Awesome People Leaders

Home
United States
Richfield, MN
Awesome People Leaders

We train, support, and develop awesome people leaders. Microlessons. Mobile. Practical Weekly micro-learning of 10 mins. Mobile-friendly.

Awesome People Leaders (APL) is an online manager program designed for anyone leading a team of people and wanting to develop their people skills. That includes managers, directors, floor supervisors, team leads, scrum masters, and project managers. It's not just another online training program filled with theories to learn but no actionable steps to implement. The Awesome People Leaders manager

program is designed specifically to build skills that your people leaders need in order to retain and engage people, while creating high-performing teams at work. Next steps to apply it to their day-to-day work. A full year of access to support through an entire business cycle. It is designed for how our brains learn and how people learn today. APL's practical tips and resources for real-life management scenarios help managers develop the skills, and the online private community gives them a place to collaborate, share, get feedback, and learn from others' experiences.

02/27/2025

"As engineers rise to leadership roles, understanding the neuroscience of leading people can provide a valuable edge. By prioritizing trust, promoting active listening, and recognizing achievements, engineering leaders can foster a positive work environment where team members feel engaged and motivated."

- Heather Polivka, CEO, Awesome People Leaders

Publication: National Society of Professional Engineers PE Magazine: https://hubs.li/Q034YpQx0

02/24/2025

Looking for the latest and greatest content from APL? 😍

If you're a company leader, head on over to our LinkedIn page to connect with us!

If you're a manager, team member, leader, or just a fan of the APL awesomeness, head over to our Instagram profile for all kinds of great tips and insights to level up your management skills!

If you want to make sure you don't miss a thing, we'll see you on both. We'd love a follow or share when you find inspiration! 🙌

02/17/2025

Random Acts of Kindness aren’t just feel-good moments—they’re a leadership superpower. 💫

Studies show (see Forbes, Oct 2024) that small, positive interactions create a ripple effect of trust, engagement, and productivity. What’s one small act of kindness you can do for your team today? A quick thank-you, a shoutout in a meeting, or even just refilling the office coffee pot (yes, we see you, coffee hero ☕).

02/13/2025

Mary McLeod Bethune left a legacy of leadership and learning. ✨📚

During this Black History Month, we celebrate the life and impact of Mary McLeod Bethune—an educator, civil rights leader, and trailblazer who dedicated her life to lifting others. Born to parents who had been enslaved, she built a legacy of education and empowerment. That legacy lives on today:

✨ Bethune-Cookman University – The school she founded in 1904 as the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls grew into Bethune-Cookman University, a thriving HBCU committed to education and leadership.

✨ The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) – She founded this organization in 1935 to advocate for the rights and advancement of Black women, and it remains active today, empowering communities through education, social justice, and economic opportunities.

✨ Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site – Located in Washington, D.C., this site preserves her home and serves as a tribute to her work in civil rights and education.

✨ Bethune Memorial Statue in the U.S. Capitol – In 2022, she became the first Black woman honored with a statue in the National Statuary Hall, symbolizing her enduring impact on American history.

May we continue her mission by listening, learning, and amplifying Black voices—not just during Black History Month, but every day.

➡️ Learn more about Mary here:
https://hubs.li/Q035NDWL0

➡️ Learn more about Black History:
Join this month to celebrate ’s theme of African Americans and Labor, with a focus on the world of work that African American women have faced over the past four centuries and how it has changed. https://hubs.li/Q035NFW80

02/11/2025

Today we honor the remarkable contributions of women in STEM fields. Despite representing nearly 80% of the healthcare workforce, women hold only about 21% of executive and board positions, and approximately one-third of physician roles.

In STEM leadership across various sectors, women occupy just 25.9% of leadership roles, highlighting the ongoing need for greater representation.

Studies show that when women in STEM have clear paths for advancement, retention improves, innovation thrives, and companies benefit. 👏

02/06/2025

🤔 It seems that managers' perceptions vs their employees' experiences don't quite match up when it comes to feedback, according to an article published by Gallup on the '7 Workplace Challenges for 2025.'

Being great at feedback isn't as simple as an occasional "Good job!" or "Here's where there's room for improvement." It's not a quarterly check-in or annual performance review.

Feedback is ongoing, and as a manager of a high-performing team, it may feel like all you're doing is giving your team feedback some days. That's ok! In fact, the best performing teams use about a 4-to-1 ratio of reinforcing (positive) feedback and redirecting (constructive) feedback, respectively. Multiply that by the number of team members, and it's a lot of feedback! 😅

But that is your role now as the manager. You're not the technical expert, you're not doing the job you used to do; you're *leading the people* who are the experts and doing the job.

➡️ APL has an entire module on feedback and provides real-time, actionable tips to help managers improve their feedback immediately. It's THAT important.

02/04/2025

Over the last couple of years, Awesome People Leaders' CEO, Polivka, has shared her expertise on leadership, culture, and building high-performing teams with organizations across the country. This spring, she'll be speaking with industry leaders and global partners in an effort to transform workplaces and redefine leadership and corporate culture.

Sharing the concepts and methods used in Awesome People Leaders, she is influencing the future of work and helping to shape the next generation of successful companies. 🙌
---------

Interested in booking Heather for your upcoming corporate event?
Get details: https://hubs.li/Q034Yp110

See upcoming speaking events: https://hubs.li/Q034YqBJ0

01/29/2025

Awesome People Leaders is a training and coaching program for your front-line managers–based in neuroscience and applied in their flow of work–and it is showing a positive impact based on feedback from our clients.

Game. 👏 Changer. 👏

01/28/2025

So, you think you have a "great culture"? Culture has never been more important than it is now. Companies understand it drives competitive advantage. Clients see it as a way to distinguish between one vendor and the next. Employees and candidates are demanding healthy work cultures. What does it mean to have a "great culture"?

📢 Hey SSMP Southern Regional Conference goers! Heather Polivka will be presenting on January 30th on this very topic! Learn more about her upcoming session: https://hubs.li/Q0346J5V0

Key Takeaways:

❇️ Understand what culture is and is not, and how to begin defining your culture in a meaningful, tangible manner.
❇️ Explore how culture drives business and people strategy, and how that relationship can be used to create competitive advantage.
❇️ Discover how to evolve and embed culture to address emerging needs
❇️ Understand key dimensions of culture to allow women - and all people - to thrive

01/27/2025

Without reinforcement, people tend to forget up to 90% of what they've learned within a month. 🤯

Yeah, this explains a lot. But it's not new.

In the 1880s, psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus tested his own memory by memorizing and recalling nonsense syllables over different time periods. Using rigorous self-experimentation, he mapped how quickly we forget information - creating the famous "Forgetting Curve" that revolutionized our understanding of human memory. His findings were scientifically validated in 2015, proving the timeless insights of this pioneering research.🤓

Here are a few other things he learned:
✏️ Spacing out learning sessions over time improves memory retention compared to massed practice or cramming. (APL is built as a 12-month program)
✏️ Repeated practice beyond mastery can help improve long-term retention of information. (APL's coaches support participants on a weekly basis and provide real-time, actionable learning in the flow of work)
✏️ Repetition based on active recall is effective in reducing the forgetting rate. (APL's coaches prompt participants to engage in discussion in between learning modules.)
✏️ Information is easier to recall when it's built upon things you already know. (APL's weekly content builds on previously learned concepts.)

Traditional training programs, professional development workshops and conferences...what do many of them all have in common? One big information dump. And what happens when people get back to the office? They forget it or have no idea how to actually implement it in their own work. FAIL. 👎

It's 2025. Let's try something different. 🙌

01/24/2025

Change is constant, and one of the best ways to ensure your company can effectively navigate change is to have well-trained, well-supported managers leading your teams. If turnover is high and engagement is low, it's time to invest in your managers.

Awesome People Leaders gives your managers the tools and skills they need–in their flow of work–to effectively lead high performing teams, resulting in lower turnover, higher engagement, and therefore a stronger bottom line.

Take a tour ➡️ https://hubs.li/Q033Z7LL0

01/19/2025

On this day, let us remember Dr. King's words about how he'd like to be remembered:

(From a sermon he gave at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Feb 1968)

"I’d like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day, that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."

Here are some upcoming events in our hometown area of Minneapolis to remember and carry on his legacy:
https://hubs.li/Q032_CjN0

Address

2200 West 66th Street #231
Richfield, MN
55423

Website

https://www.awesomepeopleleaders.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Awesome People Leaders posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Awesome People Leaders:

Want your school to be the top-listed School/college in Richfield?