—through everyday interactions. You’ll examine the six key elements of trust: time, reliability, sincerity, competency, involvement, and standards—and how each one contributes to credibility and connection. Using the three levels of Conversational Intelligence®—transactional, positional, and transformational—you will learn how to shift conversations from simple exchanges to deeper, trust-building dialogue that strengthens team cohesion and performance. Listen to the CIQ Corcast Episode: 3 Levels of Conversation: 3 Levels of CIQ

Strengthening Your Competencies in Leading Others Your leadership impact will be greatly affected by the competencies you are able to build a foundation for and enhance as you adjust to changing working environments and market conditions. Deciding which ones you will need the most in the coming 1-3 years is a critical success factor in achieving the outcomes you want you, your team, and your organization to achieve. Review the following information to ensure an understanding of each competency, complete the spreadsheet provided, and then review it with whom you report to so that you can ensure alignment. This information will be used to create your Cortex Leadership Development Plan that you will utilize during your executive coaching journey. Step 1: Review the Leadership Competencies Selection and Instruction Guide Guide Step 2: Take the Leadership Competencies Assessment Assessment Bring your results to your upcoming coaching session Step 3: Read the accompanying Article : Article

Think more strategically, Speak more effectively, Act more intentionally. Join the fastest growing leadership program in Southwest Virginia with alumni that include hundreds of top executive leaders from the City of Roanoke, Excel Truck Group, Corvesta, Delta Dental of Virginia, Home Instead Senior Care, MB Contractors, Quick Fix Real Estate, Steidle Law Firm, the Rescue Mission and other regional organizations. See what graduates are saying about Leading a Winning Team Conducted with small groups in a highly interactive format, this program is designed for seasoned leaders and those accepting the role and responsibility of leadership. Based on Serving Leader principles and practices, the program is fast paced and the content is rich, yet very practical. Leaders will learn how to communicate more effectively with the team they lead and those they report to, on key principles such as: motivating others, leading during organizational change, curbing “drama” in the workplace through increasing trust, active listening, executive presence and having more intentional communication that is meant to transform rather than transact. Accountability is a cornerstone of the program with participants learning proven tools and methods with consistent follow up through www.goMonti.com to measure and monitor how they are applying what they have learned. The individual coaching sessions assist in making the material relevant to the challenges of each leader. Participants quickly discover their leadership potential, how to stay in their strength zones, and how to coach others to do the same. The focus of this program is on learning the skills necessary to coach yourself and others to reach higher levels of emotional discipline in order to reach your leadership potential. Frequently Asked Questions How long does the course take? The course of study usually takes 8 months (but can be customized to client's specific needs). 8 - 4-hour group sessions + jumpstart DISC workshop 2 - one-on-one, 55-minute executive coaching sessions for each participant 4 - laser coaching sessions - 10 minutes in length (on the spot coaching as needed). What types of assessments come with the program? DISC assessment Motivators assessment Cortex Team Strengths assessment How are retention, engagement, and process measured throughout the program? Participants will receive interactive texts 3 times a week for the duration of the program and their responses will be confidentially captured in our proprietary g oMonti© system. These texts come in the form of content comprehension questions, asset-based thinking questions, and practical application questions that serve to keep the content relevant and assist each participant in applying what they've learned in their professional lives and leadership roles. Facilitated Curriculum Specific modules are facilitated in an interactive learning environment are chosen for you and your team and can be based on initial discussion and assessment results. Specific modules can include: Communicating and Motivating using DISC/Motivators Participants will complete a DISC and Motivators assessment and bring the report to your Jumpstart session. This 50-page report will give you an understanding of your behavioral styles and offer suggestions on how to develop specific areas for higher levels of effectiveness when working with your team and others. This assessment can also provide a window of understanding for the leaders you report to in order to create a clearer understanding into your perspective and communication style. 4 Keys to More Effective Leadership Behaviors Out of the 20 leadership behaviors that have been determined to lead to success, there are 4 that have been determined to give a leader 89% of their results. This module, supported by an eBook of the same name, will help you learn how to: Be Supportive , Be Results Orientated , Seek Others' Perspectives , and Solve Problems Effectively . Cortex Team Strengths You will complete a Cortex Team Strengths assessments that will help to better understand which of the 4 phases of a project cycle you prefer to work within. Ideally, teamwork proceeds sequentially from initiation to ideation, elaboration, and completion. But research shows that teams often diffuse their efforts by spending time on work they prefer to do, often skipping essential phases. You will be given a timed, management challenge that will assist you in a tangible example of how to execute the 4 phases of the Teamwork Cycle. By discovering your strengths, you will learn which areas of projects you will bring the most value to and how to support others when they are operating in their strength zones. Make Shift Happen through The Empowerment Dynamic (TED) This interactive presentation will explain the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful mindset and how to coach yourself and others to make the shift. Using TED - The Empowerment Dynamic , a tool developed by David Emerald, you will learn more methods on how to challenge, coach, and create a winning position during any situation for yourself or others. More importantly, you and your team will learn how to steer clear of the Dreaded Drama Triangle and Make a Shift to The Empowerment Dynamic . The ability to make this shift quickly is the foundation of emotional discipline. Time Mastery: 7 Simple Steps to Richer Outcomes You'll never deal with time the same way again after learning the Cortex Method of time design. This practical, interactive, learning module, supported by an eBook and audiobook version, on time management will teach you how to design your time for the highest levels of personal and team productivity, Deliberate Delegation Commitment Based Management was first introduced as an innovative management practice in the 1980's with the work of Fernando Flores (UC Berkeley) and Terry Winograd (Standford) and is a highly effective delegation principle and practice. They described a "conversation for action" where two parties make an explicit agreement to deliver a specific outcome by a certain date. The core idea was that the performer was required to negotiate a specific, leading to more collaborative environment. The process of a virtuous conversation between the requester and the performer was defined in three stages: Negotiation, delivery, and assessment. Conversational Intelligence Conversations based on a high level of trust can be transformative to a relationship, team or organization. Without it, your conversations are transactional and positional in nature which rarely leads to the change you want to see. YOur brain has a trust valve that when we learn how to operate it properly can help each of us create a level of safety with one another that will lead to higher level thinking, understanding and more effective execution. Regardless of your position on a team or in an organization, building and maintaining trust is essential for reaching the deeply satisfying outcomes you want to achieve. This practical module, based on the work by Judith Glaser in her groundbreaking research published in the book, Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust & Get Extraordinary Results will teach you to more effectively communicate with your peers, customers and bosses. The Currency of Trust This powerful communication tool has multiple applications. You will learn the 6 Elements of Trust, which include Sincerity, Involvement, Competence, Standards, Reliability, and Time. Peak Performance Coaching - The 4 Rs Through the use of the proprietary Cortex Peak Performance model, you will be able to identify your high potential team members and coach them to reach their maximum contribution potential. This simple yet comprehensive model will help you set up effective coaching conversations with your team members and move them from the high potential zone to the high-performance zone. Performance Coaching: Giving and Receiving Feedback By using proper meeting formats and after-action reviews, along with scheduling time for each of your direct reports on a monthly or weekly basis, you will discover ways to effectively give and receive feedback from your team members. Performance Coaching: Active Listening Effective listening skills are crucial in order to build trust with and coach others. This module breaks down the keys to active listening and teaches you how to listen from 3 different centers to not only hear what others' are saying but also to capture the emotions and intent in every conversation. Identify Your Team's Core Values For newly formed teams as well as teams that have operated together for decades, understanding and agreeing to a set of core values is an essential element of success. A team's values guide the actions and decisions of all team members toward achieving their highest-level outcomes. To inquire for upcoming Leading a Winning Team live training, call 540.776.9219 or email info@cortexleadership.com . Classes are held at our facilities within the CoLab on Grandin Road, Roanoke or at your location. Contact Us

EPIC Library - Lunch with a Leader Recordings EPIC Library - Lunch with a Leader Recordings EPIC Library - Lunch with a Leader Recordings EPIC Library - Lunch with a Leader Recordings Lunch with Vincent White Executive Vice President - Metis July 10th, 2025 Lunch with Darryl Agee Solutions Architect, PMO September 23rd, 2025 Check back periodically for more!

The Cortex Change Readiness Culture Kit - Phase 1 Understanding Change Through Openness, Action & Accountability Step One: Take the Cortex Change Readiness Self-Assessment Assessment Step Two: Read the Cortex Change Readiness Scorecard to better understand your score Scorecard Step Three: Read The Readiness for Growth Factor Article: Article Step Four: Listen to the Change Readiness Growth Equation Deep Dive Conversation Step Five: Print, review, and bring this handout to your session Handout

Time Traps The Attention Drain How to Reclaim Your Focus in a World of Constant Pings Read More The Productivity Myth Why Overloaded Leaders Lose Their Edge Read More The Reactive Leader Are you running your day, or is your day running you? Read More The Perfectionism Trap Stop Overthinking & Start Executing Read More The Drama Distraction Are you leading or getting lost in office politics? Read More The Meeting Trap Are your meetings helping or hurting productivity? Read More The Overload Illusion Why Doing More is Making You Less Effecctive Read More Time Metabolism Aligning Your Energy with Your Most Important Work Read More The Delegation Dilemma If you want it done right, do you have to do it yourself? Read More